hi, im new here. ive been seeing this site over couple of months, but havent really ask any question yet. glad im here with you guys this time, i have a very rare problem i have been into...

first of all, i made my own pc around year ago.
Intel P4 3.0Ghz CPU
512mb ram (yes it is low)
128mb ati radeon 9800 video card
AsRock Mother board
some 3rd company cd-writer
500watt power supply (forgot the name, but its shiny and called like Ultra something... lol)
160 westgate hdd

im totally a newbie with computer, i juss wanted to save up money and make a fast one by my self. had it for a while, had few problems but fixed it by my self.
but this time, i dont know what happen....
I bought 2 new 250gb sata hard drive, and 240pin ddr2 memory, and liteon DVD writer.
when i was trying to take out my 512ram i had on, i took it out while the pc was on, (was too happy that i got a new ram, i totally forgot about it),
computer beeped, and i was in shock, and turn it off right away.
few mins later, i figured, my new ram i bought was 240pin, not 184pin which my mother board supports. i was tryn to put in on for few min, hope i didnt scratch anything. and i put all my other stuff in too. alittle hassle, but i did it okay.
when i was done, i was filled with happyness, and tuned on my pc.
monitor doesnt turn on.
i checked my monitor, and video card. doesnt seem to be those.
i check my cpu, it was really really hot.
turn it off right away.
dont know whats wring with it. i might have done something while i was connection other stuff to the mother board.
every fan on my pc is on, even the one on the video card.
i dont know why my monitor doesnt go on. doesnt seem like its catching the signal. ive been tryn to figure out why... any help from all of the computer god/goddess? i need all your help please... ive put so much effort and money into this computer, i want it to work... should i get a new motherboard or videocard?

ken:|

Is the CPU fan working OK? If it is getting extremely hot in a matter of seconds you might want to clean the CPU and then add a dab of new thermal compound.

Most motherboards have automatic shutoffs if the CPU is totally too hot.

I would suggest removing everything but the PSU: CPU: Video card.

Trying to boot like this (no RAM) should give you a series of beeps. If so the CPU and motherboard are probably OK. If you get no beeps with no RAM then the CPU or motherboard become the prime suspects.

my mother board does not shut down by it self when i turn it on for a while.
and cpu fan, all the lights are working.
when i take off my ram, it doesnt beep.
seems like it must be my motherboard...
since i never touched near cpu.
hope its not my cpu. if it is, i might have to sell all these
and get a cheapest pc u can ever think of...

thanx for help jeph
made me feel alittle better knowing whats wrong at least...

I don't know for sure what removing the RAM with the power on might have done but I don't think it did anything good.

You might try clearing the CMOS which should be defined in your AsRock manual.

Otherwise you are in the realm of electronics testing where I have no experience but I am sure you will find online resources if you are inclined to investigate the boards integrity.

yah, it was my motherboard... i juss bought a new one, which wasnt really expencive for what you get. its ECS RS400-A.
I was having problem tryn to boot it. and it finally worked like 2 hours ago.
now different problem occured again... sigh.
My bios are so stubborn, it try to make my IDE hard drive as a primary hdd. not my sata.
i took out my ide, and other drives, so i could install win xp on my sata.
and it worked no problem. now im trying to put other drives back in, but it reads that ide as my primary, not sata...
come on....
i tried doing stuff with bios, but its far different than what i use to use, so its kinda hard to tell what does what... its award bios.

i want
250gb sata to be my main
2nd 250gb sata to be my second drive
160gb ide as my thrid
have cd writer
and dvd writer
i want all these on my pc.
what should i do...

my motherboard has
4 sata
2 ide
1 floppy
3 pci
2 1xpci-e
1 16xpci-e

omg im such a newb...

The manual:

http://64.124.27.138/ecs/manual/mb/eng/p4/RS400-A.pdf

There are several settings in the BIOS to set SATA features.

In the main go to your Boot Menu and highlight all hard drives and set the SATA drive as the boot device to be associated with hard drives.