Problems with first post

[AdamCassady]

Hi all. This is my second build -- girlfriend's computer. Specs are:

Pentium 4 Prescott
ASUS P4S800D-X Mobo
2 GB DDR-400 G.Skill RAM
Chaintech NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (AGP)
Generic aftermarket heatsink
Rosewill case w/400 W PSU
80 GB Seagate Barracuda
2 DVD-ROM drives

Okay, when I power up, the lights on my DVD-ROMs go a little nuts -- they flash a lot. Nothing's in either. Partway through POST, I get a message saying that neither SATA primary nor SATA secondary drives have been detected, and then the board powers off. I'm connecting both DVD-ROMs and HDD through IDE. Any suggestions?

Also, I try to enter BIOS; I saw something about the IDE drives detected -- then it will just power down. I'm getting two very quick beeps before shutdown.

[Panama Red]

Pull the mobo out and recheck the heat sink installation. Quite a few folks have had problems with the installation. All four corner pins have to be fully inserted thru the mobo.

[AdamCassady]

Originally Posted by Panama Red Pull the mobo out and recheck the heat sink installation. Quite a few folks have had problems with the installation. All four corner pins have to be fully inserted thru the mobo.

Right, all pins are in -- although, to confess, I did have a problem with that. I wound up using a bit of high-heat tolerance contact cement to hold the plastic harness in place. Would that be causing the error?

Incidentally, I have tried entering BIOS by pressing DEL, and then pressing ESC to "skip waiting". There is a lot of information on the screen, so I can't read it all, but the last line said something like, "overclock failed!" I'm now getting 3 distinct beeps before the system powers off.

[Ob1]

i would take the heatsink off, reapply some thermal paste/pad and then reapply the heatsink but make sure you securely fasten all four pins without using the contact cement, chances are you dont have a good enough seal on your cpu so its overheating and shutting down to protect itself .

[AdamCassady]

Originally Posted by Ob1 i would take the heatsink off, reapply some thermal paste/pad and then reapply the heatsink but make sure you securely fasten all four pins without using the contact cement, chances are you dont have a good enough seal on your cpu so its overheating and shutting down to protect itself .

That was the problem. I turned the f'in thing on its side and put some thermal grease on, so that the heatsink would get good contact with the cpu without being clamped onto the plastic harness. Now it's rock-solid. Unfortunately, THE PLASTIC HARNESS IS BROKEN.

I hate this P.O.S. I swear to god, I am never getting an ASUS Mobo again.

[glc]

The socket 478 heatsink retention bracket is not an Asus exclusive, it's hardly their fault someone installed an aftermarket heatsink and possibly did it incorrectly. Just get a new bracket and a stock Intel heatsink and your problems will be over.

http://www.shop-intel.com/shop/produ...UN57XSJSD2FEJB

http://www.shop-intel.com/shop/produ...UN57XSJSD2FEJB

[AdamCassady]

Originally Posted by glc The socket 478 heatsink retention bracket is not an Asus exclusive, it's hardly their fault someone installed an aftermarket heatsink and possibly did it incorrectly. Just get a new bracket and a stock Intel heatsink and your problems will be over. http://www.shop-intel.com/shop/produ...UN57XSJSD2FEJB http://www.shop-intel.com/shop/produ...UN57XSJSD2FEJB

I know that you're right, that post of mine was just the culmination of an entire evening of frustration. I ordered a new clip, it's en route as we speak, and I'm much more calm about the whole thing.