Frequently Asked Technical Questions Last Updated: July 1, 1999. This page has been added for your convenience. To assist you with your queries, you may find the problem with the following Keywords. - BIOS
- CPU
- CMOS
- Memory/SIMM
- Universal Serial Bus
- No Display
- IDE Problems
If you have comments or suggestions please let us know.
BIOS. How can I tell which version of bios I have?
Ans:
Most of our motherboards come with Award bios. In this case, the initial boot screen would look something like the following example. Although the boot screen would look slightly different if you have AMI bios, the example gives a general idea where the version number should be. Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG, an Energy Star Ally
Copyright (C) 1984-95, Award Software, Inc.
REV: 006 << ---- This is the version number.
How do I know which BIOS file(s) I need?
Ans: The easiest way to find out if you have the latest BIOS is to go to the manufacturer's website and check for the latest BIOS. Here are the main sites for the major brands of motherboards How do I upgrade (flash) my bios?
Ans: To upgrade your bios, you need to download the flash utility and bios binary file from the motherboard manufacturer's web site. Format a floppy disk with the system files.
Copy the downloaded files to the floppy disk Restart the computer, booting from the floppy drive. When you reach the A:\ type in the file name that you downloaded and copied to the floppy and press "ENTER".
The onscreen instructions should take you through the rest of the process.
How do I know if I have flash bios?
Ans: All of the motherboards that we carry have flashable bios.
Why did I get 'insufficient memory' message when I try to flash my bios?
Ans: You must have at least 560K of base memory available. If you are not sure, please clean boot from drive A: with Dos 6.2 when flashing your bios.
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CPU - What are the AMD K6/3 and Pentium 3 CPU?
Ans:
The AMD K6/3 and the Pentium 3 CPU's are the newest CPU's on the market. The AMD K6/3 is to be used in the Super Socket Seven motherboard, while the Pentium 3 is to be used in the Slot 1 motherboard. Both are the fastest CPU's for the different motherboards - How do I know whether my board supports the AMD K6/3 or Pentium 3 CPU?
Ans:
Most Super Socket 7 motherboards that we carry will work with the AMD K6/3 with the proper BIOS update. Most 440 BX motherboards will support the Pentium 3 with the correct BIOS update. If you are buying either of these from WCCS the BIOS update has already been done for you. - How do I set the jumpers for my CPU?
Ans: If you purchased a motherboard and processor combination from
WCCS, the processor should already be in place, except for Pentium II, Celeron, and Pentium III processors. In either case, the jumpers on the motherboard should already be set to work properly with your processor. If you only purchased a motherboard or a CPU from WCCS, you will have to refer to the proper documentation to find out which jumpers you need to set and what you need to set them to.
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CMOS. - How do I clear the CMOS?
Ans: More
likely than not, clearing the CMOS will only require moving a jumper. This could be moving it from one pair of pins to another, pulling it off of a pair of pins, or shorting (putting it on) a pair of pins. Please refer to your documentation to find out what needs to be done to clear the CMOS for your particular motherboard. Remember that after you clear the CMOS you will probably receive a CMOS checksum error or a CMOS battery low error. Both of these errors are perfectly normal when clearing
the CMOS.
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- Memory/SIMM
-
How do I know what voltage or speed my RAM is?
Ans: If you purchased the RAM from WCCS, our 72 pin EDO SIMMs run at 5v and 60ns and our SDRAM runs at 3.3v and 10ns with the exception of our PC100 SDRAM which runs at a faster 6 or 7ns. - What memory configurations can I use with my motherboard?
Ans: In most of the motherboards we carry, 72 pin SIMMs must be used in pairs
of the same size and speed (i.e. 16MB, 60ns) in order to work properly. SDRAM does not have to be used in pairs. As far as what sizes and configurations to use with your motherboard, refer to the documentation. - Can I mix EDO SIMMs and SDRAM in my motherboard?
Ans:
No, because the different types of memory run at different voltages as well as different speeds, mixing them is usually not an option. - Will my older motherboard support the EDO SIMMs? Ans: WCCS does not guarantee that our memory will work in older systems. To ensure that our memory will work contact your motherboard manufacturer to find out which ram modules are compatible are compatible with
your system.
