HUGE ECS P4S5A/DX PROB!!! HELP!!!!!

koolmoebeave · September 21st, 2002, 04:17 PM

ok, so i've just built this computer for my friend, here's the specs
p4 1.7
ecs p4s5a/dx mobo
256 mb ddr pc2100 (i think it's pc2100)
and the rest doesnt matter

when i first put it together i used his old GeForce 256 as the video card but when i booted up the system there was absolutely NO video output. It's definately not the monitor or monitor cable cause i tested out those on a dif. comp and they work fine. No matter what i did i couldn't get any display (not even bios), it was like the AGP was activated or something. I thought it might be because the GF 256 was 1/2x agp, so my friend went out and bought a 4x agp GeForce 2... same thing happened. At this point i was sure that the MOBO wasn't reading the agp because the computer didn't even boot up, it just started and could be turned off immediately when the power button was pushed (that's what all mobo's do when there is NO videocard installed... but in this case there was a videocard!!!). I borrowed my friends Radeon 7500 and it actually worked.... for a while. I intalled Win Xp and loaded all the drivers, the system was very unstable but it worked. My friend traded in his GF2 for a Radeon 7500. When my friend went to start the computer the next day it had the same problem... no videooutput. So i took the Radeon to the comp store and they tested it and said it was fine. I reset the bios memory on the mobo using the jumpers, and after multiple startups the video output came back on. the system was good for 2 days until last night when i was on the internet and the comp just Rebooted for noreason at all, no warning or anything. When it reloaded and got to starting windows the screen went blank and the keyboard froze. I restarted the comp and guess what happened.... NO VIDEO OUTPUT!!! I have tried everything, reseting jumpers, clearing the CMOS memory, unplugging everything except for the video card and absolutely nothing works. I think the MOBO is fried, but i would very much appreciate any advice. If you read all this i thank you very much.

Atomic Rooster · September 21st, 2002, 04:36 PM

Do you have a power supply of at least 300 watts? Sometimes under powered/cheap power supplies can cause such problems.

koolmoebeave · September 21st, 2002, 04:38 PM

ya, it's 350 Watts, should be just fine, P4 certified and all

Atomic Rooster · September 21st, 2002, 04:40 PM

Also make sure that AGP is set to 2x and not 4x in the BIOS.

koolmoebeave · September 21st, 2002, 04:42 PM

i can't even get into the BIOS!!! there is ABSOLUTELY NO display!!! besides the radeon 7500 is 2x/4x agp so it wouldn't matter

Daft_Ghosty · September 21st, 2002, 04:43 PM

also make sure u aren't overclocking the chip.. the P4 I just built would give no post.. when overclocking..

Atomic Rooster · September 21st, 2002, 04:44 PM

Oops! My bad.

koolmoebeave · September 21st, 2002, 04:46 PM

it's not overclocked. there are no overclocking jumpers and for the brief time that i did get a display the BIOS setting were correct. Even if they were incorrect, when i cleared the CMOS memory they would have been set back to default.

Daft_Ghosty · September 21st, 2002, 04:47 PM

u tried removing the ram.. and reseating it.. I see u said u tried everything removed bu the vid card.. but was ram one of them?

koolmoebeave · September 21st, 2002, 04:51 PM

i have not removed the ram, but the CMOS/BIOS should start without the ram anyhow. When it worked before, the ram had not being changed, i will try removing the ram and then putting it back in (is that what your suggesting?)