[Waterboy]

I have a Microstar mobo model ms-6738 and no matter what i try to do
with it it will not post to the monitor, using the built in video or an added agp video card. I'm using 1 gb of ram, and a Amd athlon 1300 processor
all of which i know are good. The board however I'm not sure. When powered on I get one long beep sometimes, other times it don't beep. Also when powered on the fans turn on the hard drives spin and my hard drive light is blinking and acting like it is going into windows but the monitor does not do or show anyhting. I was
wondering how i could fix this if i can fix it? And i was also wondering how you go about testing a mobo? Computer specs are as followed:
Power supply- New Antec 650 watt

2x512 mb of crucial ram can't remember what speed

80gb Seagate Master hard drive

320 gb Seagate Slave Drive

Gibabyte AGP video card 128 mb

I also have a socket 462 AMD Athlon 2000, and AMD Athlon 2200 all of the processors work Ihave triedt them in my fathers computer to make sure.

This is as much of the computer I can remember. If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it. I really need to get my back up computer back up and running.

Any questions just ask I will be check thing this daily. Or you can email me at Waterboy919@live.com

Aaron

[crazy4laptops]

start simple, check and replace the cmos/bios battery

[BAMT]

I would try removing the GFX card from the motherboard, then try booting it. If nothing happens, put the card back in and plug the monitor into it. That would be my first experiment.

[alchav21]

Okay Waterboy,

The Specs are very important, because they have to be exactly right. This MB is an older type and it takes two different types of Memory DDR and SDRAM. So I would say this is where the problem lies. You have two sticks of Crucial RAM totalling 1Gb but give us the Specs on it. When you first start up MB all you need is Processor, Memory, use the OnBoard Video, and Power. It should POST one Beep, and then a display on your Monitor saying something like "No Operating System Found."

[coastie65]

Hi Waterboy and welcome to the forum. Okay, If you are switching between The onboard graphics and the AGP card it has to be done right. Before going to the onboard graphics, Remove the AGP card and plug the Cable into the onboard graphics port. Once this done, start the computer and see if the monitor comes up. If so, go into the device manager and check to see if the onboard graphics is enabled or disabled. If they are enabled, they must be disabled before installing the graphics card. Under most cicumstances, you should get a "No Signal" message on the monitor if there is a graphics problem, but not always. If you get input to the monitor with the onboard graphics, The reverse and make sure they are disabled and then reinstall the Graphics Card and drivers. If you do not get a signal, then most likely, you have a bad graphics card. This is jut a start to try. coastie65

[Waterboy]

Ok sorry guys This is the first opportunity i have had to reply to these since i work 3rd shift and i go to school full time in the mornings it don't leave me much time except for the weekends, plus i wanted to try everything that you guys have mentioned. Ok first I changed clock battery on mobo still nothing. Second i have tried pulling the GFX card and booting the computer still nothing. As far as the type of ram i have now Idea what speed it is. I boutght this computer off of Ebay and it worked flawlessly for 3 months then it just stopped working. As i stated in my first post sometimes the computer does one beep and sometimes it don't but it still doesn't kick my monitor on. and the monitor i'm using it right now lol. And Coastie I have tried 3 agp cards removing like you said and nothing happens. Is there a jumper on the mobo that i have to change or something? Cause when i try the onboard graphics or the agp I get nothing. I want to say thank you again for all your help everyone. I'm good with computers and stuff but this one is giving me big problems.



Thanks again Aaron

[alchav21]

Computers can be a lot of fun, but when they break like this it could be very frustrating. Your computer does not want to POST, so until this happens no Graphics will go to your Monitor. So it all lies in Power, MB, Processor, Memory, and Graphics Card. From your testing I would say it's either Memory or Motherboard. So you can play around with the Memory trying one stick or the other. If nothing happens it's probably the MB, I would just upgrade to Intel and get a new MB and Memory.

[coastie65]

Hey, I was just going back through this. You said the fans were working and that is what kinda threw me off track. I believe someone else mentioned this as well, but it could well be a PSU issue, meaning a failing or failed PSU. It could also be a failed memory module as well, that can be checked by just running one memory stick and then replacing it with the other. If you have a second Monitor I would try that as well, to eliminate the possibility of a monitor failure. There are no jumpers that deal with the Graphics stuff on the MOBO to my knowledge, primarily for HDD set up. coastie

[Waterboy]

Well I want to thank everyone that helped me with this. I do believe I have a bad mobo. Cause I have taken everything else out and tried it in a different computer and I have also tried everything that you guys have said. Thanks again for all your knowledge. I will try and help out on here answering different questions and such because I do enjoy working on computers and helping others out. This is just the first time i have ever ran into this. I just think it's weird cause the computer was working great and all of a sudden with no warning it stopped working. Well anyways thanks again. Waterboy