New Computer Build not diplaying anything

G

glafond

n00b
Joined
Jun 23, 2004
Messages
16
Hey all, I could use a bit of help here. I know this may be a tall order given the amount of things that could be wrong but I'll give it a shot. I just built a new computer, here are the components.

Asus pq5 pro mobo
Intel Core 2 Quad 6600
GSkill ram (4 gig, 2 dimms)
BFG GTX 280 video card
Corsair 750W power supply
Seagate 1 T hard drive
Cool Master case

My problem is this. I've got it all together now and I've tried to hook it up to my monitor to make it post. I'm not getting any video output. The fans and lights all light up, I hear the HD spin up etc, but nothing shows up on the display, it doesnt even see a video output. Any suggestions? I will admit that all of the mobo connectors are a bit dizzying but I thought I had all my bases covered. I have a green light on the mobo and on the video card yet still I see nothing. There is no OS or anything loaded yet. Could someone possibly help me out. I would be in your debt. Thanks.

Gabe
 
BTW, I Just put together a system like yours tonight, was a little confusing with the hard drives. Change your SATA to AHCI rather than IDE, and also make sure your Optical drive LEDs and your HDD LEDs are having some kind of activity. If the LED isn't lit, feel the drive make sure there is activity there.

Do you have a spare PCI-e card around?
 
Do you have your speaker plugged in so that you can hear any BIOS beeps at all?

If everything is turning on and fans are powering on, chances are that it could be anything from the CPU, Ram, Video, or PSU.

As always I'd recommend you first plug in the speaker to the header of your motherboard if you haven't done so already to see if you get any POST beeps at all.

If you don't, then strip the motherboard and all the components out of the case. Lay the board down on an anti-static bag with just the CPU, Video Card, and Ram in it, and hook your PSU up to it. Go ahead and just short the two power pins on the motherboard with a paper-clip/screwdriver to turn it on. If it still doesn't post, I'd first try it with just one stick of the memory in different slots. If still no go, then I'd try the other stick in different slots. Also if you have another video card laying around try that to see if it will post.
 
Okay, here's where I am now...

I stripped everything off of the motherboard except for the power connector, ps, vid card, proc, and heat sink + fan. From there I looked to see if I could get it show up. No luck. I have swapped out the video card with a friends and still no video. I also swapped out the ram with my friend and that did not change anything. I think that if the proc was bad it wouldn't power up at all, so I'm suspicious of the motherboard. what do you all think? I have pulled the mobo out of the case and I'm going to try to test it outside of the case as well but that will have to wait till I get home from work. I have an RMA number for the board already but it wont be sent out till monday. Don't you just hate waiting after all your components finally arrived? Gah, anyway, any more Ideas and I'd love to hear them. Thanks.
 
glafond said:
Okay, here's where I am now...

I stripped everything off of the motherboard except for the power connector, ps, vid card, proc, and heat sink + fan. From there I looked to see if I could get it show up. No luck. I have swapped out the video card with a friends and still no video. I also swapped out the ram with my friend and that did not change anything. I think that if the proc was bad it wouldn't power up at all, so I'm suspicious of the motherboard. what do you all think? I have pulled the mobo out of the case and I'm going to try to test it outside of the case as well but that will have to wait till I get home from work. I have an RMA number for the board already but it wont be sent out till monday. Don't you just hate waiting after all your components finally arrived? Gah, anyway, any more Ideas and I'd love to hear them. Thanks.
Click to expand...

It sounds like a motherboard problem.

Honestly, if one of your friends has a spare motherboard laying around you could most certainly test your components on it.
 
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If you have both the 20/24 pin main ATX connector plugged in, AND the 4-Pin (or 8-pin) ATX12V P4 CPU connector plugged in, then the board should boot fine (unless it requires more power connectors from the PSU). You could try clearing the CMOS.

You could test the PSU. Jump start it (on the main atx connector, short the green wire with any black wire, using a paperclip), and see if it stays on. If not, then its probably a faulty PSU. If it works then you can proceed with the suggestions below. ***NOTE: The paperclip trick is a simple test for those that do not have PSU testers, multimeters, nor a spare PSU to test with. It is not a 100% conclusive test of the PSU.

Setup everything outside of the case, with the mobo on top of its cardboard box. Plug in only the essentials:
- PSU (namely: main 20/24-pin ATX connector and 4-pin ATX12V P4 CPU Connector)
- CPU w/ HSF
- Single stick of ram
- Videocard if there is no onboard video (along with its power connector, if it has one)
- Monitor
- Keyboard
- System speaker/buzzer

* Use a screwdriver if your board doesnt have an onboard power switch. Jump the two power switch leads to turn the power on.

If it won't post, try different RAM slots. If it still won't post, pull out the ram (so no ram in the system) and listen for error beeps. If none, pull the vidcard and listen for error beeps. If none, re-seat the CPU and HSF, then try again. Report back with results if you're still having issues.
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