No Image on Screen

[ToO CoMpLiCaTeD]

i'm a proud owner of the LP UT NF3 board, along with A64 370+ and 2 OCZ Plat. EL 512 Rev. 2 modules. I'm currently stuck with a horrible graphics card (SIS 315 Pro chip) which is making me problems.
here are my questions:

1. the screen and the video card work for sure, i'm currently using it on a diff. computer. why is it then then when i turn on my DFI comp, everything starts running, cpu, ram, fans, cathodes, everything, but the picture on the screen is not to be seen. the green led on the screen is flashing. that is usual when a monitor is connected, but the computer is powered off.

2. the second thing is that i got that to work in the beggining: it even loaded windows and everything. but i messed around in the BIOS (i wanted to make my SATA drive the primary boot device, not my ATA one. How do i do that?), and when i restarted, it would come to the large DFI splash screene and freeze... and so a couple of times.

3. then i tried to load optimized/failsafe defaults, and the computer would, during boot, pop up "error on your hard drive, press ctrl alt del", and "Boot cd not found, insert setup disk"... whats up with that?


Anyways, i really hope you can reply soon... Thanks in forward

Truly yours,


Roko Rumora

 

[LiLithTecH]

Answer to question #1:

Try either CLEARING the CMOS or going into the BIOS and making sure
the VIDEO is set to AGP as the Primary video, and that it is set to 2X or 4X.


Answer to question #2:

If the OS was installed on the PRIMARY DRIVE (at the time the ATA) then
you switched the SATA drive to primary would render the OS useless until you
modify the BOOT.INI file.

Answer to question #3:

See #2

 

[ToO CoMpLiCaTeD]

1. how am i to edit the bios with no picture?
and i nudged the little cmos jumper on the mobo, but still the same. should i leave it like that or nudge it back?

2. again, i cant see the bios. and the OS is installed on the SATA drive and was working perfectly, until i connected the ata which was set as the primary slave. is that ok ? should it be secondary? master or slave? how do i convert between prim<>sec, and master<>slave?

 

[montag451]

Reset the bios as lilithtech suggests - either by :
unplugging computer, take out battery, if there is a clearcmos jumper - set that.

Preferably all 3, and leave the battery out for at least 10 minutes - 30 minutes to be sure.

Reset cmos jmpr.
install battery,
plug in power.
boot - and with luck post or boot

 

[ToO CoMpLiCaTeD]

okay, ill try that...

if im not back in an hour, call 911!

 

[ToO CoMpLiCaTeD]

oakydoaky. (did i just say oakydoaky? deepest appologies. )

i switched back the cmos jumper, unplugged EVERYTHING, plugged it back and Housten, we've got visual. the only problem is that the computer "blocks" on the DFI splash image. here's the procedure:

0. i push the on button
1. for a short short (1 sec) period, the *green* text appears (the Bios info, i think)
2. im pushing the DEL button, the ESC button, the F1-12 buttons, but nothing and:
3. the DFI Lanparty splash logo appears accross the screen
4. nothing happens.
5. nothing keeps on happening.
6. yap. nothing.
7. nothing to see here, moving on.
8. after an hour of staring into the display, i turn the computer off (via the power button on the case, ctrlaltdel dont work)

what now?

p.s. i cant get it servised or sent anywhere, its pretty important i fix it myself... :shrug:

 

[LiLithTecH]

Ok.
I'll give it one more try.

You did not state the make of the video card (thinking Joytech here).
The SIS 315 Pro Chip is a 2x/4x AGP video card supporting 3.3v.

Your motherboard supports up to an 8x 1.8v card.


Can you guess where this is leading?

 

[montag451]

oh dear..............

 

[ToO CoMpLiCaTeD]

oh, i see. so basically, i'm an idiot.

i must be one, cuz i dont know any other way to enter the bios than by pressing the DEL button while booting up, WHICH ISNT WORKING! (sorry bout the caps)...

i cant go into the bios settings. i CANT.. the splash sh*t wont let me!

im sorry, i wasnt born smart. my mother is blonde and my dad voted for Bush. Go Figure.

 

[montag451]

try a different vga card and see what happens

 

[ToO CoMpLiCaTeD]

ill try to get one, sorry. its just that being a 14yo in a s|-|itty post-war land (Croatia, EU) doesnt really get you somewhere... people here think 9800XT is overkill in video. the 6800 Ultra kost about 4500 kunas, and that arouuuund... 818,81 bucks!

 

[montag451]

sorry - not trying to sound flippant - i take it for granted that there is a computer shop round the corner, or, an old vga card lying around somewhere that is only good for testing.

Have you got a friend nearby with a system? Would that very good friend trust you with his vga card?

i know a lot of ppl that have been to croatia - it seems to be an up and coming place.

 

[ToO CoMpLiCaTeD]

there is a computer shop. but the prices are high, im broke and my friends arent computer wiz's so they wont give stuff away but ill find one somehow...


p.s. yup, i really hope Croatia will someday be a great country... preferably in my lifetime...

thanks for helping, ill try everything you said, and report if i have problems, okay?

 

[montag451]

no - just borrow one, just to see if there is a problem with your vga card, or something else.

The best way to find a problem, is to swap bits with known working bits - and see where the problem lies


If you young ones want to make a great country - then it will be. Otherwise, they will end up old and crusty like ours

 

[ToO CoMpLiCaTeD]

thats what i said. lol