This would cause neither drive plugged into that cable to spin up (as well as the no boot).

Make sure you plug a speaker into the motherboard so you can hear system beeps. If you do get beeps it is either memory or video card. Try pulling the memory out and booting it to see if it matches the beeps you should be hearing. If it does, then its memory related. If it doesnt then pull the video card (after putting memory back in) and see if the beeps match the ones you should be hearing. If your not getting any beeps, then the problem lies with the cpu or motherboard.

Modern systems will not post without a cpu.

where does the case speaker normally plug into on motherboard? i have places for my front panel audio, and something called SPDIF, but that seems to be more CD-ROM related, or is it? the plug for the case speaker has 4 pins...the SPDIF plug is 4 pins wide with 1 pin missing...is that where it goes? i was going to try that earlier but the wire was too short to connect, if thats where it goes ill make it connect...

I was afraid of that, nevermind then. Never tried booting my system without a CPU.


-justin

Some newer boards have a pizo speaker solderd on the board so you dont have to worry about it. Most boards have a 4 pin speaker connection where the power led pins on the board are. Look in your manual for verification.

sorry to dig this up again but i found some stuff out...

it seems that the BIOS currently on my motherboard does not support the P4 Willamette core without being flashed,and i cant flash it because it wont boot...does this sound right? my Celeron that i was using as a temp is a Willamette core(at least i would assume so based on a trip to Newegg) so i could see why it wouldnt work if that is in fact whats going on....my question is...would all the fans and whatnot turn on even if the processor in the socket isnt supported? have i finally found out what the heck my problem is? the memory and video card are both known to be good and the motherboard isnt fried, so the only thing left is the CPU...so does this make sense?

Depends on how your motherboard controls power to the devices. One of the things I love/hate about modern motherboards and BIOS'* is how they manage power. Nothing goes anwhere (except drives, of course) without going through the MB first.

Yes, the Motherboard would give power to the fans, and PCI/ISA/AGP slots [yes, I know ISA is old], without having a supported CPU. You only have two ways of doing this. You can get a supported CPU, which will cost money, and the one you currently have will probably be non-returnable [depending on store policy, of course]. The other idea is to send it to the motherboard manufacturer, and say flash my BIOS, so I have the lastest release. I don't think the motherboard company will charge for that, however it is possible they will not do it. Just contact them, and see what happens.


-justin

well the processor i was attempting to use was out of my current system anyway, and the RAM and video card were borrowed, so i dont have any money tied up in it yet, i just wanted to see if it would fire up, and it will, once i get a supported processor, which will be faster than this one anyway, so thanks for helping me figure this out!