I give Up!!!!

oldbutdumb

Member
Oct 29, 2004
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After trying to update my wife's old computer the component route, I am eady to throw in the towel. I purchased a new Rosewill case, a Shuttle AN 400N ultra motherboard, and AMD mobile Athlon xp2400+ cpu to go with my old ATI Radeon 7200 and Crucial PC2100 memory stick and all I ever got was a pathetic Beeep-----------Beeep--------beeep------------beeep out of the case somewhere. I got a new Athlon XP 2500+ and a stick of OCZ pc3200 memory and still I get Beeep----------Beeep----------Beeep over and over and it never posts. I don't have a clue what is wrong. I disconnected the power supply from all the drives, no fix; I removed the IDE and floppy cables from the motherboard, no fix; I even temporarily dissconnected all the case fans from the power supply, no fix. This is driving me mad; I'm not even sure what to RMA. I don't mind a little trouble but I haven't been tinkering with the clocking or anything. Maybe I should have got got a Dell! Anybody got any ideas?
 

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
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1) Set up the mobo, cpu, ram and vid card outside the case on a phonebook or something similar. Hookup the PSU, mouse KB and monitor. Try to get it to boot (P.O.S.T) without any drives. This eliminates possibility of shorts to the case, and incorrect cabling of drives etc. Only after it POSTs fine do I install. Just because a part is new doesn't mean it works.

2) Have the mobo beep codes handy. It's trying to tell you whats wrong.

Might check out build guides like the one MechBgone has posted. Maybe your doing something wrong (like not using mobo standoffs to mount it in the case).

Good Luck with it.

Fern
 

Skoop

Member
Jul 31, 2000
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The beeps mean that it is telling you something.

1. The CPU is incompatible, does not have a fan plugged in, or is not seated fully.

2. The RAM is not compatible or is not seated fully.

3. The video is not compatible or is not seated fully.

Did you maybe read your manual?
 

Xitar

Member
Dec 14, 2004
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I don't know much about your system, but I do know that the beeps are a hint as to what the problem is. There should be a decoder ring that came with your motherboard to identify what the error is.
I think this is your board.

This is a link to the file download center and you can look at the manual here if you don't have it.

I'd follow the second page of the manual to clear the CMOS first then try, try, try.... again.

Some one else may know the answer and be more helpful

 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
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Rosewill case, huh? And a Rosewill power supply? Were they all out of good power supplies? ;)

Ok sorry. But you get what you pay for. How about a nice Antec or Enermax PSU next time. For now, take the board out of the case and lay it on cardboard, disconnect all the case wiring except the power button, make sure your ATX12V 4-pin square plug is plugged in, and firmly seat all the parts in their slots until the gold contacts are buried. You can refer to the Case Prep 2 and Benchtest pages of my photo guide in my signature for more guidance.

And if you want an AthlonXP but can't build one, you don't want a Dell, you want a Compaq ;) Anyway, I'll check in when I get home and see how you're coming along. If you have any good-quality power supplies around, can I suggest using one of them instead of the Rosewill.
 

Toro 45

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
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Sounds like a ram issue try all the ram slots one at a time/reset your cmos and make sure your ram is all the way in like mechBgon said, should here a nice click.
 

housecat

Banned
Oct 20, 2004
1,426
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The motherboard manual will have the beep sequence error codes in it. If you dont have the manual most are available at the manufacturer website.

I've gone through similar times myself, and the single best tip I can give is this:
Start at the basics. Put one component at a time, test. If goes as expected (with the proper error beep code for instance), move to the next part.
Dont put it all together, flip the switch and expect to go.

I think if you do it this way, yes the slow way.. you'll get better results.

