I'm building a computer but my motherboard won't boot. I've only got to adding a stick of RAM and a video card just to make sure that the motherboard works. I'm getting some BIOS beeps of 1 long followed by 3 short beeps. In my motherboard manual, it says for that error: "Video card not found or video card memory bad." How do you check if the memory is bad? Also I get no picture on the monitor. I've tried 2 different video cards too, but I still get beeps and no picture. Can someone help me get this fixed? Joey Mellon

You have the right idea, there is only one way I know of--that is to make the problem as simple as possible, and substute known good components. DO NOT assume anything. Just because something lights up and whirrs, does not mean the power supply is good. The ram could be wrong type or bad. Only way to know is look up "the numbers" and make sure the ram is correct type for motherboard, and try the unknown ram in a "good" machine to check it, or else try KNOWN GOOD ram from another machine in the nonworking motherboard. same for the cpu. No reason to assume it is ok. Some motherboards are sticky on ram sticks. If you have 4 slots, some boards want 2 sticks in there, and some boards want certain slots used first. Try resetting the bios. Best, sure way is to remove the battery (with power OFF) and let the board set awhile. You've already tried different video cards. I assume you have NOTHING hooked to the board except-- Motherboard, cpu, ram, video, keyboard, power supply NOTHING ELSE The last thing--if you have it in a case, remove it and the power supply, and lay carefully out on a "safe" table--sometimes mounting issues in the case will "short" something on the board. Remember, electronic failures do happen. Just because something is new, does NOT MEAN that it works.

Hi, Might be a stupid question, but have you added a CPU to the board as well? Regards, Chris ---------------------- NCSG - UK Based IT Services

I think the CPU is ok. It's needed to do the beeping.

"I've tried 2 different video cards too, but I still get beeps and no picture. Can someone help me get this fixed?" Are the video cards AGP or PCI. If PCI have you tried a different slot? If AGP have you tried a PCI video card? When all else fails beat the $%!* out of it!!!

My guess would be the RAM...possibly you've run into the "high density" issue. I assume you have a single stick of 256 PC100 or PC133? How many memory slots do you have & what is the total capacity for your board? Your board needs to be able to accept 512mb per slot for high density RAM to work. If you have 3 slots & your total capacity is 1.5gb, high density should work. If you have 3 slots & your total capacity is 768mb, high density RAM will not work. One possible way to tell if a 256mb module is high density is to count the chips on the stick...if it's single sided with 8 chips, chances are good it's high density...if it's double sided with 8 chips per side, it's probably low density (though it could go either way). If you have other RAM available, try it...

I know this might sound stupid, but I've had that kinda problems before too... And the problem was that I didn't plug in the video card snugly enough. Heh. So, try to see if the video card is plugged in properly. *Shrugs*