System Won't Post

[Valaire]

Hi, I have been setting up a computer and just started testing it. I have a radeon 9700 pro and my monitor won't work with it plugged into the vga port, it will only work in the dvi port with a vga adapter. Is this normal? (I have a 19 inch crt monitor that is a few years old). My other problem however, is that I went into the bios and just did some maintenance (I disabled some extra peripherals like audio that I don't need) and now my system won't boot. It just beeps steadily and constantly and nothing displays on the screen. Does this mean it doesn't detect my video card now or what?

Thanks,
Chad

 

[Valaire]

I checked all connections... it seems like it also makes one long beep right when I power it on.

 

[Valaire]

I bought the motherboard, memory, and cpu as a bundle, and the system posted before now so I'm assuming it's not a memory or video card problem. I reinstalled the video card with no luck. I just put the power in and get a really long beep then some more. Any hints... should I try to clear my cmos?

 

[tilepusher]

Hey V,

You need to post more information about your system.

You also need to go to your Bios chip makers website & look for that chip's beep codes. You could also try reseating your Video card.

Question, did you have another video card in this system before? Sometimes you have to do a full format of your HDD just to get the old drivers fully removed from your system. Good Luck

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

god knows your entire system setup & he would answer your questions if he could just stop laughing

 

[Valaire]

Completely new system...gigabyte 7vaxp with raid, athlon 2400, 512 mb ram.

The system posted fine besides the slight monitor problem but now everything went to hell. I am going to install a raid array but right now I have two brand new drives installed to the controller...

I can't find a way to clear the cmos...since this board has two bios chips, one is supposed to backup the other but still just getting beeps.

It was right after I made some changes in bios (nothing earth shattering, I just disabled some ports and onboard audio, and ever since it won't post)

Any ideas here? I've reseated the radeon 9700 pro like 3 times, and I'm getting nothing. Is there anything else that makes a long steady continous beep? I checked my manual and it doesn't say much.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by valaire on 10/30/02 08:04 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Valaire]

I think sometimes it does one short beep, followed by long continous beeps. The memory should have no problems, and checked the video card a few times. My monitor gets no signal whatsoever.

 

[FUGGER]

Make sure you have the power connector plugged into the video card or you will hear beeps and the system will not boot. If the power is connected and you still hear beeps make sure the card is seated all the way in the socket.



You are limited to what your mind can perceive.

 

[Valaire]

I plugged in the power and have reseated it a couple times.

 

[Valaire]

Interestingly enough, I tried swapping out my radeon for my old geforce3 and the system still won't post.

 

[DaveP]

Did you try the fail/safe settings in bios?

I'm not really stupid...... I just play one on TV.

 

[tilepusher]

Hey V,

Have you looked at this:

http://www.phoenix.com/en/support/bios+support/awardbios/award+error+codes.htm

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

god knows your entire system setup & he would answer your questions if he could just stop laughing

 

[Valaire]

I can't access the bios, when i turn on the computer, i just get the beeping -- with two different video cards. I can't find a jumper to clear the cmos...this board is supposed to have a backup bios anyway.

 

[Valaire]

I could either contact the motherboard people (i just got it today) or rma the video card at newegg, but I don't have conclusive evidence yet.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-7VAXP.

Full computer specs:

Enermax 350 Watt PSU
Plexwriter CD-R
Toshiba DVD-ROM
2 Maxtor HDD's connected to IDE channels 3 and 4 (I was going to set up a RAID array).
Athlon 2400+ CPU
512 MB Samsung PC3200
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz PCI Sound Card


--- The last thing I did was change the controller of the IDE's to RAID and rebooted but that really can't have anything to do with the video card...<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by valaire on 10/30/02 10:22 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Valaire]

I'm just gonna come out and say this -- I'd really like to know how to clear my CMOS on this motherboard cause I can't find a jumper anywhere nor does the manual mention anything...I'm thinking because it has two bios's.

 

[johnoh]

If you take out the mobo battery and unplug the power I think that should clear the cmos regardless of whether you have a clear cmos jumper. A bios reflash is another idea.

Failing that, there is always the old "take it all apart and put it back together" route.

I had a system recently where I put in a graphics card (Ti4200) and it screwed up the cmos by making agp details unavailable to apps as well as disallowing the agp 4x option and causing random lock ups even prior to windows loading. Even after switching out the card for another the bios was still affected. Never knew an agp card could corrupt a bios. But by removing the battery and power cord the cmos went back to default settings and I could then get it to work with a different graphics card. I returned that first card.

With my current Ti4200 I have the same vga/dvi deal as you - if I have only one monitor plugged in it needs to go through the dvi port using the vga adapter. Never researched it though.

John A

 

[Valaire]

Thanks for the reply. I just took out the battery and am going to wait a few mintues and reboot and see what happens. If it means anything, the first few times I booted it where it worked, my monitor would do some funky stuff, like have an explosion of some colors in the center of the screen, then kind of die into nothing...

I'm actually hoping that it's the video card that corrupted the bios so i can just rma the video card and not have to deal with the motherboard...

 

[Valaire]

Hey, clearing the battery worked! When I try to install my RAID drivers however, it reboots and hangs at the verifying dmi pool data stage. I can set up my array fine in its bios now, but I can't get back into windows install cause it keeps hanging there.

 

[johnoh]

Are you using the gf3 card now? I would keep the 9700 out of the picture until the system is stable.

Make sure you are setting up the raid in the right order, i.e., bios first, drivers second. Are you able to get phone help on setting up the raid?

John A