Motherboard messed up?

Hey, I just was putting together this system:

Athlon 2500 333 FSB
512 RAM
160 GB Audio
4 GB System
GeForce4 MX440 Video
Delta 1010
DVD Burner
Rackmount case

I put it all together, set my jumpers, and flipped the switch. Fans starting whirring away, everything seemed fine. But then nothing came up on my monitor! And then, when I hit the power switch again, it clicked off, then clicked right back on! The computer WILL NOT turn off without switching off the power supply. I don't think the problem lies in the power supply, though, because DVD Burner opens, and I can hear the hard drives zipping away.

So I switched the video card for another (same specs). Same problem.
Did the same with the RAM. Still no results.
I took out the Delta card, still nothing.
Finally, I switched the PROCESSOR, and STILL nothing on the monitor.

Now, this motherboard has been sitting around for about 9 months or so. Could the CMOS battery be dead? And if so, could this be my problem??
Or could not having a floppy drive make my system not boot?
Or (scary music) do I need a new motherboard?

Thanks a lot!
-Vince

Yep, holding the power button for 5 sec. doesn't work. And I thought that was a windows OS thing? Hm.

But yea, I know that all of the switched-in parts work, because they are used in my home computer. And I also know that the video card meets the spec.

The monitor is fine, it's been used by me before, and has been up until 3 days ago, when I ran into problems .

No POSTing. No beep. Nothing on the monitor. Just an orange, blinking LED.

thanks for your help.

Hmm. Ok.

I have cleared the CMOS many times with no luck. no safe boot jumper :-\

I'll try the thing with the RAM. I know the RAM is all good, because I tested both sticks in 3 different computers.

So at this point, would it be safe to say that I have a MoBo problem?

By the way, thanks a LOT for your help.

-Vince

Alright. I'll def. check the battery. Can a bad CMOS battery cause a PC not to POST? Or just not to save CMOS settings? I'm so confused about that

Thanks again,
-Vince

Also by the way did you try reflashing your BIOs......................JDW

To flash you need to post. One thing you could check is the grounding on the motherboard. I have come across boards which wouldn't post if they didn't have enough screws in the grounding holes.

This may not be much of an issue now days where things are pretty standard. But, when you would buy a case that had several different mounting hole patterns and they gave you a bag of mounting posts to put in the holes that lined up with your board... you might not get all of em to line up.

Some of the holes in the board are designed to be used without the fiber washer, these are the grounding holes. Check the installation instructions for the board. Hopefully they identify them. I have come across boards that required all of the grounding holes to be used or the thing wouldn't post. So modifications had to be made to the mounting plate to accomodate all of the holes.

Not sure if this has to do with motherboards, but replacing the Power supply worked wonders for me
getting the USB interface to work properly.
Just a side thought

Yes - more Power
400W

I'm actually getting ready to build/rebuild, and upgrade
to a PCI card interface soon.
Right now for a dozen audio tracks and a couple midi tracks
it works fine, but more than say 20 tracks I run into playback
problems

Long shot:

do you have the voltage selector on the power supply set to US standards? (115volts). Having this set to 220v in a house with only 115v will do what you describe.

This lil story might thrill ya.
I've got a Dell Optiplex GX240 sittin' here on the floor that wouldn't post
because the video card was too old or ... well... it just didn't like it !?!?!?!???
It's in here for an OS reinstall and had a very strange Video Card in it with a connector I've never seen before.
So I grabbed an old ATI Rage 128 and put it in there and no boot. Put the card that came with the machine back in ... it boots ... but of course I can't see any video. Pulled an ATI 9200 out of my second machine, put it in, it boots!

Oh well... I'll have to make sure that odd Vid. card is recognized by XP when I take it back to the office and hook the ( obviously also ) strange monitor cable back up to it.

Steve

The odd one is appearently an ATI card of some kind ( the original ATI control panel keeps complaining when I reboot that the card is gone ) but I've never seen a plug like the one on the back of this one.
I know the monitor is a Dell also and when I pulled the cables of ( quickly )
this morning I didn't take note, just thought it was a parallel cable of some sort.
I'm curious to get back there on Monday and have a good look at what's going on with that cable and monitor.

ORIGINAL: fif4lifefif

Is it a DVI connector?

I've had trouble, by the way, using a DVI-normal (CRT?) 15-pin D-sub adapters... the video flickers on and off when using one.

Not sure what it is. It's not like the connector/adaptor on my ATI 8500DV.
It's larger, about the size of an old COM2 but with different holes.
Not really a problem now, I'm finalizing the XP setup and will deal with it
Monday.

Steve

Now that makes sense. I think I remember seeing 2 lines coming off the connector that was plugged into it. There's definately only one monitor at that station but maybe it's capable of 2.

Steve