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New build won't post and no display. BIOS beeps.

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First post, by mattrock1988

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So I finally put together my TYAN Tomahawk BX based system, with a Celeron Mendocino 500MHZ processor installed.

After I put everything together, I fired it up, and after a 30 second pause, I hear two beeps, a pause, then one beep. I'm guessing this has to do with the RAM? I tried swapping out modules but none of the modules made a difference. I find it slightly hard to believe my entire kit of three 64 MB sticks are bad. What else could I be missing?

Retro PC: Intel Celeron Mendocino @ 500 MHz, TYAN Tomahawk BX, 6 GB IDE Quantum Bigfoot, 256 MB SDRAM, DVD-ROM, 1.44 MB floppy, Nvidia GeForce MX 440 AGP, ESS AudioDrive 1868F ISA

Reply 1 of 2, by chinny22

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2 beeps is a parity issue but manual doesn't list a 2 -1 sequence so I'd still be suspicious of how accurate it is.
https://theretroweb.com/motherboard/manual/m- … c3544385898.pdf

First thing I would do is remove everything from the motherboard accept CPU and 1 stick of RAM. I'd be wanting a different code complaining about lack of video card.
is all your ram the same type? if it is maybe some incompatibility exists, although BX boards are typically very forgiving.

Reply 2 of 2, by mattrock1988

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Thanks for the suggestion chinny. I actually discovered that the RAM had different CL values and was ECC upon further inspection.

I have another pack of memory on the way from eBay. If this doesn’t cure the problem, I’ll also try your suggestion to yank cards out too.

Retro PC: Intel Celeron Mendocino @ 500 MHz, TYAN Tomahawk BX, 6 GB IDE Quantum Bigfoot, 256 MB SDRAM, DVD-ROM, 1.44 MB floppy, Nvidia GeForce MX 440 AGP, ESS AudioDrive 1868F ISA

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