plz help me!!

[Madcap]

My computer seems to have been down forever and I really need it back up and running. I Orignally had an Abit BE6-II but it gave me a huge headache then would tell me I did not have enough memory to cut and paste 30 characters in 2 text files with nothing opened and resources int he mid 90's when I opened thet xt files. I have 3 different brand sticks of RAM and tried them all separately and got the same problem each time. Formated and reisntalled windows 4 times and same problems.

I ordered a MSI BX Master from axiontech but it is a dud. First they sent it in a differnt box. I thought htey sent me the wrong board cos teh box said socket 370, but teh BX Master is a slot 1. But it was the correct board inside teh box BUT the wrong manula and driver disc!!! I emailed them 4 dayas ago and no reply outside of the automated msg saying their phone customers were more important than me.

So I am returning this board and desparetly need help in choosing a good solid, stable board. I do not care too much about oc'ing so that isn't a big priority. But I would like it to be able to

-Run a slot 1 (altho I do have a socket 370 piii also so either is fine)
-have udma/66
- a good memory range and accept sticks of 256mb of SDRAM
-be able to use my Hercules 3D Prohphet II MX video card with it. THe MSI doesn't detect it


I guess that is it. I'd prefer an Intel chipset but if you know of a good VIA one then let me know

[Roy]

Instinct tell me you'll have problems with the next board too. It smells like a virus on your HDD that doesn't care which skeleton it occupies.

[Madcap]

But I have 2 separate hard drives and have formatted them both repeatedly and still no luck. Even if it was a virus I should be able to at least ber able to run windows setup, right?

[PassnThru]

I really don't think you have motherboard problems here. A stable board is basically most of the boards out there now. Read some online reviews and you will see that the main thing that separates boards these days is overclocking features. If you have tried three different memory sticks then that is probably not the problem also. Make sure you do some testing before you install any programs. Also, sounds like you might be messing with the virtual memory settings. That's fine as long as you get the system up and running before you do it.

[Madcap]

No I didn't mess with the virtual memory settings either! First with the Abit it started whenever I added a new piece fo hardware or swapped one out it would not boot up and just beep at me. It would do that until I reset teh CMOS settings. Then after I did that it would boot up fine and no problems. Then it started giving me teh memory problems I described before. So I formatted the hard drives and reisntalled windows. I did this 3 or 4 times and each time starting off with 94% or so resources it would say not enough memory with just 2 text files open (both less than 30kb in size TOTAL, and I was just trying to cut and paste a few characters!)

The Abit gave me other problems but anyway I got the MSI board. I had fromated my hard drive before installing the new board so I could start off fresh. But locks up everytime. On occasion it does allow me to get into windows to start installing but on those times it will just lock up on me. I tried flashing the BIOS from MSI's site and followed their directions and it said unknown flash type. I downloaded them again and same thing.

I thought it might be a video problem cos it starts beeping right before it says Award BIOS, energy saver... and that stuff, right before it posts. So I downloaded the BIOS fix from teh video card manufacturer for these occasions. But when I ran the program it said I didn't have any Hercules or Guilamont(sp) products installed.

I emailed the tech support of the place i got it from a week ago and never heard back yet. I emailed them also like 3 days before that to tell them they sent me the wrong manual and driver disk but they didn't reply to that either.

So all I have hooked up right now is my CPU, video card and 1 stick of memory. But it will not post. It just beeps at me! I got the last of this type of board from axiontech. And they were the only ones I found that even had the board in stock so maybe they are not making htem anymore or whatever. So if they can not fix it or replace it I will need a new motherboard again.