Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (
More info?)
In article <2GVsc.58012$oQ6.13137@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com>, "jeffspc"
<jeffspc@mn.rr.com> wrote:
> I bought an ASUS P4R800-VM and installed the motherboard in a P4 case.
> Including ...
> Two 256MB DIMMs
> 52x32x52 CDRW
> Floppy
> 40GB HDD
>
> Got it all together and boom, no start up. No power to the drives nor to the
> floppy drive. So I sent the motherboard back since I tested everything else
> including the power supply in my main computer which is an ASUS A7N266-VM.
>
> Got the second motherboard, installed it and boom, no power to the HDD or
> CDRW but did get power to the floppy drive. So I sent the motherboard back.
> I was about to give up at this point and buy an Intel D865GBF but looking at
> the folks that were troubleshooting that board, I will buy from a company I
> bought my A7N266-VM from.
>
> Got the third motherboard, installed it and boom, we got power to all
> drives, hooray! Next thing to do is install Windows XP Pro and boom, no
> start up. I could only start up in Safe Mode. GRRR!! Okay, ASUS says in the
> manual that this board will only work with Windows XP Pro, right? Wrong!
>
> Next thing I tried is installing Windows 98 SE. That did the same thing as
> above. Keep in mind I did try installing these OS's 3 times with the same
> result. But hang on now there is a good ending to this story (I really think
> computers have a mind of there own or a stubbornous to them).
>
> Next thing I tried was installing Windows 98 and presto it worked. Blazing
> fast in windows 98 but couldn't get the sound or USB ports to work.
> Although, I did get the ATI video to work after searching the internet for a
> driver. So after a couple days I thought I'd try an upgrade to Windows 98 SE
> and presto, that worked. The next day I upgraded to XP Pro and that worked.
> Now isn't this really wierd? Why did I have to upgrade from version 1 then 2
> then XP? Anybody out there can tell me why would really relieve me of my
> question, LOL.
>
> All this hassle only took a month and a half a few headaches and alot of
> swearing. Hope no one has to go through what I did, :^(
>
> But hey now that it's working and is exactly what I wanted, I am a happy PC
> user ;^)
>
> But still like an Apple over a PC any day, cheers!
>
> --
> Jeff
> http://KZ900.com/
I'm having a little trouble correlating your problem description to
known failure modes, but I'm going to guess anyway. Sounds like all
you needed was a recent version of AGP/built_in_graphics drivers.
I've just been building a new system myself. Using Win2K, all was well
until I reached for the ATI CD with the drivers on it for the 9800.
Windows would boot, and at the point that the desktop would normally
appear, my screen would remain black. Since the monitor I was using
for testing doesn't have standby, it was hard to tell whether any
video signal was still coming out or not.
After much screwing around, I downloaded the latest drivers from
ATI and all is well.
Your description of "no power to the HDD" - there is the four wire
power cable that comes directly from the power supply to the drive.
The motherboard doesn't intervene in the power, in that sense.
If the PSU delivers power on that cable, then you would likely
see the drive light flash for a fraction of a second, and that
would prove that indeed it was getting power.
The power supply has a "start" signal on the 20 pin cable. If the
motherboard doesn't give the start signal, the green LED on the
motherboard can be lit, but no fans will be spinning. That is the
key to this power state - if ever the fans don't want to spin,
including the PSU fan, then it is because the motherboard isn't
sending the start signal. On an Asus motherboard, there is a
protection circuit called AGP_Warn, and one of its features is
stopping the "start" signal, when it detects a video card installed
that can damage the Northbridge. That, or a bad power switch, or
a bad power supply, are reasons for not seeing any fans spin when
you press the power button on the front of the computer case.
This assumes you've wired things correctly.
Did you have any problems with RAM on that motherboard ? There
aren't many reports of troublefree builds with that chipset.
You should get a copy of memtest86 from memtest.org and test
the memory, to make sure all is well. Memtest86 distinguishes
itself, in the fact that it tests all of memory, by lifting
itself out of the way, and testing underneath. The download
you get, will prompt for a blank floppy, and will then prep
the floppy to make a standalone test diskette for you. The
computer will be bootable from the floppy, and the program
will start immediately. Since the floppy doesn't have a
standard file system on it, you cannot examine the floppy in
Windows once it is prepped. Neither should you store other
files on the floppy - start with a blank.
HTH,
Paul
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