Frequently Asked Question

My peripherals don’t work

"I can’t get into the BIOS; my keyboard doesn’t work at the operating system"

• Disable USB3 by using a PS/2 keyboard
• Load the correct USB3 drivers for your operating system
• Enable legacy USB support in the BIOS

“My PCIe card isn’t seen by the BIOS”

• Your PCIe card might be an older generation
• Not all BIOS handle older generation PCIe automatically when set to do so
• Set the PCIe to be the actual generation of your card, i.e. GEN1, GEN2 etc.

“The display switches off when the operating system is about to get to the desktop”

• Your operating system may be putting the display output to a different display port
• Disable other displays in your BIOS and restart

“My display shows the desktop, but there’s no taskbar and the icons are missing"

• You current display has been set to ‘Extended desktop’ in your graphics drivers
• Right-click and set the displays as ‘Clone’

“My keyboard doesn’t work in the BIOS”

• Your BIOS needs to be set to legacy USB or disable USB3
• You may have to connect a PS/2 KB to achieve this

My operating system won’t start

Windows XP reboots after I have upgraded the RAM

• Older XP machines cannot map large quantities of memory
• 32 bit operating systems can only have a maximum of 4Gig of RAM
• 64 bit operating systems can have 16Gig

Windows 7 restarts and says it didn’t start properly

• Your SATA mode may have been set incorrectly
• If your operating system was installed when the SATA mode was AHCI, it will not be able to start if the setting is changed to ‘IDE’

“I installed Windows 7 and, following a power interruption, I am told “Your account is disabled”

• The administrator account is disabled, avoid this by setting a password
• Enable it using the Net User Administrator command line when booted in safe mode

My motherboard won’t start when I want it to

“I have connected everything and switched the power on and nothing happens”

• You need to short the pins for the power button
• If you have a power supply applying that short for you, that power supply is not compatible with your motherboard

“My motherboard starts without me pressing the power button”

• You may have your motherboard set to operate in ‘AT’ mode
• Look for a jumper that goes by a name similar to ‘AT/ATX’ and set it to ATX

“I need my system to restart after a power interruption, but it is not possible to access it to press the start button”

• Set the BIOS power failure parameter to ‘on’ or ‘previous status’
• When power is restored, the BIOS will start again and your operating system will reboot
• However, make sure your operating system won’t require user input following an improper shutdown

 "Fan comes on, or board seems to power up, but no BIOS beep"

• Check your RAM is correct/seated properly
• It might be that your CPU socket is not locked
• Try remove all peripherals (including displays and keyboards) and try again

“I’m having a bad day with this kit!”

“I can’t install Windows 7 on this motherboard”

• Your BIOS may be set to UEFI only
• Find a CSM or compatibility setting in the BIOS and enable it

 “When the PC goes to sleep, the LCD backlight stays on”

• You graphics drivers are incorrect
• Reload your motherboard drivers and graphics drivers

“I have connected an LCD but I can’t get a display output or a desktop”

• You have to enable the LCD output ‘LVDS’ in your BIOS
• You also have to set the channels, the resolution and the bit depth correctly
• Check the voltage settings on the motherboard for your LCD

 “Every time I enable the LCD, the VGA goes off”

• Your motherboard doesn’t support dual display

“I have connected the big ATX power connector to this desktop motherboard and pushed the start button, but the motherboard won’t start.”

• You haven’t connected the 12volt auxiliary. It won’t run without it
• Also, check your motherboard will run with your power supply. Some motherboards require you use a 24 pin and won’t run with a 20 pin ATX

“I am trying to install XP on this motherboard from a CD and I am getting blue screens every time”

• Set your BIOS to ‘IDE’, XP won’t run in any other way
• You can, however, slipstream the drivers and re-burn the installation CD

 “I can’t get my Ethernet ports to run at their maximum speed”

• Your hard drive will not transport data that quickly through the hardware layer
• Put the data you want to transmit on a RAM drive and send it to a RAM drive at the other end

“I have installed Windows 8 and I can’t see the hard drive in this BIOS”

• There isn’t a problem. You have UEFI set in your BIOS
• The boot partition of the drive is called the Windows Boot Manager and functions normally

 “I have installed Windows on this motherboard with a Baytrail CPU, but it is very unstable”

• You are using incompatible or incorrect memory
• Check you are using 1·35 volt memory SODIMM
• If you are, try another manufacturer of SODIMM

“Windows is telling me it can’t be installed on this partition!”

• Your hard drive is not empty and the partition is too small to contain a Windows installation
• Delete all the partitions on your hard drive starting from the bottom of the list

“I’m pretty good at this stuff but now I want to get BETTER!”

“My customer has power interruption problems and is constantly corrupting his installation”

• Develop an embedded operating system for him on proper compact flash
• Set the write filter on so there is no data written back to the C/F
• He will love you for it

“My customer wants to remove hard drives while the operating system is still active”

• The operating system and your motherboard must support SATA hot swap
• Or try using a USB hub for the hard drive interface

 “What can I do to stop my customer removing the power when the operating system is still active?”

• Not much, but you could try using a miniature UPS
• Or you could prevent corruption by using an embedded O/S

 “My customer wants to remotely start a PC that has been shutdown”

• Your customer’s remote PC must have a motherboard which supports PoL and an Ethernet connection

 “I want a remote PC to run off a battery which will deep discharge over time”

• You can’t run your motherboard directly off a battery, you must use a DC-DC converter which will regulate the voltage as the battery discharges

 “My customer wants to put his PC in a vehicle, any ideas?”

• Use and in-vehicle power converter and an SSD.

 “I don’t know what I am looking at and I need help”

“I have bought this LCD and I don’t know how to connect it to my motherboard”

• You need to check your motherboard’s BIOS supports the LCD, talk to me for a custom BIOS
• You also need two cables, and LVDS cable and a back light control cable. Talk to me and I will make them for you.

“I have got this brand new motherboard and I want to install my old operating system on it that used to be on an older motherboard”

• Sorry, you will have start again with a new installation of a newer operating system.
• Make sure your motherboard selection is an industrial standard for longevity of your product’s life.

“I have been asked to find the parts for a kiosk computer with a touch screen.”

• Tell me more about the function of the kiosk and its environment
• I can recommend the ideal components for your kiosk and supply the parts

“I have been asked by my customer to provide a prototype industrial PC in a chassis.”

• Tell me what the system specifics are and I’ll design and build it for you

“Every motherboard I have looked at doesn’t have enough ports”

• Use an expansion card, either PCI, PCIe or mini-card
• Make sure you use an industrial standard motherboard and expansion card

“My customer’s motherboard is no longer available and he wants to continue using a special expansion card that doesn’t work on motherboards I have tried.”

• There is a compatibility issue between the card and the newer technology on the latest motherboards, but it is still possible if we work with the manufacturers for a fix.