Help With Abit NF7-S Motherboard

I am having a bit of trouble with the installation of a Abit NF7-S
Motherboard with an AMD Athalon XP 2400+ CPU. The motherboard was working ok
in a different computer, but I wanted to upgrade to a larger case (Antec
SX835II). In the new case I've installed a new hard drive, video card,
floppy drive, CD-ROM Drive, memory, etc.

Installing Windows XPPro I get to the point where it is near Fdisking the
new drive, and everything shuts down with a two tone alarm sounding.
Normally there are two very bright LEDs, one red and one green, illuminated
on the motherboard near the CMOS Battery. When the system shuts down just
the red LED is on.

What are the functions of the two LEDs?

As fussy as AMD chips are purported to be regarding power supplies I've
tried removing as much load as possible (no change in symptoms), a different
HD (no change in symptoms). If I had an idea what the LEDs were for it might
help in trouble shooting my issue.

Thanks for any suggestions you may be able to provide.

Louis--
*********************************************
Remove the two fish in address to respond

>What are the functions of the two LEDs?

Red is to show the motherboard is getting power. Green means the board is
functioning correctly I believe.

This two tone alarm if it has a high low tone then repeats is a CPU temperature
warning alarm.

I would turn the system on and go right into the bios and watch the
temperatures. If the CPU temp keeps rising over 50C then you most likely have a
problem with how the CPU heatsink or fan is installed.
It probably is the heatsink or fan and the system is shutting down
automatically to protect the CPU from damage.

"Louis Bybee" <> wrote in message
news:Wencd.379680$mD.296641@attbi_s02...
|I am having a bit of trouble with the installation of a Abit NF7-S
| Motherboard with an AMD Athalon XP 2400+ CPU. The motherboard was working
ok
| in a different computer, but I wanted to upgrade to a larger case (Antec
| SX835II). In the new case I've installed a new hard drive, video card,
| floppy drive, CD-ROM Drive, memory, etc.
|
| Installing Windows XPPro I get to the point where it is near Fdisking the
| new drive, and everything shuts down with a two tone alarm sounding.
| Normally there are two very bright LEDs, one red and one green,
illuminated
| on the motherboard near the CMOS Battery. When the system shuts down just
| the red LED is on.
|
| What are the functions of the two LEDs?
|
| As fussy as AMD chips are purported to be regarding power supplies I've
| tried removing as much load as possible (no change in symptoms), a
different
| HD (no change in symptoms). If I had an idea what the LEDs were for it
might
| help in trouble shooting my issue.
|
| Thanks for any suggestions you may be able to provide.
|
| Louis--
| *********************************************
| Remove the two fish in address to respond
|
|

Hi Louis -

The two-tone siren indicates that your board is overheating or your voltages
are out of specification.

Revisit your CPU cooling. Did you use thermal compound between your CPU and
HSF? Is the HSF on the right way 'round? If there was a thermal pad on
your HSF, did you remember to remove the plastic covering? Is your CPU fan
plugged into the CPUFAN1 header on the motherboard?

You also need a good quality PSU to power a NF7 board. Name-brand 400 watts
and more is generally recommended. Generic and low-power PSU's will
generally give you stability problems.

Jef


Basic Beep Codes for ABIT AWARD BIOS Motherboards

No beep at all - this means your motherboard is dead, either due to a
defective or underpowered power supply, poorly seated CPU or RAM, or a
dead-on-arrival board

One beep - board is working fine

One long beep then machine shuts down - faulty, improperly installed or
missing CPU

1 short (Beep) System booting is normally

2 short (Beep) CMOS setting error

1 long - 1 short (Beep) DRAM ERROR

1 long - 2 short (Beep) Display card or monitor connected error

1 long - 3 short (Beep) Keyboard Error

1 long - 9 short (Beep) ROM Error

Long (Beep) continuous - DRAM isn't inserted correctly

Short (Beep) continuous - POWER supply has a problem

A two-tone siren - generally caused by overheating or out of specification
voltages

Four beeps then machine shuts down - this is because this version of the
BIOS will shut down your machine if no fan tachometer signal is detected on
the fan header. Make sure you attach a fan to the FAN1 or FAN4 header or
clear CMOS to reset to default (no checking).

