Athlon XP 1700+ Project fails to start up..Possible DOA.

**Lex** · 04 January 2002, 08:16 Friday

This was a tough question over in TTP, and it's still a tough question.

Unfortunately, short of "parts replacing" until you find it, this could be tough. A second PC, that was capable of swapping everything except the MB, could help, then if all the peripherals/memory/etc... work? It MUST be the MB.

My personal faith in ABIT is not what some of these other guys is. But I hate to say, yeah, dead MB, and be wrong. But I can tell you, I won't soon buy another Abit after my KG-7 failures.

Lex

**SiliGoose** · 07 January 2002, 23:29 Monday

Where do you have your RAM? How many sticks do you have? Try moving them around. I believe the KG7 likes its RAM in slots 2 & 3 (rather than 0 & 1 like most boards).

I fried my KG7-RAID with static (I think). I just ordered a Soltek SL-75DRV2 KT266A-based board to replace it.

-Sili

**Lex** · 08 January 2002, 14:12 Tuesday

Yeah, I would definitely do the install with 1 stick of memory only. Try one, if that doesn't work try the other stick. Double check video card and PCI cards for solid installation.

Do you make it to the bios menu Trevor? Not sure that question was ever asked, but you got to get to that first, before windows installation can begin.

Sili, bummer on the board!

Lex

**Lex** · 08 January 2002, 14:15 Tuesday

Did you tell me when you go to turn it off, you have to hold the power button down, or just tap it and it shuts off????? this is important, as far as I am concerned.

Lex

**Bing Fung** · 08 January 2002, 19:10 Tuesday

Trev, try like Lex stated with only one stick of Ram. The KG7 needs registered memory to take the 1GB your trying to pack into it. I have heard it work with out, but do try just 1 stick. as well make sure it is in slot 1 as Sili pointed out.

Make sure your Video card is seated properly in the AGP port, some times you may have to push harder than you may think you should.

Try a different video card to make sure you can at least post and see the post. That would indicate it is a Video card issue. If not then it may be a Mobo config.

Try turning off the PC and then hold down insert before and while you press the power button.

Let me know how that does anything for you and we'll go from there.

Bing

**Trevor Schell** · 08 January 2002, 22:04 Tuesday

Thanks for the responses guys.

We did try the moving around of the ram sticks, however we never did just use one so that is something that can be tried.

Nothing ever came onto the screen, no signal at all. The monitor continued to flash it's searching for input message.
There is nothing installed on the computer.
The two hard drives are brand new and have no operating system on them.

Lex,,To turn it off,,We had to hold the power button down for about 5 seconds. Is this normal?
With my current Dell computer, pressing the power button once would shut it down immediately.

Bing the Graphics card should be fine as we had taken it out several times.
I installed the Voodoo 5 AGP that I have in the old box with no results.

I will try the insert key procedure.
I have the old box set-up and in use at the moment. So when I get a chance I will try to reconnect the new box and try these above mentioned procedures.

Thanks again,
Trevor.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Lex** · 10 January 2002, 09:43 Thursday

Trev, in general, if a PC has a hardware problem, then turning it off after it appears to be hung or done all it can do towards booting, results in a power down with just a tap of the key. If operating normally, you have to hold the power button down a few seconds to power off manually.

At least that's been my experiences. Trev, has this monitor been used before? We want to use as many things that arent' new as possible, to start eliminating possibilities.

Doug

**Trevor Schell** · 12 January 2002, 23:55 Saturday

I just spent about three hours working on the new box.

I checked everything out in terms of connections etc,,
All seems to be fine.
Read the manual also, so am learning a lot
about this.

The power supply has a 20 pin connector which went to the motherboard. However there is also a 4 pin connector and a 6 pin connector from the power supply. I can't see where these would be plugged into and there does not seem to be clear direction on it that I could find.
They could be for other types of motherboards. Not Sure.

In the manual it says the MB is compatible with 1.3 GZ AMD's..now I wonder if my XP chip may not be compatible and is not recognized.
I may pick up a smaller chip and try it.
Maybe the board needs to be upgraded through the BIOS before it can use the XP chip.

Since my ram is not registered, I can only use two of the four chips that I have.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Trevor Schell** · 13 January 2002, 00:55 Sunday

Looks like the MB is not compatible with the AMD XP processor.
There is Bios upgrade for the MB to update compatibility.
I bet this is the problem.

abit-usa.com

http://www.abit-usa.com/eng/download/bios/bios-kg7.htm

This domain may be for sale!

So I have to buy an old chip,,set up,,Download the new Bios ,,then put in the XP chip.
That would seem my only option right.?

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Bing Fung** · 13 January 2002, 01:46 Sunday

Those other connectors are for the P4 mobo and another floppy drive...

