Problems with mobo

[FiSSion159]

Hi I've been using the advice in this forum for a while but now I have a problem of my own so I decided to reg and ask.

Question is:

I just busted out an old Gateway case I've had in storage to try to make an extra PC for use in our basement. This thing still had the original motherboard, CPU, video card, and floppy drive in it, so I figured all I had to do was put one of my old IDE hard drives, a DVD drive, a sound card, and a new power supply in it.
Well, once I did and hit the switch, nothing happened. The fans wont turn on, the processor fan wont turn on, hard drive doesn't activate, and there's no POST beep. The only thing that DOES happen is the little green light on the power switch on front of case lights up, and wont turn off even if I hold the switch down (the only way I got it to turn off was to flip the switch on back of power supply).

Does anybody have any ideas what could be my problem?

Specs of stuff I have plugged in:

MB: Microstar MS-6330 ver2.1
CPU: not sure but its what came with above stated MB from Gateway
RAM: 1 stick OEM DIMM 256MB PC100 168pin,
2 sticks Toshiba THMY6416H1EG-80 16mbx64 SDRAM PC100
Video: nVidia Riva TNT2 (AGP 1X, 2X and 4X) PN: 6001674
Sound: Sound Blaster Live model CT4830
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120GB UltraATA model ST3120026A
Power Supply: Comp USA 300W ATX PSU SKU: 283769 model no. ISO-300
DVD Drives: 1 MSI DVD-rom, 1 CyberHome DVD-rom I pulled from old PCs

edit: forgot I also have an ethernet adapter plugged into one of the PCI slots (but I pulled it and tried again and still didn't make any difference, plus I pulled all the cards (video, audio, ethernet) and it still wouldn't turn on.


if anyone has any help to offer it would be appreciated!
Thanks

 

[chastity]

I would take out everything you added to it including the Power Supply if you still have the original one for the case and see what happens.

If it works like that then add back one piece of additional hardware you want to add until it doesn't boot

 

[FiSSion159]

well now if that isn't the wierdest thing ever :suprised:

I unplugged everything but 1 ram module and the 20-pin power to the mobo and took out all the cards, and the CPU fan started up and it beeped for the post. So, like you said, I plugged everything back in 1 at a time. It worked every time, including the last part!

I don't know what the heck was wrong the first time, maybe I had reversed the HDD plug with the second IDE plug on the mobo, I have no idea. But now it turns on fine with everything plugged in. Thanks chastity, even if I'm still confused :lick:

now I just gotta install windows on it. Any idea where to get updated bios for XP for this mobo that was made for ME? or if I even need to update the bios?

 

[LeeJend]

Original Problem - as old as the MB is the cmos battery may have been dead. You might want to invest 3 dollars on a new one. If you loose power for a while the MB may lcok up again.

XP should load just fine. It was designed to replace ME on older systems. Total Memory and HD size should be the only issues with an older BIOS and there may not be a patch for them. Video support will also be an issue if you try to add something really new. The MB may not support AGP and will not support PCI-e.

PS Congrats on coming out of the lurkers.

 

[chastity]

Fission159 glad it worked, though like you it does strike me odd but the important thing is it works though I would also go with LeeJend's suggestion to replace the CMOS battery incase its the reason for the issue.

Otherwise as far as loading XP you should be good if the drive is say 10GB and decent memory

 

[FiSSion159]

Thanks LeeJend/chastity I didnt think about the cmos battery.

as for the other things, the mobo does support agp but I'm not really going to change anything, its just for my family's homework/internet use in the basement; don't need anything fancy.
I've got 1,256MB of memory in it right now, and an old 120GB HD (I updated my other PC to SATA, so I have a couple of huge IDE HDD's laying around) installed so space shouldn't be a problem for XP. I don't feel like installing windows tonight so I'll do it sometime tomorrow, and let you know how it works out
Thx guys.