Help my sorry ass

[bAd_Poultry]

ok here goes

Install new Mobo (NF7-S ver 2), Antec True Control 550w, Seagate 80gb Sata, and OCZ 3700 2x256.

The fans come on in my case and the PSU fan starts, but then it all stops and I get a beeep, beep sound. I cleared the cmos since the online store updated the bios for me before shipment but I wanted to make sure. The sad thing is the board is a year old and I probablly can't RMA the damn thing... unless you all think it is the Ram not being 3200 and below?

I have disconected everything except Vid Card and still get it, so I dont think its hardware (perrefials that is).

Any help would be appreaciated, I feel totally ill after 6 hours and no workey... puts a sour taste in my mouth for my first PC build.

[UnknownSouljer]

Does Abit still have their fan lock system? The last board I had I think had a system in place in which if the fan header was getting a specific reading or below for fan RPM, it would shut down. There was a button that needed to be depressed (on the keyboard) to bypass it. And additionally in the BIOS there was a setting to turn it off. I dunno if they still utilize that sytem, but it was in there before.

[VoOdoO]

Hold down insert on powering up to make the bios load up its defaults. Can you be a bit more specific about the beeps? Is it one long one short? (thats the impression I get from your description :) ) That iirc is a memory error.

Yep it is

No beep at all - this means your motherboard is dead, either due to a defective or underpowered power supply, poorly seated CPU or RAM, or a dead-on-arrival board

One beep - board is working fine

One long beep then machine shuts down - faulty, improperly installed or missing CPU

1 short(Beep) System booting is normally

2 short(Beep) CMOS setting error

1 long - 1 short(Beep) DRAM ERROR

1 long - 2 short(Beep) Display card or monitor connected error

1 long - 3 short(Beep) Keyboard Error

1 long - 9 short(Beep) ROM Error

Long(Beep) continuous DRAM isn't inserted correctly

Short(Beep) continuous POWER supply has a problem

A two-tone siren, generally caused by overheating or out of specification voltages

Four beeps then machine shuts down. This is because this version of the BIOS will shut down your machine if no fan tachometer signal is detected on the fan header. Make sure you attach a fan to the FAN1 or FAN4 header or clear CMOS to reset to default (no checking).

Once you get it going, word on the Abit Forums is that OCz PC3700 needs 2.8v to work flawlessly for all on nForce2 systems, so if you experience random lockups or BSOD's thats a likely culprit, as is Ram Timings.

[bAd_Poultry]

Thanks Guys, ya I thinks its a RAM Error, though I got the same error with a stick of pc2100 from the wifes machine, but knowing how stupid I am with this I might have had the ram in the wrong slots. Also I will try holding insert on boot and let you know if that les me into the BIOS so I can change the voltage on the RAM.

/me crosses fingers

[bAd_Poultry]

Well after switching out the RAM for some PC2100, I still get the long beep, short beep error and can't even boot into BIOS.

So what I am going to do is offer up this OCZ PC3700 2x256 that Vipe gave me from the Hockey Contest in trade for some DDR400 Hopefully 1GB worth, which I feel is a fair trade.

I know its a memory issue as all the fans come on , then the green light and mobo than BAM error beeps until I hold down the power key :(.

So if anyone wants to trade or knows someone that does shoot me a PM.

[VoOdoO]

Well I wouldn't give that Ram away just yet, since you said it does this with some PC2100 as well. It's more likely that the m0b0 is the culprit. It's obviously not the old 'nForce2 sudden death syndrome' since you get the post beeps, which tells you its a memory error. However the fact its not liked 2 different sets of Ram is pretty suspect. Can you take the board back to where you got it from (assuming it wasn't a web purchase) and get them to test the motherboard for you? Or take it to a friends house and have them try it with thier CPU, Ram etc? Just to make sure. Problems when building a PC is very much a process of elimination my dear Watson! :)

I hope this hasn't put you off building your own rig again, it really is great fun and a good learning experience, not to mention a good way of ensuring you get what you pay for :)

[bAd_Poultry]

Ya I am certain its the Mobo, and damnit if I didn't buy it online :(. So I am gonna RMA the board if I can and see if that solves the issue, next time I will boot off the wifes 2100DDR and save myself some headache.

And no it doesnt turn me off, I had alot of fun, but damn if it doesnt suck to build your first to have issues like this :(. You know I am starting to wonder if the BIOS arent the culprit, you see they (excaliburPC.com) flashed the BIOS to 2.0 before I bought the board so maybe they did a bad flash? sigh.. probablly not the problem but I like to talk out loud :wink: sometimes you figure *Censored - you kiss yer mom with that mouth?**Censored - you kiss yer mom with that mouth?**Censored - you kiss yer mom with that mouth?**Censored - you kiss yer mom with that mouth?* out that way.

Calling Abit now, will keep you all posted on my progress.

[unit24]

<snip>
It's obviously not the old 'nForce2 sudden death syndrome' since you get the post beeps, which tells you its a memory error.
<snip>

I've got an EP-8RGA+ board that is refusing to boot. No beeps, just a 26 on the P80 Port LED and a shutdown. I am using a 1700+, 512mb pc3200, the onboard video and a 250gb WD EIDE.

