First time builder in trouble!

[OfficeDude]

I just put together my first computer, and when I powered it up, I got four quick beeps, nothing ever popped up on the screen. All of the fans are working, so I didn't fry anything. My floppy drive stayed lit, so does that mean I have the cable backwards, or does the floppy light always stay lit anyway when the computer does not power on correctly? Even if the cable was on backwards, the computer would still boot up to a screen right? I have the Shuttle Kt266A board and it has a Phoenix BIOS...I even have a book that gives me the meaning of the beeps for different BIOS but four quick beeps is not in it. It could have been 1 longer beep, than 3 shorter beeps(also not in my book), but it was practically impossible to tell any significant difference between the four beeps. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

 

[OfficeDude]

No one here has had this problem with the Shuttle Kt266a board or knows what the four quick beeps means? I checked all connections and they are secure, so I'm not sure what to do next.

 

[solidad]

on my system (tyan board with an award bios), 4 beeps (1 long and 3 short) would be a problem with the video card not being seated. I would hope that the beep codes are pretty standard.

 

[SteveDeBeave]

I would try removing the ram and re-seating it, only use one stick of memory. Remove all non essential cards, leave only the video card in place.
If that does not work then maybe your board is touching something (grounding out).
Remove the board and lay it on the box it came in. Then try powering up.

Steve

 

[OfficeDude]

Thx for the suggestions guys I was thinking it might be my video card not being seated in all the way since the metal slot you screw onto the case had a little space between the card and the case. I pushed the sucker in as much as I could, but I didn't push extremely hard for fear of damaging the AGP slot or the video card itself. Can the motherboard/video card take a fair amount of punishment when exerting a lot of force on it? I wiggled it, pushed it, but the video card didn't want to get completely flush with the case. I did not have any PCI cards in at boot up, but I did have 3 256mb DDR ram sticks. I'll try just one stick pretty soon, I already took out the video card and reseated it, but it still does not want to get completely flush with the case. Is the AGP slot notorious for being a pain to get the card in fully?

 

[chriskjel]

Is the tab on the on the end of the video card metal bracket seating into the little slot on your case? Try bending it a bit one direction or the other. Or you can loosen the screws that hold the MB to the case and move the MB around so it lines up better.

 

[ucvb6]

this happened to me as well when i installed an AGP card in my system.

for some reason, when the card is fully seated(by this, i mean that the metal piece from the card was lined up with the case screw hole) when i tried screwing it down, you could tell that the more i tightened, it was placing pressure on the card causing it to sit improperly. that caused me to get the 4 beeps when booting.

so i unscrewed the card, and moved the metal piece over a bit so that when i screwed the screw back on, it wasnt completely lined up with the case hole.

booted up without a problem

hope this helps,i know the wording isnt the greatest

 

[tonyeo]

If your floppy drive stayed lit, then it does mean that that the cable is backwards, trust me I had the same problem with the shuttle.

 

[audiophan]

Isn't the floppy cable keyed?

 

[redhatlinux]

Some floppy cables are keyed the WRONG way, floppy cables always attach with the red stripe on the left, looking at the pins at the back, good way to remember, its the same side as the eject button, on the right looking at the front. You MUST use the connector that comes after the twist in the cable. You can cut ooff the plastic key if its the wrong way, sharp knife, razor cutter. Most Sony and Teac drives hace issues with cables.

 

[OfficeDude]

<< this happened to me as well when i installed an AGP card in my system.

for some reason, when the card is fully seated(by this, i mean that the metal piece from the card was lined up with the case screw hole) when i tried screwing it down, you could tell that the more i tightened, it was placing pressure on the card causing it to sit improperly. that caused me to get the 4 beeps when booting.

so i unscrewed the card, and moved the metal piece over a bit so that when i screwed the screw back on, it wasnt completely lined up with the case hole.

booted up without a problem

hope this helps,i know the wording isnt the greatest >>


Thx, I did notice the card move a bit as I screwed it in, so that may very well be the same problem I'm having.



<< Some floppy cables are keyed the WRONG way, floppy cables always attach with the red stripe on the left, looking at the pins at the back, good way to remember, its the same side as the eject button, on the right looking at the front. You MUST use the connector that comes after the twist in the cable. You can cut ooff the plastic key if its the wrong way, sharp knife, razor cutter. Most Sony and Teac drives hace issues with cables. >>


I'll have to write that down, thx for the info