"Jef Norton" <jefn_REMOVE_YOUR_SHORTS_@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:u%ocd.31661$. com...
> "Louis Bybee" <> wrote in message
> news:Wencd.379680$mD.296641@attbi_s02...
> |I am having a bit of trouble with the installation of a Abit NF7-S
> | Motherboard with an AMD Athalon XP 2400+ CPU. The motherboard was
working
> ok
> | in a different computer, but I wanted to upgrade to a larger case (Antec
> | SX835II). In the new case I've installed a new hard drive, video card,
> | floppy drive, CD-ROM Drive, memory, etc.
> |
> | Installing Windows XPPro I get to the point where it is near Fdisking
the
> | new drive, and everything shuts down with a two tone alarm sounding.
> | Normally there are two very bright LEDs, one red and one green,
> illuminated
> | on the motherboard near the CMOS Battery. When the system shuts down
just
> | the red LED is on.
> |
> | What are the functions of the two LEDs?
> |
> | As fussy as AMD chips are purported to be regarding power supplies I've
> | tried removing as much load as possible (no change in symptoms), a
> different
> | HD (no change in symptoms). If I had an idea what the LEDs were for it
> might
> | help in trouble shooting my issue.
> |
> | Thanks for any suggestions you may be able to provide.
> |
> | Louis--
> | *********************************************
> | Remove the two fish in address to respond
> |
> |
>
> Hi Louis -
>
> The two-tone siren indicates that your board is overheating or your
voltages
> are out of specification.
>
> Revisit your CPU cooling. Did you use thermal compound between your CPU
and
> HSF? Is the HSF on the right way 'round? If there was a thermal pad on
> your HSF, did you remember to remove the plastic covering? Is your CPU
fan
> plugged into the CPUFAN1 header on the motherboard?
>
> You also need a good quality PSU to power a NF7 board. Name-brand 400
watts
> and more is generally recommended. Generic and low-power PSU's will
> generally give you stability problems.
>
> Jef
>
Well you were right. I had the heat sink mounted in a reversed manner, and
probably not squarely on at that.

I now have a rather strange occurrence with my install of XPPro. When I
power it up I can interrupt the memory test if desired by pressing <ESC>,
the OS seems to work ok. When I power it down and up again I can't interrupt
the memory test, the mouse arrow is locked up, and no input is accepted from
the keyboard. If I press the power button on the case it shuts down after a
short delay, and all is well for the next power up and boot. Then the next
power up is defective. It's functioning almost as if it were a flip-flop
chip ).

If I interrupt the memory test on what would otherwise be a successful boot,
and then press the power button on the case I can repeatedly, and
successfully interrupt the memory test so what ever is causing this anomaly
must occur during the loading of the operating system.

Any guesses as to what would cause my issue?

Thank you.

Louis--
*********************************************
Remove the two fish in address to respond

"PRIVATE1964" <> wrote in message
news:...
> >What are the functions of the two LEDs?
>
> Red is to show the motherboard is getting power. Green means the board is
> functioning correctly I believe.
>
> This two tone alarm if it has a high low tone then repeats is a CPU
temperature
> warning alarm.
>
> I would turn the system on and go right into the bios and watch the
> temperatures. If the CPU temp keeps rising over 50C then you most likely
have a
> problem with how the CPU heatsink or fan is installed.
> It probably is the heatsink or fan and the system is shutting down
> automatically to protect the CPU from damage.

Well you were right. I had the heat sink mounted in a reversed manner, and
probably not squarely on at that.

I now have a rather strange occurrence with my install of XPPro. When I
power it up I can interrupt the memory test if desired by pressing <ESC>.
The OS seems to work ok. When I power it down and up again I can't interrupt
the memory test, the mouse arrow is locked up, and no input is accepted from
the keyboard. If I press the power button on the case it shuts down after a
short delay, and all is well for the next power up and boot. Then the next
power up is defective. It's functioning almost as if it were a flip-flop
chip ).

If I interrupt the memory test on what would otherwise be a successful boot,
and then press the power button on the case I can repeatedly, and
successfully interrupt the memory test so what ever is causing this anomaly
must occur during the loading of the operating system.

Any guesses as to what would cause my issue?

Thank you.

Louis--
*********************************************
Remove the two fish in address to respond

"Louis Bybee" <> wrote in message
news:OzGcd.410571
|
| Well you were right. I had the heat sink mounted in a reversed manner, and
| probably not squarely on at that.
|
| I now have a rather strange occurrence with my install of XPPro. When I
| power it up I can interrupt the memory test if desired by pressing <ESC>,
| the OS seems to work ok. When I power it down and up again I can't
interrupt
| the memory test, the mouse arrow is locked up, and no input is accepted
from
| the keyboard. If I press the power button on the case it shuts down after
a
| short delay, and all is well for the next power up and boot. Then the next
| power up is defective. It's functioning almost as if it were a flip-flop
| chip ).
|
| If I interrupt the memory test on what would otherwise be a successful
boot,
| and then press the power button on the case I can repeatedly, and
| successfully interrupt the memory test so what ever is causing this
anomaly
| must occur during the loading of the operating system.
|
| Any guesses as to what would cause my issue?
|
| Thank you.
|
| Louis--
| *********************************************
| Remove the two fish in address to respond
|
|

Hi Louis -

Could be a BIOS issue.

First... you need to determine if you have a NF7-S revision 1.x or revision
2.0 board. This is CRITICALLY important because if you flash the BIOS for
the wrong revision board, your system will be dead and you'll need either a
new BIOS chip or you'll have to have your existing chip reflashed.

Verify the revision of your board by opening up your rig and looking at the
model sticker (usually on the Parallel port connector... but sometimes on
the side of the last PCI slot - in which case you'll need a small mirror to
read it).

