Hurry!! help needed!!!!

[dathenv]

I just built a computer today, and upon the bootup, it shows
"PCI Device listing...." and below that is a chart.
A cursor continuously flashes and I cannot do anything....

What is the problem here??? Is it problem with the floppy drive, HDD, or Motherboard??? I'm suspecting it's the floppy drive because when I put a startup disk in there, the computer at first reads it but then just skips it and goes to the situation described above. Normally, if you use a startup disk, it would go directly to A:, but if the disk isn't a startup disk, it would say something like "Error, insert a diskette (or something like that)". My computer, however, doesn't say that. The green light on the floppy lights up for like a second and the system just goes dierectly to the HDD.

System Specification...
Athlon XP 1600+
Asus A7M266
WD 40GB 7200RPM HDD
I forgot what brand the floppy drive is...


Please help me as soon as possible!!!! thx!!!

[Bovon]

Is there an Operating System installed on the hard drive..

[Explorer]

I ran into what sounds like exactly the same problem yesterday.

The first thing I did was check the BIOS to confirm the obvious, that the correct floppy drive installed on the first screen, it was. Then I changed the boot sequence so that it booted from the floppy first, the hard drive second. Then I enabled floppy seek on boot.

Still got a quick flash on the floppy then an error. I don't recall the exact message but basically it was saying it couldn't find any boot files anywhere. I hadn't yet partitioned and formatted the hard drive so it couldn't go on to the hard drive.

I noticed I didn't hear the floppy drive motor running, changed the drive and all was well. It was a brand new drive too.

EDIT: Upon re-reading your post I see the problem isn't the same.

Do you get any beeps at all? There should be one as the computer boots, very shortly after power-on and before you see the PCI listing.

I think I'd also try entering the BIOS again and setting it to Setup Defaults. It's a pretty basic setup that should at least get the system to boot if all the hardware, jumpers, etc. are OK.

[dathenv]

No, the hard drive does not have an operating system installed, I can't even get to a:\
I see a flashing cursor and it just keeps flashing...

Explorer... so are you suggesting that I change a floppy??

I did change the boot sequence to 1. legacy floppy 2. IDE HDD 3. CDRW
I also tried setting the BIOS back to default.
BUT nothing worked.

Can someone please answer me this... Usually when you first boot up a newly built system, you go to your BIOS first and then insert a startup disk and restart, and you should be able to get to A:\ right? See... all I get is a flashing cursor after "PCI device listing..... (and under that is a chart of the PCI and its IRQ and other stuff)"

[Kuasimodem]

The problem is that your computer is looking for PCI devices and hanging right there. It sounds like you may have either a bad PCI card, or one of the cards isn't seated properly. It could also be an IRQ conflict (the card wants one IRQ, the board is trying to give it another based on which slot it's in), try changing your cards around (just stay out of PCI slot 1, as it's shared with the AGP slot).

Try removing everything but the vid card, processor and one stick of RAM. If the system boots, start adding cards, one at a time, until the problem pops up again.

[Explorer]

Sorry dathenv, the first part of my post was in error, corrected by the EDIT. I doubt the floppy is the problem though.

Not getting past the PCI Device listing, as pointed out by Kuasimodem indicates a problem with a card plugged into a PCI slot or possibly an error in the BIOS setup. I'd still reset the BIOS to Setup Defaults and follow Kuasimodem's suggestion to remove everything except the processor, memory and video card. He has the right idea in removing as many variables as possible so simplify troubleshooting.

[dathenv]

See, the problem is that I don't have any PCI cards installed!
All I have installed is an AGP graphics card (Geforce 2 MX 400 64MB)...
Maybe it has something to do with the onboard audio??
Please help me, guys...
Thx a lot for you guys' previous posts!! Really appreciate it. Hope you guys can stay with me until I get the comp workin' again...

[Explorer]

The on-board audio would be PCI but if the system is brand new and never been run before, the default BIOS settings as it came out of the box should auto-detect it OK.

From the Asus site:
Easy Installation Incorporates BIOS that supports auto-detection of hard disk drives, PS/2 mouse, and Plug and Play devices to make the setup of hard disk drives, expansion cards, and other devices virtually automatic.

Maybe try looking in the BIOS for a section where you can specify that resources for PCI, add-in cards, etc is automatically setup. I think it will be in Integrated Peripherals or something to that effect and it should be set to Auto, not manual. That will let the BIOS detect devices and assign interrupts etc as needed.

No error beeps at start up?

[dathenv]

I'm pretty sure everything is set to auto. I've also tried restoring everything to default, but didn't work.

There isn't any error beep, as I only get one short beep upon bootup.

[dathenv]

I'm just wondering, could this by any chance be a result of a bad/damaged motherboard??
I got it from Fry's Electronics, and as everybody knows, their reputation is not so good in terms of quality control. I got an AMD Athlon XP 1600+ the same day I got the motherboard and was "pleased" to know that two of the chip's pins were bent.... Had to go back and exchanged it....

[Explorer]

Hmmm, I use Asus motherboards exclusively in my business as I find them generally very reliable thus keeping down tech support calls and returns. However, that said, nobody's perfect and you may have got a bad motherboard. It's rare, but it happens.

It seems you've checked everything out and all settings are as they should be. The one short beep at startup is normal and indicates the motherboard has successfully passed the POST (Power On Self Test). Problems with bad memory, video card, on motherboard memory controllers etc would normally generate a series of beep codes rather than the single beep, indicating what the problem is. It's not a definitive test of every piece of the motherboard though.

I'd suggest returning the board, with a list documenting your testing, to Fry's and request a replacement.

[dathenv]

well, I was not saying that it's Asus's fault, I meant it was Fry's who broke the board

After "PCI device listing...." I see a chart with 5 rows. The first one is IDE controller w/ IRQ 4/5. Second and fourth row are Serial Bus Controller IRQ 3(?not so sure). The fourth row says Multimedia controller(? not sure if it says controller or not but it does say Multimedia something). And the last row says Display controller(? Display "something", not sure if it said controller"). What should go after the last one?? Maybe that is the problem...

[Explorer]

It may be you just mis-read them, but the IDE controller should be using IRQs 14 and 15, not 4 and 5. 14 and 15 are industry standards and have been for a long, long time. If it really is 4 and 5 something is definitely wrong there.

If I recall correctly a Serial Bus controller is actually a controller on a modem card, or possibly a built in modem on your motherboard. It also might refer to the built-in LAN chip, if present.

The Multimedia line will be referring to your on-board sound card, which is likely a Crystal Media 8738 chip.

The Display line is the IRQ assigned to your video card which, incidentally, answers what was going to be my next question, is the BIOS configured to assign an IRQ to video, which it obviously is.

There may not need to be another line after the Display line. The number of items in the PCI Device listing is dependent on the number of pieces of hardware installed in the computer. As you add cards, you will see the list grow.

I suspect, and this is only a suspicion without hard facts to support it, that there may be another PCI device of some sort built into the motherboard and it's defective. At boot, it's trying to be read by the BIOS and put in the list. If it's defective and not responding, it will lock up the computer.

It really does, without my actually being in front of the computer to check it out, sound like a bad motherboard.

I'll have to shut down now, up early in the morning to run a business and fight with more computers

I'll check back in the morning.

[dathenv]

Yeah, I think I misread them, they should be 14/15... heehee

I guess I'll call ASUS tech support tomorrow and see if they can help me... thank for your help Explorer!! Keep in touch, as I may need your help in the future.

[dathenv]

Another question, the problem I have now can only be problem on the motherboard (defective or not) right? It has nothing to do with the floppy or HDD right?