Bootin issues

[Silwene]

I am just building my first pc and am having some issues getting it to boot up. It hits the mb screen and when I hit del to enter bios it freezes. Sometimes it freezes even before I hit del. Other times it wont even post. Not sure if my cpu is overheating or what the deal is. I just applied some artic silver to it but the same problem persists. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[ktkendall]

Make sure everything is seated properly, make sure nothing is shorting out on the underside of the motherboard, make sure your memory is compatable with your motherboard/cpu, make sure any jumpers on the motherboard are in the correct position, you can try the out of the case bare minimum boot to try to narrow down the culprit. What are some hardware specs please??

[blue60007]

I hope you didn't put Artic silver on top of any other paste.

We do need some other specs - especially the power supply brand/model

Here's the specifics on the out of case build:
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

[Silwene]

Ya I removed the paste prior to putting the artic silver on as described in the walkthrough. Since starting the build I have ran everything out of case till I get it all working. Specs are as follows.

MB-Biostar Micro ATX, FSB800, AGP 4X/8X, Socket 775, DDR400, 2gig max, Intel P4 Prescott compatible

CPU-Pentium 4 3.0 Gig, 800 Mhz, 1MB L2Cache, Socket 775

Video-Radeon 9600, 256 mb

Power-350W P4(Came stock with the Apevia X-Sonic ATX case, could not find brand/model)

RAM-2X 512mb pc2100 sticks(From old puter)

HD-Seagate Barricuda 160gig IDE Ultra ATA100 7200RPM

Pretty much im trying to build a decent gaming machine, nothing fancy. Plan to get some decent RAM soon but would like to get things up and running before purchasing anything else. The first MB I ordered was DOA and now with this im starting to get a little frustrated. I would like to see this through so of course any ideas are appreciated. The only thing I can think of is somehow the cpu is overheating, although I have reseated and rechecked the thermal paste a few times. Also I havent checked the jumpers yet, although im not sure of the correlation between the MB jumpers and how a computer boots.

[Panama Red]

I see two possible issues that should be changed for improving stability. You need PC3200/DDR400 ram to run with that 800 fsb cpu. That old pc2100 is probably causing problems. Also, an unbranded psu that comes in the case is notoriously suspect as poor quality. Do your parts a favor and invest in a good quality psu. Look at Fortron or Sparkle if you're on a tight budget.

[Silwene]

I guess I was working under the assumption that RAM was backwards compatible. Would there be an "ideal" psu that I should look into as far as wattage goes? Will prolly just pick one up from newegg when I order the RAM.

[AnotherMuggle]

Backwards compatability would mean that newer RAM would work in an older board...which is sometimes the case.

For example you may get PC3200 to work in a board that requires PC2700 and it would just run at the slower speed.

In no situation will slow RAM work in a board that requires faster stuff

As the other guys have said it's important to get "decent" make PSU, don't just get another cheapo...it will end up costing you more in the longrun.

[blue60007]

It's not so much the wattage as the *quality*. A quality 350W power supply would be OK. Just get something from a good name brand. ie, Antec, Forton, Sparkle, to name a few.

[cmichael258]

If you have a Circuit City in your area, they have an Antec 350 Watt SP 2.0 on sale this week for $19.99 after rebate.

[Cricket]

Also, what kind of computer did the old RAM come out of? Was it a name brand computer or a home built one? Name brand computers don't always use off-the-shelf RAM but proprietary stuff. If you're using proprietary RAM in your new build it's not going to work.

Cricket

[Silwene]

Ok, that certainly helps. I ended up ordering http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145504 for my RAM and will have to get to Circuit City for that psu. Thanks for all the info folks, really appreciate it. I had Circuit City build the pc for me like 4 years ago, and put the RAM in myself, although its not a name brand. Will post again when the RAM gets here on wednesday-ish.

[Silwene]

First built pc is up and running, thank you for all the help and information folks.

[Panama Red]

Glad it all worked out for ya! And thanx for the feedback.