To verify the BIOS version currently flashed to your board, look at the last
two characters of the last line on the POST screen. This is a two-digit
code that corresponds to the BIOS version. For example, if you see
xxxxxx-21, your BIOS version is 2.1.

For revision 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 boards, this issue was addressed in BIOS version
2.5. Note that the BIOS files for the revision 1.x boards are named
NF7_xx.BIN, with the self-extracting distribution package named NF7xx.EXE
(xx is the BIOS version number, minus the decimal). The latest version is
2.8, which can be downloaded at the following link:
http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/bi...ries=1&model=6

For revision 2.0 boards, this issue was addressed in BIOS version 2.4. Note
that the BIOS files for the revision 2.0 boards are named NF7D_xx.BIN, with
the self-extracting distribution package named NF7Dxx.EXE. The latest
version is 2.6, which can be downloaded at the following link:
http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/bi...es=1&model=124

Jef

>When I
>power it up I can interrupt the memory test if desired by pressing <ESC>.

At this point the OS is not yet loaded. I don't understand what you mean by
memory test I assume you mean you are not using the quick boot option in the
bios and your system memory is being checked.

>When I power it down and up again I can't interrupt
>the memory test, the mouse arrow is locked up, and no input is accepted from
>the keyboard. If I press the power button on the case it shuts down after a
>short delay,

When you say power it down do you mean you click start and then click Turn off
computer from within Windows and the computer shuts down automatically and then
you turn it back on?
If Windows is not loaded the mouse will not work. Are the mouse and keyboard
USB?
Pressing the power button and having a short delay is normal. When you press
the button it waits for an OK from the OS before it shuts the power off. It
doesn't directly shut off the power. The power supply switch bypasses the
motherboard and shuts off the power directly.

>
>If I interrupt the memory test on what would otherwise be a successful boot,
>and then press the power button on the case I can repeatedly, and
>successfully interrupt the memory test so what ever is causing this anomaly
>must occur during the loading of the operating system.
>

If your interrupting the bios memory test Windows has not even loaded yet. Why
would you interrupt the memory test if it is gonna be a successful boot? If
your pressing the power button during the test it would interrupt the memory
test am I missing something here?

"PRIVATE1964" <> wrote in message
news:...
|
<snip>
|
| If your interrupting the bios memory test Windows has not even loaded yet.
Why
| would you interrupt the memory test if it is gonna be a successful boot?
If
| your pressing the power button during the test it would interrupt the
memory
| test am I missing something here?


Hi PRIVATE1964 -

I think Louis is describing how he's observing the phenomena that presented
itself with BIOS versions prior to 2.5 (revision 1.x) and 2.4 (revision 2.0)
where certain combinations of keyboard and mouse would only work on every
other boot.

In his reply to you, I get this inkling from him here:

| When I power it up I can interrupt the memory test if desired
| by pressing <ESC>. The OS seems to work ok. When I power
| it down and up again I can't interrupt the memory test, the mouse
| arrow is locked up, and no input is accepted from the keyboard."

Hopefully the solution for him is as simple as flashing to the latest BIOS
version for his board.

I've encountered this same problem a couple of times when dealing with a USB
mouse and PS/2 keyboard (in one case) and a PS/2 mouse and USB keyboard (in
the other). Both were corrected by a BIOS update.

Jef

>Hi PRIVATE1964 -
>
>I think Louis is describing how he's observing the phenomena that presented
>itself with BIOS versions prior to 2.5 (revision 1.x) and 2.4 (revision 2.0)
>where certain combinations of keyboard and mouse would only work on every
>other boot.
>
>In his reply to you, I get this inkling from him here:

His description of the problem has me totally baffled....lol.

From you I am getting that sometimes a certain combination of keyboard and
mouse will work correctly and other times it will not?

You seem to have a better handle on his problem so I will not complicate the
matter in trying to help any further. Good Luck!

"PRIVATE1964" <> wrote in message
news:...
|
| His description of the problem has me totally baffled....lol.
|
| From you I am getting that sometimes a certain combination of keyboard and
| mouse will work correctly and other times it will not?
|
| You seem to have a better handle on his problem so I will not complicate
the
| matter in trying to help any further. Good Luck!


Gosh... thanks... The weight of the world on my sorry shoulders!

I've built a bunch of NF7-based computers and ran across a couple that were
real head-scratchers. I probably would have had the same lack of clarity
describing the problem because it would present itself with no mouse and no
keyboard *every other boot* and people would probably have thought me
nuts... you'd think either it works or it don't... but not every other time.

That doesn't mean to say that people don't think me nuts anyway. ;-)

Apparently the problem manifests itself only with certain combinations of
mouse and keyboard - probably specific brands. I never nailed it down
before the BIOS fixes that addressed it were released.

Now where was I with regard to other off-topic rattle... like TomG's Anger
Management issues... where he's actually able to sleep at night.

Jef