Custom Built Computer Will Not POST

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Well it's virtually impossible at the moment to use anything other than default BIOS settings since the only way to boot up is with a CMOS reset. As for trying it outside the case, I have tried that a few times. I plan on going through all of these steps this weekend when I have my computer so I can try to weed out any wrong possibilities.
 
I read somewhere recently that certain RAM speeds only work with certain FSB's of CPU's. Is this true? If it is, what are the exact numbers on that? And I'm also having trouble finding the FSB of my AMD 3800+ Dual Core CPU.
 
The Front Side Bus (FSB) speeds are normally automatically set by the motherboards bios settings. Clearing the CMOS would set these speeds at nominal
 
Well the speed should be right on the FSB, but I'm wondering if I need a lower speed memory. I have PC3200 RAM as of now, but with my AMD 3800+ X2 CPU will I need different RAM? It is strange because the computer will boot up once after a long time without being booted.
 
Generally the CPU's FSB determins the memory speed. Faster memory will only run at the set CPU FSB speed... Fast memory in a slow system will only run at the slow speed. Slow memory in a fast machine will run slow. All motherboard manufacturers specify what speed and what kind of memory is used in their products. We must pay attention to these things.
 
Well I'm starting to question if my RAM is causing the problems I have faced. I looked up some things on www.corsair.com and found some latency numbers to put in, but I'm new to that kind of thing. Neither my teacher (not too smart) or myself could figure out which numbers went where with the newest BIOS version of the A8N-SLI. If anyone is familiar with that BIOS, any help would be much appreciated.
 
After speaking with an old friend of mine, he thought of something. He said something to the extent that if the Asus Logo doesn't come up every time but does when I reset the CMOS, the problem is either in the BIOS or something is causing the POST to fail almost immediately. He suggested trying the motherboard, CPU, and RAM in a different case to see what happens. Is this a good thing to try? And if it still fails, what problems am I looking at?
 
An update on what's going on:

I have the computer in with the Geek Squad again. It passed all of the hardware tests twice they said, and they also brought to my attention the PC's ability to boot from a CD, but not from the HDD. Any ideas on what's going on here?
 
Stupid question:

Did you plug in your 4-pin CPU power connector to your mobo? I had the same problem, then i plugged it in, and it worked.
 
tylerhardt said:
An update on what's going on:

I have the computer in with the Geek Squad again. It passed all of the hardware tests twice they said, and they also brought to my attention the PC's ability to boot from a CD, but not from the HDD. Any ideas on what's going on here?
Click to expand...

Isn't the "geek squad" smart enough to tell you why your computer doesn't boot from the hard drive? Or even fix this for you???
 
If the one board showed signs of water damage, and all the boards came from the same supplier, I would say they got a batch from a flood recovery. I had the same problem with cell phones on E-Bay.Try a different mobo brand and supplier. Stranger things have happened.
 
Well Asus claims to test each one of these boards and said they all worked for them. But I guess there isn't really a way to prove it. I think I'll wait to hear back from the Geek Squad to see what they think. I think they're frustrated by it already, and they've only had it a few days.
 
Got news from the Geek Squad that they have no clue what's going on with it. So...the plan is I guess to try a different motherboard supplier because everything seemed to pass the tests. Very weird...
 
Guys, I'm at a crossroads now. The Geek Squad has no clue what's up, I have no clue what's up, but another computer store claims they can fix anything...but for a price. That price is $60/hr. That's an option, and so is stripping it down and getting rid of everything. I just don't have confidence that they can fix the problem, but maybe they can prove me wrong.
 
if you bought the board with a credit card and the company says they fixed when in fact you can prove it is not, return and chargeback the board.
 
That's the problem. There is no proof that anything is broken because it passes every diagnostic test out there. Even though I have swapped out everything else out. Like someone said earlier, welcome to the Twilight Zone! Na-na-na-na.
 
You mentioned not being able to test the motherboard with a different CPU. Maybe you should buy a cheapie one like a 3200 or something just to seel if it would boot without a CMOS reset. Since the CPU performs the Power On Self Test, if there was a problem with it, it would either recognise its own problem, or it would be unable to finish the test due to that problem, or both.

Possibly, upon CMOS reset, a full POST is not performed. Maybe the POST after a reset is only partial. If we assume this, that would explain why the CPU boots into windows but doesn't POST. It may be a problem that doesn't have anything to do with the actual performance of the CPU, it may be just something residual from factory testing that is now broken.

Having exhausted every other option besides changing CPU and motherboard supplier, I suggest you try these 2 things.
 
Regardless of what you have done and heard about the condition of this system, many of us would start to troubleshoot this from scratch:

Remove the motherboard from the case
Test it outside the case
If it boots, put it back in the case carefully, and try it again
If it doesn't boot, replace the board, but not the CPU yet

At this point, I might even try another case
 
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