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-One of the most common problems with a new system is that when you unpack it and try to turn it on, the system won't boot. There are many reasons for this but the most common ones are the easiest to fix. Follow these guidelines:

Make sure the power is firmly connected to the power supply on the back of the computer.

Make sure the voltage selection on the back of the power supply matches the power coming out of your wall (US is 110)... more importantly, is it really plugged in?

Is your monitor turned on? Is the brightness turned up?

Did you turn on the power?

Make sure your IDE hard drive cables are correctly connected to your IDE drive. Verify that Pin-1 on the cable corresponds to Pin-1 on the drive.

-There aren't many things that can cause this symptom but there are a few things you can try.

First, disconnect all non-essencial cables from the motherboard. These include cables going to the case for the power LED, reset, and other display indicators. Second, remove all IDE, sound and floppy cables from the motherboard. In addition, disconnect the power cable from the back of the power supply. Once all these cables are cleared, re-connect the power cord and turn the system on.

If the system powers up, there is a problem with your cableing. Install then one at a time to isolate the offending cable. Most often, the cable at fault it either the reset switch connector going to a bad switch on your case or a reversed or bad EIDE cable. Make sure all pins are positioned correctly according to your instruction manual.

-If you hear a buzzing noise, turn your system off immediately.

This is generally cause by a power connector that's plugged in backwards or a short somewhere on the motherboard. The first thing to check is your cables. Disconnect all cables from the motherboard and turn the system on. If the system beeps, all is fine. Reconnect the cables one at a time to isolate the bad or improperly installed cable. The cable which is most responsible for this sort of behavior is the IDE cable. If the cable is reversed on the motherboard or drive end, it will produce a short and not allow the system to boot. Make certain that pin-1 on the cable lines up with pin-1 on the motherboard and hard drive. Consult your users manual for more information on cable orientation.

If this still does not solve the problem, remove the system board from the case and run it on top of the box it came packed in. If the buzzing stops and the system beeps, the problem is with a short between the case and the motherboard. In this case, try using plastic standoffs or nylon washers between the screws holding it down to the case.

If the buzzing still persists, unplug the power connector going to the motherboard and try running the power supply by itself. If the fan spins on the power supply and no more buzzing can be heard, you should return your motherboard to your vendor for a replacement or repair. However, if the buzzing still does not stop, try replacing the power supply.

-Check to see if air is blowing out of the power supply when the system is on. Chances are, the power cord is not plugged in completely or the power supply is defective.

During boot up, the computer system should operate according to the following sequence of events.

The BIOS executes the Power-On Self Test (POST) indicating the status and copyright messages on the screen.

A short "beep" sounds when POST is complete (applicable to most systems)

Boot attempt from the floppy drive occurs. Then the hard disk access occurs as operating system is started.

Operating system load-up is completed.

If the sequence of events stops at step 2, three things may occur:

The screen remains blank.

No beep after POST is complete

Multiple beeps occur and/or error message appears on screen.

Write down the the symptoms and submit them to your manufacturer or PC dealer for assistance.

Note: If a "CMOS Invalid" or "CMOS checksum invalid" message appears during POST, then the CMOS is corrupted. Run the BIOS setup and restore the Default configuration settings.

-There are many factors that contribute to an overall slow-down of the system. Factors include the system's availabe RAM, speed of the processor, applications running at the time, and even the operating system itself.

If the slow-down is related to the BIOS settings or hardware problems, try the following suggestions:

Run the Setup program in the BIOS. Make sure the cache is turned on. Look through the 'Advanced Settings' to ensure that the manufacturer default settings are selected. (Please refer to the motherboard manual BIOS chapter.)

Check the jumper settings on the motherboard, particulary the CPU jumper settings that control the clock rates as well as source voltage. Refer to the motherboard manual for correct settings. In addition make sure your CPU is not overheating. Check to see if the CPU fan is in working order.

