# Biostar P4M900-M4 Blank screen at startup



## Thudridge (Jan 9, 2009)

Hi, first time here so go gently with the flaming if you are tempted. I can take some heat but no napalm! 
I just built my system and when I turn it on I get one beep (Manual says that is an error free beep) and a blank screen. Everything inside has power and I can hear things spool up. The drives are unformatted SATA drives. Here are the specs.

Biostar P4M900-M4
P4 3.4Ghz
2 Gig of Corsair XMS DDR2
ZOTAC 9800 GT
SoundBlaster Audigy ZS

I have tried the following: Switching the video from the card to the on board connector, no effect.
Removing one stick of memory and then rebooting, no effect.
Unplugging the IDE cables that operate my optical drives, no effect.

Any help would be great. Thank you for reading.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

What power supply do you have?
Try clearing the cmos, using 1 stick of ram, and no drives connected, use the onboard video and try to boot to the post screen.


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## Thudridge (Jan 9, 2009)

Thanks for the quick reply. So here is the latest. I tried your suggestion and still no video. Nothing new happened when I booted up, still one beep and no screen. I got a reply from BioTech and they said that their mboard does not support my card as my card is PCI 2.0 and the board is 1.0. That still does not explain why I do not have a boot screen when I boot with the on board video. 
Here is my power supply

BFG 800 WATT ES Series ATX12V


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Did you remove the 8800 card when you tried the onboard?


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## Thudridge (Jan 9, 2009)

Yes, I should have been more clear in my first post. I tried that as well. I cleared the CMOS, no effect either.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

current day cards are supposed to be backward compatible
you have plugged in the aux power plug into the m/board
take the card out
plug into the onboard

cmos reset
turn the computer off
remove the power lead from the back
take the side off
remove the cmos battery
move the cmos jumper from pins 1 and 2 to pin 2 and 3 and the back to pins 1 and 2
reinsert the battery
put the side on
replug in the power lead
boot the computer

there can be 2 solder points you touch with a screwdriver
2 pins you touch with a screwdriver or use a jumper
a cmos clear switch or button
there will be a diagram and instructions in your manual

then see if it will boot to the post screens

once you are up and running we will do the change from onboard to the card


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Try doing this to eliminate the possibility of a short to the case or a standoff in the wrong place> http://www.techsupportforum.com/f15/how-to-bench-test-your-system-262998.html


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## Thudridge (Jan 9, 2009)

Thank you for the reply Dai. can you explain this a bit clearer to me? Sorry.

you have plugged in the aux power plug into the m/board
take the card out
plug into the onboard

Are you asking if I plugged the aux into the mboard?
the card is currently out of the system. 
Plug what into the onboard?

I am preparting the CMOS reset as instructed, stand by.

Did the reset of the CMOS and still no video. I get one beep at start up and that is it. All data cables IDE and SATA are unplugged, no cards installed, and all USB's are unplugged from the board as well. Only on it is memory, one stick.

Moving to the "How to Bench Test Your System" approach....


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

you have the main power plug into the m/board

you also have to plug in the aux power plug into the m/board

circled in red on the left
http://www.techsupportforum.com/att...0-gx2-monitor-detection-problem-aux-power.jpg


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The aux 4 pin cpu power to the motherboard


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## Thudridge (Jan 9, 2009)

Yes the aux 4 pin was done the first time.
So here is the latest: I did the bench test as directed with the on board video first, no video and then using the graphics card, still no video. I am convinced now that I have a bad mobo. I followed the steps/pictures exactly. Any other ideas? Thank you for your help in this. When my new board/chip arrives, I will set it up this way the first time.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

If you have a motherboard speaker hooked up pull all the ram out and see if it beeps if not I would think the motherboard is defective.


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## Thudridge (Jan 9, 2009)

Hi Wrench, I just tried that and that pure silence. So it is safe to say that I got a DOA M board. I will get an RMA from Newegg and send it back ASAP. I think it is safe to say we got this issue "solved". Thank you again for your help. I will send you a message to let you know when my new stuff gets here and I get up and running.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Let us know.


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## scajjr2 (Jan 20, 2010)

I got one of these boards to update an older P4 system to uses DDR2 and PCIe.

Have the same problem- won't boot, no beeps (even taking out all memory), no video out put.

Now on Biostar's Taiwan site the supported CPU list is very small- 6 P4 and 7 Celeron models. The P4 I have is a sSpec SL6PC - not on Biostar's list. Tech support where I got the board from (3BTech.net) says my CPU should work and to RMA the board. I have submitted an RMA request but in the meantime I also found a used P4 sSpec SL6S4 (which is on the list) cheap on eBay so I'm going try that CPU before I send it back.

Sam

Got the SL6S4 P4 today, popped it in the P4M900-M4 and it booted right up.



Sam


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