was I too confident?

[bumblebee]

I'm new at this so pardon any lingo blunders...
moved Celeron 300 to a new case 2 weeks ago so could put in videocard that desktop case would not allow.
CMOS forgot who it was-had to tell it all when rebooted.
THEN installed videocard-no probs-just disabled onboard.
THEN tried to put in more RAM for Xmas.
blank screen.
took out extra RAM, still nothing, but LED, CPU and power fans working, and hear HD clicking. won't seek floppy A. CD rom spins, but won't boot from it.
-this is getting too long, so will continue in next thread

[bumblebee]

SOOOOOOOO tried to clear the CMOS in case I confused it as it appeared to be easily confused. (note re moving the board to a new case above)
Also disconnected all the IDE cables, the power etc to see if it would go back to default settings when replugged all in.
Nothing.
took out the new videocard and put back the original cable for the onboard, as that would have been the default set up if I successfully cleared the CMOS.
still nothing-
took out all other peripherals (modem,netcard, sound cables-all onboard)to see if could isolate.
now Boxing Day-tried the voltmeter on the battery-says 3+...
does anyone have ideas, or do I need to give more info re the motherboard, BIOS etc?
Husband not any more help than offering the voltmeter :) Upped the other computer instead in the meantime with the RAM so family could play the games, but being spoiled, they aren't used to sharing!!! (tells me the RAM was ok

[Unreal Gamer]

I tried to read your posts carefully and they confused me :D

The difference between a bad and a good CMOS battery in voltage terme is minute.

If you remove the battery , the CMOS defaults to the factory settings.

Refit the battery and set your BIOS to autodetect the drives.

Allow the PC to boot to DOS prompt of a boot floppy.

Switch off the PC and leave for about 10 min.

Restart the PC , if the CMOS has lost the settings then the battery is bad - replace it , if not then we need to investigate further. :)

[Imperion1]

Okay, what exactly is the problem?
Does it boot, but no video? Does it not get any power? Is the boot only going as far as finding the memory?

Also, computer specs might be helpful.

Nevermind, Merged the threads.

By the way, Welcome to Sysopt.

[Imperion1]

And please keep the same topic in one thread.:)

When you say that you hear the hard drive clicking, do you mean its clicking? Or that you hear it spinning?
If the hard drive is clicking, then its going dead.

[bumblebee]

re HDD noise-just the normal read noises.

sorry for the split post-misread the character limit by a "0" and thought I was over, so broke it into 2 notes

re specs
PC100 system board, baby AT
Celeron Slot 1 @ 300MHz
66 MHz bus
AMI bios 1998

It was 64 MG SDRAM in DIMM 1 @ PC100
this is what I had tried to replace with a 128 MG stick when this mess started.

know I have power, and the HDD is turning, but not seeking A drive (2nd default)
but is seeking CD-rom,(other boot devices is there by default in the bios but cannot see what it is seeking!!!)
thought by unplugging all cables, setting CMOS jumper to clear and pulling videocard out to plug back into the systemboard VGA it would go back to defaults as it did when I moved the system over in the first place-had to change the defaults etc, but had a screen at least that time.
what should the battery read for Volts-as cannot test it any other way-and did I truly clear the CMOS?

[bumblebee]

still wondering if anyone can give me a voltage reading on the battery for this mobo.
took it out of computer for the night, appears to test fine with the voltmeter for charge,but not clear on what the charge should be.

then put back in puter this aft and still nothing-no video, no beeps, just the regular indications of power (fans and lights and some few clicks from HD-have I fried mobo?

only ask as am going to the big city tomorrow (closest one to us) and wondered if I should pick up battery/CPU or be shopping for motherboards!?
thanks in advance

[Lycia]

There should be a jumper on your motherboard with say three pins. for example, numbered 1,2, & 3. during normal operation, say pins 1 & 2 are jumjped. but to clear the cmos, you need to jump pins 2 & 3. The best way to check to see if the battery is holding a charge is to do what some one above suggested, clear the cmos, then reboot and change a setting. shut down for about 10 mins, then resart and go back into cmos/bios and check to see if setting is same as when you changed it. If it reverted to default, then new battery is needed.

As for the other problems. Make sure all cables are properly aligned. Check to see if the memory sticks are properly seated in their slots as well as the vid card. If you can, try to see if the memory and vid card will work in another system...

[wizofid]

use onboard video,
recheck three times - that you only plug the floppy drive into the floppy slot -

boot it on a boot disk - and report what you get -

the number of times that you have taken out the battery has well and truly cleared it.

hit del or F2 when it boots it you see anytihng on screen to get you into the bios - go over settings and correct them!

after you get there then put your harddrive back in and try again

wiz

[bumblebee]

thanks wiz-will try that with just floppy
have checked and rechecked the cables but will do that again
still wonder if I fried MOBO ?

[bumblebee]

one more thing for anyone that can help
there are no beeps for error codes at all
have tried everyone's suggestions re re-seating RAM, disconnecting HD to try and force floppy, clearing CMOS various ways (battery, jumpers etc)but nothing at all-just power indications everywhere except the floppy light.I do hear HD testing RAM, but as said above, no beeps, no video.

[wizofid]

the parot - might be -

1-ram chip
2 floppy
3 video - are you using on board - or your card?
grab your motherboard book - and if your don't have one - find the fed id number or model and brand then go search for the pdf file for it. that shouiuld help

5 - get it to hit your bios next if any of the above works and go from there


mess started when you replaced the mem stick - grap a magnifying glass and make sure that the lttle clips for the stick are not touching each other. had that happen before

and yes it should beep - get a listing of your test beep codes - you can do a quick search for it - it is on the net - I rebuilt my drives so until I'm done my favorite list witth this stuff is not quite so close.

[bumblebee]

WOW do I ever feel STUPID!!! :o
there were no error beeps or anything as it could not load video since I have now found out I have a funky monitor plug
if I boot and get no video, then hot plug the video again, get video no problem
new ram was fine-had it tested (some shareware program)
bios fine too-despite all my fiddling over past few days with clearing it etc.
thanks everyone for the suggestions-will still keep them as I am onto the next motherboard install-upping my old P100 (overclocked to 200) with another of same board as other one I just did-(but video for this one is stable).
at least then the parts are interchangeable-so will have 2 Celeron 300's-a bit faster but reeeeeally cheap upgrade and more updated bios
and identical net cards, so should be able to network these-speak same lingo. don't know when I am going to upp the processor, but will give it a rest for a bit as for these kids, it is fast enough. When i do that, be sure I will be back asking questions again as you were all so supportive :)

by the way, Happy New Year everyone
:D