- Will my motherboard support 64 EDO SIMMs? Ans:
If you bought your motherboard from WCCS within the last 2 years it will support 64 EDO SIMMs. If not, you will need to contact your motherboard manufacturer to see if 64 EDO SIMMs will work in your system. Remember that even though the manual says it will support up to 128MB, it does not always mean (2) 64 EDO. The 128MB restriction usually means (4) 32 EDO SIMMs.
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USB (Universal Serial Bus) - Why do I have a yellow (!) sign in my USB device?
Ans:
This is because Win95 does not have the proper driver for your USB device. You may be able to remove this yellow (!) by using the regedit in Explorer.
To do this, rename the 'class' to 'commondevice' in the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum\PCI\VEN_....7001\BUS....&....\
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No Display If you are not getting a display when you first power on your motherboard, there are several things that could be causing this. The following is a general set of troubleshooting instructions that could be used to
find out what the problem is.
1. When you power on the system, is the CPU fan spinning and are your other devices as well as the power supply fan powering up? If not, make sure that the power supply is connected to a good outlet or preferably surge suppressor. The power supply could be dead or the motherboard may be grounding out on the case. Try removing the motherboard from the case and setting on the anti-static bag that it came in. If you don't have long power supply cables, you
may have to remove that from the case also. Power up the board with only the RAM, CPU, and video card installed. If the board still does not power up, chances are the power supply is dead.
2. If your devices are powering up, check the power connection to the motherboard. For AT boards, make sure that the four ground wires (black) are next to each other when they are plugged into the board.
3. Check the jumpers and try running the board with only RAM, CPU, and video card
installed. If you receive video now, add in your peripherals one by one until the video stops coming up. When it stops, you will know which device is causing the problem. If you still are not receiving video, make sure that your RAM is in the correct slots by checking in the manual for SIMM or SDRAM bank 0 or bank 1, whichever is the first one. You may also try reseating the RAM, video card, and CPU (only on Pentium II, Pentium III, and Celeron CPU's) by removing them completely and placing
them back in. If possible, try a different video card and RAM. If this is a Slot 1 system and your are using SDRAM, make sure that the SDRAM has an EPROM on it. It is a very small black chip that is approximately 1/4 cm by 1/4 cm and should be located on one of the corners of the SDRAM. If this is a 100mhz-bus speed system, also make sure that the SDRAM is PC100 or certified to run at 100mhz bus.
4. If you have tried all of this, please give our technical support line a call.
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IDE (Problems the with Bus Mastering driver) - I have a yellow exclamation sign in my primary and secondary hard disk controller in device manager in Windows 95 and my CD-ROM does not work. What do I do?
Ans:
This is because Win95 does not recognize the IDE Controller chip. To fix this, you need to install the correct patch or IDE driver that comes with the motherboard. If for some reason the driver diskette did not come with your motherboard, you can probably download it from the manufacturer's web site. To install the above file(s), please create a 'folder' (e.g. c:\driver) in your hard disk. Copy all the necessary file(s) to this directory and run it from there. Some of the above are self-extracting files. In that case you need to expand the files first and then run the setup from the proper subdirectory. Follow the instructions and you will be set.
- I have reinstalled the IDE driver several times but why I still have a yellow exclamation sign in my primary and secondary hard disk controller?
Ans:
If you are sure that you have installed the driver correctly and still have 'yellow exclamation sign', please remove the real mode CD-ROM driver in your config.sys file. If it is still not working, you may have to reinstall Windows 95. If you have done all the above any still have problem, it is most likely that you have virus in your system. Please clean the virus and your IDE controllers should be working. - Why have my CD-ROM and old hard drive disappeared after installing the bus master driver?
Ans: The problem is that your CD-ROM is an ATAPI CD-ROM and your hard drive is a NON EIDE HDD with no Bus Master support. To fix this, you need to modify the registry after you install the Bus Master Drive. Look for these
under "regedit": HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Class/hdc You will find four subdirectories 0000-0003 (could be 0000-0006) Look for the one where DriverDesc is something like "Primary Bus Master IDE controller" or "Secondary Bus Master IDE controller",
according to the port you want to change (usually it will be 0002 or 0003, sometimes it can be 0005 or 0006). In this subdirectory change PortDriver from, "ideatapi.mpd" to "ESDI_506.pdr", then reboot the system.
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