System won't boot...please help

[jay]

OK, I have a K6-2, BCM VP1541 ATX motherboard, and 32MB SDRAM (I'm running at 66Mhz bus just to be safe).

The system won't boot up (no video, and can't hear anything going), and I know the memory and video card work.
The CPU fan and the power supply fan are both ON, and I unplugged everything else and it still won't show any video.

Also this is one of those wierd power saving cases (power button in the back, and suspend button in the front) and I plugged the "remote SW" switch into the appropriate place (without it no power to the fans).

So what can be wrong? Bad motherboard? Is there something I am missing here?

Oh forgot to mention, yes the video card is firmly seated in the PCI slot, I tried the upper and the second highest slot.

Thank you

[This message has been edited by jay (edited 02-08-99).]

[Dluv]

Here's a test to see if the motherboard is any good. Take out the memory completely. If the machine beeps, then the motherboard is good. (ps. Make SURE you have a PC speaker plugged in!)
also, you might want to take out _all_ the cards except for the video card and see if that works.
good luck

[Sammy]

From the level of incativity you are experiencing it sounds as if it may be a very low level problem, possibly Jumper or bios chip related.

Is the board a new install ?

The reason being, I recently upgraded my motherboard and had the exact same problem. After checking all the jumpers were as specified in the manual and re-seating the bios chip, I still had the problem.

After much head scratching and a close examination of the motherboard, it became apparent that the clear CMOS jumper was incorrectly drawn in the book.

After swapping it to the other position... Hey Presto, the machine booted perfectly.

If its not a new motherboard, then I would suggest you reseat any socketed chips on the motherboard ( BIOS, CPU etc... ) to ensure they are firmly located with a good connection.

If that doesnt help, you could always try a new Bios chip if you have one handy.

I dont know if I am teaching you to suck eggs, but the above problem can be caused by a phenomenom ( ? ) called chip creep, which is when the chip gradually moves out of the socket due to constant heating and cooling.

Hope this helps...

[jay]

OK update.

I took out the memory and powered up...no beeps (yes the speaker was plugged in).
Reseated CPU, made sure the BIOS chip was in, still no beeps. Added the memory, no boot up.
Changed the BIOS jumper, no beeps then no bootup.
Checked all of the other jumpers again, they all are fine.

Oh, and just to make sure, what is the proper way of putting a board in a case? What I did was put those screws into the case with a tall head, and then screw regular screws (w/ rubber things) from the top. This is ok right?

Other than that, any other possibilities? Yes, it's a new board. Should I go get it replaced?

Thanks again,
Jay