Asus P5S800 -VM No Video

Okay, trying to install a "used but working" Asus P5S800-VM.
All seems fine except no video and the long+2 shorts beep.
So:
1) I installed a "used but working (Yesterday) NIVIDA GeForce4", and I get no video and the long & 2 short 'no video beeps'.
2) Next I cleared the RTC ram and removed the 'GeForce4'.
3) With the monitor connected to the on-board VGA, I get the normal drive progression, HD, CD, and the 'No Video' beeps?

Note: I do not have a wired keyboard or mouse. Do I need to get one,
or is this a lost cause? ...seems like they should have left a few video option jumpers in the design. The BIOS is worthless if you can't see it..

 

Greetings, oldgearhead...

Looks as if you've tried what I would have.

I doubt that the USB keyboard/mouse could be causing this, but you never know - stranger things have happened.

When you say "cleared the RTC ram", how did you do this: by jumper or by pulling the CMOS battery? Either way, you might try the alternative just to get it out of the way.

Speaking of RAM - you might try re-seating any memory modules, swapping modules, etc. just for s&g.

Re-verify that the GeForce4 does indeed work in another machine. Also, if you've got the board in a box, make sure that the mobo is not grounding to the case or to any standoffs.

 

Okay! That's fixed. It seems 1 long & 2 shorts = memory on this motherboard.
I replaced the stick and I now have audio, video and the Bios can see my drives, USB mouse, and USB keyboard. In fact it looks for them first!

The problem now is it keeps returning to the 'Safe Mode' screen. The only strange thing I see on the Bios Post screen is, under the Mode/32 bit column my 2 hard drives are marked 'off'? Is that because the 32 bit transfer option is disabled? I guess with older ide drives, 32 bit probably should be off, right?

 

Ah, the old "memory error beeps making you think it's a video error" trick, eh? Glad you've got something to work with now...

"Safe Mode"? As in Windows Safe Mode? What's the OS version and Service Pack #, and do you have a Windows disk, etc.? (We may be moving out the hardware realm and into software if you're not booting Windows properly)...

***No idea about the 32bit stuff - I would imagine that whatever safe defaults are present for that BIOS/mobo would apply...