Mobo won't post

[greg1769]

I have upgraded my system with a msi k7n2 delta2 mobo and a new cpu an ATHALON XP 2700 when i first cranked it up i got it to POST it just wouldn't load xp so i changed some settings in the BIOS to get it to load windows now it won't POST tried pulling the power and removing the battery still won't post tried clearing the CMOS still nothing i'm stuck don't know what elese i can do do you think its something in the BIOS? any and all help would be appreciated thanks in advance
GREG

 

[robertcgs]

MBO won't post

First, clearing the CMOS requires shorting the pins for at least a minute. You did make sure the power cord was pulled before you attempted to clear the CMOS right?

2nd, if the first step fails to get you back to zero, repeat step and pull the battery for about 2 minutes. That will definitely give your caps time to drain of their charges.

Let me know how that works for you.

Oh yes, when you get into Bios - make sure you set stop on no errors - read the sidebar before you close and save. Setting the stop to no errors should make it go past any problems and report them to you.

 

[greg1769]

I pulled the battery for almost 24 hours and the power cord was unplugged and I tried shorting the cmos for about 15-20 seconds all for no help before I posted here even took out my vga card and memory with the battery out still nothing I have looked at several different posts on this subject there were even a couple here for my mobo nothing has worked. :hotbounce

 

[iss]

You mention "upgradinng your mobo and your cpu. what make of mobo did you have before? and I notice you didnt mention refomatting your hard drive and reinstalling windows after changing mobo's. if you didnt then that is probably why it woudnt post to begin with.

 

[robertcgs]

Reformatting a hard drive is not necessary, also the bios is active aware which means it will read the data chip on the, for this, IDE device and auto complete the settings. That is why you can install an OS on one machine, pull the HD and place it in another machine and boot with no boot problems, drivers are another issue.

The request was for you to have the CMOS shorted for at least 1 minute, not seconds. Please give that a try. I have been there.

 

[robertcgs]

You mention "upgradinng your mobo and your cpu. what make of mobo did you have before? and I notice you didnt mention refomatting your hard drive and reinstalling windows after changing mobo's. if you didnt then that is probably why it woudnt post to begin with.

I don't mean to be rude, but It makes no sense at all to reformat a hard drive just because you change motherboards, let alone reinstalling windows.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

I don't mean to be rude, but It makes no sense at all to reformat a hard drive just because you change motherboards, let alone reinstalling windows.

The reformatting and re-installing is to clear the Windows HAL, which gets screwed up when u change a mobo. If u continue using Windows with the new mobo, u will get BSODs and crashes or it might not even start. Thats why iss is suggesting that and I would suggest it too.

 

[Arcanum]

Upgrading the MoBo messes up Windows' HAL, now there are two options with which you might change the mobo and not have to reinstall Windows, but I don't recommend them.

It's always better to do a clean install - you'll get rid of the possible stability issues and you start of clean - no junk from previus drivers.

The reinstall doesn't take that long, and it will save you from possible problems if you repair the installation (like possible stability issues and BSODs).

 

[iss]

I don't mean to be rude, but It makes no sense at all to reformat a hard drive just because you change motherboards, let alone reinstalling windows.
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the two posts following yours explained why you need to reformat and reinstall windows when changing mobo's. ( or at least do a repair install.)

Your viewpoint though seems to be a fairly predominant one judging from the number of posts being made starting with " help I changed my mobo and windows wont start." putting computers together has become easy enough that virtually anyone can do it these days. this has lead many to think they actually know what they are doing. which is why we see so many posts about new installations that wont boot. People dont bother to actually learn how to do things properly.

 

[robertcgs]

the two posts following yours explained why you need to reformat and reinstall windows when changing mobo's. ( or at least do a repair install.)

Your viewpoint though seems to be a fairly predominant one judging from the number of posts being made starting with " help I changed my mobo and windows wont start." putting computers together has become easy enough that virtually anyone can do it these days. this has lead many to think they actually know what they are doing. which is why we see so many posts about new installations that wont boot. People dont bother to actually learn how to do things properly.

Let's take a step back for a moment. The MOBO would not POST, which means before windows (or whatever OS he has) has been handed the process, something in the Bios is stopping the action. You believe a BSOD will stop the POST process before the Bios finishes?

 

[robertcgs]

I have upgraded my system with a msi k7n2 delta2 mobo and a new cpu an ATHALON XP 2700 when i first cranked it up i got it to POST it just wouldn't load xp so i changed some settings in the BIOS to get it to load windows now it won't POST tried pulling the power and removing the battery still won't post tried clearing the CMOS still nothing i'm stuck don't know what elese i can do do you think its something in the BIOS? any and all help would be appreciated thanks in advance
GREG

Greg1769 you have a Firmware or a Hardware problem, but you don't have a OS problem, yet, or by what info you have provided so far. This is my business, what i do for a living. Cases are supposed to be non conducting on the inner surface. It is possible, if you didn't use any spacers, that you shorted the motherboard. Try this, pull the board and place the plastic standoffs in the mount holes of the board so the board will stand up from the table on it's own. Attach video, power and keyboard, power on and see if it will post.

