Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

I am new to PC building. In the last week I bought a motherboard,
Athlon XP 3000+, heatsink and fan, case with 350 watt power supply,
twinmos 512MB 400Mhz RAM and a serial ATA drive. I have tried to put
them together following the Abit manual. I am having problems. I am
now at a stage where sometimes the pc boots as far as the BIOS and
then subsequently dies. The speaker is emitting long beeps - I've
counted up to 30! I have tested as many of the componentsas I can in
another PC and they seem to work. Any advice?
deev

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Speculating just a bit here, but, if you're using high peformance RAM, the
default DIMM voltage can sometimes be insufficent to sustain it, or worse,
even boot it! If you can at least get to the BIOS setup, and are using such
high-perf RAM, you may want to try increasing vDIMM a little to stabilize
your RAM. If it doesn't boot at all, you'll have no choice but to get hold
of a less-demanding RAM module, like standard PC2100 or PC2700, so you can
at least increase vDIMM, *then* reinstall the high-perf stuff (this is why I
always keep a stick of cheap PC2100 around, just in case).

Of course, I'm assuming here you've done everything else correctly, but I
have seen people get stuck on this problems several times not realizing
what's happening. They get so frustrated, they either RMA the motherboard,
memory, or BOTH, all unnecessarily.

HTH

Jim

"deev" <dmurta@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:7852712a.0404030629.aab8398@posting.google.com...
> I am new to PC building. In the last week I bought a motherboard,
> Athlon XP 3000+, heatsink and fan, case with 350 watt power supply,
> twinmos 512MB 400Mhz RAM and a serial ATA drive. I have tried to put
> them together following the Abit manual. I am having problems. I am
> now at a stage where sometimes the pc boots as far as the BIOS and
> then subsequently dies. The speaker is emitting long beeps - I've
> counted up to 30! I have tested as many of the componentsas I can in
> another PC and they seem to work. Any advice?
> deev

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Jim,

Would you mind revealing what brand of high performance memory you are
using?

Thanks,
Forrest


Motherboard Help By HAL web site:
http://home.comcast.net/~hal-9000/


On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 06:41:46 -0800, "Jim" <null@null.com> wrote:

< snip>

> If it doesn't boot at all, you'll have no choice but to get hold
>of a less-demanding RAM module, like standard PC2100 or PC2700, so you can
>at least increase vDIMM, *then* reinstall the high-perf stuff (this is why I
>always keep a stick of cheap PC2100 around, just in case).
>

< snip >

Hmmm. I wonder if this is the reason why I didn't have any trouble
selling my old pc2100 memory?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

I *was* using Mushkin PC3500 Dual Channel Level 2 "Black" (2-2-2) 512MB (2 x
256MB) (~$160 from newegg.com at the time, unfortunately, I don't see it
listed there or at Mushkin anymore) w/ my Abit AI7, basically the *best*
PC3500 newegg.com had to offer at the time (this is back in Dec '03). I got
stuck on this very problem w/ this memory.

I've since moved to 1GB of Kingston HyperX PC3200 (
http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/co [...] 3200AK2/1G )
.. I took it down a notch from PC3500 to PC3200 because Kingston had a promo
for $176! Just couldn't pass up that deal. You can't touch this stuff now
for less than $270 (at least not retail, maybe less on eBay). I've been
able to OC the Kingston to almost PC3500, tight timings (2-3-2-5-1), rock
solid stable, and gained another 512MB, all for less than $20 difference.
When I looked at the entire situation, I concluded *more* memory was better
(economically and performance-wise) than slightly *faster* memory.

Note, the Kingston never gave me vDIMM problems, not like the Mushkin did!

