I bought a used VIA MOBO mod P4MA Pro 533 which will not boot/POST. No beeps. Fan comes on and I get a momentary indicator that the VGA signal is going out but then the light on the monitor turns from green to yellow. I know I have good power, CPU, DDR Chip, Monitor. I do not have the MOBO installed in a case - it's on my bench and I use a screw driver to short the Power switch. This MOBO allegedly came out of a working computer! I even re-set the CMOS and put in a new battery. What else can I do? Do the peripherals, i.e. floppy, HDD, CD-ROM have to be attached? I haven't tried putting it in a case but I thought it would at least show BIOS outside the case. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanx

Assuming you connected everything correctly.... 1. probably the most common reason for no boot, no beeps on a new build is you are trying to use ram that isn't comptable with the mboard. Trying ram in this mboard that works in another mboard , or trying any ram you buy or have lying around, may not work - it has to be compatible with the mboard and it's chipset. In the worst cases the mboard won't boot and often does not beep. See response 5 in this for some info about ram compatibilty, and some places where you can find out what will work in your mboard for sure: http://www.computing.net/hardware/w... Correction to that: Mushkin www.mushkin.com .... It is easy to test for incompatible ram. Make sure you have a speaker or speakers connected the mboard so you can hear mboard beeps (see your mboard manual). Remove the AC power to the case/power supply. Remove all the ram. Restore AC power. Try to boot. If nothing else is wrong, you will hear a pattern of beeps that indicate no ram is installed, or a ram problem. E.g. for an Award bios or a bios based on one, that's often a beep of about a half second, silence for a half second, a beep of about a half second, silence for a half second, continuously. ..... Frequent reason two: A common thing that can happen with ram, even ram that worked fine previously, is the ram has developed a poor connection in it's slot(s). This usually happens a long time after the ram was installed, but it can happen with new ram, or after moving the computer case from one place to another, and I've had even new modules that needed to have their contacts cleaned. See response 2 in this - try cleaning the contacts on the ram modules, and making sure the modules are properly seated: http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

All that is needed is MBoard w/CPU/HS/fan, 1 stick of RAM, video, KBoard, monitor. Did you connect the square 4 pin power connector and is the CPU fan on the right header? Possible your PSU is too weak?

If you aren't getting the POST beep, disconnect everything, including the RAM. You should get error beeps. If you don't, then you have a motherboard/CPU or power supply problem.

Tried removing Ram chip but still no beep.My next move will be to replace the CPU. The PSU is a new 450 watt unit so I think power is not the problem. By the way, this MOBO has on-board integrated VGA but I get no monitor response when I plug into it. I do, however, get a temporary green light on the monitor when I use a PCI video card. Will keep posted if I make any progress. Thanx, but I'm afraid "freeBay" has done it to me again.

"Tried removing Ram chip but still no beep." If you are certain everything is connected correctly, including a speaker or speakers that allow you to hear mboard beeps - see your manual - some mboards with onboard sound require you connect amplified speakers to the Line out port and have them turned on - that indicates something else is wrong. If you can't find the module ID string on a list of compatible modules somewhere (see response 1), you should continue to try things without the ram installed till you get beeps. Make sure all the jumpers on the mboard are in their correct positions - e.g. the clear cmos jumper is in the normal position. Did you check the manufacturer's web site and the CPU compatibilty list for your mboard model to see if the cpu you are trying to use is on the list? If it isn't, the mboard probably won't boot the cpu; if it is, the bios version of the mboard may not be new enough to recognize the cpu and it may not boot for that reason. "By the way, this MOBO has on-board integrated VGA but I get no monitor response when I plug into it." If you have a video card in a slot at the same time, the onboard video is probably auto disabled by the bios. If that doesn't apply.... If the PS is okay that MAY indicate a dead mboard or cpu or both. I've been told by an expert you don't need any more than 350 watts for any system that doesn't have PCI-E slots, unless it is a server, and as I understand it 450 watts will handle a system with PCI-E slots as long as any PCI-E video card is a modest one rather than a high end one. BUT are you certain it's okay? Failing power supplies are common and can cause your symptoms. Check your PS. See response 4 in this: http://www.computing.net/hardware/w... If the PS is okay, if mboard has an led that lights up when the PS is connected to it and there is live AC to the PS, - if it lights up, the mboard MIGHT be okay. - if it doesn't light up the mboard is probably fried. "I do, however, get a temporary green light on the monitor when I use a PCI video card." That may or may not be useful info. " the light on the monitor turns from green to yellow" If the monitor does exactly the same thing connected to the PCI card that info is of no help. Other things that could be wrong? Are you certain this is a working mboard? It could be someone flashed the bios and the flash failed - that can certainly cause no boot - if the flash chip pysically failed, which is common, it has to be replaced.

The chances of it being the CPU is pretty small. I would suggest swapping the power supply first. Just because you see 'some' indications of power does not mean the power supply is ok. The power supply has to supply several voltages and any one of them missing can cause a problem.