Gigabyte GA-7VAXP & Corsair 512MB PC3200 400mhz XMS Memory

I recently purchased a complete list of parts for a new system I am building. I spent many hours working to get system setup like I've done so many times before.

Here's my problem. System will not start up and I cannot track down the issue.

All settings are default off the board. Standard 100mhz FSB setting is on. I have done nothing to the board to overclock it......yet

Checked for shorts. Found nothing that I could see. Double checked heatsink / CPU mount, but I spent over 2 hours just messing with the Artic Sliver 3 compound to make sure it was safe to overclock.

Here is my list of components:
Gigabyte GA-7VAXP VIA KT400
AMD Athlon XP2200
Thermaltake Volcano 9 Heatsink
Antec Trueblue 480w PSU
Corsair XMS 512MB PC3200
Maxtor 80gig 7200RPM ATA133 (set as master)
Gainward GeForce 4 Ti 4200 128mb
Lite-On 40x12x48 CDRW (set as master)
Lite-On 16x DVD (set as master)

Upon reading support online at gigabyte.com, I read that Corsair was not a "recomended" DDR 400mhz chip, and it named off a few other brands that were.

Is this the issue, or could I be missing something else?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Zero

We got a smoker!

Ok. So something went wrong.

The board smoked from somewhere after taking out the RAM and starting the machine to count the number of beeps.

I got 1 long beep, followed by 3-4 seconds of silence another long beep and so on and so forth.

Gigabyte support wrote and said all I needed to do was to up the FSB to 133mhz and it should work fine.

Well, it didn't.

Manual shows DDR400 support up until 1gig.

So it should work with 512mb. However, here I am and it doesn't.

later.

which slot are you using the RAM in? From past Experienence with DDR400 memory, some boards will only accept it in certain slots. The FSB setting should be 133- X2 you get 266 the FSB for the XP, although it should work, just at a lower speed.
the beep is a No DRAM post beep, so should be fine when you stick your RAM in the board.
My suggestion would be to get some 333 ram and try that. Although the board may have support for the ram, it may not properly be supported.

DDR slot 1

The FSB is set to 133mhz as instructed from Gigabyte.

The long beep is a no DRAM beep post beep? I get that beep even when the RAM is in the slot, plus the power button is flashing really fast as well.

Gigabyte support explained that the DDR400 Corsair RAM should work just fine with this board. I asked them twice.

Thanks for the info.

Long repetative beep on my board was No DRAM post. However my board did it when I fried my bios chip, but I doubt it would be that on a new motherboard.
If there is RAM in the slot, it may mean the RAM is fried! As I said before if you can tran and get hold of a stick of 333 or 266 DDR and see if that works.
From the smoke, you may have buggerd your RAM, or even worse the slot! Have a look and see if you can find any char marks on your motherboard.
Has your commputer ever booted out of interest?

I found no char marks on the board itself. I did look for them, however, when I noticed the smoke.

Since I was unable to get my hands on another machine, or other RAM, I did the only thing left to do. I RMA'd the board and the RAM and decided to give it another go with some other parts.

Hopefuly this will not repeat itself.

I ordered two 256mb sticks of PC2700 Samsung DDR333 this time, instead of the one 512mbs stick. See how that fairs this time.

The computer never did boot up, not even once before I tore it apart.

That was probably the best thing to do.
My brother is geting the same board as you had, the he info he found on it it said that if you remove the RAM when the machine is plugged in, and the power is on the Bios battery can provide power. If you remove the RAM at this time, it can blow the 3volt power line to the RAM, effectively giving it no power. This could have been the smoke you saw. If it was (there would be char marks on the bottom of the board) then the RAM would have no power and you would get the no DRAM post beep as the bios can't detect the RAM.
Also according to the info he found you have to flash the bios to get DDR400 support. BUT the machine should boot with the RAM, it would just run a 333 speeds. Summit wierd happened with your setup!!

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Well, I finally received the RMA'd parts from newegg.com. Not their fault, I simply didn't want to pay the shipping costs.

I redid the heatsink, reset the board, bumped it to 133mhz, and hit the power button.

BOOM!

It worked

Running great right now. I have a front 120mmX25mm fan left to install, so right now it is burning at 34 degress C. Little warmer than I would like, however, I still have two more fans to install. Should drive it down to 30-32.

Thanks for all your help.

BTW the memory, Corsair XMS PC3200, stay away from it if your going to us this gigabyte board. Not compatible. The really problem was with the RAM, which expanded into a board frying party.

I purchased 2 sticks of 256MB Samsung 400mhz PC3200 and it works like a charm.

So there you have it.

Later,
z

Glad all is working. Can give my bro the go ahead with his board now.
Happy gaming!