-If your system worked before and you just recently moved your system to a new location, odds are, something fell off your motherboard or an adapter card has been worked loose. If this is the case, follow these steps to correct the problem:

Unplug the power from the back of the system.

Open up the case and remove each adapter card one at a time. Re-seat the card to make sure it makes good contact with the motherboard.

Check to see if the CPU is firmly seated in the CPU socket. It may have inched out of it's socket during the move.

Plug the power back in and turn the system on. If it works, great! if not, read on.

Remove the motherboard from the case and run it on the box the system board was shipped in or a phone book if you don't have the box.

If the system boots, the move probably shorted the board to the case or the board was knocked loose from the stand offs. Carefully re-mount the board into the case and re-install the controller cards.

-AGP video cards are much pickier about how they are seated in their respective slots when compared to VLB or ISA and even PCI. The major difference between PCI and AGP is that the AGP cards have very fine contacts which are sensitive to position with the connector. The contact layout is very similar to that of EISA systems.

If you have an AGP motherboard, it's not uncommon for the AGP card to creep it's way over time or pop out during moves or from a light tap on the case. If you are working on a system and suddenly, you get no video, try re-seating the card as it may have popped out of it's socket or creeped out over time.

-Beep Codes (AMI and Award BIOS)

Fatal errors, which halt the boot process, are communicated through a series of audible beeps. If AMIBIOS POST can initialize the system video display, it displays the error message. Displayed error messages, in most cases, allow the system to continue to boot. Below are the most common beep codes.

The Award BIOS only has 1 beep code (1 long beep followed by 2 short beeps) when video can not be intialized

Beep Codes (AMI BIOS Only)

If the computer beeps...then...

1, 2, or 3 times ...reseat the memory SIMMs or DIPs. If the system still beeps, replace the memory.

6 times ...reseat the keyboard controller chip. If it still beeps, replace the keyboard controller. If it still beeps, try a different keyboard, or replace the keyboard fuse, if there is one

8 times ...there is a memory error on the video adapter. Replace the video adapter, or the RAM on the video adapter.

9 times ...the BIOS ROM chip is bad. The system probably needs a new BIOS ROM chip.

11 times ...reseat the cache memory on the motherboard. If it still beeps, replace the cache memory.

4, 5, 7, or 10 times ...the motherboard must be replaced.

-Consult your memory vendor or manufacturer for more information. In general, most memory is rated at 5 volts unless otherwise specified. If you are in doubt, try running your memory at 3v. Most 5v memory will run at a lower voltage without a problem.

-In order to verify that you have a marginal motherboard, follow this procedure.

Minimize your system to a "bare-bones" configuration.

Remove all cards except for the video card (and SCSI if you are not using IDE) and boot up normally. If you still get error messages in your current O/S, try booting to "safe" mode or to a standard configuration using generic drivers. If the error goes away, it's a software issue and you should take it up with your software publisher. Another option to try is to reset the CMOS to factory defaults. The procedure will be found in your manual.

If your problem still persists after running it as a bare-bones system, disable all the enhancement features in the BIOS.

An example would be to run your memory at its slowest setting, disable internal and external caches and turn off all BIOS shadowing. Turn the options on one at a time until the system crashes. After it crashes, you know what option is causing the problem so you can trace it back to a specific piece of hardware. If you set your memory down to 70ns for instance and your problems go away, it's probably your memory causing the errors. Try replacing that piece of hardware.

Take one piece of the equation out at a time until the system stops doing what you don't want it to do. This is THE EASIEST way to troubleshoot a problem. In most cases, problems are not caused by the motherboard but rather by shared IRQs, improper installation, or user error.

If you have replaced the motherboard and the problem still persists, it's probably not the motherboard.

There is a very, very slim chance that two consecutive boards will be bad... however, if it's exhibiting the same symptoms check with your peripheral vendors for possible conflicts and compatiblity issues.

