New MB/CPU = strange problems!

[Guest]

Hi folks,

Strange problem here which hopefully some kind soul can help with since it is driving me MENTAL!

Basically, I decided to make a move from a Celeron 466Mhz to a Duron 1Ghz. I purchased a suitable motherboard (Gigabyte GA-7ZXE SoA VIA KT133A ATX A) and CPU from Dabs. I put it into my case, attaching the fan, RAM (512mb Kingston SDRAM), power cable, floppy drive and power switch.

Upon booting the fan starts up and I am able to access the BIOS screen and play around to my hearts content.

However, upon leaving the BIOS I will experience one of the following problems:

- Display goes blank and nothing happening
- American Megatrends logo in top left and rest of screen
- Memory checked and then hangs on "Wait..."

On the odd occasion that the system gets past this stage and begins to read the floppy it gets as far as "Starting MS-DOS..." and then hangs.

I also tried a Windows ME startup disk which gets as far as the 3 options (Boot with CDROM support etc..) but hangs as soon as I press one.

It is as though the system halts as soon as it tries to execute a program.

My own thoughts as to the source of the problem are:

Insufficient power supply? - I am using the 250w jobby from previous system.
Overheating? - I am using a new dual fan but there is still a fair bit of heat.
Incorrect bus speed? - I've played with jumpers but my understanding of this is below par.
BIOS - I have tried updating this to the newest version to no avail.

Do these symptoms sound familiar to anyone? I would be eternally grateful to anyone who give me an idea why this might be happening (before I start to sob like a baby!).

Many thanks in advance,
Graeme.



Clinical insanity runs in my family.

 

[jlanka]

Initial reaction would be Power Supply. Any chance of borrowing a beefier one from a friend to test the theory?

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

 

[Crashman]

is it possible that your old memory was PC66, or PC100 running at 133 using the 100/133/33 CPU/RAM/PCI setting?

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[tilepusher]

Hey M,

When did this problem start? Has this new system ever ran?(i know the celeron did, but has the duron ever?).

Did you use a thermal grease on the HSF?
Did you reformat your HDD & reinstall windows after the upgrade?
Have you checked your jumper settings(if you have a 100/133 mhz FSB jumper, set it to 100mhz)
Has windows ever ran on this system? if it did, have you installed all the mobo drivers?
Have you tried physically removing all cards & ram, and reseating them?
You tried updating the BIOS, is this before you loaded windows? Were the old setting on default?
What brand of Ram are you running? & is this Ram from your old system, if it is, it is most likely PC66 which will fit in the ram slots, but will not work with the Duron CPU. AMD Durons & Athlons are more sensitive to cheap ram than cpu's running a 100mhz or slower fsb.

When you get back to me, I will try to have answers not just questions. The thing is, from your post, this could be almost anything. I don't know you & the things you would normally check and replace. From your post I don't know if this system has ever ran. I don't know if you have ever, upgraded a mobo & cpu combo.

I really want to know if you have the right ram(PC133, most celerons run a 66mhz fsb & use PC66) installed & did you fdisk & reformat your HDD. Good Luck

Peace Out...........tile

Just waiting for the next "Big" thing like everyone else?

 

[Guest]

> Did you use a thermal grease on the HSF?

I used thermal compound. But this just seemed to make a mess of my new CPU. The new dual fan seems to be VERY tight on the CPU. I assume this is to ensure contact.

> Did you reformat your HDD & reinstall windows after the upgrade?

Na. I'm haven't attached the harddrive or CDROMs yet. Just trying to get a msdos boot disk to successfully startup.

> Have you checked your jumper settings(if you have a 100/133 mhz FSB jumper, set it to 100mhz)

Currently set to 100mhz. Fan starts but no display when set at 133mhz.

> Has windows ever ran on this system? if it did, have you installed all the mobo drivers?

Not got this far yet ;-(

> Have you tried physically removing all cards & ram, and reseating them?

Oh how I've tried. My fingers are in tatters...

> You tried updating the BIOS, is this before you loaded windows? Were the old setting on default?

Not using windows yet.

> What brand of Ram are you running? & is this Ram from your old system, if it is, it is most likely PC66 which will fit in the ram slots, but will not work with the Duron CPU. AMD Durons & Athlons are more sensitive to cheap ram than cpu's running a 100mhz or slower fsb.

I bought the RAM about a month ago. It is 2x256Mb Kingston PC133.

> When you get back to me, I will try to have answers not just questions. The thing is, from your post, this could be almost anything. I don't know you & the things you would normally check and replace. From your post I don't know if this system has ever ran. I don't know if you have ever, upgraded a mobo & cpu combo.

> I really want to know if you have the right ram(PC133, most celerons run a 66mhz fsb & use PC66) installed & did you fdisk & reformat your HDD. Good Luck

> Peace Out...........tile


Many many thanks for your help dude!

Graeme.

Clinical insanity runs in my family.

 

[Guest]

UPDATE:

I've purchased a 300w AMD approved PSU. Various people have suggested this as being the problem.

I'll let you all know how I go.

Thanks fellows.
Graeme.

Clinical insanity runs in my family.

 

[jlanka]

if it doesn't fix the problem, please don't go the "familiy way" ;-)

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

 

[tilepusher]

Hey MrMad,

Well it looks like you did everything that I could think of right.

With the thermal compound/grease, you might try next time just to use a very thin layer over just the metal center piece & not the whole wafer(not that I think you covered the whole wafer). I doubted that has anything to do with your problem though.

I wish, I could give you some answers as promised, but you might have a bad cpu or mobo. Good Luck

Peace Out.............tile

It would be nice if everyone gave too much information about their system & problems.

 

[NurseMSIC]

Not an answer that you want, but i have used Dabs quite a bit, and once when i got a crap hard drive, i sent it back and Dabs were great about it all, paying for postage if i remember rightly. Either way they made me a satisfied customer, so dont worry if you do have a crap motherboard.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108</A>

 

[Guest]

Too late I'm afraid.. lol!

Maddy.

Clinical insanity runs in my family.

 

[Guest]

This gives me some peace of mind

I'm really don't like dealing with Customer Services at the best of times...

Cheers for now,
Graeme (aka Mr Mad).


Clinical insanity runs in my family.