Installed Memory; Dead Computer?

I installed two new memory sticks today. The computer recognized the memory during post, but gave me a CMOS checksum error. I took the memory sticks out so that it was back to the way it was, but now the computer won't post at all - no beeps, nothing.

Specs:

abit-av8 motherboard
1 gig DDR RAM
Windows XP
Antec 350 watt power supply
AMD Athlon 64 processor

Any ideas?

Thank you! I appreciate your help.

 

Update: After some more fiddling I am able to get it to post. But there is still the checksum error, even after I replaced the battery (I'm still just using the original memory now). I can then go into the BIOS and load the defaults, but the system won't boot - it gives me DISK BOOT FAILURE. The post screen is showing that it is successfully detecting my hard drives.

 

You say you have Hard Drives (so more than one) were they originally in a RAID configuration? Resetting the BIOS (removing battery) will reset the HDD to normal mode in BIOS and the system will not recognise your HDD array (DISK BOOT ERROR) this has happened to me on 1-2 occasions and I had to restablish the RAID set-up within BIOS then butta-bing butta-bung system worked.

 

That's an interesting idea! I don't know if they were set up in RAID configuration - I had a friend set up my motherboard a few years ago. I don't know anything about RAID though... what I saw online said you need two identical hard drives, but mine are not identical - does that mean they weren't set up that way? The site I was looking at also mentioned that setting up RAID involves wiping all the data from the hard drives, which is not something I want to do. Also, my hard drives are old and are connected with IDE cables, not SATA.

If you still think that might be the problem, can you give me any ideas on how to set up the RAID within the BIOS? I was poking around and the closest thing I found was under "integrated peripherals" there was an option for SATA RAID ROM but it was already enabled. Thanks again

 

Looks like someone needs to be banned from this site....you moron Bobo.

Okay abbyg do you know exactly how many HDD there are in your system? Only one of these should have your OS on it and the others will be purely for DATA storage. If like you say you believe they are not identical in size and make then only one will have your OS while the other will be for data storage.

Can you ask your friend about the initial HDD set-up.....if not then I would suggest you look in your "Boot Menu" within BIOS. Within this section you should have "Boot Device Priority" ideally set this with Floppy Drive as first (no floppy then CD/DVD Drive) and then your HDD. Another section will be for "Hard Disk Drives" where you can indicate which HDD is to be read first....then 2nd etc etc. You may need to swap these around until you have highlighted the HDD which has your OS on it to boot firstly. Save BIOS settings and exit and then see if you can get your OS to come up. Try in this area because it doesn't sound like you will have the RAID array. Hope this is helpful.

 

Thanks for the reply - I've checked the boot priorities and they seem fine. I had someone take a look at it, and they were pretty sure the motherboard was shot. I ordered one online, so when it gets here, I'll try putting everything back together with a different board.