I'd try a new bios battery if you haven't done so.

Otherwise it sounds like a PSU, RAM or motherboard problem. If you don't see anything physically wrong with the board (damaged capacitors, etc) it would leave me to believe it is the PSU since you've tried different memory. Even if it is new, cheap power supplies are cheap for a reason. Also they have changed through the years. Newer supplies supply more power on different power rails than older ones do. Back in the day the CPU often needed more power. Nowadays it is the graphics card many times. So newer supplies often times lack the oomph needed to power older systems as they are geared towards newer configurations. Check the power output for the power supply on the 3v 5v and 12v rails. Even though it is a 500w PSU, it may actually supply less power on certain rails than older 300w units supply n

Try this PSU calculator.

http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

I ran it using a high end socket a CPU and a typical video card of that time frame and the recommended PSU was 30 amps on the 5v rail and only 10 amps on the 12v rail. Putting in a newer amd am3 cpu and new video card practically flips the numbers. For socket a uoureally need a lot of power on the 5v rail. 12v isn't as important.

Munx wrote:

So I have a Biostar M7VIT BRAVO motherboard that I got months ago, however I only got around to try it out yesterday. I just cant seem to get it to POST. I can power it on, all the fans start spinning, however I cant get anything more out of it, not even a beep. I've tested a couple AGP and PCI video cards, cleared CMOS, used different RAM, unplugged everything but the CPU and Video card, still nothing. Unfortunately I only have a single socket A CPU to test (Athlon FX 2600 Thoroughbred, 333MHz FSB) however I'm sure it would react differently if that was the problem.

Not really - if the CPU wasn't working, this sounds exactly like how it would behave. Is it a known good CPU? Without a working CPU the code in the BIOS doesn't execute, so you'd get power but nothing else happens.
I don't know if that motherboard supports Thoroughbreds, but I looked it up and see that it's a KT400 so presumably it does (hopefully in even the oldest BIOS version).
If the CPU is running the BIOS code and then has a problem with the RAM, normally it would give you a beep code, but that might not be universal. Same deal if it has a problem with video. But again, I've just recently been working on a Dell that doesn't bother to beep when it has a video failure, so that's not universal either.
If the speaker is connected and there's no beeping, I believe most likely the BIOS code isn't being executed, which puts the problem somewhere between CPU, BIOS, PSU, or a board level problem (chipset, etc).
Have you gone over all the jumpers and made sure they're all set correctly/conservatively?
If the FSB is jumper controlled, I'd try setting it to the slowest possible FSB setting.

Could the PSU be the culprit? It's a cheap one but its new and 500W.
Or should I just accept I have a dead board on my hands?

PSU could cause this, and it's specs might be sub-optimal for the board, but I think the chance is slim of that being why it doesn't POST. It's possible though. Definitely try to minimize the configuration and lighten the load on the PSU as much as possible. If you have another working PSU to try, especially one designed for boards of that time period, then it's definitely worth a shot.

If you have a multimeter, you can check operating voltages and check for Vcore. Put negative on the PSU casing. 5v and 12v can be found on the molex connectors. 3.3v doesn't have a convenient place to test it though. If you want to get 3.3v, you might be able to backprobe it on the ATX power connector.
You can check Vcore by putting the positive probe on the large metal tab at the back side of the mosfets near the CPU. Half of them will show the input voltage to the VRM (probably 5v) and the other half should show Vcore. That large metal tab is a pretty easy place to probe without risk of accidentally shorting anything. But if you get concerned, wrap the probe with tape so that only the tip is exposed.

If you see bad voltage at an input somewhere then blame the PSU. If inputs are good but you see bad Vcore then it's a board problem, or *maybe* lack of VID signal from the CPU. If voltages look normal then the cause remains unknown. It can *still* be a bad PSU in that case - a multimeter won't show high frequency voltage fluctuations.

It could have a bad flashed BIOS. If you feel comfortable with the idea then you could try hotflashing it in another board, but that's tricky and somewhat dangerous.

Ive checked the amps on the rails before getting the psu and its got 30 on both 5v and 12v so it should be getting enough. I'll see if I can get another one from another system and see if its just faulty.
As for the cpu, I'll have to see if I can get any socket a one for a buck or two for testing. The jumpers are set for 333 fsb so there shouldnt be a problem there, Ive set them to the lowest possible as well but no luck.
Anyway, thanks for the help, will report back ance I have it all tested.

Hmm. Yeah that should be good enough as far as the PSU. I'd try a different CPU on this board , or try this CPU on another board if possible. Good luck and let us know what happens.

Try a Duron or Athlon (non-XP) cpu. If it posts, it either doesn't support newer CPUs or it need a bios update to do so.

I looked that motherboard up. It has a KT400 chipset. That should support Thoroughbred and Barton chips out of the box. I've even got a Barton working in my
KT133 Abit motherboard no probs at all after a Bios mod update.

As has been suggested already, try another cpu. If still no go then maybe the motherboard is dead. Just make sure that You don't have any other jumpers on the
motherboard in the wrong place, the manual is easy enough to find. Try removing the power and reset connectors and short the power pins manually just incase
there is a short there. A bit unlikely though.

You need Ram, Cpu, Video to get a post screen. Without Ram You will never get a post on any system.

Imperious wrote:

You need Ram, Cpu, Video to get a post screen. Without Ram You will never get a post on any system.

Without RAM or video you should still get beeping though, but that might not be true of every BIOS.

Can you make a Image of the Voltage Regulator Section, show us the caps there.

If they look like this, you need a replacement:

This is often a Issue with S462 Systems and P4.

Used another PSU today with the same results, so I guess that's ruled out.

The entire system is at another location atm so I don't have access to it but I still have this picture

I've checked all the caps when it arrived and couldn't see any bulges anywhere.

Gonna have to get a new CPU to test as this is the only socket A I have atm.

Caps can dry out without bulges.
If you have a Multimeter you can check the outputs of the VRM's.