Warning: newbie needs help. First home brew PC

[DUD]

I am putting together my first PC. I have installed the motherboard and connected a floppy, CD-ROM, and a HD. The motherboard does not have built in audio or video, so I've installed a voodoo 3 3000 AGP. I'd like to enter set-up, but I can't get any display on the monitor. Can anyone help?

[wedor]

What board? what CPU? try using just RAM, CPU, and video first, any beeps? if it doesn't POST( Power On Self Test) try it with the board out of the case on the plastic it came in.

[DUD]

The CPU is a Celeron 466 slot 1. I've installed a single 256 RAM chip, which came with the motherboard, in the first RAM slot. The board is a Jetway J-994AN-L. I have followed the manual in making the connections and jumper settings up to this point. I'm naive enough to worry how the voodoo can do what it do without me installing the drivers for it...which is difficult with no display at all?

[codybear]

is the board from quadrant components? if so then it is most likely the ram if it has USA on the chips..if the suggestions already do not work then let us know

[DUD]

Codybear...yes, the board and RAM are from Quadrant. I do not see "USA" on the RAM chip; where/what am I looking for? What else can you tell me about this? I gather this manufacturer has had problems?

[codybear]

I thought so from your post description of the board and ram....I can only tell you of my own experience with them..they manufacture far inferior memory modules and pass them off as high quality and sell many many on egghead as a combo with jet boards....I emailed them for specs before buying and bidding on a large quantity of 256mb memory modules and was sent the specs for micron cas 3 memory so I bid and won and upon delivery discovered that it was USA chips manufactured by quadrant themselves with micron eeproms. When I emailed them back they denied ever sending me the specs and in a followup phone call which I recorded and told the lady it was being recorded she admitted that was common practice but that no-one had complained before and could not understand my dissatisfaction. the memory would post at 124 but no higher and was to be 133 and at 133 it would not post at all..I never checked all of them so some may have posted at 133 ....long story short when I had the recorded phone call transcribed and the emails printed out and mailed to them they decided that I was correct and refunded me my money and sent me a true stick of 256pc133 free of charge to not pursue it any further and they would look into training their people better whatever that ment...I also sent it all to egghead but their response was that they had no reason to stop dealing with them.

you will probably find it to be the ram that came with the board..try a different stick and see if it will work...I have bought those boards before and while not the best they are a decent mid range one

[codybear]

on the memory chips on the stick itself you will find USA or possible SPEC..no numbers just the letters and only the letters

if not then what is on the chips??

[This message has been edited by codybear (edited 12-28-2000).]

[Richard_Cranium72]

My limited dealing with egghead.com was not satisfactory either..

[DUD]

I spoke with tech support at Quadrant, and was told there was an "issue" with the Voodoo 3 3000 AGP that I have. I was advised to use an old video card to get me through set-up, then install the Voodoo card and its drivers. What do you think, ladies and gentlemen?

[codybear]

personally I know Quadrant is full of **** but at least do what they recommend and if no go still then ask for a refund or replacement..the voodoo has proven to be a pretty trouble free card in most cases

if you can speak to Victor you will get the best results but he is still a puppet there among incompetents.

[This message has been edited by codybear (edited 12-29-2000).]

[DUD]

As a newbie I can speak frankly. I have discovered that things work better if the slot 1 CPU is inserted fully before you move on... http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif I'll keep you informed of my progress (or lack thereof). So far, I be stupid.

[Ruckus]

This might sound like a stupid solution, but is the card completely sealed into the AGP slot? Usually this is a problem for some people installing AGP cards...

[DUD]

Once I got the CPU seated, things started working (including the Voodoo video card). The story from tech at Quadrant was BS; I DO NOT mean Bachellor Of Science.

[crazyray]

You will all be pleased to know that DUD's PC is up and running well.