Beeping / no post with A7V8X-X and 2500 Barton

I put together a system with the A7V8X-X motherboard and the AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton processor. However, I haven't been able to get it to post. The fans spin, the green LED on motherboard lights, but there is no video and there is a hideous repeating beeping noise coming from inside.

I did a complete strip of the system, narrowing everything down to the processor, motherboard, video card, and one stick of ram. Still no post.

So, I began to look through ASUS's website for any possible conflicts between the existing hardware components. I found that my ram (some cheap 512mb apacer pc3200) somehow wouldn't run with my 333mhz fsb processor, the 2500 Barton. Would this be a cause of the beeping noise, and if so, would I have to purchase replacement ram?

Excuse me for all the idiotic questions, but this is my first attempted system build, and I don't really have an up-to-date computer.

*EDIT* forgot to put in components.

Asus A7V8X-X motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2500 (Barton)
Apacer 512mb PC3200 ram
PalitDAYTONA nVIDIA GF4 MX440 128MM

WHat are the pattern of the beeps? It very well could be bad ram. Also check and see if your Graphics Card is seated properly.
Is the CPU H/S fan spinning?...Because if it is not your system may not post.

okay... beep code..

long beeps in an endless loop = no dram install or detected.

one long beep follow by three short beeps. = no video card found or video card memory bad..

high frequency beeps when system is working. = CPU overheated

Now, u reset the cmos and reboot and see what kind of beep pattern u have...

The beeping pattern seems to be endless. I had it on for well over 2mins to check inside and the beeping never stopped.

The fan on top of my HS does spin. I've already reseated my graphics card, but I looked through Asus's website and found something of interest in relation to my problem - found at http://www.asus.com/support/faq/qanda.aspx?KB_ID=84227&SLanguage=en-us . Unfortunately I have no other (spare) ram to put in to see if this is the problem, so will I need to purchase / borrow / find another stick?

I haven't reset CMOS yet, would I need to take out the battery while I short the pins with a jumper? If so, can I do this with my hands or will I need a tool to do it?

Welcome to the forums

To reset CMOS you short the pins with the jumper while the battery is still in - this allows the current from the battery to travel through the pins, resetting the CMOS. I always reset this with my hands.

Reset CMOS last night, still the same result. Is my problem my ram (pc3200)? See the link from my last post.

Ha, problem solved. My only stick of ram wasn't in *all the way*. I'd like to thank all of you overclockers for helping me build my first system - the tips & techniques sections and many different forum topics really helped me build my first system. Now it's sitting on my desk, in the BIOS hardware monitor, idling away, I'll put in my new HD later today. =)

Thanks guys! You've been a real help.

haha, don't you just hate it when its something small like that.

I don't know all that well, being my first system and all, but YES, I felt completely stupid.