Fail-safe boot-up failure

Jesus Freak · Post by **Jesus Freak** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:48 am

I'm building a new pc for my bro, and am having trouble getting it to boot up without beeping at me

Before I get into the specifics of the problem, here are the pc specs:

Foxconn Nforce 4 Ultra mobo
AMD Athlon 64 socket 939 3500+
2x512MB OCZ Low Latency CAS 2-3-2-6 PC-3200
GeForce FX6600GT 128MB PCI-Express
Hitachi 160GB Deskstar 7200rpm PATA
Aspire X-Navigator ATX case with Turbolink 450W PSU
NEC 16x DVD dual layer drive
LS-120 drive

I think that covers all the main components... anyway, all I have hooked up at the moment is video card and mobo, The HDD, DVD drive, and LS-120 drive are all unplugged, although I have tried booting with the HDD hooked up, but still get the beeping noise. I've checked all the jumper settings in the mobo manual, swapped out some Rosewill 2x512MB pc-3200 ram in place of the OCZ, swapped out the video card, and re-did all of the connections on the mobo. I noticed this PSU uses a 20-pin motherboard power connector instead of a 24-pin(mobo manual recommends 24-pin). I made sure to install that correctly. In fact, I get power to all of my devices(CPU, mobo chipset fan, fans in case, video card fan, even LEDs on front of case). When I installed the CPU, I used the stock heatsink and fan, which came with some thermal paste already on it. It's VERY tight on the CPU. I can't lift it up for the life of me(secure connection from heatsink to CPU has caused problems once before for me). I've even gotten my Dad to double check things for me(he's a 63 year-old computer specialist in the government), and he has been unable to get it to boot, even after working on it for 3 hours. I'm really stuck right now... the only thing I can think of doing is taking apart the CPU, removing all the crappy thermal paste and adding my own Arctic Silver 5... but the CPU does not seem to be overheating at all. Perhaps it's not firmly enough in the slot? It seemed to fall right into place when I put it in(some of my earlier cpus had to be pushed in to the socket).

What the heck could be wrong?

Any help is appreciated.

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:52 am

What is the beep pattern? Google it and find out what it means. If the MB is a 24 pin and the PSU is a 20 Pin, you need a convertor. This could be why it's beeping.

Also try 1 stick of RAM instead of 2.

Jesus Freak · Post by **Jesus Freak** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:55 am

It beeps for about a second, waits a second or two then beeps again for a second, etc. My mobo manual says this is normal... for the first 30 seconds. Manual says to check connections, etc for this type of problem. Already done everything the manual said to do. How can I get a converter? And is it absolutely necessary? I mean my mobo manual seemed to show that it should work with the 20-pin, just not recommended. hmmmm

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:30 am

If the PSU is 20 pin and the MB is 24, you need the convertor. Go to a local PC store (not Best Buy etc) and ask them from one. It should cost about 10$.

Also, for the beep codes, they are specific codes for problems.

Ex: short long short, or short short short have different meaning.

Can you tell us how they sound? It's kind of like Morse Code.

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:39 am

Jesus Freak wrote:...my mobo manual seemed to show that it should work with the 20-pin, just not recommended. hmmmm

I don't know about YOUR mobo manual, but considering the many many examples of Engrish in the various motherboard manuals I've come across...You're gonna rely on that?

Jesus Freak · Post by **Jesus Freak** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:10 pm

I see converters for a 20-pin motherboard to a 24-pin PSU, but not the reverse.

The beep sound is long long long.

And I'm certainly not relying on my motherboard manual

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:35 pm

1 long, 2 short Indicates a video error has occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information

Any other beep(s) RAM problem.

This is based opn your board specs saying your BIOS is an AWARD one.

Jesus Freak · Post by **Jesus Freak** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:54 pm

Award-winning Phoenix bios sound good?

I'm almost positive now the problem is the PSU being incompatible with my mobo. The RAM is not the problem, I'm certain of that.

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:59 pm

Well if this is a new MB (which it seem) and you are using an older PSU, then I'd go out and buy a new PSU.

Flatlander · Post by **Flatlander** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 1:37 pm

Is the CPU fan plugged into the motherboard fan connector marked "CPU fan?" Sometimes you'll get an error if there is nothing plugged into the motherboard CPU fan header, even tho your CPU fan may actually be working (plugged in somewhere else).

