Computer wont Restart

[mykah89]

I purchased the pieces to assemble my computer the other day and i put them together
Athlon 3000+ CPU
Epox 8kda3j motherboard
Xtasy Ati 9200 SE video card
512mb kingmax ram
a Sony CD rom drive
a Maxtor 60gb hd

and this is the problem.. When i boot up the computer it goes to the Initial POST screen in which i have two options.. press F1 to continue or delte to enter setup.... i noticed at this point a 7F code in my LED box which means
(7F)1. Switch back to text mode if full screen logo is supported.
-If errors occur, report erros and wait for keys
-If no errors occur or F1 key is pressed to continue:
* Clear EPA or customization logo.

Not thinking anything about it or understanding what this code meant.. I hit F1 to continue and the code disappeared and turned to FF and everything was going fine,, now i continued on to load windows, windows loaded in great, well that is until it made me restart after the installation of windows, then it would go to restart and the screen activity light would turn a yellowish green indicating nothing was happening and FF would instantly appear in the LED Box.
(FF)-1. Bios chip inserted incorrectly
2. Incorrect BIOS update version I updated this so this shouldnt be the problem?
3. Mainboard problem
4. Add-on card inserted incorrectly all i have is a graphics card plugged in and the same thing happens if i remove it

I proceeded to reset the CMOS by moving the jumper over for 5-10 seconds and then putting it back. I powered back up and it went to the POST screen. This time instead of pressing F1 to continue i hit delete to enter setup. I tweaked a couple things such as the date and time. I go to save and exit the bios and it goes to restart.. where then i receive the instant FF again, and have to power down to reset the CMOS to get it to POST again.. I do that and it scrolls through the LED codes again and winds up at 7F again, so from the POST screen i reset it and it will come back up to the POST screen without me having to reset the CMOS. I sat down and thought to myself... Self.. what could the problem be.. so i pulled out the CMOS battery and tested it on a voltmeter.. yep its 3 volts... so then i pulled out the video card and booted without it to see if the 7F would go away.. nope still stayed... so then i went into the BIOS to see if upping the CPU voltage a bit would help.. nope nada, so then i tryed disconnecting everything but the hard drive and the power source as well as the CPU fan,, and that did not help.. so then i thought hey.. i have an idea,, i proceeded to Flash the BIOS with a floppy that i downloaded the bios to from the EPOX website i did that and then it asked me to restart.. i hit yes and once again i am rebooted to FF and a black screen,, this is really irritating me as i have been trying for days to get this to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[imported_RobJ]

Sometimes if you unplug a serial mouse or keyboard from the mobo, the computer will not boot windows. Even if you replace it with a USB one, it sometimes still thinks the keyboard is missing.

However, I think most likely you have a bad mobo. But first, i would try testing your videocard in another computer to see if it boots correctly. Just removing the videocard doesn't tell u much, cuz the computer won't boot without a videocard anyway.

Also, try reinstalling windows on that hard drive or a different hard drive.

 

[mykah89]

Its not that it wont boot, its that it wont reboot after i run windows or edit the CMOS it makes me reset the CMOS each time or it wont even POST. I went and exchanged my video card for an ATI Radeon 9200, same problem.

 

[cluy44]

I'm having a very similar problem. I am only able to get into windows if i reset the cmos jumper. It would ask me to either press F1 and go into setup or to press F2 and load default values and to continue into windows. When i press F1, i can setup my bios settings, but then when i exit it, it would restart and go into the blank screen, no post no beeps, the fans still keep spinning and my optical/harddrives are still running. This is a very annoying problem and I am stumped as to what the problem may be. Please help!

i edited to include my setup

msi k8t neo-fsr
radeon 9800 pro
athlon 64 3000+
2x 512mb kingmax pc3200

 

[deathwalker]

Well this could be a very spooky problem..but...in reading your post the first thing I pickup that I would have done different is what you did when you flashed your bios....the most common event that should take place after you flash your bios is to go into setup and tell the bios to "load bios default setting"...i would never flash and then immediatley start tweeking the settings without loading the defaults first. I would follow this proceedure and then reboot before making any bios changes...of course this is alway a possiblity that you could have a defective mobo...also when you are pulling parts and putting parts back in always make sure that you have unplugged the power cord!!

 

[Operandi]

cluy44, mykah89.

Your CMOS may be corrupt.... there is no fix for this other then to RMA the board.

 

[cluy44]

that sucks...


gotta spend $$$ on a new mobo, its a chaintech znf3 this time around.