Motherboards

[Guest]

Hi all,

I need someone who has a real savvy with the workings of motherboards. I am a novice in this area and I have encountered a problem that I can not solve, not for want of trying.

I am using a Giga-byte motherboard (GA-6OXM7E)with an Intel 815E AGPset, this motherboard has the latest BIOS upgrade and drivers from Giga-byte. The processor I am using is an Intel Pentium Celeron 900MHz. I have two problems with which I would like some help. Firstly, I have a 3.5" floppy drive that does not want to be recognised by the motherboard. I have change the cable around and this has made no difference. The configuration shows it as being present, but every time the computer goes to use it or I point to it the machine either asks me to check to see if a diskette is inserted or the device is not recognised. During power-up the device is not found and the machine waits for the F1 key to be depressed.

My next problem relates to RAM. I have a 512Mb SDRAM stick and despite changing the DIMM slots it sits in (there are four - three double sided and one single sided) it will only use half the memory. 262Mb.

If there is anyone out there in the forum that has some constructive ideas please, please assist me as this is driving me to distraction.

 

[jlanka]

Floppy - have you tried a different drive?

RAM - when do you see only 256? On POST or in the OS? If OS, which OS are you using?

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Guest]

Hi there,

Thanks for your reply. I have tried another floppy drive and the same thing happens. With the RAM the 256 occurs on both the post and in the OS. I am currently using Windows 98SE, but plan on going to Windows ME when I get all the bugs sorted out.

 

[Crashman]

Bad news. A lot of i815E motherboards did NOT support a single 512MB stick properly, which is one reason the one that did so cosistently (CUSL2) was praised so highly. Some boards won't support both sides of a double sided DIMM, but I think your problem is directly related to the manufacturer and poor support of 512MB DIMMs.

The floppy cable-you have to have the red stripe facing the wrong way, as compared to your IDE cables. In other words, it faces into the case as you look inside, while IDE cables face out of the case. The "A" drive is past the flip, and the flip is what makes them non-reversable. The other end of the cable goes with the pin at position 1 on the board. If you hook that end wrong, the drive light stays on. It sounds to me like you have both ends backwards.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[o1die]

In the first section of the bios are the listings of your hardrive(s), floppy, etc. If you have reset the bios (cmos), your floppy may be off. Try checking the settings and see if it's set to 3.5 or whatever type you're using. If not, scroll down to the device section, press enter and set it to the type of floppy you're using.

 

[knowan]

Try putting a disk in the floppy drive. A working floppy disk as a malfunctional floppy will give you the same error.


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