mother board problem????

pedro-ppedro-p
edited January 2006 in Hardware
Here's one that's got me tearing my hair out (what's left of it)

Decided to upgrade computer memory
Put new RAM in and everything was ok
added in old RAM to see if that would work alongside new stuff but it refused to boot
Decided to put old RAM back in and to make sure everything was still working
After that it wouldn't boot and the power to the CD drives and the hard drives doesn't work.

When I switch it on the light on the front panel doessn't go on and all the drives (CD's and hard) have no power.

Now if I disconnect the flat grey data control cable from the drives then the drives power up. I know this because I can then open the CD drive. As soon as I attach the grey cable then there's no power.

I've tried disconnecting all the grey cables and attaching them one at a time to see if that helps to isolate any problem and I even had a spare cable which I tried but all to no avail.

As soon as I attach the grey cable - no power and whatever I do I can't get the front panel light to work.

Have I perhaps accidentally fried the motherboard? Or do any of you know what else may be causing this?


Its running with an intel Celeron 325 windows xp 510mb ram

Thanks:scratch:

Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    It sounds like incompatible RAM has confused the BIOS. The BIOS is the Basic Input Output Instruction set stored on a chip on your motherboard that coordinates all your hardware when you start the system. Do you have a motherboard manual for your computer? You need to reset the BIOS by moving a little plastic circuit connector on the motherboard, which is called a jumper. Do you know what I'm talking about here? We can help, we just don't know your knowledge level of computer hardware.
  • pedro-ppedro-p
    edited January 2006
    Thanks for the reply,
    No manual for the motherboard I'm afraid but I do have experience of changing the jumper settings on hard drives and cd optical drives. I didn't realise that the motherboard had the same.
    It would be great if you could point me in the right direction as to what to do with the jumpers, I'm sure I could find them.

    I'm no expert but then I'm not totally clueless either although after the trouble I've had with this I'm starting to wonder......
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    Pedro, look on your motherboard for disk-shaped metallic battery, about the size of a quarter ($.25). There will be a single jumper resting on two pins, of a series of three pins. Turn off all power to the motherboard - best to unplug the power supply. Move the jumper down to the bottom two pins and let it rest there for about one minute. Reapply power (restart) and be ready to press "F2" or "Delete" key to enter the BIOS screen. You will need to reset the BIOS to default settings if has not automatically reset itself from the jumper reset.

    BEFORE you do this procedure, try to find a BIOS guide/motherboard manual for your system. To be honest, this may not be possible, as it appears you've got a very old, off-the-shelf system. If you cannot find a BIOS guide for your motherboard, there should be a fail-safe setting in the BIOS, in fact, it may be called "Fail Safe" settings. It may also be called "Default". Select that, and your BIOS will be back at original settings.

    BTW, did you by any chance have power applied to the motherboard when added/subtracted RAM? If so, you may have permanently damaged the motherboard.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited January 2006
    Thats what it sounds like to me... and good instructions Leo! I think you guys are on the right path :)
  • pedro-ppedro-p
    edited January 2006
    Thanks for the prompt reply.

    I'll give that a try when I get home from work.
    I didn't have the power on when I put the new RAM in. I may be a bit daft but not daft enough to stick my hand into the box with the power on.


    Cheers and thanks again for the help.
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