Got beeps, three of them, STILL no video (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

This is really annoying the hell out of me. Now my replacement Shuttle mobo arrived, Newegg remembered to ship my RAM and I put the mobo together again. Beeps, three of them, one long and two short ones. Figure it could be my lack of a video card. At least it was farther than what I got before. So I screw in the rest of the screws and put the video card in and the Adaptec 2940U SCSI card in. Both are from my old system and I know they work. Turn the thing on and I get those beeps again. How do I interpret those beeps? The manual doesn't say and it doesn't even list a phone number for tech. support.
It sort of beeps a long beep and then 2 short ones? Does that mean "no video card detected" or something like that, is there a chart somewhere... It's Phoenix Bios, I don't recall what version but I recall that name on the EPROM.
This is getting frustrating, I really want to return the thing and buy a stinkin dell or something.
4MB STB Velocity 128 AGP card
Shuttle AK31a KT266a mobo
Adaptec 2940u SCSI card
Crucial PC2100 256MB RAM
Jay

 

[Glenn Overholt]

A tough nut. The best place to go to is the mfg, but some motherboards have a 2x/4x setting for the video, and the video card may have a jumper too, so try those first.
Glenn

 

[John Thomas]

Right. The beeps tell you what problem you're running into.
Take everything out. Then start replacing them, one a time and rebooting. You should get a different beep (theoretically) with everything out. One will mean no RAM, others will be no video card, etc. Keep replacing until the beep doesn't change. That should be your problem.
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[Iain Lambert]

Is it an AGP card? If I had a pound for every time I only pushed one in halfway (there are two rows of connectors) then I'd have some money, or something.
Seriously, this is a continual hassle when building PCs. Watch your memory is properly seated as well. Also, have you checked through the motherboard site for any info on what the beeps mean?

 

[Jay H]

Glenn, the motherboard is jumperless other than the BIOS reset and the BIOS write protect, both of which are set to the correct position. I don't see any other jumpers and the manual doesn't mention about an AGP switch. Since my STB video card is dated from 1997, I'm sure it's an AGPX1 but the board supposedly supports that though. The stinkin manual doesn't even list a number for tech support. However there is a US distributor in California (not toll free either).
John, I already did, I didn't even plug in ANY card before I screwed in the rest of the offset screws. I put the CPU/HSF in and the one stick of RAM and the power supply of course and the Psw Switch and speaker. Turned it on, got three beeps. The last motherboard I got from newegg didn't beep at all. So then I put in my video card and Adaptec card and I got those same three beeps, which I know is an error but nothing specific. I'd like to know exactly what that means and I'll probably check Phoenix's site soon. Shuttle doesn't have much of a website and it lists a USENET group for tech support or you can email them and probably wait 5 centuries.
Iain, yup, it's a vintage 1997 AGP model and I've tried to unseat it and push it back in. The slot is alot different than my old Shuttle mobo in it that the new one has some wings on the side and there doesn't seem to be that seperator between the two rows of pins. I guess the newer AGP standard uses a different PCB.
Jay
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[Rob Gillespie]

Power supply buggered? If it's not giving out the correct voltage your mobo wont be able to do much except beep in desperation.

 

[Jay H]

Could I check the voltages out of the power supply perhaps with a voltmeter. If I remember my rudimentary electronics, Yellow is +12v and Red is +5, with Black being common ground. I guess I could try to borrow a voltmeter and probe the power coming out of the PSU... Ya think that will tell me something or is that pointless since I know the +12v going to the CD ROM drives are OK and the problem isn't as easily determined by that?
Since I got the unit as a case, and I decided if I have to return the PSU, I'm going to try to get a more powerful one, like a 340W PSU since the 300 only supports up to 1.1gig. I guess any PSU that is ATX form would be able to fit there right?
I hope newegg is conduit to replacing parts since I bought the case as a unit and not separately.
[rant]
If we had crap like this in the military, our planes would all be falling out of the sky. Of course, this is why things in the defense industry tends to be expensive.
[/rant]
Jay
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HUGGBEES!
Certified HTF bike nut and mayor of
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[Jay H]

Stupid question:
Do those AGP retainer clips on the sides of the new AGP slot work for the older boards? My old Shuttle mobo didn't have them and when I did look at the new one, I wasn't exactly sure what they were or how they are used. I figured they must be for some newer AGP cards. But even further research has indicated here indicates that the AwardBIOS doesn't sound off any POST beeps except for "no video" as it basically tries to write the post code to the screen if anything terminal happens:
http://www.phoenix.com/pcuser/awardb...tml#Post_Codes
This says exactly what I'm hearing, the one long beep, followed by two short ones. Which brings me up to those AGP Wings thing, When I was fondling the motherboard, they looked immovable and I deemed it probably newer than my old AGP card so I didn't use them. Perhaps they have a function but I'm ignorant of how they are used as they looked completely fixed and unmoveable. (unlike the ones commonly found for your RAM) I'm going to tonight take out my video card, clean the connectors and try to see if those wing things have a function after all, but if somebody can give me a heads up, I'll be ahead of the game when I go home.
Really don't want to buy another video card when the one I have is fine.
Jay
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HUGGBEES!
Certified HTF bike nut and mayor of
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[brentl]

