FAO John P, Brumster, TJA and Whoozit

[130tdi]

As promised here's the feedback on the new XP PC that wouldn't boot.

I went through all your advice again and made sure all connectors were installed correctly and securely.

With NO RAM but CPU installed including heatsink :

I used the headphones as suggested to listen to the POST - "System failed CPU test"

I then unplugged the CPU and reinstalled it, restart.

System Test - Memory Failure

Installed 1 strip of the DDR 400 RAM

Machine booted OK, XP installed, additional RAM installed and everything running great.

2ND PC - removed CPU, reinstalled CPU and watched carefully.

As I apply tension to the heatsink by tightening the fan holders onto the retaining system the CPU can be seen to move.

This machine installed XP with 2GB of DDR 400 RAM installed perfectly happy.

I think the initial problem was caused by the CPU moving slightly when tightening the retainaing mechanism. This is enough to halt the entire system, giving the symptoms as previously mentioned.

Job done and I'm one happy bunny

Thanks again for your advice - it was much appreciated.

Simon.

[tja]

Glad to see you got it working in the end

[brumster]

Yay! Well spotted

[john_p]

Excellent, I'll watch out for that when I get my P4 and P4C tomorrow!