Build Help with Intel Quad System

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synaptical

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 29, 2004
Messages
194
I've never installed an intel system before, heh. But this one is worse than I feared. I'm getting a completely black screen, no post, no nothing.

The only thing I've noticed is that with the hard drive plugged into the IDE port, it doesn't even spin up. If I unplug it, it spins up.

I reinstalled the processor (seems to be right, not 100% sure b/c it's weird with no pins), used only 1 stick of ram at a time, removed all PCI cards, video card, everything but the CPU and 1 stick of ram. I have two sticks, I tried each of them in both of the slots, same thing.

Oh yeah, I also removed the cmos battery, waited a few seconds, and then put it back in. The hard drive thing made me think the BIOS settings are wrong, but I can't even get a screen to come up to check.

Could the motherboard be DOA? It's this Gigabyte one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128357

The CPU is the Q6600, and the ram is g.skill 2GB each. Unless I"m overlooking something really easy it seems like it must either be the motherboard or the CPU, but I'm not sure what else to test. hope it's not the cpu, I got a slacr stepping and I'd like to keep it! Anything else I might be missing?
 
Is the mobo outside of a case and on top of a box or something?

Reassemble the PC outside of the case. Leave the motherboard on the motherboard's box. Jump the two power pins with a screwdriver on the motherboard to start the PC. If you get video now, something inside the case was shorting out the motherboard. Look for a loose screw, wire, cable, standoff, washer, etc

As for the IDE drive, make sure that it's set to Master. And try a different IDE cable as well.
 
I have the mboard resting on the anti-static bag, not directly touching the case at all. Is that good enough?

HD is set to master. The IDE cable should be fine, it's the same one I've been using for at least a year - not a flat one either, but a thick rounded one. I can try a new one though, just to be sure. It's not posting even with no HD connected, though.

Sounds risky with the screwdriver - do I have a risk of getting shocked? What do you do, just touch the two pins with a screwdriver and it starts up?

>>> ADDING:

Okay, I rested it completely on the box, nothing connected but CPU, touched the pins with the screwdriver, and still no post, just fans. I guess either the cpu or mobo is DOA?
 
at the very minimum, you need 1 stick of RAM, cpu, and video to get a successful POST, and get into the BIOS
 
okay, tried each stick in each of the slots (total: 4 tries), still nothing but fans. now what?
 
I just ordered a new mobo. It should be here probably monday or tuesday (weekend :mad: ). If that doesn't work, I'll have to conclude the processor was bad or got damaged while I was trying to seat it. I didn't have to "force" it, but it did seem a little difficult to get a couple of those pins to click. maybe the mobo even got stressed too much and some of the circuits broke. we'll see.
 
removing the battery doesnt reset the cmos most of the time you need to also change a jumper over.

the processor only fits in one way due to notches on the cpu and the socket.
 
MrGuvernment said:
removing the battery doesnt reset the cmos most of the time you need to also change a jumper over.

the processor only fits in one way due to notches on the cpu and the socket.
Click to expand...

Should it be snug in any way? It seems to slide around a lot and was very loose/unstable, at least compared to CPUs with pins. I had to hold it with my finger while I was securing the clasp. The notches seem to do nothing.

I tried putting it in a wrong way on purpose, and I was almost able to close the clasp. I didn't force it or anything, but it seemed like it could have closed pretty much just as easily if I had kept going. Maybe it's just not seated properly?

I don't think this mobo has a cmos jumper. The manual says to remove the battery to reset the cmos, and I didn't see any jumpers for it anywhere. they're cutting corners everywhere on these cheap mobos.
 
Turns out it was the cmos, thanks MrGuv! The manual says just take out the battery, but I noticed there were two cmos pins with CLR_CMOS written underneath. So I got a jumper and put it on the two pins for a few seconds and now it posts.

Having trouble getting it to recognize my IDE controller card, and it's hanging at "verifying DMI pool data," so I have to mess around with the configuration a little to get it to play nice with my disks.

There are absolutely no options that I can see to get it to see the IDE controller. The bios screen for PCI configuration? It only has two options for setting the IRQs. :rolleyes:

Looks like hitting 3.0Ghz will be zero problem, though, and will probably get to 3.4-3.6 pretty easily. Anything above that is too early to tell until I can boot.
 
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