Main  DIY Computer  Site Map  Email:  Webmaster The POST Screen The POST screen is the screen that you see when you start up the computer. POST stands for Power On Self Test. It is here that you will whether you have hooked everything up properly. You should see the computer identify all of the IDE devices that are in the computer. So, if it fails to identify one of your drives, then you probably have done something wrong. Most hardware problems become obvious during the POST screen. Again, if the computer powers up, but you aren't getting a video signal, and you have an AGP video card, make sure that the card is properly seated. If you don't get a video signal on the monitor, and the computer starts beeping, pay attention to the pattern. This is a diagnostic tool that you can learn more about in the motherboard's documentation. The beep codes can tell you whether the motherboard thinks that there is no RAM, CPU, or video card (there are separate beep codes for each of these problems). The computer that is pictured above has an IBM hard drive on the primary IDE channel. And then a CD-ROM drive as the Master on the secondary IDE channel, and a 100meg zip drive as the Slave on the secondary IDE channel. Some computers will tell you how much RAM is installed and what speed the processor is running at on this screen also (see below picture). This offers you a quick way of verifying that those components are installed correctly, and that the settings in the BIOS are set up properly. The one below states that the processor is running at 1200Mhz (100Mhz bus X 12 multiplier setting). And it also has 128megs of RAM. Again, there is a hard drive on the primary IDE channel, and then a CD drive (Master) and a zip drive (Slave) on the secondary IDE channel. Back   Index   Next Sections Introduction Selecting the Components Mounting the Motherboard Mounting the CPU Installing the RAM Case Connections Mounting the Floppy Drive Mounting Drives Installing Cards External Connections POST Screen BIOS Setup Windows 2000 Biorobots Home  Site Map      Server Project Main      FAQ      How To      New Account Copyright 2006 Case Western Reserve University, Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. All rights reserved.