I am putting together a new computer with:
AMD Athlon 2800+ processor,
FIC AU13 motherboard,
Corsair 2 3200 250mb ram sims,
Sony DRU-530A DVD/CD burner,
Western Digital, 250gig hd.
Generic video card

I have a radeon 9800 pro and wonder pro cards to install but I am leaving them out to eliminate them as a problem.

I am USING a lanboy case with 350w power supply and an intake and an exhaust fan, 80mm ea.

My problem is that on first boot, the system check sees the DVD/CDRom, and the hard DRIVE, then it APPEARS to stop the system check and does not give me any video display so that I can SETUP the cmos so that the computer will boot to the DVD/CDRom so I can set up the hard drive.

What the heck am I doing wrong?

The motherboard, comes with add on fire wire jacks and pins for the 2 usb ports in the front of the case. I have tried to boot with and without them connected.

The board also comes with a 5.1 add on card that I have left connected, and not tried to boot without it connected.

HHHHHHHHHHHeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllpppppp ppppp!!!!!!!Have you tried resetting the BIOS?  Often when you first try to start up a computer it will give you problems.  If you find the jumper for the bios, reset the bios and try to start the computer again it might help.

You should find directions in your motherboard BOOK on how to do this.  Just make sure that the computer is unplugged when you do this.I might be wrong but with a AMD processor like that and the main board I would not have gone lower than a 400-450w power supply.  These new computers require a lot more juice than you could imagine.