Jim


"- HAL9000" <gumpy@mail.org> wrote in message
news:5chu601upfqr7dlhl7rdnhm9og2i03vpup@4ax.com...
> Jim,
>
> Would you mind revealing what brand of high performance memory you are
> using?
>
> Thanks,
> Forrest
>
>
> Motherboard Help By HAL web site:
> http://home.comcast.net/~hal-9000/
>
>
> On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 06:41:46 -0800, "Jim" <null@null.com> wrote:
>
> < snip>
>
> > If it doesn't boot at all, you'll have no choice but to get hold
> >of a less-demanding RAM module, like standard PC2100 or PC2700, so you
can
> >at least increase vDIMM, *then* reinstall the high-perf stuff (this is
why I
> >always keep a stick of cheap PC2100 around, just in case).
> >
>
> < snip >
>
> Hmmm. I wonder if this is the reason why I didn't have any trouble
> selling my old pc2100 memory?
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

> I am new to PC building. In the last week I bought a motherboard,
> Athlon XP 3000+, heatsink and fan, case with 350 watt power supply,
> twinmos 512MB 400Mhz RAM and a serial ATA drive. I have tried to put
> them together following the Abit manual. I am having problems. I am
> now at a stage where sometimes the pc boots as far as the BIOS and
> then subsequently dies. The speaker is emitting long beeps - I've
> counted up to 30! I have tested as many of the componentsas I can in
> another PC and they seem to work. Any advice?
> deev

Hi!

Are you shure that the cpu-heatsink is correct installed?

If you had a hard time to get the heatsink-clip on the cpu-socket, it is
possible that you´ve installed the heatsink wrong, uninstall it and check
all thing´s again, if you turn it 180 degr. wrong you´ll get the symptom
you´re talking ´bout (take it very easy with the cpu-core, it´s very easy
to destroy!)

Good luck!

/O.T.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Hi again
Thanks Jim and blah I have checked the power consumption and tried
some slower speed RAM. The power supply should be just about OK
according to the calculator. I swopped in some 256MB RAM from a Dell
PC but it doesn't seem to make any difference - still getting the
beeps. I am using an Nvidia FX 5200 with 128MB but I have tried an
older AGP card also. Any other suggestions?
Regards
deev

"Jim" <null@null.com> wrote in message news:<T0Abc.7993$zh.5760@fed1read07>...
> Speculating just a bit here, but, if you're using high peformance RAM, the
> default DIMM voltage can sometimes be insufficent to sustain it, or worse,
> even boot it! If you can at least get to the BIOS setup, and are using such
> high-perf RAM, you may want to try increasing vDIMM a little to stabilize
> your RAM. If it doesn't boot at all, you'll have no choice but to get hold
> of a less-demanding RAM module, like standard PC2100 or PC2700, so you can
> at least increase vDIMM, *then* reinstall the high-perf stuff (this is why I
> always keep a stick of cheap PC2100 around, just in case).
>
> Of course, I'm assuming here you've done everything else correctly, but I
> have seen people get stuck on this problems several times not realizing
> what's happening. They get so frustrated, they either RMA the motherboard,
> memory, or BOTH, all unnecessarily.
>
> HTH
>
> Jim
>
> "deev" <dmurta@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:7852712a.0404030629.aab8398@posting.google.com...
> > I am new to PC building. In the last week I bought a motherboard,
> > Athlon XP 3000+, heatsink and fan, case with 350 watt power supply,
> > twinmos 512MB 400Mhz RAM and a serial ATA drive. I have tried to put
> > them together following the Abit manual. I am having problems. I am
> > now at a stage where sometimes the pc boots as far as the BIOS and
> > then subsequently dies. The speaker is emitting long beeps - I've
> > counted up to 30! I have tested as many of the componentsas I can in
> > another PC and they seem to work. Any advice?
> > deev

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Hi Ola
Being new to this I am slow about trying to take the heatsink off
again because I am worried I may damage the cpu. Do I have to replace
the thermal compound? How do I get the old compound off without
damage? I am pretty sure that the hisink is sitting properly on the
cpu as there are no gaps visible. The fan is plugged into the closest
header as per the manual and it is working.
Regards
deev

