Shuttle MN31N

[NJbronco]

I'm putting together my first intergrated video system. With this mb I am using Kingstoon Value Ram KVR333/512 1 stick.

On initial boot up, the monitor is unreadable, does this board need better ram?

 

[farscape]

By unreadable, do you mean: a)blank, b)garbled characters, c)a splash screen that looks like it's been yanked all over the place?

A couple of suggestions:
Make sure that your CPU and HSF are in correctly, locked down and you correctly used thermal paste or pad - removed film. Make sure that your memory is FULLY installed. Make sure ALL your cables are connected correctly. Restart you system with the minimal amount needed to get it going: CPU w/HSF, 1 memory stick, HD, CD drive. Reboot.

If still nothing: reset you CMOS. That should set everything to minimum defaults. Had a time once that someone picked up a refurb/used board and all the settings were messed up.

If still nothing, then my guess is that your MB is NG. Video BIOS is usually the first thing accessed during boot.

 

[NJbronco]

I just tried a pci vid card and it boots fine. W/ int vid the screen is yanked all over the place, I can changes in color for the Shuttle logo but thats it.

I changed the the timings to optimal but that was no help.

 

[farscape]

If you boot OK with a PCI card then I wouldn't worry too much about your memory just yet. Your bigger prob is on your MB. Last quick idea - since you can get into your BIOS - set the board for minimum safe defaults. Turn on the onboard vid, save and reboot. If no go then most likely, your onboard is fubarred. RMA it and get a replacement.

 

[sellmen]

I had a similar problem with the onboard video of my Epox Nforce2 board.

With the first stick of RAM that I got, the computer was completely unstable, and the video was garbled. Inserting an AGP card fixed the problem. For whatever reason, the onboard video didn't like my RAM, regardless of the timings/frequency I ran it at.

I replaced the cheap value-ram I was using with some quality Mushkin, and the problem was solved. I would at least try some new memory before RMA'ing your board.

 

[Ionizer86]

Don't eliminate the ram as the problem, but it's not too likely. I've had good experience with Kingston Valueram: my bro's 2100 stick that was free runs at 170 CAS2 at default voltage and a bud's 2700 runs at 3200 cas 2.5 at default voltage, both perfectly stable.

 

[foofoo]

memtest is your friend. link
boot on the memtest cd (burn from iso) and from the pci video card.
this will tell you if you have memory problems. my bet is that you do.
good luck

edited for spelling