Computer Assembly

[chipmaster]

I could (and most likely am) completely wrong about this, but I believe it does; or at least this site led me to believe this.

[NETWizz]

Okay, this is a crappy board much like ECS with much backwards compatibility.

It supports AGP-Express and PCI-Express. You should use PCI-E for best performance.

Memory:
2×184pin + 2×240pin/DDR 400/DDR2 533

Audio:
Realtek ALC655

Processor:
Pentium 4 Prescott/Celeron D

LAN
VIA VT6103



You have two types of memory slots. You have 2x DDR 2 slots and 2 X DDR 1 slots. Use only one kind of memory or the other but not both.

Apprently, BIOSTAR created their own version of PCI Express called PCI-EXTREME. Sounds like bulldung to me :-(

I hate it when companies create thing like PCI-Extreme and AGP-Express. All they are doing is trying to give a fancy name to the old story that goes like this, "we did not want to follow the same standards as every other manufactuer to ensure compatibility"

The x16 PCI-Extreme is really PCI-Express x4 disguised as an x16 slot. Great product hugh?

WARNING!! PCI-Extreme = PCI-E 4x

One user writes:
"sound is alittle odd, when playing music on windows media player, and i open another program ittt ssstttaaarrrtttsss ttttoooo gggooo llliiikkkeee ttthhhhiiisss. kind of annoying. and the overclocker for it, once it goes up 2 Mhz it crashes (pentium 4 630). i cant click the overvoltage button either. i forgot the first time when i was installing windows, since i had a sata hdd, had to change it in bios from raid to ide. putting boot up/bios password on disables most of the bios options."

Overall, this motherboard fits into the designed to barely function/low quality electronics category. They also have a list of supported video cards that are officially certified by BIOSTAR to be "PCI-Extreme Certified"

If you ask me, BIOSTAR can keep their PCI-Extreme and AGP-Express. I would much rather have a motherboard that fits into the Industry Standard, works with all PCI-Express X16 cards that adheare to Industry Standards.

My Vedict: This is proprietary Crap

[chipmaster]

Status: Nearly complete!

I spent today from 4pm-7pm tediously following an online guide and the manuals. I got everything setup, cleaned up and was ready to POST.

Here's how long it took me to do different sections:

Disassemble old stuff: 30 min

Mount motherboard: 20min

Install Processor: 10min

Install Ram: 10min*

Jumpers other single cables: 40 min (Including fans, usb, external sound, power jumpers, etc)

Installing drives: 30 min

Installing other cards: 10 min

Cleaning up and seting up computer for POST: 30 min

Now here's where the problems started. I hooked up a monitor and keyboard and a powercord to the computer. I saw the mobo light turn on. I then read up on what I should expect during POST. I crossed my fingers and held my breath and then pressed the power button...nothing! No sound no fans no nothing turned on.

Ok, ok, ok. I can deal with this I thought. I thought and thought and I decided it was probably a problem with the power jumpers. I realized that the wording on my jumpers was slightly different than the matching ones on the motherboard. After rearranging a bit, I got it to turn on. Fans roared to life. Unfortunately that's where the awesomeness ended.

I noticed that the lights on my ram were not turning on. Oh, no I thought. I knew there was a problem when I installed them. Try as I might, I couldn't get them to fit into the first two dual channel ram slots. I put way more force than I should on this thing, and even got it to snap in on a number of occasions, but it would just pop back out. Ok, this absolutely sucks I thought, but I tried the black ram slots just for the heck of it. And wouldn't you know it, they fit. Alright, I thought, I hope this is ok. Well, I'm guessing it's not. After deeply examining the ram slots it looks like there's a plastic piece that separates the two sides of the ram that's a little bigger in the orange slots than the black slots. I bet this is the sorce of the problem. But why the hell are the slots different?!?!? So I can't do anything further with the computer until I get this problem resolved.

Here are some pics:









HELP!

[AlienCC]

From what I can tell you have the Biostar PT880 Pro-A7 Combo motherboard which should support both DDR and DDR2 memory, according to this article at anandtech.

Of course we can't really provide better help unless you tell us exactly which components you are using.

It is possible that you damaged either the ram or motherboard slot when trying to shove the memory into the incorrect slot. However there is still a chance that everything is ok, from what I can tell in your previous posts in this thread you are trying to install "Corsair XMS2 Pro series (DDR2) x 2 512mb" memory onto this board. You just need to refer to the manual to find out which slots are the DDR2 slots, and proceed by putting the memory into that slot with the notches all aligned properly and everything should be fine assuming nothing has been damaged already.

--AlienCC

[NETWizz]

[NETWizz]

Oh, I am also sad to report I did some looking up for you and this is the cheapest processor that board supports:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819115005

The Core 2 Duo E6300 is $193 right now.

This XMS2 would be some awesome memory, but you can get some DDR2 cheaper.
With 240 vs 168 pins, this will also fit the slots better
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820145034
The XMS 2x 2GB will cost $277 right now

If you are cheaper and want to risk lower performance, this should work fine. Digitan bought G.SKILL generic type stuff and it worked okay for him.

$109 right now for this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820231102
IT is only 2 x 512 MB and has higher latency. However, it is PC2-6400 DDR2

[chipmaster]

OMG, I never told you guys what I bought for this computer. Please take my sincere apology. I've been receiving help on this project over at Cemetech (here) as well, and I guess I got confused as to which forum knew what. Here's what I'm working with:

Motherboard: ASUS P5W Delux $230
*http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131025

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.13 Ghz $220
*http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819115004

Video Card: EVGA 7600GT $140
*http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130017

Also, I've discovered in the last few minutes that I have DDR ram not DDR2 (which I was told I had by these people). You were right NetWiz, and you couldn't even see the ram.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So this ram that I possess is of no use to me? Even though it fit into the black slots, it won't work? Argh.

