Hi. I posted about this problem before about a month ago, and received some excellent suggestions. Unfortunately, none of them worked. I am putting together a computer for the first time. I'm using all brand new parts. This is what I have: KT7 RAID Abit motherboard, 1000 MHz AMD Thunderbird CPU, 256 MB PC133 RAM, IBM Deskstar 30.7 GB Harddrive, ATI 64 MB Radeon video card, Soundblaster soundcard, floppy, cd-rom drive, 17" Princeton monitor, 250 Watt power supply, various cables, etc. Anyway, I have tried using a minimum of parts to try and see what might be the cause of the problem, but still nothing. I have tested all the parts, except the harddrive, in my other computer and they seem to work fine in that one. I have the power supply plugged into the motherboard, the video card plugged in and connected to the monitor, the power switch turned on in the back, and the power switch wire plugged in to the motherboard. I have tried switching the memory modules to each of the slots. I have tried it with and without the harddrive being plugged in, and have made sure when it was that it was plugged in to the right IDE slot. Still nothing comes up on the screen, except the monitor menu. I have tested the monitor on another system and it works. I have noticed on my other system, which also has an AMD cpu, it is not necessary to have the harddrive plugged in to get the initial bootup status messages. I'm not getting even that on the one I'm building. I bought all these parts separately at first and assembled them. First, I thought I might have a bad CPU, so I got another one. That didn't work. Then I tried swithching video cards. That didn't work. Then, I ordered more or less the same components(motherboard, memory, cpu) again, but, this time already installed and tested. Now, that hasn't worked. I am at a total loss. I must be doing something simple wrong, but I don't know what. I've been working on this problem on and off for over a month now. So, if anyone can offer any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Well, sounds similar to what I have just overcome. I recently upgraded from a celeron 400 to a PIII 800e (100mhz). The PIII was supposed to be supported with the soyo mobo that I had. It would give me a beep and then 3 more short beeps. Tech at soyo said it meant the mobo was not getting enough power. I had a 250 watt power supply not more than 3 months old. I bougt a 400 watt power supply at comp usa for around $80.00 and it has worked fine ever since. I had to hold down the insert key for the mobo bios to come up with the new cpu installed, but after doing that and setting the proper bus speed and voltage and all that it worked ever since. Hope this helps you.

Sounds like you HAVE eliminated everything except the power supply.

I concur with last 2 responses. A computer shop owner in my town with years of experience told me he has had people leave his shop with computer working great and vibration while driving home in their car just enough to cause power supply to detect a short circuit and shut down when they plug in at home. Computer power supplies can be VERY touchy about exactly what they're connected to. You didn't say if ANY fans are humming when you put the juice to the power supply. Are they? Also, computer case manufacturers have been known to goof up the front panel power switch wiring! You could have a bad front panel switch too. Use an ohmmeter to check for closed circuit when front panel power switch is pushed. Good Luck!

Thank you. Yes, the fans are spinning.

Update...You guys were right in a way. It was the power supply. I'm such an idiot. Although, the answer wasn't obvious. There's a little orange switch on the back that can be toggled between showing either "115" or "230"(which doesn't seem to make sense since it's a 250 W power supply). I assumed the setting was for the amount of power output, so, I left it on a setting of "230" for more power, which never worked. As soon as I toggled it so the "115" was showing it worked perfectly. Go figure. Well, now it's saying I have a harddisk failure - insert system disk. Zoinks! Anyway, thanks for all of your help. If you have any suggestions for my new problem, feel free...

The 115/230 switch on the rear of the power supply is for the voltage level out of your electrical outlets.