thanks for all the responses guys.  honestly im not 100% sure what ima do yet but it looks as tho im just gonna do the whole thing.  sys49152, i liked you suggestion.  i think i may go with the setup you devised unless someone has a revision?

May i make a few aditions to sys49152's list

I would recomend a

BIOSTAR GEFORCE 6100-M7 Socket 754 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail 
$59.99

over the listed ecs. this board has sata, pci-e and an onborad geforce 6100 (most likely more powerfull than you videocard atm) making it quiet powerfull and very upgadeable but it about $17 more  i have worked on many of these boards befor as we sell many of them and there a great value board.

i would also recomend a

AMD Sempron 64 2800+ Palermo 800MHz FSB Socket 754 Processor Model SDA2800BXBOX - Retail 
$75.50

This processot is almost identaial to the 2600+ but it is a bit faster and it includes 256kb cashe instead on 128kb
this is one of the major down falls of the 2600+

jsut a few sugestions to make you dollar go a bit farther.

if there are any questions just ask 

BTW i work here www.kingstoncomputerplanet.com

ok so this is what i ended up purchasing


1 MB ECS 755-A2 v1.0 SIS755 754 - Retail
Item #: N82E16813135151  $43.99  $43.99
1 CPU AMD|SEMPRON64 2600+ RTL - Retail
Item #: N82E16819104249  $71.00  $71.00
1 MEM 1G|BUFFALO D400 DD4333-1G R - Retail
Item #: N82E16820150623 

the ECS 755-A2 also has SATA drive support.  It's a very solid board -not the top performer but good for the $.  The sempron...eh you could do better with a real AMD 64.  The sempron isn't bad, just a tad castrated.  The memory will help.

I have seen Fry's selling dual core AMD 64's with ECS boards around $275.  More than your budget but then again it will be adequate for years.  I  bought an AMD 3000 and ecs755-A2 almost a couple years ago (has it been that long? wow).  It's still good.  Don't try to overclock it if you use a SATA drive!  I suggest you put a SATA drive on your list -they are better.

Let us know how it all works after you get it up and running.  Good luck.

one question... the sempron i purchased is a 1.6ghz..now i saw 2.6Ghz celerons that were way cheaper. why? i already bought the sempron and im not worried about it cause this is starting to become a headache.  just curious

AMD uses 2600, 3000+, whatever to show similarity in performance to intel chips.  Just because the sempron is running at 1600 doesn't mean it's slower than a celeron4. 

So are you starting to save for a SATA drive yet?  Watch for super sales at Staples or NewEgg or wherever.  I was pleasantly surprised with their performance.

so the sempron i purchased is a 2600. but 1.6 Ghz.  im sayin there were celerons that were over 2 ghz for cheaper. 

Mhz does not mean it's faster or better.  My AMD65 3000+ runs at 2000Mhz.  The celeron is a dog, plain and simple.  The Sempron could kick it's ass.

Don't worry about it.  It's not even close.  The 2600 Sempron is about as fast as a 3 GHz celeron.  Here's an example of a Sempron 2800 compared to a  Celeron 2.8 GHz, if you're really interested :

http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/processors/sempron/index_2.shtml

There are a couple of reasons why the Sempron makes a lot of sense  :

- it's significantly cheaper than a comparable Celeron chip, unless you can find one on special pricing (even then, it'll likely be price the same, not cheaper than the Sempron)
- the floating point calculation times of the Sempron completely *toast* the Celeron chips.  It's not even close.  This is extremely important for the type of calculations used by programs like photoshop
- there's an awesome upgrade path for you, given you've got a board that supports the 754 socket.  In a year or two, or three, you could buy a full fledged Althon 64 bit processor, 3000+ for pretty cheap, and simply stick it in your current motherboard.

Oh yeah.  Whatever you do, don't even bother looking at component prices after you've ordered some.  They drop almost every day (it's painful!).  Just buy it, and forget about the price you paid for it.

www.zipzoomfly.com is a good source, too. They often have free two-day shipping and prices that are lower than what I can get wholesale. I've found some decent prices on Tiger Direct at times, but they also can have outrageous shipping charges. 

sys ur exactly right. i bought it so thats what im gonna have. period.  john thanks for the reassurance.  i figured that was the case but obviously didnt know.  thanks again guys for the great info. i'll let u know how it turns out. then next month we can talk about other upgrades i.e. harddrive and vid card

so i got everything together and its not working.  no bios on the screen, no system beep on startup, nothing.  i cant turn it off once its on.  when the IDE cables are plugged in, the hard drive doesnt spin nor do the cd drives work. so i checked and resat the ram, unplugged the IDE cables, nothin.  sys, i dont think i bought the same ram u suggested.  the one i bought cost $74.55. the one u suggested was $68.xx.  the one i bought is in the link below. 

so does anyone see a compatiblity issue?? any other suggestions?

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820150623

Quote from: weaselnoze on February 16, 2006, 04:46:53 PM
so i got everything together and its not working.  no bios on the screen, no system beep on startup, nothing.  i cant turn it off once its on.  when the IDE cables are plugged in, the hard drive doesnt spin nor do the cd drives work. so i checked and resat the ram, unplugged the IDE cables, nothin.  sys, i dont think i bought the same ram u suggested.  the one i bought cost $74.55. the one u suggested was $68.xx.  the one i bought is in the link below. 

so does anyone see a compatiblity issue?? any other suggestions?

