No BIOS on new FIC-AD11 DDR system

[Guest]

My saga - I put a new system together
(Tbird850, PC Power&CoolingZD-1 Heatsink&Fan, Crucial 128 PC-2100 RAM x 2 sticks, ATI Radeon LE, SB Platinum Live 5.1, Plextor 12/10/32 CD, IBM Deskstar 75GXP 45Gig, Phoebe PCI internal winmodem - winmodem I know,but it was a freebie, Linksys 10BT network card, KongFai 320 case,
Enhanced AMD approved 300 watt PS, Samsung 950P monitor)

....and it booted to BIOS screen at first start up. <b> <font color=green> Things looked good! </font color=green> </b> - CPU was recognized at 850MHz, RAM was recognized at 256 meg, monitor was working fine. :lol:

But I had a bad keyboard so I couldn't get into BIOS setup - nothing happened when I hit key to enter BIOS setup (at least I think that is why I couldn't get in, found out later keyboard was not working on another computer either)

So I hit the reset button on front of case, <b><font color=red> monitor went into sleep mode and I have not been able to boot back to any display on monitor since.</font color=red> </b> 😱 Fans turn on, floppy drive engage, CD light comes on, lights flash on keyboard.

I didn't have speakers hooked up that first time so I don't know what beeps it might have been giving me, but they are hooked up now and when I turn system on I get no beeps (and still no video).

I know the monitor is good as it works on other computer just fine. Speaker report in fine on audio self test mode.

Over last 3 days I have replaced keyboard and tried different monitor, still no video. Fans, floppy, CD, keyboard light up but no video or beeps.

I have tried booting from floppy with Win98 startup disk. Disk sounds like it reads but then nothing happens - no beeps, no video. Tried booting with Win98 CD in cd drive. No change.

I took out all the other cards (SB Live, PCI modem, network), unplugged everything and started over - no change.

Video card is well seated. Next step is to try older video card (Diamond Viper). Then I'll try starting with case fan unplugged. Next step after that is clearing CMOS with jumper setting on board. If none of those work work I'm out of ideas. How the heck do I get this thing to turn on?

I fess up that this is my first home built sytem so it is not inconceivable that I screwed something up. But I triple checked all the jumper settings, cabling, seating cards, and was fanatical about static discharge.

Construction was straightforward except for two issues. The geniuses at FIC only put two fan headers on the board. One is dedicated to CPU fan. Other is dedicated to the north bridge fan. So there was no way to connect rear case fan. Guy at local computer shop replaced the 3-pin jack and put on connector to take power straight from power supply. No temperature sensor this way, but I was not comfortable running without any case fan other the power supply fan.

The other issue is one I hate to make public, and I really don't think it is the problem (but if it is I'm probably out a $172 mobo). There was a small excess flange of foil-like sheet metal hanging off the edge of the motherboard in at the mouse jack location which I had to snip off to get mother board to fit into back plate of the case. I don't think the snipped piece is the issue because it sure as heck didn't look like it belonged there, no electrical connections and it prevented mouse jack from inserting into case hole. I didn't feel real good about minor surgery on brand new board, but it just looked like a piece of metal that got left on after stamping process and there was no way for board to fit into case with it there, so I used some toenail clippers to snip it off (geesh this is embarassing). :tongue: The snippage was nowhere near AGP slot.

The fact that things looked good then the problem started the instant I hit the reset buttom makes me think the cause has to do with the reset button putting me into some sort of BIOS never land. No smells or other suggestion that CPU burned up, but I guessed I should look, though I hate taking heatsink off for fear of hurting the cpu with reinstallation. How do you tell is Tbird is cooked? The thing only ran for 30 seconds before I hit the reset button. This was a big family moment. We took a picture. Then...bummer. Now Daddy stays up til 3am fussing with $1500 of carefully researched inoperative computer gear.

Sorry for the long post but I figured gory details were essential. My fellow travelers in computer land at work are as stumped as I am.

<b> <font color=green> In other words </font color=green><font color=blue> HELP PLEASE! Thanks for any suggestions.</font color=blue> </b> Even simple commiseration appreciated.
<A HREF="mailto: gkoehler@spambegone.umext.maine.edu "> gkoehler@spambegone.umext.maine.edu </A>

 

[Guest]

Heya,

Hold down Control and F, turn on the power, and keep the keys held down until you see some video. That resets the BIOS to factory defaults incase something odd got changed.

If you still have no video, put in a PCI video card and take out your AGP one (if that's what you have). Then boot as above.

When the FIC first boots, it autochecks everything like RAM, FSB, CPU clock, AGP video, etc. So forcing it to defaults might help. If a PCI video card (with no AGP video) still shows no video, remove ALL PCI/AGP cards and boot it up while holding control-F. After a few minutes, turn it off, and put one of the video cards back in. Then boot again, without control-F. It's possible the IRQ Pin assignments are conflicting.

Make sure you use a good keyboard of course. 😉

I had no trouble installing my FIC AD11. I too had to order a 4 to 3 pin power lead, since the FIC itself uses both onboard connectors. But that's no big deal. Overall I'm running stable at 144FSB (chip clock isn't OC'd though).

Hope this helps.