When I built my first computer at age 12 (I'm 23 now), I kicked myself and felt so stupid because I couldnt get it to all work together. But my biggest downfall has just been that I didnt give myself more time to read the manual ect.
 

oldbutdumb

Member
Oct 29, 2004
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Thanks for all your help!! I did this: removed all mounting screws where there was stuff close; reset the bios jumper to defaults; started with no accessories plugged into the back except the mouse and keyboard and all drives uncoupled from the mb and psu. I got no beeps. I hooked in the hard drive; got no beeps . Then I hooked in the floppy and cd burner and cd rom; no beeps. I attached the monitor and printer; no beeps but the monitor is black; dead as a doornail. About the beeps, I looked all over the manual for the Shuttle and found no beep codes mentioned. No troubleshooting section at all. The monitor is an old 15 incher from a Gateway computer that my wife was using. I had a newer Radeon 7200 AGP driver card but the hard drive had never seen that card so I installed her old Diamond 64 graphics card that was usable on her old computer. Seems not to work now. I tried to boot from a Win 98SE boot floppy, but that didn't work either. So a new problem has blocked success.
 

joelslaw

Senior member
Dec 9, 2004
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are you sure it's a good monitor? a few seconds after you turn it on, does the hdd light blink? What I'm getting at is that it may be booting fine, just the monitor isn't working so you don't see anything. So if the hard drive light is blinking it is loading, and you can look at one of the video components (from what you said, probably the monitor) as the problem. Let us know.
 

oldbutdumb

Member
Oct 29, 2004
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I don't know if it is the monitor or card. They were working in the old computer. I think something is wrong about the post/boot sequence because I see the lights on the cd drives flash on and off and the floppy light comes on and just stays on as if the bios was not responding to the system disk that I put in. If I can find another I'll try that. I don't seem to have a hard drive indicator light. I've spent too much time and money to try to guess a new component to replace.
 

joelslaw

Senior member
Dec 9, 2004
466
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sounds like your floppy cablre is pluged in wrong. The plugs aren't always keyed, and that would account for the light staying on. That will definately cause problems! Are you sure it's plugged in right?
 

oldbutdumb

Member
Oct 29, 2004
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You got it right on the floppy cable. Probably right on the monitor too. The light in front stays on green even if I disconnect the cable. As I remember it used to turn from green to orange and back during bootup normally.
 

RobCur

Banned
Oct 4, 2002
3,076
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Nothing is easy persistence is key to success. Keep fighting!!!

your ram maybe incompatible, it maybe high density or just not recognized by your new mobo.
your powersupply could be insufficient or incompatible.
You never know until you trouble shoot everything one at a time.
btw, is their reward for giving up so easily? :)

It's like war, you have to win.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
No beeps and no POST is not good. The beeps should have been easier to deal with. If the beeps were slow (1-2 seconds apart) then RAM problem, if fast (staccatto) then video error.

At this point, take everything apart. Start with something to set your motherboard on, preferably foam, neoprene or rubber and make sure motherboard is at least 1cm off the table. Properly install the CPU, HSF, RAM and video card. Remove the power supply and PC speaker from the case and hook them up. Hook up the monitor and try powering it up by shorting out the two pins that connect to the case power button. If no beeps or anything, then motherboard or CPU is dead. If single quick beep but no picture, maybe monitor dead. If series of beeps, then video card (fast sequence) or RAM (slow sequence) is bad or improperly seated.
 

oldbutdumb

Member
Oct 29, 2004
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Oh I hope your wrong. If I have to lay the stuff out to test it, I think I'll just RMA this board. I got a used monitor and will see if that is a fix first. I think that I originally had a problem with memory because you described the beeping that I had. I removed all my sticks and cards and re=installed them when I did the other stuff that resulted in no more beeping on posting. I may be posting without seeing it on my wife's old monitor. I'll soon know. If the monitor isn't a fix I think I should just send this board back.
 

oldbutdumb

Member
Oct 29, 2004
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Well, the replacement monitor behaves just like the old one. I have to take the board out of the case to return it anyway, so I'll try to figure out if it works once it's out.
 

oldbutdumb

Member
Oct 29, 2004
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Well after trying all your suggestions I got an RMA from Newegg today to replace the motherboard. It won't post with either kind of memory stick I tried or either cpu or either video card even with the MB out of the box. I'm pretty sure it is the board.