Home Build Help Please

[nomad48]

I am attempting my first home build and I need a bit of assistance. System: Epox 4G4A+, Intel Pentium 4, 1.8 (Retail box), 512 DDR PC2700, Antec TruePower 430w Power Supply, Western Digital 80G Hard Drive, Teac 1.44 Floppy, TEAC CD-W540E 40/12/48 CD-RW, Lian-Li PC60U Aluminum. All components are assembled, upon power up the motherboard emits a sound not unlike an emergency vehicle siren. That's it nothing on the monitor. All fans are working and drive lights seem to behaving as expected. I visited the Epox web site and searched the FAQ data base but didn't find anything that identified the problem. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

nomad48

[crapyking]

disconnect all drives & cards except video card & the floppy, try booting to a w98 boot disk.make sure your video card is seated good-reseat it.Chk when you power up that floppy drive is not lite up constant -if so the cable is backward on the drive-some mobos wont even boot if floppy is crossed.I think the red stripe is usually on the L side where IDE drives are on the R looking in from the side.Double chk ramm is seated in #1 slot.

[BipolarBill]

That siren sound indicates high CPU temperature or no CPU fan. See what the temperature alarm trigger is set to in BIOS and raise it if it's below 70C.

[nomad48]

Bipolor:

I did find a bulletin at the Epox tech support web site that also identified heat as the problem. However, I don't understand how the CPU can overheat in the 5 to 8 seconds that elapse between the time I power up the system until the alarm sounds. The CPU fan is functioning properly. And as the motherboard won't POST I don't know how to make modifications to the bios without having access to data on the monitor (which remains blank as the alarm sounds). It seems I don't know enough to make the bios modification under these circumstances. Can you advise please.

Thanks,

nomad48

[BipolarBill]

Did you put thermal gease on the heatsink/die contact area? Is the heatsink seated flat on the die?

[BipolarBill]

Oh - be sure that you didn't plug the CPU fan into the Case fan header. If you do, the fan may spin, but the PC won't POST.

[nomad48]

Bipolor:

Thanks, for the input. I have thermal paste but the Retail boxed processor came with a fan, heatsink and clamping mechanism. The heatsink has a compressable thermal pad of some kind and I wasn't sure if the thermal paste in combination with the compressable thermal pad was a good idea. Anyway, after your post I uninstalled the processor dbl checked everything and re-assembled. On power up I got the same alarm signal. Do you happen to know if this alarm signal is unique to CPU overheating or are there other problems that are identified with this same signal. The manual dosn't have the beep code sequencing. Thanks for the tip on the CPU fan I'll check that next.

nomad48

[BipolarBill]

Well?

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Little to early to tell but it could be a bad mobo. Make sure cpu fan is pluged into the fan header labled cpu or it will not boot as BP said. Also have you felt the HS to see if it is that hot. At 70c you will def. be able to tell if its hot.

As a last resort you could always try reseting the bios.

"The heatsink has a compressable thermal pad of some kind and I wasn't sure if the thermal paste in combination with the compressable thermal pad was a good idea."

No its not a good idea, use one or the other. The pad is fine for it just being built, it shure wouldnt make it over heat.

[nomad48]

I checked the cpu fan connection and it is connected to the cpu fan connector on the motherbord. The processor is not hot or even warm to the touch. As the system won't POST, I don''t know how to reset the bios, and I was under the impression that the cpu heat detection was CMOS related. I can make a jumper change to clear the CMOS. Other than flashing the BIOS, is there another method of reset?

I have an ASUS P4S533 motherboard with vocal POST messaging. I am going to install the CPU on this board and see if it will POST.

Thanks,

nomad48

Well the problem appears to be the processor. I assembled all components using the ASUS board and on power up I got a vocal POST error message "System Failed CPU Test" and thats it. This board would not POST either. Guess it's time to send this Pentium 4 back to Intel for a replacement. Thanks again to all who provided input on this problem.

nomad48

[crapyking]

spending all that extra cash on a P4 qwas your 1st mistake!Should have bought an Atholon instead.

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by crapyking
spending all that extra cash on a P4 qwas your 1st mistake!Should have bought an Atholon instead.

First of all, your facts are wrong. Second, you're a horse's ***** for saying so. Do it again and we are going to have serious trouble.

[BipolarBill]

On a more constructive note:

I recently set up a client's PC upgrade. It was the 4th Asus TUSL2-C board that I had worked with. They are normally very easy to set up, but this one was giving me a "case opened" error even though the jumper was set for it. I tried everything I could with the jumper. Finally, I cleared CMOS (removed the battery while unplugged) and set up BIOS again from scratch. Problem resolved! The board probably had been hit with some static at one point or another and clearing CMOS took care of it.

[nomad48]

Bipolor:

I cleared the CMOS on both board, no luck. I talked with an Intel Customer Service Representitive this morning and recieved an RMA #, they agreed to replace the chip and will ship it overnight upon receipt of the faulty processor. And they volunteered to pick up the frieght on both ends!

Regarding the childish post promoting Athalon chips, as far as I'm concerned responding to this type of post is a waste of time.

I will let you know how the build goes once I get the replacement chip. This is my first home buildl and it has certainly been an interesting experience, everyone should try it at least once :- ).

nomad48

[BipolarBill]

Well, it's my job to respond to childish posts.

Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be the motherboard and hold you up another two weeks.