Here are some questions that have been asked by readers.
Got a question? email me.
| Q. Hi I saw your site about building
a computer with a d815eea Intel motherboard. I can
not get my board to initialize the floppy. This is my second board,I sent
the first one back thinking it had a bad floppy controller. Now The new
board does the same thing. After I run the configuration in setup I
put the jumper back and start it back up. It sits at the
Intel blue screen for a while then it goes blank
with a cursor in the upper left, then a message comes up "invalid
boot diskette, insert diskette into a:" the diskette was
already in the drive but I can't get the board to read it. What have I
missed? I traded out the floppy drive for a known good one, I traded out
the cable for a known good one. I checked to make sure all connections
are on pin one. Can you help me with this? |
| A. I am guessing that the part that
is missing is the boot up order. Last tab on bios setup deals with boot
priority. Make sure that removable devices is the first priority then hard
drives then atapi cd rom. |
| |
| Q. I have a d815eea board and a 933
intel processor with a 20 gig uata 100 Maxtor hard drive and win 98 se
operating system the only problem is it keeps freezing up on me what do I
need to do? |
| A. The first thing that you
need to do is to determine if this is a hardware problem or a software
problem. One test that may give you some indication of whether it is
hardware is to boot (cold boot from power off) to a dos prompt. This is
done by pressing F8, just as the machine is changing from the intel logo
screen but before the win98 startup screen. This should generate a menu of
bootup options (you may have to try this more than once to get the right
timing). Once you have the menu select from it command prompt only. Once
the c:> prompt is on your screen invoke the dos editor by typing
"edit" (no quote marks). Let this program run for as long as you
think it normally takes to get a freeze up. One of the nice things about
this program is that it continously cycles the processor and this gives an
indication of the stability of the hardware. As an alternative you could
also boot windows into "safe mode" and allow it to run in that
mode for a while.
Most of the freeze ups we see are caused by conflicts either hardware
conflicts or software conflicts.
In the case that it may be hardware there are a few things to keep in
mind.
Is your bios up to date? You can check the latest version from Intel at
http://developer.intel.com/design/motherbd/ea/ea_bios.htm
Is your memory SDIMM correct for this motherboard.
(The following is an excerpt
from the Intel FAQ page.)
Are there specific requirements for using 133 MHz SDRAM memory?
Yes. All of the following conditions must be met
for the memory to operate at 133 MHz speed:
133 MHz system bus frequency processor must be used.
All memory must be 133 MHz speed.
All memory must have properly programmed Serial Presence Detect (SPD) data
No more than four rows of 133 MHz SDRAM should be used. Four rows would be
two double sided DIMMs, or one double sided DIMM and two single sided
DIMMs.
If a 100 MHz system bus frequency processor is
used then the memory will run at 100 MHz. If memory speeds of 100 and 133
MHz are mixed, then all memory will operate at 100 MHz. If more than four
rows of memory is used then all memory will operate at 100 MHz
Another thing that can cause hardware lockups is heat. We have seen
many examples of the fan on the processor not running due to being clogged
with dirt or simply failing or the power for the fan not being plugged in.
What happens is that the processor runs fine until it heats up enough that
it begins to fail. On subsequent reboots it will again run until a
critical temperature is reached. If this has happened to your processor
there is a high potential for permanent damage to the processor. When we
are troubleshooting a machine we usually open the case and visually
inspect all fans to ensure they are running. If they aren't then they
should be replaced or cleaned and monitored.
Here is a rare one but I include it anyways. Is there anything loose in
your case? We have seen examples of screws or other metal parts
accidentally left in the case. It is easy enough for a wayward
machine screw to short circuit a motherboard. ( We once found one wedged
between the motherboard and the backplane, it wasn't obvious till we
actually removed the motherboard)
Finally even with Intel motherboards (my favourite kind) defects can
occur and in this case we recommend that you ask your dealer to help you
or any other Intel Processor dealer. Intel maintains an excellent warranty
program and will cross ship defective parts so that you aren't very long
without your product.
So the other side of this is software conflicts and really this topic
could be covered by several books but here are a few things to check and
keep in mind.
Firstly when we are looking at this kind of situation, the first thing
we check is anti-virus software. Unless the virus definitions are right up
to date there is little point in checking anything else.
The next place we look at is the device manager which is reached
through the control panel and the system icon. Any yellow marks or red
marks are generally a big clue as to what may be wrong.
Following that we will examine network protocols (assuming the machine
is on a network). Are there conflicts, which protocols are loaded and are
the settings correct.
Next on the list is what programs are running at start up. A good
indicator of this is the system tray usually located on the win98 menu bar
far right (little icons). If there are lots of them then perhaps they are
generating a conflict. Try unloading them and see if the system
stabilizes.
Run a scan disk on your hard drive, if there is any sign of corruption,
it may indicate that a vital system program is also corrupt or missing.
Boot the machine up to windows using the diagnostic mode, this creates
a bootlog file. Examine this for failures.
Run msconfig (from the start menu invoke the run choice and type in
"Msconfig"). There is a utility there that can check your system
files for corruption.
Failing all of the above, consider doing a fresh install of the
operating system.
