new rig, biostar i45, no post.

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Akubane

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Yo. All my new stuff came in today. Was pretty pumped. Long story short, Put it all together, go to boot up:

It powers on, HD spins, DVD drive powers up, Fans power up and start spinning, the onboard on/off and reset switches light up, and the the BIOS POST Code/CPU Temperature indicator lights up.

but nothing else happens. It just all stays like that. Keyboard doesn't light up, theres another red led halfway up the board and on the right that's lit. manuel doesn't say what it means.
Also the BIOS Post code indicator just displays FF. Which isn't actually a post code. I have the little mobo speaker plugged in.. but theres no beeps tryin to tell me what's wrong.

I've still got my other pc here. I've tried swapping RAM to RAM I know works. nothin changes. I tried swapping to an empty freshly formatted HD to see if it was just a problem from swapping motherboards and keeping the HD.. Nothing changed. I've also tried the video card in both PCI-E x16 slots. Secured properly and powered with the required 6 and 8 pin PCI-E power connectors.

Both ATX power cords are firmly connected, triple checked. HD and optical sata cables connected firmly. CPU seated properly and firmly with Xig Rifle fit snugly overtop. CPU FAN plugged in and running.

I'm stumped.

Biostar doesn't have toll free tech support either :/ already kindof regretting this mobo. I shoulda checked that out first.

Any Ideas?
 
yeah. tried with 1 x 1GB stick of workign ballistix (been using it in my quad rig) and tried with a 1 x 2GB G.skill PK stick (also from my quad rig). As well as the 2 x 2GB G.Skill that are brand new.
I'm starting to think it's DOA. No other explanations I can think of. i know every single one of the other parts work.
I'm completely stumped lol. i wish it would at least give me some beeps to tell me it's broken :/ fingers are all sliced up from switching hardware so much lol.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Post 2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK I've made a bit of progress.

Removed all hardware except for the CPU and tried to boot. Starts up, no beeps, but the led BIOS POST led on the mobo actually showed a real code, code was for very first step in initialinz startup or whatever.

I thought OK It's not the CPU thats DOA, good, I didn't want to fight to reseat the HSF anyway.
I put in one stick of ram, Still no vga or sound card, and booted. goes through a list of codes, then 8 beeps. Means it came to an issue with the VGA (it wasn't in). Ok RAM is not DOA.
I put in the GX2 which I know works (4870 is in this unit XD) try again, goes through all the code checkpoints, then no beeps. OK recognizes VGA as working properly.
Plugged in my x-fi soundcard, which I know works, I've been using it in this quad rig for a while. booted up. nothing. Runs for 10 sec, shuts off, starts again with the FF mystery code and goes no further.

BAM. I don't know why but apparently this Biostar board doesn't like the x-fi card.

1)~~Anyone know why? Think it's just an outdated BIOS problem? i can't really see it. it should at least POST first.

2)~~Now it still won't show anything on the LCD, is that because there's a blank HD in it? No OS, no anything.

3)~~Oh yeah just noticed something else. Forgot to put the stupid I/O backplate on, that wouldn't cause any problems with shorting in the case would it? i thought it was just to keep dust and crap out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Post 3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is screwed up, listen to this. Since I can't get the battery off of this thing to clear the CMOS, I figured I'd just switch the jumper to try that, a last ditch effort thing. So I looked at the little jumper beside the CMOS battery, capped off pins 2 and 3, bumped into the power button by accident.. and what do you know The hardware monitor screen pops up and gets to the point where it says bootmgr is missing (no OS installed).
I think wtf? I didnt put the jumper back what's going on.
So i grab the manuel and flip through till I see what jumper I moved. here's the screwed up part: It wasn't even the CMOS jumper I moved. It was one of the power source headers for the USB ports. LOL.

I don't know if it's all fixed yet but it seems like it so far. Looks to me like they shipped the board with a jumper in the wrong spot. or something.

on that note it still won't accept the x-fi card.

Gonna swap out HD's and videocards and see if I can get to windows. back later, if anyone has some answers to the 3 questions above lemme know ^_^
 
Ahh, you got to it before i could post...but yeah that cmos jumper can have you running around in circles like a chicken with its head cut off all day.
 
Well it's just weird cause it wasn't the cmos jumper. I moved the wong jumper by accident and bumped into the power button. problem fixed. Running like a dream.


ALTHOUGH, it still won't boot when I put my X-fi sound card in. The card works fine in the other PC.

Think a BIOS update would fix that?

I don't see why a recently produced mobo wouldn't read a simple PCI sound card.

and Holy Crap lol I slashed my knuckles to crap working around the Xig Rifle lol.

This case is somethin else though. Pretty ridiculous airflow. Might toss up some pics when I get everythign re-installed.

Is it possible to flash BIOS from a USB thumbdrive? Dunno if Biostar has a windows flashing program.
 
It does have a windows flashing program though iv never tried it. It claims it supports flashing from a USB but I could never get it to work.
 
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