-99% of the time, not being able to use a com port is a result of not using the supplied cables or the com ports are disabled in the BIOS. To ensure that the motherboard is recognizing and intializing the com ports, boot up the system and review the stat screen (the screen which pops up before it starts the O/S). There you will find a section for I/O ports and if it is working properly, you should see the interupts the com ports are using. (ie.. 2f8, 3e8... etc). If the motherboard shows these as active, it's probably not a bad motherboard but rather a bad or incompatible cable, or you have a IRQ conflict with another communications device such as an internal modem. Remember: you MUST use the supplied cables in order to use the com ports on the motherboard!

-The solution to this is to first check that you have the correct CPU jumper speed settings. CPU Speed jumper settings can be found in our Motherboard FAQ section. Next, verify that your CPU is indeed what your ordered. If you order a 150MHz CPU, make sure it's not a 120. Overclocking may also play a role in strange CPU speed behavior. NEVER overclock a CPU. Overclocking may damage your CPU, system or both and will void your warranty. If you have an older sound card, try moving the sound card to the last ISA slot closest to the edge of the board. This will resolve most problems but if this fails, it's possible that there may be a problem with the motherboard's clock generator. Return the motherboard to the dealer for repair or replacement.

-Only the Intel CPUs can be run in Dual Mode at this time. AMD, Cyrix, and IBM CPUs are not supported in Dual mode however, they will run in single mode on a dual board.

What CPUs can I run in dual CPU mode?

-Only Intel CPUs can be run in Dual Mode at this time. AMD, Cyrix, IBM and IDT CPUs are not supported in dual mode however, they will run in single mode on a dual board. There are certain restriction on running DUAL Intel MMX Processors so please check out the MMX FAQ before installing these.

-Over clocking your CPU is not recommended by CSS. Due to the fact that over clocking is not recommended by CSS, we are not able to provide technical support to those who are over clocking their CPUs. Over clocking your CPU may cause damage to your system board and/or shorten the life expectancy of your CPU.

If you would like a faster CPU, please purchase the CPU best fitted for your needs.

However, if you do experiment with over clocking, we suggest using heat sink compound between the CPU and cooling device. We have noticed that most Intel CPUs are now clock limited so that any setting above it's intended use will cause the system to not post or boot. In other instances, we have noticed that the CPU will show a lower CPU speed than what you actually have.

-Yes, but only in certain environments.

There are 3 requirements for dual processing to actually be beneficial. These requirements are:

1: A motherboard capable of dual CPU operation

2: An operating system capable of utilizing dual CPUs

3: An application capable of utilizing dual CPUs

Some operating systems which use dual CPUs are Microsoft Windows NT Server or Workstation and various flavors UNIX. Windows 95 will not take advantage of dual CPUs and neither will Windows 98. Using dual CPUs with Windows 95/98 and DOS will work but the O/S will not take advantage of the second CPU.

In addition to a dual CPU aware O/S, you will also need an application that utilizes dual CPUs. These programs usually fit into the CAD, Animation, or Graphic Design categories and include such programs as Kinetix 3D Studio MAX, Microsoft's Soft Image, Adobe's Photoshop, and Alias/Wavefront's Maya. If you have any questions as to weather or not your application supports dual CPUs, please contact the software publisher or your reseller.

Slot 1 and Slot 2 CPUs require the use of retention braces to secure them onto the motherboard. Instructions on CPU installation can be found by clicking the appropriate links in the Installation Info page.

The solution to this is to first check that you have the correct CPU jumper speed settings. Next, verify that your CPU is indeed what your ordered. If you order a 150MHz CPU, make sure it's not a 120. Overclocking may also play a role in strange CPU speed behavior. NEVER overclock a CPU. Overclocking may damage your CPU, system or both and will void your warranty. If you have an older sound card, try moving the sound card to the last ISA slot closest to the edge of the board. This will resolve most problems but if this fails, it's possible that there may be a problem with the motherboard's clock generator. Return the motherboard to the dealer for repair or replacement.