Jay; Yep as you heard one long followed by two short means "no video".
first thing I suggest is.. get a new videocard!! Sure 4 meg will allow you the basics, but a cheap $50(even $30) vid card will kill your current one.
I'd doubt it was 2 board in a row.
Power supply .... take it to a shop, tell them you'd like to test the power upply, maybe buya cheap vid card and they'll do it for free.
Only a couple cable run will tell you the story.
Brent L
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[Jay H]

Could somebody post a direct link to the FAQ for the AK31 from this webpage:
http://www.spacewalker.com/english/support/faq/faq.htm
It's listed under Q&A Via -> Socket A -> AK31
The stupid site uses Javascript which hangs my PC whenever I try to access it.. and it does the same here as it does at home. And of course, there is no link to the page directly, there never is...
If somebody could POST it here, I'd be able to access it without javascript. Thanks..
What video card can you get for $50? The whole idea of upgrading is that I don't want to spend the money to replace stuff as much as possible. If I buy another item, I might as well buy a complete CPU. I already had to buy a new modem cause my old modem is an ISA based modem.... I do NOT play alot of games and the games that I do play, the STB is more than fine. If I wanted to play games, I'd buy a PS2 or X-box. I got sick of playing many PC games many years ago cause it's soo unstable.
Jay
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HUGGBEES!
Certified HTF bike nut and mayor of
Obscuria.

 

[Iain Lambert]

With a bit of luck and guessing, you'd have probably got to http://www.spacewalker.com/english/s...odels/AK31.htm through trial and error, but there is is.
Anyway, now we know its definitely video I again recommend really giving that thing a good push in. If its touching at the backplate already, try disconnecting the backplate and trying again- one motherboard I put in wasn't high enough to get cards properly seated with their backplates, until I confirmed everything was working and then put a little spacer under the board.
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woohoo!
[Edited last by Iain Lambert on November 15, 2001 at 10:34 AM]

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Ok Jay, for when you get home. (I think I have it).
It is in the seating, but forget any braces for now. Unscrew the screws around the area connecting the mobo to the chassis and put the video card in. (This is probably one or two screws in the middle, front and back. If they are just plastic spacers, then unseat them from your mobo. This will put a slight strain on the mobo, but will be alright).
Put your video card in and look at where the fibreglass material on the video card itself makes the turn around the contact area where the pins go into the AGP slot. If you have 1/8" of space there it is too much.
Make sure that both the front and the back of the contact area (Where the video card rests on the ends of the AGP slot) are tight (no space at all). If there is any, then find a long object (maybe a kitchen knife will fit, and holding it by the blade, slip it under the mobo, handle end in first. Twist the knife until you feel/see the mobo rise up. Then push your video card back down, remove the knife and try that out.
I'm not going to comment on the above proceedure. If that doesn't work, I'd try to borrow someone else's video card.
Glenn

 

[Jay H]

Thanks Iain, I tried to fish around for directories, but they don't allow directory listings and I didn't stumble across that. It does mention the CMOS settings and I think I might try clearing the CMOS to defaults if the reseating doesn't work.
I know that there isn't any extra spacers that could be shorting something on the back of the mobo, but I'm going to doublecheck again tonight. The spacers that came with the case are metal and they look like little firetowers on their sides. I added three more to the right cause I like the added stability when putting in the memory which is over there. There are no screws in the top part by the CPU part and I didn't add any there either.
Jay
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HUGGBEES!
Certified HTF bike nut and mayor of
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[Jay H]

It's still dead, I took the motherboard out of the case, stuck it on a static bag, then I proceeded to reset my CMOS values and unplugged everything back to the video card. Mind you, I did this before I even screwed in the motherboard except I didn't bother to check the video then (my mistake). I should of plugged the video card into the Mobo and try it before I even put it into the case. Next time I will make sure I do that!!! I am going to try a newer video card (see my new thread entitled "pop quiz:..." and a new bigger Power supply. If that doesn't help, I'm going to exchange the motherboard for an EPoX EP-8kha+, another KT266a board and not much more than the Shuttle.
Jay
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HUGGBEES!
Certified HTF bike nut and mayor of
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