You think that the MB should at least post and let you get into the bios even if the CPU is not supported. From what I understand is the BIos upgrade allows the mobo information at boot to properly state that it is an XP processor. The shipped bios should at least post... :?

Make sure you clear the CMOS using the jumper just to be sure something did not happen during transport. Make sure to discconect the power cord before you do this.

Insure the RAM sticks are really seated, I have been hearing that a lot of KG7's will not post&boot because they are not set. Apperently you really have to push them in hard.

Insure the CPU is seated correctly and thethe heat sink is firmly attached.

This is goofy, but for some reason sometimes if you unplug all your boards, IE, sound card, network card...etc, everything except the video card and try to boot from there. Abit actually recommends this proceedure to begin trouble shooting. Ensure as well that you have no USB devices connected as this can also prevent the mobo from posting.

Make sure that the Fan for the CPU is plugged into the header as the Mobo will not start if it is not connected.

Let me know how that works...

Bing

**Trevor Schell** · 13 January 2002, 11:26 Sunday

Make sure you clear the CMOS using the jumper just to be sure something did not happen during transport. Make sure to discconect the power cord before you do this.

The CMOS was a three pin section with a plastic peice that joins two pins.
I put the plastic peice onto the the last two pins while the computer was unplugged. I also plugged it back in and tried to power it up with the pins in clear cmos mode. It would not power up.
Switching it back the computer turns back on..doesn't bot but all fans run ,front panel light indicators light up etc...

Insure the RAM sticks are really seated, I have been hearing that a lot of KG7's will not post&boot because they are not set. Apperently you really have to push them in hard.

I have the ram (2 chips) in the last slots #3 and 4. The white plastic clips come right up the sides so I assumed it is seated properly. I will try abit more force with this.

This is goofy, but for some reason sometimes if you unplug all your boards, IE, sound card, network card...etc, everything except the video card and try to boot from there. Abit actually recommends this proceedure to begin trouble shooting. Ensure as well that you have no USB devices connected as this can also prevent the mobo from posting

I may just take the MB right out of the case and try it that way.

Make sure that the Fan for the CPU is plugged into the header as the Mobo will not start if it is not connected.

This looks to be correct.

I will go to Techtronics and buy another processor and MB. They can probably test my processor.

Thanks for all the info.
Sure learning alot about this.
Maybe I will get into the business one day.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Lex** · 15 January 2002, 18:18 Tuesday

Trev, I am impressed with your persistence on this. I would have figured you would just go out and buy a new system, lol. I am going to replace the Mobo in my Abit system soon, with an Asus, another IWILL, or something. This failure problem this thing has is the pits. I have 2 other W2K installs, neither of which does this.

I am like Bing, I would have though you could get to BIOS with the chip. But then, I am no expert, far from it. I struggle through my own PC problems, sometimes, I am successful, and sometimes I just pull the ripcord, lol.

Goodluck Trev!

Lex

**Trevor Schell** · 18 January 2002, 20:43 Friday

I took the processor to a local computer center to have it tested.
The said it is a dead processor.
Kind of disappointed, but at least I now know what the problem is, which is a good thing.

I hope I can return this processor. I bought ordered it online on November 5 which is way past the 30 day exchange deadline.
I hope they will understand.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Bing Fung** · 19 January 2002, 09:07 Saturday

Wow Trev, I hope you guys had the fan hooked up before you tried to boot the system. An Athlon will burn in seconds with out the fan.

Bummer.

Bing

**Trevor Schell** · 19 January 2002, 10:54 Saturday

The fan was always hooked up. 7200rpm Blue Orb.
Plus the chip was handled with great care.
So it must have been dead when it arrived.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Bing Fung** · 19 January 2002, 11:16 Saturday

Bastards!! then

Bing

**Trevor Schell** · 19 January 2002, 11:54 Saturday

Well,,I learned a lesson.
Never buy computer parts unless you will be using them ASAP or can atleast test them out..

The AMD Processor was purchased on Nov 5 ,,however I did not start building my computer until the first week of January only to find the Processor is defective.

Premier Computer Canada located in Toronto,the store that I ordered the Processor from will not replace the processor or help at all in any way because the 30 day warrenty from purchase date is already expired.

I suspected this but figured I would call anyways in hopes that they would assist in taking care of my situation.

Bummer for sure.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Trevor Schell** · 22 January 2002, 00:11 Tuesday

I replaced the processor and fan,,since I accidently burned out the motor on it.

Still no luck,,Everything seems to run,,but no boot up.

Some pictures of the inside with the new fan installed.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Bing Fung** · 22 January 2002, 13:02 Tuesday

OK Trev, I'm about at my wits end with this one, and it's not even my PC

Make sure the you have the Ram in the correct slots. Read the Abit manual about RAM and what slots it wants it in. IE, if it's 1 stick it may want it in slot 1, if it's 2 sticks, it may want it in slot 1 & 3.