Alopex

 

[Guest]

Thanks much Alopex.
I tried everyting recommended at FIC BIOS pages and FIC NobootNObeep help page and your suggestions which I much appreciate. Attempts included using only 1 RAM stick and trying different individual RAM slots, AGP video card alone, alternate video card (PCI Diamond Viper from 1994). I also tried running without case fan, without cd, and starting with CMOS Clear jumper enabled.

The control F tip is a good one to know, seems like the kind of solution I need but it didn't work. Tried it all 3 ways you gave.

Going to FIC site showed picuture of the board with that little flange so it wasn't just a piece leftover from board stamping. So I feel stupid for snipping it but I don't think that is the problem. Everything was looking fine on first startup, just when I hit the reset button that BIOS seems to have lost its mind.

I have query in to FIC and will call retailer where I bought board tomorrow. Wish FIC manual had been more informative about Control F trick, startup warning to never hit reset button when in initial BIOS screen.
While I tested individual RAM pieces I don't have other DDR board to test them and the Crucial RAM has not officially be certified on FIC AD11. So I guess that is a possibility of RAM problem. But the fact that initial boot found the RAM (and CPU an video) OK and just went south when I hit the reset button still has me thinking the issue is Bios confusion.
Still hoping for other suggestions, but beginning to look like only option is replacement board.






and Fans run, floppy drive engages, but still no beeps or video.

Greetings fellow earthlings

 

[Guest]

Out of curiosity,what is this pin/fan problem your having...I have my retail 1.2 266 FSB wtih 256 crucial PC2100 and FIC AD 11 wtih a nice case comming...case has 3 fans in it...I also have 2 fans that run off same connecter...I just plug them into the connectors that come off the power...btw power is 300 watt....Anyway...anything I should know about board and extras I may need to order?

=Quantum
AO Admin
The Dr.Twister Network
http://ao.drtwister.com

 

[Guest]

Sorry the tips didn't work. Too bad MB's don't have console ports. 8)

The fan/pin "problem" is that the motherboard, like most, only has two 3 pin fan connectors. The FIC AD11 comes with a nice fan on the northbridge chip, which takes up 1 connector. The other connector is used by the CPU fan. This means if you have any case fans that require the 3 pin power, you need to buy an adapter to change one of your 4 pin power supply leads to a 3 pin. There're some available on pricewatch, and I got one, which works great. You just can't monitor the rpm's. I'd rather have it this way, than if they left the northbridge uncooled, like other mb's are.

Alopex

 

[Guest]

Yeah I agree...CPU fan is all you really want monitored....and northbridge fan is nice...most likely why it is such a stable board....My dual fans I have are 4 pin...and the three in the case are all 4 pin...so I should be nice and cool...With my nice artic silver and FOP win32 + 5 case fans and the northbride fan....time for some OC'ing....

=Quantum
AO Admin
The Dr.Twister Network
http://ao.drtwister.com

 

[uncoando]

Clear CMOS jumper is a power off procedure; you power down, jump pin 2 and 3, reset jumper to 1 and 2, then power on...The auxilary CMOS chip uses battery/accumulator power to rewrite the BIOS on the CMOS.
I think.
On older boards you had to power up the mainboard to restore BIOS defaults. Then you immediately power down and reset CMOS CLEAR Jumper to default position.
Not sure what the exact pin config of your reset CMOS jumper is, check manual.
FIC makes really solid boards.
I sent one back a couple of years ago because I thought it was defective. It suffered from the most common error encountered in all of computing: Operator Error ( I had the front panel rigged wrong)

<b><font color=blue>Brainy Sturgeon</b></font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

uncoando - thanks for the tip, it sounds promising.
RE: "you power down, jump pin 2 and 3, reset jumper to 1 and 2, then power on...The auxilary CMOS chip uses battery/accumulator power to rewrite the BIOS on the CMOS."

These are nitpicky questions, but I want to eliminate all potential sources of error:
- By power down does that mean just turning off with the front panel button but leave power supply cord attached, or should I also remove power supply cord from back of the machine as I do whenever messing with cards, memory etc.?
- Manual gives me the jumper settings. So I just set the jumper on for 'Enable Clear CMOS', leave it that way (for how many minutes ?) with power still off, then put the jumper back to the default setting, and then power up?
- During this power-up I don't hold ControlF or any other keys, just turn her on and hope for glory?

BTW - I got some PC1600 Crucial RAM that works fine on another machine (with Gigabyte GA-7DXC mobo)and tried that because one remaining possible cause was that I was using PC2100 that has not been certified on FIC AD11. The PC1600 boot was no different: Fans, drives etc. all on, but no video or sound.

The front panel power on/off button has 4 second delay that turns off power. Seems to me that this function too requires interaction with BIOS. The fact that it works gives hope that my hardware and basic BIOS are alive and well, just missing some instruction of how to get back to video and sound output. If so, why would hitting reset button send BIOS into a coma? I won't lose sleep over that question if I get my machine running, but seems odd that it is this easy to create a problem, and no warning to prevent this hassle.

QuantumDTN - The manual is sparse, as a newbie (fussing with computers for 15 years and still a newbie) I found it helpful to print off online ASUS A7M266 manual that gives more help on startup procedure and what various BIOS settings mean.


Greetings fellow earthlings

 

[uncoando]

Probably unplug the machine to be on the safe side. Just slip the jumper over the clear pins for a second, then put jumper in default position. Hopefully you'll be able to access BIOS when you reboot.

<b><font color=blue>Brainy Sturgeon</b></font color=blue>