New P4 2.2 boot up glitch - ASUS P4T-E

Hi all,

Well, I've got my new P4 2.2ghz cad system up and running with Windows XP and for the most part I'm quite pleased. Even XP has surprised me....it accepted nearly all my older programs and has yet to crash through 2 or 3 weeks of bit by bit software and hardware installations. Not crazy about MS having to give me permission to reinstall when I do a fresh format about a year from now...but oh well.......

HOWEVER, I do have one problem that I think may be related to the ASUS P4T-E motherboard. Based upon many recomendations for this board I had my supplier special order it...and as such they don't know much about it and aren't particularly interested in dealing with this problem. If I get nowhere with finding a solution though they WILL be dealing with it when I return the computer for them to make the fix.

I also have emailed ASUS a number of times and have only gotten cursory responses in barely legible English.

The problem: Immediately on power up...before any screen response at all...I get a 3 second beep tone, followed by a 5 second pause, followed again by a 3 second beep tone. This repeats indefinitly until I power off with the toggle switch on the back of the computer (power supply switch). I immediately turn the switch back on, press the power up button on the front of the computer and it boots just fine.

This problem always occurs if I've turned off the power to the box with the surge strip after the computer is turned off...and sometimes occurs even if I haven't turned power off at the surge strip. It doesn't happen if the computer has been on within the past 15 minutes or so.



The system:

Case: Enlight 7233 MDTWR ATX w/300ps and 2nd fan for case
Motherboard: ASUS P4T-E SWA ATX S478 RIMM
CPU: Intel P4 2.2GHZ 478 pin RETAIL CPU SN: L146B228
Memory: 256MB PC800 NON ECC RIMM
HDD: IBM 40.0GB ATA100 7200RPM HD SN: TXHV5767
Floppy: MITSUMI 1.44MB
2nd Parallel Port: Mercury PCI Enhanced Parallel Card
Video: Cardxpert Nvidia M64 32MB AGP
Ports: 2 device 3 connector IDE cable
CD ROM: LG 52X EIDE CDROM
Operating System: Windows XP Home
Keyboard: Chocony Basic Keyboard PS/2
Mouse: Logitech basic wheel


Again, though, this problem occurs immediately upon hitting the power button on the front of the computer, prior to any screen response at boot up...that is, before the video bios responds as well.

So, motherboard, powersupply or possibly memory problem? The reason I say memory is that there are 2 banks of memory slots with chips in all 4 slots. However, there are 2 different style of chips, and one of each type is in each pair of slots. Also, I ordered the machine with 256 meg of ram and they called and said they couldn't get it to work unless they went to 512 with a 128 in each slot (I do trust these folks...they've always been straight forward and honest with me over the 6 to 8 years I've been dealing with them).

As always, your time and knowledge are very appreciated.

BH Davis