Jesus Freak · Post by **Jesus Freak** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:12 pm

Everything is new Merlin. I love the case, I just wish it came with a 24-pin PSU.

Flatlander, I checked and the CPU fan is plugged into the mobo's marked CPU fan slot.

It looks like my only option is to buy a new PSU. I'm going to try to sell the psu that came with the case to help make up for the cost of the new one. My next thing to do is try out another 24-pin PSU(I have a 550W Chiefmax that will be going into my sister's new pc) and see if everything works. That way I can at least double check and see for certain that the PSU is the problem.

CDN_Merlin · Post by **CDN_Merlin** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:29 pm

Just buy the convertor. My buddy did and it worked fine. Even look at Radio Shack if you don't have local "mom n pop" stores.

Jesus Freak · Post by **Jesus Freak** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:27 pm

Bought the converter. Waiting for it to come in -- got it from newegg, so should come in by tomorrow.

Jesus Freak · Post by **Jesus Freak** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 12:54 am

UPDATE: Inserted the converter -- no difference. Changed some jumpers for the bios and got the pc to boot up without making any noise, but there's one small problem: nothing comes up on the screen! I don't think I ever mentioned the monitor specs though. The monitor DOES work, I tested it out on another pc and it runs flawlessly. It's a 19" Hyundai. Here it is on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824179014

So the pc turns on and does not make any beeping noises... but it shows nothing on the screen. What's wrong?

SuperSheep · Post by **SuperSheep** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:27 am

Might want to check this out JF...
http://www.phoenix.com/en/Customer+Serv ... +Codes.htm

Beep Codes
The only AwardBIOS beep code indicates that a video error has occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information. This beep code consists of a single long beep followed by two short beeps. Any other beeps are probably a RAM (Random Access Memory) problems.

Jesus Freak · Post by **Jesus Freak** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 1:25 pm

None of those beep patterns are what I'm getting. I have Phoenix Bios on my pc too and those beep patterns are familiar, but this one is different.

I reinstalled the CPU and HS and installed AS5. Made no difference though... I'm trying to decide what is bad. I've pretty much narrowed it down to either the CPU or motherboard, but I have a hunch it's a faulty mobo. Still doing more testing though.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 1:34 pm

Did you try using another video card to make sure the one you got wasn't DOA (dead on arrival)?

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 2:13 pm

Sounds like a bad video card to me.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 3:13 pm

He tried a PCI video card, no go. Same beep codes too.
He says he gets and infinite loop of long beeps.

Jesus Freak · Post by **Jesus Freak** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:53 pm

What Matrix said is correct. Video card is fine. CPU is fine also, just re-did that and added AS5 to it today. RAM is fine, tested it in another system. PSU is fine, everything powers up like it should. Motherboard looks fine because the chipset fan comes on. I KNOW all of the components are fine except the motherboard. Thus, process of elimination leads me to believe that the mobo is faulty.

The only way I can get the pc to NOT beep is by clearing the CMOS then rebooting. But even then nothing comes up on the screen(tried a working LCD and a CRT just in case). Leave the computer off for a while and it seems to forget bout clearing the CMOS, and goes back to the beeping. I also tried a Bios Table Enable jumper, but that didn't help anything.

I do have one way of testing to see if the mobo works or not. I bought all the parts for a second Athlon 64 socket 939 system similar to my bro's, just an NF3 250GB mobo instead of a NF4 Ultra. I could possibly swap out the 2nd system's mobo and try my bro's. If it continues to beep I know it's bad. But doing that would mean redoing the CPU... again!! And taking out the mobo from the case... again! In total I think I've spent about 12 hours on this pc just building it and trying to get it to boot. I've just about had it with this system build -- building a computer is easy, I've done it several times now. I wish if something weren't working, it would just not power on. *sigh*...

Admiral LSD · Post by **Admiral LSD** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:43 pm

A continuous stream of long beeps indicates a RAM problem. Specifically, that no RAM is intalled at all. Since you're certain the RAM is fine I'd say the mobo is kaput to. Have you tried the CPU in another mobo at all? Could be a dud memory controller in the A64 CPU itself as well.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:32 pm

My vote goes for the board being toast.