New Build, no post or beep...please lend a hand if you can!

A

Adriode

New Member
Hi everyone,

I am in an exceedingly frustrating computing situation. My computer died on me 2 months ago; I finally scraped together the $$ to buy a new system in these past 2 weeks. I selected a basic budget DIY configuration consisting of the following core components:

ECS RX480 mobo
Antec 430w/12v:31a power supply
2 GB pc3200 DDR ram (2x1gb)
Sapphire Radeon x1800xt 256mb
Athlon 3200+ socket 939

I received all the parts on Thurs and assembled the mobo, CPU, ram, and video card in a new Antec solutions case. Unfortunately, no matter what I do I cannot get the system to post OR beep. I have tried the following so far:

1) Swapping out the PSU for two known working 350+W psu's
2) Swapping out the ram for a known working PC 2100 512mb stick
3) Booting with just the mobo, CPU, and power switch stuff plugged in
4) Booting with the ram in different denominations and in different slots
5) Reseating everything
6) Clearing the CMOS (twice)
7) Plugging in a known working PC speaker cable (i had the case sitting next to my new case) to hear a beep, still getting nothing

I am pretty stuck, and this is kind of getting to me really bad. Financially, I'm pinned to the wall right now so I can't afford to mess around with ordering new parts. I'm trying to keep my cool and think through this, but I've been waiting for awhile now and the thought that I may still have to wait another month for a computer is driving me bannanas! Any new thoughts to try are GREATLY appreciated. I would love to hear any suggestions and thanks so much in advance.

-Matt Brown
 
Hmm

Hey Matt,

from what you are saying have basically exhausted all possibilities. Try to do these however:

1. Try a different graphics card (borrow from a friend if possible)
2. Try a different motherboard (borrow as well)

If these fail, then I truly cannot think of anything that could be causing problems. My bet is on the graphics card or the motherboard. The X1800XT is a power hungry card from what I know.

JAN :D
 
Thanks for the fast responses, guys!

I previously tried a working 500W PSU, borrowed from a friend - unfortunately getting no result. Do you think more might help?

I have not tried a new graphix card, however. I am unsure if I can borrow one so i'll probably try to buy a really cheap PCI one and try that. I fear that it might be the mobo.

Thanks again,

-Matt Brown
 
Bootup05 said:
PSU could also be the problem! 430W isn't really that much for a graphics card nowdays.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought but it has 31A on the 12V rail which should be plenty for one card. However, it could well be that the new PSU is not working and the other two PSUs were too weak to power up the system.

JAN :D
 
Adriode said:
I have not tried a new graphix card, however. I am unsure if I can borrow one so i'll probably try to buy a really cheap PCI one and try that. I fear that it might be the mobo.

Thanks again,

-Matt Brown
Click to expand...

don't do that, don't waste your money,,,,
have you tried changing the motherboard? well, when i first built my computer like 5months ago, it didn't turn on,
and what i did was, unplugged everything from my motherboard, and plugged them back, and it started working... samething happened to my friend

well, i don't know why, but i took out everything off my mobo and plugging back worked...
 
Well, I obtained and tried yet another PSU. This one was an Antec 550W. Still nothing, no beep or post with any combination of cpu/ram/video card installed.

I guess its time for me to use hellish return policies. Do companies usually offer refunds for returned products? I bought this stuff at Fry's, I really don't want to deal with RMA stuff! My last experience was a 2 month nightmare for a mobo :)
 
Hey Charles Lee,

yeah I tried unplugging everything and putting it back in a bunch of times. I haven't tried swapping mobo's because none of my friends have a 939 processor. I found someone with a PCI video card, so I guess ill either buy a cheap mobo for testing or pray a local shop will test.
 
I had a problem like that and it turn out to be the video board. The mob could only use a 1.5v agp card. The card I install was not 1.5v. One other thing to try is to check to make sure that the mob is not shorting out on one of the stand offs. Check for proper positioning on stand offs.
 
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