 

[robertcgs]

Upgrading the MoBo messes up Windows' HAL, now there are two options with which you might change the mobo and not have to reinstall Windows, but I don't recommend them.

It's always better to do a clean install - you'll get rid of the possible stability issues and you start of clean - no junk from previus drivers.

The reinstall doesn't take that long, and it will save you from possible problems if you repair the installation (like possible stability issues and BSODs).

Upgrading the MoBo doesn't mess up the HAL - the HAL, Hardware Access Layer - acts as the go between for the OS, from the users perspective, and the hardware. The hardware is identified first in the bios and that info is handed over to the OS, in a 3 step manner. The drivers are then installed that are most compatible for that hardware. Please aslo note Greg1769 did not say his pc Blue screened and now he isn't able to POST. He said XP wouldn't load, he rebooted and changed settings in his Bios and then it would not post.

 

[Merc14]

Greg-
You may have to do a barebones setup but first you need to make sure that your install of the mobo and CPU were correct. Are any mobo LED's lighted, are you hearing any beeps, are you seeing any fans spinning? ISS mentioned standoffs above, did you use them? If you aren't sure what a standoff is then you probably didn't use any. Did you apply thermal paste to the CPU before installing the Heat-Sink Fan cooling unit (HSF)? If so how much thermal paste did you use? Lots and lots is not the rigt answer BTW. LOL. Did you plug BOTH power cords into the mobo (square, 4 pin "P4" plug and the 20/24 pin main power plug)? Did you plug a power cordinto thevideo card? No power no picture. Is the RAM installed in the right slots? Each motherboard uses its own pattern for what slots to use with memory. Look at your manual and verify you installed the DIMMs correctly.

 

[iss]

Let's take a step back for a moment. The MOBO would not POST, which means before windows (or whatever OS he has) has been handed the process, something in the Bios is stopping the action. You believe a BSOD will stop the POST process before the Bios finishes?

If your going to diagnos peoples PC problems you should read their posts more carefully. He said in his intial post:

when i first cranked it up i got it to POST it just wouldn't load xp so i changed some settings in the BIOS

He got past post and stuck at windows loading, and it is equally clear from what he posted that his problem of not getting to post NOW, is probably due to his meddling in the bios when he couldnt get windows to load the first time.

BTW.....HAL is Hardware ABSTRACTION Layer.

 

[Tedster]

he'll need to reset the CMOS by temporarily removing the battery. Then play with the BIOS again.

 

[robertcgs]

Greg1769, Merc14 has good points to consider. Standoffs come into play depending on how your case mounts a board to it. If you have round humps with flat tops on the panel the motherboard attaches w/o standoffs, so you wouldn't be using any standoffs.

Start over, w/o a floppy or any IDE devices, (hard drive, cd rom). Make sure no other device has power going to it except the motherboard. Removing the battery from the board doesn't kill the bios necessarily. That's because of capacitors and how they work. You can still remove the battery but make sure you short that CMOS jumper for at least a minute or more, not less . This is my last update to this thread. If you get no beeps, video but your fan spins your board may be toast due to a short. To safeguard against this in the future buy an anti-static mat and wrist clip. Stay groundd to the chassis, not the plastic, of the case.

Oh, I did type something incorrectly before, it is Hardware Abstraction Layer. Mea Culpa. Did I spell that right? Is it Mia or Mea?

 

[greg1769]

sorry for the absencence but my emachine has now crashed to when it rains it pours i think its my monitor on this problem its 10 yrs old but back to the problem at hand i found my d bracket and installed it to see what i could find out when i turn it on i get the top left light green and that's it.i did go back and short the cmos for about 2 minutes and that didn't seem to help any i did use standoffs on the new board but i will take it out and see anyway i have seen that other places probably won't be back on the computer till tommorow hope very one has a good christmas hope santa brings me a monitor. i will let you know what happens by the way when my computer did post i saw both sticks of memory and my proccesor could i still have a hardware compatability problem?

 

[Merc14]

Hey Greg, Merry Christmas. Yeah, take the board off and make sure that all the standoffs match up to a hole in the mobo. I'd take out the CPU and reseatit and dothe same with the RAM. Good luck.

 

[greg1769]

@ merc14 everyone who helped

I removed the mobo and unhooked everything but keyboard and vga card and what do you know it posts now stuck it back in with only the keyboard and vga no post so I have a short to the case will get some more standoffs and try them maybe that's what's causing it but anyway thanks for the help guys.
btw Santa brought me a monitor today although I had to pay for it and haul it but looks like I'm back in black thanks again.
Greg :grinthumb