New computer won't boot

[OCn00b]

I got one of my cpu's(P3 1Ghz) over the weekend and figured I would go ahead and install it to make sure the system worked before I spent the money on the second cpu. I installed the cpu and got everything moved from my current computer to the new one. I turned the power on and it detects my cpu and it was detecting my memory but then it locked up. Eventually it got to the point that it would detect the ram sometimes, partially detect it sometimes, and not detect it or lock up before it detected it(not sure which). I checked all my jumpers probably 15 times and they're correct according to the manual but it's still not working right. Does this sound like a problem that can be fixed or is the board just no good? The board is an Acorp 6A815EPD with Kingston RAM. If this board is shot, that will be 2 bad boards in a row I've gotten, although not from the same company.

 

[SickBoy]

Make sure your RAM and CPU are adequately seated.

 

[OCn00b]

Thanks. I reseated the ram 3 times but i never reseated the cpu, i'll give that a shot when i get home.

 

[cmcquistion]

I have that board and I had tons of problems for a while. The 66MHz bus Celeron I was trying to run was volt modded. The board gave me endless amounts of hell.

I installed a non-volt modded Celeron and it has been running fine ever since.

 

[OCn00b]

did you know it was modded when you got it or did you get screwed?

 

[cmcquistion]

I knew it was modded and hoped to be able to overclock it higher that way.

 

[OCn00b]

so all you did was change your cpu and it worked fine? when it booted, did it detect your cpu? I'll have to wait for the weekend to try everything again since i don't really feel up to it in the evenings after work.

 

[cmcquistion]

Yeah, it detected my 466 Celeron and has been running fine overclocked to 560. Haven't had any problems since then. I've heard that there are a lot of people with this board over in the 2CPU forums. You can probably get more help over there.

Glad to have you here, of course. I'm not trying to shoo you away or anything.

There are a lot of knowledgable and helpful people here. That ACORP board, however, is pretty rare among SMP folks here.

 

[OCn00b]

in the 2cpu forums? where is that? i hate to sound like a tard but hehe, i was told to post in the SMP forum here for help with my board.

lol, nevermind, through my brilliant deductive reasoning, I found the forums.

 

[OCn00b]

One more question. Do I need to start with a clean HD or can I just move my HD from my current comp to this new one?

 

[cmcquistion]

It's best to format and reinstall, expecially when changing chipsets.

 

[OCn00b]

but could that be why it's not working right now?

 

[cmcquistion]

If it's locking up before it even starts to load the Operating System, then I don't think that's your problem. If it locks up while your OS is loading, then that may very well be your problem.

 

[OCn00b]

Ok, cool, it's locking up usually before it finishes checking the RAM, sometimes before it even starts checking it.

 

[OCn00b]

Well, I haven't received a reply from 2cpu yet and I'm not sure this is the problem but should my cpu be an EB? It's only telling me it's a B right now. I'm not sure whether it matters if it's .18 or .25 but i'm off to check on that now.

 

[cmcquistion]

Have you tried messing around with the FSB jumpers? If I recall, that motherboard runs the RAM at 133 if the CPU has 100 FSB. If you're running a CPU with 100 MHz FSB and your memory is only PC100, then that may be your problem. Try setting the motherboard to run at 66 FSB and see if that works. If it does, I believe there is a setting in the BIOS where you can tell it to NOT run the memory at 133.

 

[OCn00b]

Well, when I first had problems with it, I switched the FSB jumpers and at 100 it says I have a 750Mhz cpu but it still locks up. Also, I'm using pc133 ram. *sigh* why can't things ever go smoothly :/ I do appreciate you helping me with this cmc, you have been extremely helpful.

 

[OCn00b]

Ok, Acorp just emailed me back and it turns out that the board supports B and EB cpu's. How much of a difference is there in the performance between the two? This computer obviously isn't trying to set any OC records so i'm not trying to go out of my way to get something else just so something loads a hundredth of a second faster. As long as it won't be a very noticable difference i'll still be happy.

 

[cmcquistion]

I have no idea what the difference is between a B and EB CPU.

 

[Henry Rollins II]

First the usual ones:

Did you try the board with only what is needed to power up the system: mobo + VGA + 1 CPU + 1 stick of ram + 1 CD + 1hdd, and moved those around in different positions? Dont connect any leds or anything else expendable. Do you have any alternatives to use...; another cpu, another stick of ram etc. Also to try to run the board without the VGA card and/or memory. You should get error beeps then, read about them in your manual.

Also if you have another computer to put the memory modules in you can run memtest86 on and see if they have any fault whatsoever.