"Ola Thorén" <tubeola@home.se> wrote in message news:<ynJbc.88548$dP1.261600@newsc.telia.net>...
> > I am new to PC building. In the last week I bought a motherboard,
> > Athlon XP 3000+, heatsink and fan, case with 350 watt power supply,
> > twinmos 512MB 400Mhz RAM and a serial ATA drive. I have tried to put
> > them together following the Abit manual. I am having problems. I am
> > now at a stage where sometimes the pc boots as far as the BIOS and
> > then subsequently dies. The speaker is emitting long beeps - I've
> > counted up to 30! I have tested as many of the componentsas I can in
> > another PC and they seem to work. Any advice?
> > deev
>
> Hi!
>
> Are you shure that the cpu-heatsink is correct installed?
>
> If you had a hard time to get the heatsink-clip on the cpu-socket, it is
> possible that you´ve installed the heatsink wrong, uninstall it and check
> all thing´s again, if you turn it 180 degr. wrong you´ll get the symptom
> you´re talking ´bout (take it very easy with the cpu-core, it´s very easy
> to destroy!)
>
> Good luck!
>
> /O.T.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Post your problem here:
http://forum.abit-usa.com/forumdis [...] forumid=26

You can do a search and usually find the answer.

On 3 Apr 2004 06:29:57 -0800, dmurta@hotmail.com (deev) wrote:

>I am new to PC building. In the last week I bought a motherboard,
>Athlon XP 3000+, heatsink and fan, case with 350 watt power supply,
>twinmos 512MB 400Mhz RAM and a serial ATA drive. I have tried to put
>them together following the Abit manual. I am having problems. I am
>now at a stage where sometimes the pc boots as far as the BIOS and
>then subsequently dies. The speaker is emitting long beeps - I've
>counted up to 30! I have tested as many of the componentsas I can in
>another PC and they seem to work. Any advice?
>deev

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Ok, thanks for the info.

Hehehe, I have a similar war story on memory and ended up with
Kingston Hyper X too.

Forrest

Motherboard Help By HAL web site:
http://home.comcast.net/~hal-9000/


On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 15:47:08 -0800, "Jim" <null@null.com> wrote:

>I *was* using Mushkin PC3500 Dual Channel Level 2 "Black" (2-2-2) 512MB (2 x
>256MB) (~$160 from newegg.com at the time, unfortunately, I don't see it
>listed there or at Mushkin anymore) w/ my Abit AI7, basically the *best*
>PC3500 newegg.com had to offer at the time (this is back in Dec '03). I got
>stuck on this very problem w/ this memory.
>
>I've since moved to 1GB of Kingston HyperX PC3200 (
>http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator/PartsInfo.asp?ktcpartno=KHX3200AK2/1G )
>. I took it down a notch from PC3500 to PC3200 because Kingston had a promo
>for $176! Just couldn't pass up that deal. You can't touch this stuff now
>for less than $270 (at least not retail, maybe less on eBay). I've been
>able to OC the Kingston to almost PC3500, tight timings (2-3-2-5-1), rock
>solid stable, and gained another 512MB, all for less than $20 difference.
>When I looked at the entire situation, I concluded *more* memory was better
>(economically and performance-wise) than slightly *faster* memory.
>
>Note, the Kingston never gave me vDIMM problems, not like the Mushkin did!
>
>Jim
>
>
>"- HAL9000" <gumpy@mail.org> wrote in message
>news:5chu601upfqr7dlhl7rdnhm9og2i03vpup@4ax.com...
>> Jim,
>>
>> Would you mind revealing what brand of high performance memory you are
>> using?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Forrest
>>
>>
>> Motherboard Help By HAL web site:
>> http://home.comcast.net/~hal-9000/
>>
>>
>> On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 06:41:46 -0800, "Jim" <null@null.com> wrote:
>>
>> < snip>
>>
>> > If it doesn't boot at all, you'll have no choice but to get hold
>> >of a less-demanding RAM module, like standard PC2100 or PC2700, so you
>can
>> >at least increase vDIMM, *then* reinstall the high-perf stuff (this is
>why I
>> >always keep a stick of cheap PC2100 around, just in case).
>> >
>>
>> < snip >
>>
>> Hmmm. I wonder if this is the reason why I didn't have any trouble
>> selling my old pc2100 memory?
>>
>>
>