My new system isn't starting Windows. It detects the RAM and hard drive and everything is fine until I see the Windows XP logo on the screen (this is the screen with the black background and the little progress-bar thing moving below the logo). About 3 seconds after the Windows XP logo appears the screen goes blank. A second later there is a series of short beeps. It's 7 or 8 beeps but it's fast and hard to count them. (I have found nothing about an Award bios making a series of 7 or 8 beeps in my motherboard manual or on the internets.) The screen stays blank and I have to shut off the power. I think it's a video card problem because it happens right when the system is about to load the screen that has a blue background and says "Windows is loading." The screen with the Windows logo on a black background looks low-res, but the one with the blue background seems more hi-res. Any gurus have any thoughts?
Here is my system:
Intel E6600 core 2 duo processor
GA-965P DS3 motherboard (Rev 3.3), bios is latest version (F10)
Corsair CM2X1024-6400C4 RAM 2 gigs (on Gigabyte's list of memory approved for the motherboard)
eVGA 8800GTS 320MB 320-P2-N811-AR
Antec Earthwatts EA-500 500W power supply
One IDE hard drive (which works fine with my old motherboard)
Case: not an issue because the same thing happens when the entire system is outside the case on the floor.
More info: Maybe it's a power supply problem? The same thing happened when I tried to use my old power supply with this system. The old supply was 430W with 17A on the +12V rail. It is clearly underpowered. Is it possible the Antec 500W also doesn't have enough power? Its specs say it has two +12V rails with 17A each. The 8800GTS requires a total of 26A on the +12V rail. I have read that 26A is the combined total, so the Antec supply should be adequate with its 34A. There is also a Newegg product review on the Antec EA-500 page from a peson using this power supply with this processor and a 8800GTS.
Here is my system:
Intel E6600 core 2 duo processor
GA-965P DS3 motherboard (Rev 3.3), bios is latest version (F10)
Corsair CM2X1024-6400C4 RAM 2 gigs (on Gigabyte's list of memory approved for the motherboard)
eVGA 8800GTS 320MB 320-P2-N811-AR
Antec Earthwatts EA-500 500W power supply
One IDE hard drive (which works fine with my old motherboard)
Case: not an issue because the same thing happens when the entire system is outside the case on the floor.
More info: Maybe it's a power supply problem? The same thing happened when I tried to use my old power supply with this system. The old supply was 430W with 17A on the +12V rail. It is clearly underpowered. Is it possible the Antec 500W also doesn't have enough power? Its specs say it has two +12V rails with 17A each. The 8800GTS requires a total of 26A on the +12V rail. I have read that 26A is the combined total, so the Antec supply should be adequate with its 34A. There is also a Newegg product review on the Antec EA-500 page from a peson using this power supply with this processor and a 8800GTS.
Last edited by san4 (2007-05-05 07:51:57)