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820150623

Unplug the floppy cable, unplug the HD cable.  Try to boot with nothing but the processor and memory installed.

You also installed the small square power plug to the board right?  If your power suply is old it will possibly lack the right connector (it will also lack SATA power connectors but those can be adapted).

Memory should still alow a boot screen, but you could try stripping that out too.  Also recheck the power connectors and make sure they are snapped in (the little plastic lock tab).

Start minimal and then start adding stuff.  I have never seen a bad board out of the box.

weaselnoze,

don't worry, we'll figure this out.  I'm still at the office but will look up all the info again when I get home.  Try John's suggestions and report back.  I don't think the RAM is the problem (quick view of thel ink you posted shows me RAM that should work).  Also, make sure everything is plugged in tight.. the RAM should click in, and so should the Video card.  I had similar problems a few years ago and found that my video card wasn't properly snapped in.  Don't push too hard on the board.. just enough to have it click in.  Also, make sure the processor is in properly, as well as its heat sink / fan.  There should have been a sticker with a gel square on the top of the processor (if they weren't already attached).  Don't pull them apart (the gel helps to distribute the heat from the processor across the heat sink.. if pulled apart again, it loses its effectiveness).

Again, I look it up and post suggestions when I get home this evening.  Could you describe what wires your CASE has, and if there are any issues connecting the case wires to the motherboard?  Typically you should have power, hard drive, fan and reset.. probably others I can't remember.

are any of the fans spining?
check the manin 20 pin power connection
also the 4 pin power connection (may not be on that board)

if you are getting power
try resting the bios
To do this remove the battery while the computer is off wait 10 sec then put it back in

still no post then try a diffrent ram slot
if still no then remove board from case and try with just nesseary components you must have cpu,ram, video and power

..finally got home (long day at work, plus some nasty freezing rain)

Simba's suggestions are spot on.  Some of this will likely be a repeat, but here goes :

Note : I used the 755 A2 v1.0 manual from the ECS site for the following instructions.  All instructions assume that the RAM slots are on the NORTH side of the board and the floppy controller slot on the SOUTH side.

step 1 : only connect the minimum required components and keep the main power switch located on the BACK of your case in the OFF '0' position
- power to motherboard
- video card
- memory (the slot that's furthest away from the cpu/heatsink)
- cpu/heatsink/fan (make sure all of these are connected securely together)

step 2 : reset your motherboard (again, the power must be off)
- locate JUMPER 2 (JP2).  It's to the left of the floppy slot, on the south side of the board
- short pins 1 and 2 (1 is the furthest north, 2 in the middle, and 3 is furthest south).  This turns BIOS protect off.
- locate JUMPER 1 (JP1).  it's near the south-east area of your board
- short pins 2 and 3 (pin 1 is furthest south, pin 2 in the middle, pin 3 is furthest north)
- leave it like this for a few minutes
- now short pins 1 and 2 on JP1, but leave JP2 as is.

step 3 : turn the power on.
- turn the main power switch on the back of your case to the ON position '1'
- hit the power on button probably located on the front face of your machine

What happens?  Does the fan spin?  If it doesn't work, don't continue.. just post what happens.

step 4 : plug the hard drive in
- make sure your computer is off (master power switch set to off)
- locate the IDE1 slot.  It's the slot located furthest EAST on the board.
- plug the hard drive cable into this slot, and make sure that the red line on the cable is located on the NORTH end of this slot
- plug the other end (the one furthest from the end plugged into the board, not the middle connection) into your hard drive, with the red strip at the end closest to the power connection
- make sure your hard drive (the primary hard drive with your operating system) is set to MASTER (controlled by jumper settings on the hard drive).  It might currently be in CS (cable select) mode, but this can sometimes be problematic. 
- turn the master power switch on, and press the power on button

What happens?  Does the hard drive spin (you'll heard it).  What message do you see on the screen?  If it doesn't work, post the results.


If it works, then connect each additional component piece by piece.  Check each time if the system boots up.  If it doesn't it may be the result of that component not being setup correct (e.g. two master drives competing on the same cable, your optical drive (cdrom/dvdrom/burner) not wanting to play together).

Whatever happens, post your results.  We'll get to the bottom of the problem.  If it is a hardware issue, the components can be returned to NewEgg for exchange.

Yea I didn't think about clearing CMOS with the jumper but it couldn't hurt. 

ok so i unplugged everything and started over.  vid card is in, all power connected (except the square 4 pin plug! dont have one on my supply), reset cmos and booted. nothing on the screen.  then i put the ram module in, still nothing.  the only case wire connected is the power switch.  still i cant turn the system off, using the case switch, once its on.  i have to kill it from the powersupply switch in the back.

Weaselnoze,

I believe (and will try to confirm) that the Athlon 64 (including the Sempron 64) and Intel P4 chips require the auxiliary 12V 4-pin connection along with the standard connection, probably due to higher voltage requirements.  I'll try to confirm, but I'm pretty sure there's no way around it.  You also can't refashion your existing power supply connections to feed the 4-pin auxiliary connector.  It didn't occur to me to check this prior to posting my suggestion on what to buy.  That being said, the only way you could have used your existing power supply was to buy an older sempron (non-64) based chip, or an older intel pentium chip.

I think it's probably best if you visit a local computer shop and pick up a power supply, given that you want to get the machine up and running as soon as possible.  I'd suggest at least 400W, but I'm sure that even a 350W one will do for your current setup.. and one that has both connectors of course.  You should be looking at spending between $15-$25 for a no name brand.