GuyMartin

hi danzil right! firstly the motherboard is an MSI K8T-NEO FIS2R and it doesnt have onboard graphics :( I have 2 FX5500 GPU's (both of them in full working order) and I have tried both of them, neither of them require an additional power source I havent tried the trick with clearing the BIOS but I will do when I can, also I didnt try with different memory modules and again I will try that to. I will remove the board and check that there is the required clearance to prevent any shorting problems I4n, thanks for clarifying the "interconnect lead" thing, the monitor complete with lead is working happily on several other systems I have so I think its fair to say there isnt a problem with it thankyou for you help and I will keep you informed of any progress I make cheers :)

been investigating further.............and have found myself in the murky world of low/high density memory modules! it seems low density are the worlds friend and are pretty much plug & play with any system you want to use them in. high density it appears are only compatible with 10% of systems, and ALSO its often the true ammount of the Ram is often incorrectly reported (ie. 1GB reported as only 512MB!!) add this to the fact that High Density is usually slower than Low and really are designed to be used in servers! I shall investigate further and let you know what I have!

what is it you refer to as an "interconnect lead"

I think I probably know the answer to this but what the heck LOL for a long time I occasionally put together really basic home PC's for friends or family (usually for their kids to bash away on!) they often already have a high spec job for their main PC Anyway i digress, I put together a basic system the other day and when I power up all the bells and whistles work fine, in the case! but nothing happens on the monitor! it just keeps telling me no signal received. Perhaps more accurately I should have titled the thread "is my agp socket dead?" a few details: AOpen N250a-FR socket 754 board AMD Sempron 2800+ CPU 1GB PC2700 DDR333 matched crucial memory GeForce FX5500 256mb GPU WD 80gb IDE HDD Sony RD-RW dirve 450W unbranded PSU now apart from the Mobo all the other components worked before the build and have done since in another barebones system I have. I have even tried a combination of other parts but nothings getting through to the monitor? So is it the AGP socket or something else? and if it is can it be repaired? Would it be worth repairing? I realise its likely to end up in the trash but perhaps not, only time (and you helpful people) will tell thanks for reading Guy

thanks for the quick responses, well I saw in "System Properties" the RAM is being reported as being only 512mb rather than the 1gb that the stick is, and to be honest Im not to sure how to see what the BIOS is reporting it as, I will have to get the mobo manual downloaded and have a look see. As for the possibility of the RAM being damaged, its possible but I think very unlikely due to the fact I havent had it stored, I literally turned off 1 PC and took the RAM straight out to put in the new PC. I have learned my lesson with regards to the delicate nature of PC components and took all precaustions, earthing strap and being very delicate in removal and placement, I havent tried it in another slot but will give that a try tomorrow again thanks for you advice...........I will let you know how I get on :) I should add that I often use "pcpitstop" to run what Im sure is a very basic system check on PC's I put together to find any obvious faults and they say there is 1gb of RAM!? So now Im a bit confused LOL

the heading pretty much says it all! I just built this PC from existing bits and pieces and everything is up and running perfectly, apart from windows is showing only 512mb ram when I have 1gb ram installed. The ram is a single stick salvaged from a working PC and according to both kingston & crucial memory checkers is suitable for my mobo its a stick of generic PC3200 ddr400 RAM and the motherbaord is a MSI KT8 NEO-FIS2R (MS-6702) and Im running Windows XP pro (with SP3) any advice gladly received, thanks in advance p.s. if I should have given any other info let me know to!

first posting to say hello and how pleased I am to find somewhere ( having already scaned several threads etc) that people genuinely seem to want to offer help and advice (and not just sneer at other peoples lack of knowledge!) at the moment I am only having one problem so I will post in the appropriate place (hardware/memory issues I think) take care everyone good luck!