There is no advantage to installing the pink foam along with the
motherboard.  Without seeing exactly how it looks I can't offer a firm
advisement on having it removed or not.  It could interfere with heat
dissipation if it is too snug.  I have used all sorts of "at hand" items as
shims in poorly matched boards and cases, but I can't imagine how the pink
foam could help.

The boot-up problem is too generic to diagnose long-distance.  It could
indicate trouble with hardware, but there is a good chance it is minor.  I
have some energy saving monitors that do not like some of my video cards.
 If I turn the monitor on for several minutes without powering up the PC,
you can actually see the monitor go into conservation mode, after which the
PC won't boot.  Turning off the monitor for several minutes cleared this
up.  I also found that turning the PC on without power to the monitor could
force me to press the reset button on the PC before I got any video signal.

I suspect my 2 problems are both caused by a manufacturer writing a buggy
bios routine for one or more of my components.  None of my local sources of
expert advice has offered any useful assistance, probably because when I
shuffle components, no single motherboard / video card / monitor behaves
the same in every configuration.  In my case I just live with it.  If your
hardware checks out you should try getting new drivers for your components.
 The down side is that the trouble happens so early in the boot process its
only going to have an impact at the flash bios or eprom level.  The good
news is Diamond and US Robotics have sent me bios on a chip in the past to
fix problems like this, and flash bios is simply a file download from the
web.

Again, assuming the hardware checks out, (you don't mention any problems
after booting so I assume it will) the other posting that I thought very
useful would be to go into CMOS and adjust the memory and cache timings.
 Your first  step would be to confirm that the chipset features setup is
using auto-config if available, these are usually very conservative
settings that work for most configured PCs.  Other than that I would
involve the builder in any adjustment to this screen because chip-set
features can be a minefield.

Tom Turak
[log in to unmask]

From:   Tracy Taulman[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Sunday, February 22, 1998 11:06 PM

1)  Why would you install the motherboard in the case on top of the pink
foam anti-static pad?  This is the first one I have ever seen like this.

2)  What would cause the PC to not boot every time you turn the power
switch on?  All of the lights come on, the hard drive spins up, but the
monitor never flashes the video bios message.  A quick reboot usually
brings it right on or turn the power off, waiting a couple of seconds
and then flipping it back on.