[bhall26]

I built a PC (Win98SE, PCChips motherboard, Athlon 3000XP CPU, 40 GB HD, 256 RAM.) for my fiancee, who downloaded some software that ended up being spyware, at least according to Ad Aware. She uninstalled the software and kept getting BSOD's until she got frustrated and shut it down.

This morning, she called me, saying that the PC would start but the message on the monitor said "Monitor is in power save mode. Activate using PC." When the PC powers up, the fan turns on, the CD drive light blinks, but the monitor won't do anything but give that message.

Also, the POST gives 3 long beeps instead of the single normal beep.

I've tried the Windows start up disk, I even pulled her hard drive and slaved it in my PC and it worked fine. I'm stumped!

Thanks in advance.

Brian

 

[Jedi_Master]

Howdy bhall26...

Well...these beeps really depend on which BIOS you have...

What I would suggest, is to reseat the Video card, the monitor connection to the video card, Memory, and maybe even the CPU connection to the motherboard...

Without knowing the BIOS you have, the 3 beeps could mean anything...

 

[Rollin' Rog]

It sounds like ram problem. Try removing and reseating the the memory modules. Do the same for the Video card as well, if one is installed.

http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/tutorials/13/2/

I don't believe Award Bios' have a 3 beep code error, so it's probably AMI

 

[Jedi_Master]

Howdy Rollin' Rog...

Do you mind if I pick your brain for am minute ?

Do all PcChip motherboards use an AMI BIOS ?

I know the ones I have used do ( so far )...but it's just that I'm curious...

This is so I can add this to my info...

And it's NOT that I'm trying to start an argument, I'm trying to add to my knowledge...

 

[NiteHawk]

Beep codes can be found at
http://www.hi-tech.net/zones/help-beep.html

 

[Rollin' Rog]

Jedi Master, I didn't have any idea when I posted, but a little Google research *seems* to indicate that they do not use the Phoenix/Award BIOS'. My inference was just based on the beep pattern reported, not on any particular knowledge of PCChips.

 

[bhall26]

FYI, the BIOS is AMI 2Mb Flash ROM.

 

[bhall26]

I appreciate all the help. The problem was a bad piece of RAM and a motherboard that was incompatible with the cpu. I bought the board, cpu and RAM from a company in Ohio called Startech International Inc. Do not deal with this company as they committed fraud. The cpu that I paid for was a Athlon 3000XP, the one they sold me was an Athlon 1400.

 

[Rollin' Rog]

Sorry to hear about the bad company, but at least we know the problem now