Need help troubleshooting MB

CheshireCat

CheshireCat

New Member
I just put together a system, but I'm not sure it's functioning correctly.

Actually, to be honest, I'm kinda being impatient and trying to test it before the rest of the parts arrive, but I wanna know ASAP if I should return anything or if I can go ahead and send in the rebate forms.

Here are the details:
AMD64 3500+
Biostar TFORCE 6100-939 Micro ATX mobo (probably not the best choice, but oh well)
512MB DDR RAM (another 512 is on the way)
Antec Sonata II case w/ 450W PS

Ok, here's the deal; The HD that this system will use hasn't actually arrived yet, but I have a spare 8.4Gig HD that has nothing on it, so I figured I could use it to at least test the system.

When I turn the power on I hear it post, but then it seems to hang up. I see the Biostar splash screen that says to hit 'delete' to enter setup, but that doesn't do anything.

At the next screen it lists my HD and does the RAM test, but it only shows 64MB of RAM. Then it says "floppy disk error", even though I don't have a floppy drive in it.

This screen also has a bunch of options like "press 'delete' to enter setup" and "press 'F1' to continute", but pressing them doesn't do anything. It just stays on this screen forever until I turn the power off.

So I'm not sure what the issue is. Is the mobo defective or am I missing something? Is the RAM defective too, if it's reported as 64MB, or is that just another issue with the mobo?

By the way, feel free to suggest a different mobo. This is the only thing that I feel might have been a hasty decision. I'll use it if I can get it to work, but if I have to return it I plan to get something else.

By the way, I tried a couple different blank HD and even installed the CD-ROM drive out of my old computer, with a Linux type boot disk, but it didn't change anything.
 
If it only shows 64MB system RAM, there's definetly something wrong or some incompatibility with your RAM. Try another slot to see what happenes. As for the floppy error, nearly every computer comes with the floppy drive enabled. No biggie.

What type of keyboard are you using? USB? PS2? If you're using USB, try converting to PS2 or using an older PS2 board and see if that lets you into the bios
 
The_Other_One said:
If it only shows 64MB system RAM, there's definetly something wrong or some incompatibility with your RAM. Try another slot to see what happenes. As for the floppy error, nearly every computer comes with the floppy drive enabled. No biggie.

What type of keyboard are you using? USB? PS2? If you're using USB, try converting to PS2 or using an older PS2 board and see if that lets you into the bios
Click to expand...

I tried putting the RAM in the other slots, but it always says it's 64MB.

The keyboard is a PS2 keyboard.
 
That's strange it's getting that far with a RAM error. If that is infact the problem, normally it won't even get beyond the RAM test. I can't think of anything else besides testing other RAM in the system. Any DDR RAM should work fine.

Do any of the lights work on the keyboard? Normally the Num Lock comes on by default and you should be able to use others(caps, scroll)

Also, that board has onboard video, right? You're not mistaken the 64MB shared RAM as the system RAM, are you?
 
The_Other_One said:
That's strange it's getting that far with a RAM error. If that is infact the problem, normally it won't even get beyond the RAM test. I can't think of anything else besides testing other RAM in the system. Any DDR RAM should work fine.

Do any of the lights work on the keyboard? Normally the Num Lock comes on by default and you should be able to use others(caps, scroll)

Also, that board has onboard video, right? You're not mistaken the 64MB shared RAM as the system RAM, are you?
Click to expand...

Oh, my god, I am a vortex of stupidity. There is a bottle cap sitting on my desk right now that could probably teach me a thing or two.

...I forgot to plug the keyboard into the new computer.

I have the new box sitting next to the old box and I had been just swapping the plug for the monitor back and forth and for some reason my brain just never thought that we needed anything else. Here I am hitting 'delete' over and over going, "Why won't this work??" I might as well have been hitting the buttons on the microwave.

Wow, probably not a real good way to start off in a forum.

Anyway, I was able to find in the BIOS where it said:
Base mem: 640k
Extended memory: 456704k
Total memory: 457728k (my bottle cap is telling me that is about 447MB)

Should I expect it to to be registering something closer to 524288K?
 
Last edited:
the reason your harddrive was not being detected but posts is most likely the IDE cable... with the older HDD's if you try turning the strip cable upside down it may work. if it doesnt fit in upside\down, try an older IDE cable
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top