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.