New Build - Bios screen once then nothing

[DanielR]

Hello,

I have read all the stickys and have done an outside the case build. I also got down to just the Motherboard, Power supply the CPU with heat sink and got my three beeps.

Here are the parts that make up my build:

Antec Solo case

Intel BOXD975XBX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600

Three Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

EVGA e-GeForce 7600 GT PCI-E graphic card

Two CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4 for a total of Four Gigs

Antec Neo HE 500 watt PSU

An old floppy, CD RW and DVD RW.

I intend to use the machins as a Digital Audio Workstation for creating music.

Here is the problem:

After initial power up had nothing for about 30 seconds and then a fast "Intel" screen saying press F2 for bios and then a black screen asking about Raid. At first I missed which keys to press to enter bios and I reset about four times (each time there was that 30 second delay) to finally catch the "F2" instruction. I used the F2 instruction and got to my Bios. I only did two things.

I changed the date and time and under memory settings, it was set up as 5-5-5-18 at 1.8v but there was an option to select "Profile 1" which would change the setting to 4-4-4-12 at 2.1v. I selected the "Profile 1" option and saved and exited. I also noticed that the bios had found my three hard drives.

I shut down and powered up again and have not been able to get anything since. No signal reaches the monitor. The optical disks light up for a moment and the power/hd activity LED lights for about 45 seconds but then it just sits there. I feel vibration from harddrives and assume they are spinning. I've let it run at least 15 minutes with no change. That's when I read the stickys, did an out of case build (with same results) and did the bare minimum of PSU, CPU/heat sink and motherboard with getting three beeps.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

[Mr.Ferrari]

Clear your cmos.

[DanielR]

I can't find anything in my motherboard manual that mentions the CMOS. How do I reset it and did I cause the problem by changing my memory settings. My memory is supposed to be able to run 4-4-4-12 at 2.1v - is it that the motherboard can't handle that setting?

Thanks,
Dan

[Mr.Ferrari]

Sometimes. The CAS4 and CAS5 versions of that memory are exactly the same thing. Sometimes the memory timings on the profile dont agree with the motherboard. There are some inner timings you need to tweak with.

Either way you wont really see the perf. boost. So keep it at the normal setting.

You can either move the specific CMOS clearing jumper on the motherboard, or just take out the CMOS/Motherboard battery.

First unplug the main powercords to the motherboard, then take that little battery out and leave it like that for 5min. And pop it back in and try booting.

[DanielR]

Thank you, Mr. Ferrari but it is something else.

I took your advice and removed the battery for more than 30 mionutes and after replacing the battery, I still get the same negative result.

What else can you or anyone suggest?

Thank again,
Daniel

[Mr.Ferrari]

So it still won't post?

Take all of the sticks out and try to post with only one inserted at a time.

[DanielR]

Tried each stick in the same slot - no go.

Tried two different sticks individually in each slot - nothing.

What next?

Thanks,
Daniel

[DanielR]

Anybody up right now who would be interested in giving some advice?

Thanks,
Dan

[Mr.Ferrari]

Alright, and you have all the neccesary power connectors in place? Including the 4 or 8pin and 24pin motherboard connectors?

Is your heatsink properly secured? I.E are the pins sticking clearly out of the back of the motherboard?

And when you try to boot the computer, you do have the graphics card in place, with the 6pin power in, and connected to your monitor correct?

I know this is repetitive, but this time clear the cmos as I mentioned above, but take out your ram and your battery too. Just make sure nothing else is plugged into your motherboard besides your processor. Just leave the battery out for a few seconds and put it all back in.

[glc]

2.1 volt ram is not compatible with the Bad Axe. You need 1.8 or 1.9 volt ram. You do not need low latency tight timing ram with that setup anyway - if you are not going to overclock, standard DDR2-667 value ram is plenty good enough.

http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/bx2/bx2_mem.htm

System Memory Features The board has four DIMM sockets and support the following memory features: 1.8 V and 1.9 V DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs

[Mr.Ferrari]

Yeah..what im thinking is that when the profile for CAS4 and 2.1v was selected, it changed the timings but not the voltage.

If you can't get the CMOS cleared..you might need to rma and get some more compatible ram..

[DanielR]

Thank you, Mr Ferrari and GLC,

I found a jumper that would allow me to enter the Bios as maintenance and I reset the memory to the default 5-5-5-18 1.8v and saved then restarted. Then I was up and running.

Thank you again for your help.

I have been having trouble installing a second instance of Windows XP Pro on a second logical drive. Halfway through initial install from the bootable windows xp cd, after using f6 and having the proper drivers identified for the sata drives, I suddenly find myself back at the beginning of the process with a screen saying "inspecting system" or something like that. This is perhaps for another forum but do have any suggestions?

Thank you,
Dan