I hope the above helps out, on the software side we could go on and on
..... |
| |
| Q. 1. In my new case, I have two USB ports wired. I see on the Intel
motherboard where they need to be plugged in, but don't know exactly how
they get plugged in. Each of the two USB ports has a 3 pin & a 1 pin
connector (for a total of 4 pins for each USB port), but the motherboard
has two rows of 5 pins. Which of the motherboard pins gets left
unplugged?
2. My new case also has a small speaker attached to the front of the
case, with a 4 pin plug. Where does this get plugged into?
3. Finally, what exactly is the DVO (digital video output) used for
and how is it utilized?
|
| A. 1. The pin that is ignored is Pin 10, I will put up some photos of this
very soon as I suspect it is a common source of confusion. Pin 10 is
beside the key (the key is pin 9 and is actually missing). One wire should
be red and this is connected to pin1 (power + 5 volts).
2. Disregard the computer case speaker it is redundant. The Intel board
includes a 47ohm inductive speaker and its only purpose is to squawk during
boot up.
3. DVO - This provides a digital interface to the computer's video so
that one could connect flat panels, or TV's etc.
. from Intel.......The optional Digital Video Interface (DVI) supports
digital flat-panel displays, digital CRT or TV-out support....... |
| |
| Q.
1. When I Shut Down from Windows ME, the
next time I reboot the system I get the typical Scan Disk error stating
that I did not shut down properly. How can I resolve this problem,
does something need changed in the BIOS?
2. Where do I connect the speaker,
there is no label for it in the Front Panel Header?
3. The Power LED is a 3 prong plug, but the
mother board only accepts a 2 prong plug on the Front Panel Header?
I love this motherboard and your web site
was very helpful in building my computer, the fast boot BIOS is great!
|
| A.
1. The
shutdown issue is not likely related to the bios but you can check in
bios to make sure that a plug & play O/S has been selected and also
make sure that power savings are set to the default.
2. There is
no connector for a speaker as the board includes a 47 ohm speaker that
performs that function.
3. Although
the power led coming from your case is a three pin jumper it likely has
only two wire attached to it. So you have two choices. You can split the
led connector so that each wire will fit onto a single pin of the front
panel connector (not recommended) or you can use the three jumper
alternate power led connector that is just to the left of the front
panel connector, usually the printed side of the connector faces
left. You can see this on page 6 of the manual that comes with the
motherboard. It is jumper J8C2 (silkscreened onto the board). diagram
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|
Q. At
the Intel site, it says the motherboard can handle up to 833MHz (I
think), but I thought that info was just outdated. Do you know if
installing a 1GHz processor could be a problem with this motherboard?
|
A.
The D815 can accommodate the 1 Ghz Chip. Below is a chart of
processor support. What happens is that information gets outdated
after more processors are introduced.
| Boxed
Intel® Board |
Market
Segment |
Chipset |
System
Bus |
Processor
Support |
Highest
Speed Processor Supported |
| D815EEA |
Desktop |
Intel
815E |
133/100/66
MHz |
A,
B, D, E, G |
Pentium
III Processor 1 GHz |
| VC820 |
Desktop |
Intel
820 |
133/100
MHz |
A,
B, C, G, H |
Pentium
III Processor 1 GHz1 |
| CA810E |
Desktop |
Intel
810E |
133/100/66
MHz |
A,
B, D, E, G |
Pentium
III Processor 1 GHz |
| L440GX+ |
Server |
Intel
440GX |
100
MHz |
B,
C, F, G1, H |
Pentium
III Processor 1 GHz2 |
| D810EMO |
Desktop |
Intel
810E |
133/100/66
MHz |
A,
B, D, E, G |
Pentium
III Processor 933 MHz |
| OR840 |
Workstation |
Intel
840 |
133
MHz |
A,
C, F, G, H |
Pentium
III Processor 1 GHz3 |
| CA810 |
Desktop |
Intel
810 |
66
MHz |
E |
Pentium
III Processor 850 MHz |
| SR440BX |
Desktop |
Intel
440BX |
100/66
MHz |
B,
C, H |
Pentium
III Processor 850 MHz |
| SE440BX-2 |
Desktop |
Intel
440BX |
100/66
MHz |
B,
C, G1, H |
Pentium
III Processor 800 MHz |
| RC440BX |
Desktop |
Intel
440BX |
100/66
MHz |
B,
C, H |
Pentium
III Processor 600 MHz |
| N440BX |
Server |
Intel
440BX |
100/66
MHz |
B,
C, F, H |
Pentium
III Processor 600 MHz |
| T440BX |
Server |
Intel
440BX |
100/66
MHz |
B,
C, H |
Pentium
III Processor 600 MHz |
A=Intel Pentium III Processors utilizing the 133MHz System Bus
B=Intel Pentium III Processors utilizing the 100MHz System Bus
C=Intel Pentium III Processors in the S.E.C.C.2 Package
D=Intel Pentium III Processors in the FC-PGA Package
E=Intel Celeron™ Processors in the P.P.G.A. Package
F=Dual processor
G=Support for Intel Pentium III processors incorporating 256 KB Advanced
Transfer Cache
H=Support for Intel Pentium III processors incorporating 512 KB Discrete
L2 Cache
1 Not validated for boxed Pentium III processor 1 GHz
(Exclusive of special 1 GHz/VC820 kit)
2 Validated with special chassis configurations only
3 Not validated for boxed Pentium III processor 1 GHz
S.E.C.C.2
|
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