Well, it looks like I'm off to spend a few hundred more dollars :(

I appreciate all of your help, and I appologize again for not informing you of my setup. I did spend the entire day working on this and I'm beyond tired. I really need some sleep, but I couldn't until I found out the problem. Thanks for putting my mind at ease.

[NETWizz]

No problem. If the slots are not physically damaged, the motherboard should be okay.

My recommendation is to check the DDR1 you have in a motherboard that takes DDR1. If it still works, sell it to someone.

That is the high quality XMS right there. It is actually some expensive stuff you got for free. Please paste the markings here.

Also, if it appears undamaged, works, and you run MemTest86+ on it... and want to sell that DDR1 reasonably cheap, post an offer to sell it here if you wish or a link to eBay. Since this topic is not spam, I have no problem if you choose to do this. Heck, I might buy it depending on if it is good or damaged and the price offered.

[chipmaster]

Oh, and NetWiz. I used your tutorial to set up this computer. I have to say that it is very well done. It is thorough and good even for novices. You clearly have experience in this field, and it helped immensely. Between your guide and the manuals I read, I had no trouble up until this. Heck, I even did the marking the screw holes with paper trick :D

One thing I will say is that if my case didn't come with the power supply already hooked up, I probably would have liked a walk-through on how to install it.

I'll post more detailed specs of it in the morning. I guess I would be interested in selling it as it is of no use to me.

I will say that I don't think I damaged anything. I was very careful (although I was jamming DDR1 into DDR2). Hopefully it all still works.

Edit: Just ordered XMS DDR2 as recommended by NetWiz (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820145034). I added rush processing so hopefully I'll get soon!

[NETWizz]

Rush order?
Newegg is so fast already.

I was just giving an example. You don't have to buy the XMS 2. It should work though as it is DDR2 800, the fastest your motherboard supports with great latency.

I never do rush order and Newegg always ships my stuff next day even if I order on saturday. They ship it sunday.

They are awesome.

_____________

I will try to add a section on installing the power supply.. Thanks for the suggestion.

[chipmaster]

It was an extra $3, so I figured what's three dollars when I just dropped $277?

Edit: Ok, here's what my ram says on the back:

CMX512-3200XLPRO
XMS3200 512MB 400MHZ 2 2 2 5

Wow, this is pretty low latency ram. [s]I really wish I could use this.[/s]

I've found a use for this ram after all. It appears my current computer takes DDR ram. I put it in, and at first the motherboard just beeped at me. After just putting one in, it managed to boot. I put the second and everything remained fine. So now I've got a gig of ram on this computer (up from 512). And I have two old sticks of crappy 256 DDR ram lying around. :P

Perhaps I'll donate them to UTI if you're interested. The ram says:

HYS64D32300HU-5-C
Assembled in Italy
256MB,400,CL3 PC3200U-30330-A0

[AlienCC]

[chipmaster]

If you try hard enough, you can jam it in there jk

Alright, well I'll be willing to sell it cheap to anyone that wants it. I'm just looking for shipping costs and money for my time.

[NETWizz]

How much for the high latency generic 2x 256 MB sticks?

FYI, this is what CAS Latency 3 Almost Generic DDR 2x 256 MB sells for in a Dual Channel Kit as new memory with warranty:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820141213


Obviously, it would have to be cheaper than $52 or nobody will ever buy it.

[chipmaster]

I dunno how much exactly I'll sell them for. I'll probably get around to putting them on ebay sometime this week, and I'll post a link when I do.

[Arcane Wizard]

Can't you return it for the new RAM?

[NETWizz]

[chipmaster]

Once I get this computer working (which hopefully will be very soon), I'll start selling all the components I got but don't need.

So the new ram arrived today. Needless to say I installed it as soon I as I got home. But, to my dismay, the computer continues to be unbootable, or at least I can't tell if it is or not. I have my monitor plugged into the graphics card, but it never displays ANYTHING when I attempt to post. I also get no beeps from the motherboard.

I can tell that all the fans come on and that the dvd drive does spin temporarily, but after that the computer just stays in a state of semi on, but not outputting anything.

I desperately need some help here. I'm going to go over the jumpers step by step to make sure that I didn't miss anything, but I'm pretty sure I didn't. :(

I know I probably haven't provided you with adequate information to diagnose the problem, but I'm not sure what the cause is or what to even tell you other than what you already know.

[DigiTan]

D'oh! Did the motherboard manufacturer say anything about that?

[chipmaster]

No, they didn't. Oh, but it wasn't beeping because I didn't have the case speaker plugged in. Doh! :D

Thankfully, I was able to finally get it to POST after an hour long chat with a cemetech member. There were two things wrong.

1. I had plugged in a couple of cables backwards that go from the power button to the mobo.

2. I *may* have damaged the orange ram slots in my mobo, but using the one stick trick, I found that they work fine in the black slots, and I'm perfectly ok with that.


So I do have a working computer now. I'd like to thank all of you for your help and kind words. I'd also like to especially thank NetWiz for his awesome tutorial which both inspired me and guided me through the process. I can honestly say that if it weren't for this guide, I'd still think that putting together a computer is way over my head (although apparently the jumper cables still are ).