Weird first boot problem...PS I think...

Legendary

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2002
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I just built a computer (Athlon XP 1800, Abit KR7A, 256 MB DDR, GF2 Ti something) and when I go to boot it the first time...the fans spin, the lights on the drive come on...but there is no beeping, and the drives do not respond to the eject button. However, when I take out the RAM, the beep code is for missing RAM. If I put the RAM back in and take the video card out, I get the beep code for "no video". But if they're both in, I get no beep codes at all. I have a 300W power supply, could it be that the RAM or the video card is taking the last ounce of power so when one is out, the other will work and vice versa? Thanks in advance.
 

LordAccord

Senior member
Jan 17, 2002
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have you tried going to the bare minimum (taking out all cards but video, all drives but hdd and floppy or cd?)

also, consider moving the ram to different slots and also reseating the CPU.... sometimes can make a difference...

However, athlons suck a LOT of power. I would definitely consider stepping that PSU up. Do you have any higher wattage PSUs you can try to test and see if that is your problem for sure?

LoRdAccord
 

Legendary

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2002
7,019
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Sure, my friend has an extra 350W I could use to test it out...yeah I unplugged all the stuff except the CPU, RAM and video and same stuff as before. I also put the RAM in every DIMM except the 4th (which is under the drive bays because of my damn small case) so I don't think that's it. I think I'll pick up the 350W. Thanks.