EPOX suggests holding down the INSERT key during boot, I'm not sure that will help as the board shuts down almost immediately.

Is this the behavior of the nforce2 SDS?

xxiv

[ElementXsoftwarE]

Who knows what the deal is, I've got a friends Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra Platinum mobo (and the rest of the system too) over here that does what poultry said his was doing. It gives 2 long beeps then shuts down. I'll have to start swapping parts out to see what's buggered I guess, but that all requires time.

[VoOdoO]

I've got an EP-8RGA+ board that is refusing to boot. No beeps, just a 26 on the P80 Port LED and a shutdown. I am using a 1700+, 512mb pc3200, the onboard video and a 250gb WD EIDE.

EPOX suggests holding down the INSERT key during boot, I'm not sure that will help as the board shuts down almost immediately.

Is this the behavior of the nforce2 SDS?

xxiv

What happens is that basically 'all the lights are on but nobodies home'. You'll have power, all the fans will work, every indication that the system is powered up and ready to go as per normal and then .... nothing. it'll stay that way forever. Black screen, No post, no error code beeps, nada. The insert key sometimes works, I've had luck with that on an Abit board, the idea being that holding down insert will reset the bios to safe defaults. However, usually in the situation above the bios has become corrupt (or at least a part of it has) so no amount of resetting CMOS or the insert key will bring the board to post. You then have 3 choices.

Hot flash your BIOS chip
Throw in a 100fsb Duron (which will kick start the bios into dropping down to 100fsb and reset the bios, you can then save defaults and drop the 133 + fsb CPU back in afterwards)
RMA the board

Now you say yours shuts down, so this sounds like a different problem. I'd try the insert key trick first but if that doesn't work, I'd remove any non-essential hardware, clear CMOS and try again. If still no go, I'd reseat the motherboard and/or CPU, it could be shorting out on something.

[unit24]

<snip>

Now you say yours shuts down, so this sounds like a different problem. I'd try the insert key trick first but if that doesn't work, I'd remove any non-essential hardware, clear CMOS and try again. If still no go, I'd reseat the motherboard and/or CPU, it could be shorting out on something.

Hmmm... I went as far as ripping the board out of the box and trying it bare - no cards, no drives, just memory and the CPU. I get the same activity. I even ordered a new bios chip and replaced the old one incase the bios was corrupted - No Joy! :bah:

It's got a two year warranty, so hopefully EPoX will RMA it with no problem, otherwise :throwpc:

Thanks!

xxiv

[VoOdoO]

Just out of curiosity, what PSU and graphics card you running?

[unit24]

Just out of curiosity, what PSU and graphics card you running?

I've always used the on-board video, and I am using a Antec Tru-Power 430W.

xxiv

[bAd_Poultry]

hmmm after reading that I am a bit confused on the beeps, maybe they are 2 of the same length... sigh I will boot her again tonight and see.

Man I so want to game and I can't, considering my Mac HD gave up the ghost on Saturday as well, that leaves me trying to stumble on the wifes Dell with 256mb of PC2100, good thing UT2k4 runs well on it or I would be in gaming shock by now.

Come to think of it I am so tempted to call a "expert" to my pad, maybe they can diagnose the problem in a few hours as opposed to days for me.

[ElementXsoftwarE]

bah, half the fun in building the thing is figuring out why it doesn't work

[bAd_Poultry]

LOL True, but you forget I am originally from the Apple world, plug it in and get going LOL.

Well I have decided to take the Mobo out of the case, install the vid card, and floppy and see if it will give me the 1 beep post signal, if I then install the RAM and get the error, I know the DIMM slots are bad and that solves that, though I did see on the OCZ and ABIT site, that pc3700 isnt supported, though PC3500 is. And yet it wont POST with the PC2100 either, so one last test then its RMA the Mobo time, maybe sell the PC3700 and buy me some PC3500 instead and start over.

Thanks for listening to my bitching, hopefully it will all be over soon :D

[ElementXsoftwarE]

it will bitch without having any ram. The post won't successfully complete unless it's got a video card, memory and a CPU. And floppy's aren't necessary :wink:

[bAd_Poultry]

welp its all worked out, I went Intel and saved myself alot of hassel, hopefully someday I can build my own rig, but between not knowing a damn thing and not knowing a damn thing (:wink: I know that was written twice) I decided to save a bunch of headache. So new rig is P4 3.0 (prescott) 800MHZ FSB, 1GB pc3200, 9800XT, 160GB SATA, 80GB SATA, Kypermedia 8x DVD-RW, Lite-on 52xCDRW/DVD-ROM. Boy does she scream. I know the 478 is a dead chipset, but seein g that I wont upgrade for a year or so it should hold me. Not the AMD beast I was hoping for, but hey I have 4 kids :lol:

[ElementXsoftwarE]

Well, you've almost got my system there ;)

Did you buy a pre-built one I'm guessing since you said that "hopefully someday I can build my own rig"?