New P4 system won't boot - please help

Hi guys, I've just upgraded my system:

Abit BE7-RAID
2x256 MB OCZ PC3500 EL
P4 2.4B with stock HSF
GF3 (waiting for Radeon 9700 Pro)
3 Maxtor 7200 Harddrives (40-60-80 GB)
Plextor 24x8x4 Burner
Generic Floppy
Enermax 465W Power Supply (EG465E-VE)
XaserII 5000 Case

I've put everything together and tried to boot - all the fans start ok, I get the POST beep and the start up screen first displays the video card and then I get the screen that identifies the CPU as a P4 1800 (100x18) and the usual prompt to press Delete to enter BIOS setup, there's nothing blinking on the screen so it's impossible to determine whether the system is frozen or just waiting for something. I press Delete but it will not enter BIOS setup, and won't proceed to boot the OS if I don't press anything. It just sits there until I restart then the process repeats itself.

I then disconnected all non-essential components leaving only the mobo, CPU, RAM, videocard and the keyboard. I disconnected all the fans in the case thinking that maybe the PSU is not supplying enough power to all the components - exactly the same result. I even tried taking the mobo out of the case and booting it up with just the essential components sitting on a carboard box thinking that maybe there's a problem with grounding or shorting somewhere in the case - still the same thing happens.

I am quite perplexed as to what the heck is wrong with this setup. The mobo, RAM and CPU are brand new, GF3 worked flawlessly in my AMD setup, so did the drives, and the power supply. The PSU is P4 compliant and should be able to supply enough power.

One thing that maybe an indication of what's wrong - near the main power socket on the mobo, there's two tiny LED's. When the system is powered off (while still plugged in to the power outlet) only the green LED is lit, as soon as I press the Power button on the case, the red LED lights up and stays lit until the systm is shutdown again. I could not find any mention of these LED's in the Abit manual.

So, if anybody has any suggestions, please throw them at me, I need to get the system going ASAP and I am pretty much out of ideas here. Any help is welcome and appreciated.

Igor

Try booting with only 1 harddrive.

The system won't get past the initial post screen even with no harddrives or floppy attached. As I've described above, I've tried booting with just the bare essentials: mobo, cpu, ram, videocard: same result.

Have you tried resetting the bios? You can do this using jumpers (if your motherboard allows) or by taking the battery out then putting it back in.

Tried clearing BIOS many times, tried reseating everything, made sure the CPU pins are not bent, made sure Arctic Silver is properly applied, tried swapping memory - nothing worked.

Since it's highly unlikely that both memory sticks are defective (I've tried running with either one of them), and the videocard works just fine in my other system, I think it's either the CPU or the mobo.

Please let me know if you think I can try something else before I try to RMA them.

Thanks.

No POST codes? No beeps?

If the board doesn't have an onboard speaker, is the case speaker plugged in?

I get one short beep indicating a successfull POST... After that, all I see is the screen I've described above, no activity and no response to anything.

I've spoken to the tech support of the store that I got the CPU and the mobo from and they seem to be clueless as to the cause of the problem. They suggested I bring the components back to them for testing. There isn't anything else I can think of right now

Have you tried another keyboard?

Al

Yep, tried two different keyboards, both work fine on my other system.

Just because its OCZ, see if you can try another memory module. Sorry if that sounds cold, and I agree the chances that both are bad are thin, but...



BHD

Thanks for all the help everyone. The problem was caused by OCZ PC3500 EL memory, for some reason both sticks of this brand refuse to work with my Abit BE7-RAID.

Tried another stick of OCZ PC3500 non-EL and it worked fine. Emaild OCZ tech support, waiting for an answer.

LMAO! I'm gonna bookmark this thread just for when someone asks about OCZ.

Glad you got it sorted.


BHD