New Build - Garbled Screen - Etc.

[palacajoe]

Here's what I built:

MSI p55-GD65
Intel i7 860
Evga GeForce GTX 260
OCZ ModXStream 700W
2 X WD Black 640GB
8gb G.Skill dual-channel 1600

I turned it on for the first time this morning and got first, the p55-GD65 logo screen (looks like the picture on the box) and then a garbled screen. I couldn't run setup.

After several tries, I cleared the CMOS jumper, and then I got first, the p55-GD65 logo screen, and then the POST screen. One line of the POST screen read "CMOS Settings Wrong." OK, I pressed F1 and got into setup and looked around. Bios seemed to recognize everything properly, video card, hard drives, all 8gb of memory. I set my date and time and restarted, and after the MSI logo screen, I was back to a garbled screen. I couldn't get back to setup until I cleared the CMOS jumper again.

I don't have an operating system installed yet, but I tried booting to Ubuntu CD. Result: Garbled screen in Ubuntu colors. I tried Winki CD included with msi board. Result: garbled screen in Winki colors. I went back into Setup (after clearing CMOS jumper again) and turned on raid. I restarted and pressed CTRL-i to enter raid setup. Result: black, white, blue, green garbled screen.

I'm attaching a picture of the typical garbled screen. Any ideas?

 

[tiraides]

Without being able to test anything out, that screen tells me that something is wrong with either the motherboard or the video card.

Do you have any older parts (e.g. PCI-E video card, motherboard/processor/RAM combination) that you could test your new parts out with?

 

[palacajoe]

Thanks for your reply. I don't have another PCI-E video card to test or another machine to test this card. I reseated the card and pulled out all but 2gb of ram. Now I'm greeted by three long beeps and nothing but black screen when I turn it on. I have no idea where to go from here.

 

[tiraides]

Check out the troubleshooting sticky at the top of the page for instructions on running a "minimum" build starting with just the motherboard and one stick of RAM. The motherboard's user manual should have a section on the BIOS that you could use to decipher the meaning of the beeps.

If you're still having this problem even after conducting the "minimum" build test, then you may have to RMA the motherboard.