VOGONS

ASUS P2B-D Dual P3s not booting

Topic actions

First post, by lilacraven

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hi all.

I have an ASUS P2B-D Rev 1.05 here, and I'm trying to boot it with two SL37D Katmai Pentium 3s.
Aside from that, I currently have a known good 128mb stick of PC100 in there, and a Geforce2 MX400 which is also known good.
There is also a soundblaster live and a PCI ethernet card installed. No drive is currently installed (I just want to get to the BIOS before deciding what OS to install)
When I try to power on the machine, the display does turn on, but no video is received. It does make a post beep, but then the display turns off and on again, and another post beep, cycling every few seconds.
I've tried putting the RAM in different slots, reseating the CPUs, and cleaning the contacts, but no changes.
I did read the user manual for the board and have the jumpers in what I believe are the correct positions. I don't have the CPU fans plugged in at the moment because I don't currently have any 3 pin fan cables to plug in, although I don't know if that would affect boot or not.

Anyway, I haven't really dabbled all that much in PC hardware of this era so I'm not really too sure what to expect when it comes to errors and so on, so I'd appreciate any help or advice on this.
Thanks 😀

Reply 1 of 4, by chinny22

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

For now, unplug the hard drive, floppy, remove the sound and network card and a CPU.

All you want is a single CPU, stick of ram, video card.

Ram needs to be put in dimm 0 (closest to the floppy/HDD connectors)
CPU needs to go into slot 1 (closest to the ATX connector)

see how that goes and report back.
I'm not sure if you needed a specific bios version for P3 support but your 500Mhz CPU's are below the VRM's limit.

Reply 2 of 4, by PARKE

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Not sure if that is the issue but on the photo there is no coin cell battery installed.

Reply 3 of 4, by ElectroSoldier

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Put a CR2032 battery in it then try the advice given in post #2

Reply 4 of 4, by lilacraven

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
chinny22 wrote on 2025-02-12, 03:39:
For now, unplug the hard drive, floppy, remove the sound and network card and a CPU. […]
Show full quote

For now, unplug the hard drive, floppy, remove the sound and network card and a CPU.

All you want is a single CPU, stick of ram, video card.

Ram needs to be put in dimm 0 (closest to the floppy/HDD connectors)
CPU needs to go into slot 1 (closest to the ATX connector)

see how that goes and report back.
I'm not sure if you needed a specific bios version for P3 support but your 500Mhz CPU's are below the VRM's limit.

Thanks for the response and sorry for the delayed reply! I had a surgery the other day so didn’t have time to report back. I tried all the advice you gave me besides the single CPU as I don’t have a blank to insert in the other slot - I’ve ordered one and I will test again when it arrives. Sadly, no dice. Also, although my board revision is 1.05, I’m fairly certain by checking the VRM chips that it can supply the required voltage. The CPUs are listed as officially supported by the user manual as they are Katmai chips not coppermine (although I am new to this so correct me if I’m wrong). Thanks again for your response though I appreciate it!

Go to top of page Go to top of page
Back to General Old Hardware
Close window
Close window