My system:
ASUS Mother board A7V400-MX
AMD Sempron processor 2400+ Socket A
256 DDRam
Problems: 1. When the UPS is switched on,the key board (Num Lock. Caps Lock and Scroll Lock) lights up for a second and goes out but Num lock lights up again and the key board becomes functional as the system finally boots.
2. When the SYSTEM is powered on,the processor fan starts and then the whole system switches off for about one second. The fan stops and it is as if the system has shut down on its own.Then it starts on its own and the system boots.
3. My computer/properties/General shows only 224 MB Ram where as it should have been 256 MB.
Astroram

I really do not think you have any problems .The clicks and bumps you are speaking about sound like normal behaviour at Boot time.
As for the difference in Ram it sounds like you have on board video which will share some of the ram 32 MB if my math is correct , windows reports usable ram .

Problem 1: Perfectly normal, this is the board checking the keyboard. It usually happens again once Windows takes over booting.

Problem 2: I just got an Asus board (different model) and it does this too, but only after I change something in the hardware. I thought it was a bit weird, but I'm sure it's a feature, not a problem.

Problem 3: What he said. If you're not using it, you can disable the onboard video in BIOS to get your 32Meg back.

"Problem 3: What he said. If you're not using it, you can disable the onboard video in BIOS to get your 32Meg back."( Quote )

Just in case ,what Meganox means is that "if you have Video card installed" you can and should disable your on-board video.
You can write back if you are not sure about any of this.

Yeah, that's what I meant. Except I can't find a BIOS option to disable the onboard video. It isn't showing up in System Information, so I think it must be disabled automatically if you have a video card installed. My "My Computer->Properties->General" shows I have 261,616 bytes of memory which equals 255.48Mb when divided by 1024, which is how much RAM I have, so I think either you are using the onboard video or there must be another explanation for your missing memory.

I am sorry I couldn't come in early. There was a login problem. I assume it is over now.
1.I still don't understand why the system switches off when the UPS is switched on!! What do you mean by "Windows takes over booting"? I forgot to mention my OS. It is Windows 98SE. Is there some kind of incompatibility between the OS and the mb? Or is such a situation is possible?
2.No video card is installed.Where do 32MB of RAM disappear to?Thank you pals, and regards.
Astroram

1. When you say 'UPS' are you talking about an 'Uninterruped Power Supply ' as in a battery back up ? If you are ,I understand you to mean that you computer is running and then reboots when you turn the UPS on.I don't know the brand of UPS you are talking about ,but most likely there would be some sort of power interruption causing the re boot and that would be normal behaviour .If this is what you mean turn the UPS on first , if I have it wrong .Explain exactly where this power button is.
2. 32 Mb of Ram are not disappearring ... the onboard video reserves them for it's own use exclusively.Your system is reporting the amount of Ram 'availible for the system to use for all other processes.

Yes Liquidlen,I mean the uninterrupted power supply. In this case it does its job. That is uninterrupted power supply in the case of a sudden power failure in the main supply lines.
The input of my UPS is connected to the power lines and its out put to the computer. I switch on the UPS first and after making sure it functions all right, I switch on the computer. Then the keyboard lights up for a second and the web cam too lights-up but doesn't go out till the Windows 98SE is fully loaded. The front panel LEDs,both green and red,light up and I can hear the fan and even the hard disk. Then suddenly every thing stops and the system is dead. For a brief moment. It starts up again and boots as if nothing has happened.
My puzzle: 1. Even before the system is switched on,the keypad and the web cam light up. 2. The system shuts down for a moment and starts up on its on.
I have another system PII/400 with Windows98(OEM) which is connected to another UPS. I have interchanged the UPSs.The same result. Checked for power failure for microseconds,result- negative.
A new problem has been noticed. I am not sure if it can be posted in this thread.But please permit me.I use Sonic Foundry Sound forge v6 for on-line recording and subsequent editing. Recording is not possible now though the on-board Sound Max integrated Digital Audio is shown to be working properly - by the Device Manager and the Control Panel/Multimedia. The recorded sound is a loud hum. I read in some thread, I am not sure which, that high speed fans would cause the hum. In that case will it be all right to insert a sound card? I may have to uninstall the on-board Sound Max 6-Channel CODEC? (There is no 6 channel, by the way)
Thank you.
Regards.
Astroram

O.K. When I boot my Win2K machine or my XP's the processes sound similar to yours in that ;Once the bios sceen (Black with CPU,IDE drives ,etc >then a pre windows screen with some small moving graphic > then a blank desktop >then Windows with icons. In between those events the sceen goes black(for a few seconds) and the lights flick on my Rom drives ,Keyboard etc. This is normal behavior as far as I have ever seen.
There might be variations of flicks, bumps and lights (because of different drivers and services starting),but if the machine runs smoothly when it is all said and done ,I don't think you have a problem.
I suspect your UPS has something to do during the boot process ,but I don't have any indication that it is not working properly.You could pull the plug and test it !

As for the sound card .You must turn off the on board sound in your Bios. Just follow the directions for loading the new SB ,they are pretty basic.
Good luck!

hmmm.... I just bought one of these mobos and I think I am going to have the same problems...

in the middle of installing my OS, my pc shut down by itself...

the onboard standby power led is on...

when i power it off and power it back on again (via the power supply switch)
1. i get the standby power led
2. num, caps, scroll lights flash once on the keyboard
3. the case and cpu fans spin briefly then stop

i didn't break out a meter to check my PS volts yet, though...

anyway, you mentioned that your system starts up on its own... how long before that happens?

It seems you have an identical problem.
You wrote "anyway, you mentioned that your system starts up on its own... how long before that happens?" After a second,koaster.
A shut down problem has now appeared. Sometimes-repeat sometimes- when Start/Shut down/OK Windows starts to shut down.Then "Windows is going to shut down" is displayed. But the system never shuts down.I am sorry I cant call it a system hang up. On restart by pressing the restart button it boots up after scanning the disks for errors as it was not shut down properly. The usual Blue screen, you know.
I don't know how many more days I will tolerate ASUS and AMD Sempron. May have to think of changing to a Pentium before new and serious problems surf threatening my work.
Astroram

Thanks. I think I'm just going to send my mobo back and get a new one...

Issue #2

I'm having the same issue with the boot up sequence of my 2400 semprone and I have no UPS. The power comes on then the power drops off. Then everything begins to boot properly most of the time. I have noticed that manytimes my harddrive does not finish spinning up due to the sudden loss of power. Therefore leaving stuck on the bios post "Scanning for Drives".

I have changed all the Components in the machine except for the MB and processor. (Power supply; hdd; memory;cdrom)

I have noticed a few things. I have less problem when there is no cdrom installed on the system. I have less problem with pc2700 memory verses 266.

The board runs like a champ once it boots.