So I finally got myself to install the new mobo (abit nf7-s) and all my nigthmares came true (well ok, so the pc didn't explode in gigantic ball of flame but close).
CPU install (which I ws most worried about) was no problem. Acetone did away with the old thermal pad nicely and it all went well.
First problem I encountered was inserting the RAM. The first module went in fine in slot 1 and then I proceeded to install the second module into slot 3 and that required some serious forcing, not good (and yes I did check it was around the right way ). After a lot of effort it did finally go in and everything seemed alright.
Second problem came after I installed the mobo in the case: my IDE cable wasn't long enough. With my huge full tower case the cable for the optical drives wouldn't reach since the layout of the new mobo was slightly different from the old one where it just made it. Not too terrible though, I just had to remove the drives and chuck them in a few rungs lower.
Then the big moment came to turn the damn thing on. No problems, it boots and first thing I do is go into the BIOS. I make a couple of changes (I enable shutdown if the cpu fan fails and I up the AGP arpeture from 64 to 128), I take a look around and everything else looks fine, CPU temp is good, and I select save and exit. It saves and reboots and... nothing.
Well, not nothing, the screen stays blank but I do get a POST beep. One long, repeating beep. I power down, try again. Same story. CRAP!!!
So I do a search on the net to see what it means and it looks like a DRAM error. Maybe forcing in the module broke something or maybe I ESD'd one (or both) of the modules while handeling them (I was careful but I lightly touched the chips on them once or twice accidently while trying to get the IDE cable to plug in). It really doesn't look good. I'm still a little curious why it booted the first time and failed after that. Only thing I can think of is that setting the AGP arpeture to a higher value means it goes through more ram at startup and thus it hit a bad part in the module, or the ram blew after the first POST.
I might try booting with only one module to see if it will go or maybe I'll just take it into a shop and let them deal with it and get it fixed up (at least that will save me further headaches).
CPU install (which I ws most worried about) was no problem. Acetone did away with the old thermal pad nicely and it all went well.
First problem I encountered was inserting the RAM. The first module went in fine in slot 1 and then I proceeded to install the second module into slot 3 and that required some serious forcing, not good (and yes I did check it was around the right way ). After a lot of effort it did finally go in and everything seemed alright.
Second problem came after I installed the mobo in the case: my IDE cable wasn't long enough. With my huge full tower case the cable for the optical drives wouldn't reach since the layout of the new mobo was slightly different from the old one where it just made it. Not too terrible though, I just had to remove the drives and chuck them in a few rungs lower.
Then the big moment came to turn the damn thing on. No problems, it boots and first thing I do is go into the BIOS. I make a couple of changes (I enable shutdown if the cpu fan fails and I up the AGP arpeture from 64 to 128), I take a look around and everything else looks fine, CPU temp is good, and I select save and exit. It saves and reboots and... nothing.
Well, not nothing, the screen stays blank but I do get a POST beep. One long, repeating beep. I power down, try again. Same story. CRAP!!!
So I do a search on the net to see what it means and it looks like a DRAM error. Maybe forcing in the module broke something or maybe I ESD'd one (or both) of the modules while handeling them (I was careful but I lightly touched the chips on them once or twice accidently while trying to get the IDE cable to plug in). It really doesn't look good. I'm still a little curious why it booted the first time and failed after that. Only thing I can think of is that setting the AGP arpeture to a higher value means it goes through more ram at startup and thus it hit a bad part in the module, or the ram blew after the first POST.
I might try booting with only one module to see if it will go or maybe I'll just take it into a shop and let them deal with it and get it fixed up (at least that will save me further headaches).