Need help building a computer

[CHenryD]

I came across an unopened MSI Pentium ATX mainboard at a thrift store which I bought for $5 and am trying to use it to build a computer. The motherboard manual says it can use either a P54C or P55C CPU up to 200 MHz, and it has the Intel 82430 chipset which has SMBA architecture. I bought a Pentium 200 processor with MMX at the computer fair along with a case and a 64 Meg DIMM, and had the rest of the components at home. However, now that I have everything hooked up, I can't get a video signal from any of several cards I've tried, all of which work on other systems. Any experts out there who can get me running?
Thanks,
Charles Damsel

 

[boyblue]

PCI or AGP video card? I'm assuming PCI.

Do you get any video at any point during the startup/boot process?

The first thing anyone would ask is, are you sure the card is seated properly in the slot? Presumably if you tried several vid.cards, one of them would have been seated properly.

If you have a modem and sound card try removing them; run the sys with only vid, HD, & FD.

Do you see any other signs that the computer is booting; HD activity, floppy seek, 'Beep', etc...? Do you have power; are the power supply fan and cpu fan running?

 

[CHenryD]

I do have activity from the fans and can hear the hard drive starting to boot - I don't have anything in the system besides the hd, fd & various vid cards all of which I have been very careful to seat well. I have tried both PCI and ISA cards - I don't think the board is capable of AGP. I don't even get a green light next to the power button on the monitor when I start the machine and no picture of any kind. All the cards I have tried work on other machines. I really appreciate your help.

 

[XkALiBRe]

Do you get any beeping at all? Motherboards use that beeping code to communicate problems when you cant diagnose them from video. Make sure your PC Speaker is hooked up, and listen for beeps. Note the kind too, as in short-short-long, or whatever. As well, list the type of BIOS the board uses, (AMI, Award, etc.).

Sounds like it could possibly be a BIOS or CPU problem though. When I fried my BIOS, thats exactly what happened, no video, no nothing. Also, if the CPU isnt working, that would be the same result. Try it with a different CPU if possible.

Give those things a try, and if you need, feel free to email me. Good luck.

Oh yeah, and is there a way for you to confirm whether or not the board has power? Is there a fan or light plugged into it that would indicate whether it is receiving power?

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"In the computer industry, there are three kinds of lies;
lies, damn lies, and benchmarks."

[This message has been edited by XkALiBRe (edited 06-24-99).]