P2B-DS Won't go to BIOS (strange one)

[mrbog]

ASUS P2B-DS with two Pentium III 500's. Just upgraded from a single
PII 400 (and moved it into a new case). BIOS version 1012B. With
nothing in it but video card, floppy, and a 256 dimm (known to be
working and I tried others too). (I also tried putting a drive in, no
help.)

The behavior is, I get the very first screen where it says "Pentium
III 500" and "Press DEL to Enter BIOS". And I hit del repeatedly or
hold it down and nothing happens, it just stays on that front screen.
It looks to be a "hang" and not a "freeze", because the cursor is
blinking. I'm told that if I even got this far, then that means it's
OK with the processor(s) right?

It does NOT display the RAM test. But I tried four different dimms
(and all four at once) and these dimms just came out of a working
machine.

I checkead the seating of the processors, I tried clearing the CMOS
(although I have no idea if I did that right- how would I tell?) Tried
restarting many times.

TIA




------------------------------------------
Signature:
Never buy the services of newsfeed.com. I am a paying customer but
I'm using google to post messages, so that I can avoid their damn
advertisement showing up in every post I make.
------------------------------------------

 

[Stephan Grossklass]

ASUS P2B-DS with two Pentium III 500's. Just upgraded from a single
PII 400 (and moved it into a new case). BIOS version 1012B. With
nothing in it but video card, floppy, and a 256 dimm (known to be
working and I tried others too). (I also tried putting a drive in, no
help.)

The behavior is, I get the very first screen where it says "Pentium
III 500" and "Press DEL to Enter BIOS". And I hit del repeatedly or
hold it down and nothing happens, it just stays on that front screen.
It looks to be a "hang" and not a "freeze", because the cursor is
blinking. I'm told that if I even got this far, then that means it's
OK with the processor(s) right?

No. Does it say " ... 2 Processor(s) detected"? If not, it hangs there.
Pull both CPUs and reinsert one (into the first CPU slot), making sure
it's seated properly. If the board works in this configuration, insert
the other processor (again, making sure that it's seated properly).
Still no go? Try the second CPU alone. If that works, pull the board out
and run it on a non-conductive, not too hard surface. (You can also try
this first.)

Stephan

 

[mrbog]

you're right, it was just the seating. Actually, fyi for future
reference, it doesn't say "2 processors detected" until after the ram
test. Before the ram test it just sats "Pentium III 500".

Now I have a new problem, this:
http://tinyurl.com/2yw4y

Thanks for your help.

 

[Stephan Grossklass]

you're right, it was just the seating. Actually, fyi for future
reference, it doesn't say "2 processors detected" until after the ram
test. Before the ram test it just sats "Pentium III 500".

Now I have a new problem, this:
http://tinyurl.com/2yw4y

Looks like it might be worth flashing to 1014 beta 3, this UDMA66+ issue
should be fixed there.

Stephan