My PC Froozen On a Start Screen After Installing MotherBoard

Hello All,

I recently was given a slightly older ABIT AMD motherboard. I am very certain that it is functional as it worked my my friends pc just before he removed it and installed a new one. He has some experience with this in the past and I trust he didn't step on it or anything rediculous.

Specifically it is a "ABIT NF7-M nForce2 MB" a good AMD 1.1gig processor. Good enough. However, I installed it in an older tower I had laying around. Put in the half gig of ddr200 memory that graciously came with it and next to nothing happened.

The pc starts up (black screen stating the following:

Phoenix - AwardBIOS v. 6.00OOPG

MAIN PROCESSOR: AMD Atholon (tm) XP 1100MHz

MEMORY TESTING: 491520k OK + 32M Shared Memory

MEMORY FREQUENCY FOR DDR200

PRIMARY MASTER: ST320413A 3.05

PRIMARY SLAVE: CRD-8483B 1.02

SECONDARY MASTER: CREATIVE CD-RW RW8438E FC03

SECONDARY SLAVE: None

PRIMARY IDE channel no 80 conductor cable installed

CMOS checksum error - Defaults loaded

Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP

01/22/2003 - nVIDIA-nFORCE - 6A61BA1AC-15


*** That is all that happens. The PC does not respond. I can NOT get it to "continue" by depressing the "F1" key nor can I get it to enter SETUP by depressing the "DEL" key. Another option appears on the screen while powering up stating that I can use "(ALT) + (F2) to enter AWDFLASH" this disapears on a litterally a second. I know that Awdflash is one of the files for download that accompanys the BIOS upgrade at the ABIT website.

My problems is that I can not effect any functionality from this pc. I can't enter BIOS not Windows. In fact it is almost as if the darned keyboard is unplugged.... and yes - I have checked all of the cables.

I hope I have not been too - too specific. I am hoping to fix this pc for my step daughter to use however, things arn't looking too good at the moment.

If anyone can help I will be eternally greatful and give you as many gmail accounts as your hears desires... If you want them?

Thanks,

DigitalSwag

 

Perhaps it is important to state the I can't enter Windows, The BIOS or Anything else for that matter. I do know the power supply is not ideal but it should work (250watts).

I do apologize for the typing errors. I hope they are not too confusing.

If anyone can help me my (13 yo) step daughter may even speak to me.

Signed,

Deperate in Los Angeles

 

Lot's of things can be an issue here.

The PSU may not have enought juice, suggest bigger one!
Inspect for a short or ground.

Here's what I would do.
Take everything apart.
Reasemble using only the basic hardware as follows:
your 250 psu or better
mobo
cpu/HSF
one stick memory
video card/ none if you have onboard video
PS2 keyboard
PS2 mouse
Monitor
If your system has onboard speaker connect it as it might provide Diagnostic beep codes.
Assemble using only the above hardware ( also note there is No HDD/CD/DVD/Floppy in my list cause you dont need one to Diagnos or access BIOS)
Then, Reset CMOS, then Power up, PC should Post then try to access BIOS

Last thought, you stated you cant access windows, the HDD already has windows installed?
A new build or one using different Hardware, would 99% of the time, would require a reinstall of windows.

 

Find the jumper on the motherboard to reset the CMOS battery. Alternatively, remove the battery for 5 minutes and replace it.

 

I did reset the CMOS Jumpers that did nothing I also removed the battery for more than ten minutes and replaced it - to no avail.

I will now be disasembling and reasembling the the entire unit follow ASUS's instructions. I will not connect the CD/HDD or the Floppy. I will use only one memory card and ..... I'll be back in 30 minutes or so.

Thanks for the advice I'll let you know what happens.

 

Okay,

I have found part of the problem. My motherboard was not correctly insulated from the tower.

I have managed to see the BIOS now. However, another issue has developed. The PC is now looping as follows:

PC powers up offer entry inot BIOS which does work. It then Offers Window XP Safe Mode Options, Last Known Good Configuration, or Normal Start up. None of wich work. The screen looks as though it is going okay. Flashed the Win XP logo for about a nano second and the restarts all over again. I am not sure why. Could this have anything to do with Windows XP?, The BIOS not being configured properly (which I don't know how to do really) or ????

Please advise. As it stands the pc just keeps restarting but never makes it to the desktop.

What to do??

Signed confused... again.

 

This could be what is wrong.
First check your keyboard plug make sure its in the right port. then if it is Jump your cmos jumper out to reset the board. The problem is the keyboard is not responding so it is going through typical start up procedures then when it loops most likely it is a BSOD "blue screen of death" most likely due to an inproper date time stamp on the new mother board. You will need to change these settings in the bios when you can get the keyboard to work. Watch for the keyboard flash to see if the keyboard is being initialized.

Hope this helps

 

Hello there,

I did get today's date in the BIOS. However that has had no effect. I am not getting BSOD actually it's the BSOTA= Black Screen Of The Abyss (my own creative mind at work here). Anyhoo -

The keyboard and mouse are connected correctly. I did reset the CMOS jumpers to no avail. I evidentally don't know how to configure a (ABIT NF7-M AMD) motherboard. I have never used a AMD before so it is rather new to me... and I am certainly no expert with BIOS/CMOS configurations. I feel pretty certain that IF I can propertly configure my BIOS/CMOS things should go well and Windows XP will start.

Right now it just keeps looping as if I was hitting the restart button. I CAN now access the BIOS but I am not sure what I should be doing in it. Previously I had a Pentium 1 Motherboard (a real cheap one) in this pc. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Waiting with baited breath and a confused mind.

 

Format HDD & reload Windows.
You can download Chipset Drivers etc. from Abits Web
A HDD with windows OS from a pentinum system isnt ever going to BOOT when installed into an AMD based system due to the differances in drivers/chipset etc. Just reload the OS.


As for BIOS you probably need to adj some setting's
Here's a Guide:
http://www.rojakpot.com/freebog.aspx

 

ASUS is right. I don't know why I didn't think of that.

 

Hey Guys thanks. I wasn't sure if that was a problem or not. I thought I may need to update drivers but - I hoped it would at least bootup.

I will reinstall the old board, backup the files that are important, then do it all over again. Finally, I will format the HDD. and go from there. Thanks for all your help guys.

 

That is why assumption is the mother of all F***ups. I assumed that the board being swapped out was similar to the one being installed. Now I'm assuming the hard drive working with a PI is less then 20 gb, I would say instead of doing all that work to back up old info, would be to buy a new 60-80 gb drive for $50.00 or so and install that and set the original drive as a slave after you get the new one to boot. you will be able to access all the info on the original drive.