Check to see the IDE cords to the hard drives are connected correctly. This will prevent the board form posting as well. If your cords a keyed, then you should be OK, if not they can easily be swapped the wrong way. Pin 1 on the HD is the side closest to the the power connector. Ensure that the IDE cord has the red stripe on the cord connected to pin 1.

I was just studying the pictures and it looks like the IDE is correct, however it looks like the HD's are plugged in to IDE channel 1 and 2.

Try plugging them in to the orange ports of the MB. Those are IDe channel 3 & 4 and inable ATA 100 transfers. If you using the cords that came with the MB those are 80 conductor, 40 pin ATA 100 cords and as such, may be tripping up the post if they are plugged into the standard ATA 60 ports.

Also insure no USB devices are plugged in.

Other than that maybe drop it off, or I can come by for a look.

Bing

**Trevor Schell** · 23 January 2002, 01:39 Wednesday

Thanks Bing,,Maybe I will arrange to drop it off.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Mai** · 25 January 2002, 15:01 Friday

Hi Trev:
I recently upgraded my computer as well to XP1700+ and I had the same problem that you are experiencing. Firstly, my mob has a default setting of 100MHz FSB. I had to change the jumpers to set it to 133MHz. Secondly my cpu fan connection was the other culprit. The type that I have has to be connected to the power supply instead of the mob and the mob has a protection scheme where it will not boot if it does not detect a cpu fan connected to it. To by-pass this I used an old fan and connected to the mob cpufan connector. Once it boots up, I disabled this feature in the bios. If you have a similar set up then give my suggestion a try. Hope this helps.
Quan

**Andrew Pratt** · 25 January 2002, 15:30 Friday

Good suggestions Mai...nice to see another winnipeger posting

**Trevor Schell** · 27 January 2002, 21:52 Sunday

Thanks for the tip Mai.
One question though. What MB do you have.?
Mine is the Abit KG7.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Jariten** · 29 January 2002, 00:41 Tuesday

Might be too late...

but check out www.hardforum.com

for your PC problems
a few solutions in there ^_^;;

Now concerning that particular board :

the 1st CPU was probably fried (Blue Orb on an AMD CPU is a NONO)

As mentionned lower ...Fan problem detection on Fan1 socket if he doesn't connect a fan on that it won't work..
but the PC seems to start up normally.

Is he using the 40pin/80wires on the STD IDE ports? (could fry the southbridge)
and/or the HDD's themselves.

does the speaker beep?
or no beeps at all?

out of ideas right now....

I would have thought that the Mainboard would have booted even if the BIOS was not up to date...
what seems weird is that the KG7 came out after the Athlon XP's were out...so I don'tthink that the Bios was at fault.
Umm
since it has the orange connectors ..is this the KG7-R (Raid) version of the board?

but indeed ...do install the 40pin/80wires cables and plug the drives in there...you want to use ATA 100 not ATA33

slightly faster transfer rates ^_^

**Trevor Schell** · 31 January 2002, 22:50 Thursday

Thanks for the help and assistance everybody!.

The problem now does seem to be fixed.
I am not sure as to what it is called ,but there is
a small pin that sits inside the the center of the processor slot
connected directly to the motherboard.
This pin should be slightly angled, however mine was not which caused an incorrect contact to the processor. Even with the processor correctly fastened and locked into the slot this pin would not make contact to were it was needed to.
Simply pushing this pin down a little with a slight bend fixed the problem.

The computer now posts..

Thanks again to Bing for finding the guilty culprit.
I could not have known this on my own with the small amount of experience that I have with motherboards and processors.

If I did not explain this correctly ,I am sure that Bing will be able to jump in and give a better detailed explanation.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Bing Fung** · 01 February 2002, 02:54 Friday

Hey Trev, just finished formatting, partitioning and installing Windows XP. looks good so far.

I did not have any more network cards, so we may just rob the one out of your Dell. we need to get "Shell Shocker" (that's the name I gave your PC) up on to the net so we can activate XP, and download the latest drivers.

Abit's FTP is still down so I can't get the newer Bios.

The problem with Trev's no post situation was due to the MB's CPU thermocouple. It was sitting too high, not allowing a proper CPU seat. I just bent it to the correct position to maintain contact with the CPU, yet allow proper seating.

We may have to pull that 3rd stick of RAM for I'm getting flaky memory checks. Sometimes it'll count 256, sometimes 512, yet I have not seen the 768 like we did last night. Damn non-registered stuff :twisted:

I'll bring it over tomorrow after supper if you would like.....

Bing

Athlon XP 1700+ Project fails to start up..Possible DOA.

Athlon XP 1700+ Project fails to start up..Possible DOA.

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