PC building trouble...

S

Sonet

New Member
Hey peoples...

As the topic title makes reasonably obvious, I'm trying to put together a PC. Well, no, that's misleading. The thing is, for all extensive purposes, put together. There's a bit of a snag, though... It doesn't work. At all. Here's what I've got going...

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3800+
Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939
PSU: Antec 500W ATX12V
RAM: 2GB Patriot DDR400 PC3200
Video card: ATI Radeon X1800XL (Asus)
Hard drive: Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 (x2)

And I've also got an Asus CD-RW drive, and Samsung floppy drive (as incomprehensible as that seems to be to some people). Well, like I said, I've got all of that put together, and the case stuff all hooked up, but when I turn it on, not a damn thing happens, and the monitor says it's getting no input signal. Now, I've never built a computer before (I put it together with a friend who has), but apparently what's supposed to happen is the BIOS will load up, where I can then tell it to boot from the CD drive to install the OS. But, like I said, nothing even shows up on the monitor. Everything should be connected properly - the motherboard's light turns on, the video card's light turns on, all the fans start spinning, the case lights turn on... Just nothing shows up on the monitor when I switch it on. And I've tried on both my monitor and the aforementioned friend's.

One thing mentioned to me is that it ought to beep when I turn it on, which it doesn't. The sound wires are connected to the motherboard (to the four red-orange pins in that group where the power switch, reset switch, etc. are connected to), so that might indicate... what?

Someone please help me out here... I dropped about $1400 on this setup (and I was lucky enough to get a free case), so I'm a bit less than pleased, and a bit more than disheartened over the fact that it's thus far been completely unsuccessful. There are a few possiblities I'm considering, but I'm certainly no expert, so I'm hoping someone here can suggest what the problem might be. Or better yet, what the problem definitely is.
 
do you have a different mobo you could hook all this stuff up to to see if you still get the same result?
 
That would be nice, but sadly, I do not. The video card is PCI-Express, I should mention. I don't really have anything that I can test parts with.
 
Try unplugging the IDE connections from the motherboard and seeing if it will boot up then. This can happen if one of the connectors is plugged in the wrong way around.
 
I had a the same problem when building my pc. The fans would spin but not a thing would come on the screen no beeping nothing. I tried nearly everything i could think off. It ended up i just left 1 stick of ram in and it booted up. try with just 1 stick of ram if it dont work swap the ram about and try just 1 stick in different ram slots.
 
Try unplugging everything except 1 hard drive, keyboard (no mouse), and your motherboard power cords. Take all RAM out and leave only 1 stick in. Reset your CMOS/BIOS jumper (your motherboard manual should have instructions on a CMOS jumper, it is a 3-pin jumper that you need to switch over and then back, you might need to take the CMOS battery out too. Also, the X800XL probabyl needs a power cord hooked up to it too, did you plug the PCI-Express 6-pin power cord into it? There should be a little black box where a 6-pin (3x2) power cord should go. The box is probably on the side with the fan and heatsink of the gfx card. If your PSU doesn't have a PCI-Express power cord, either the gfx card should have come with one or you need to buy one.
The 6-pin power cord...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812201004
if you look at the picture, there is a 4 pin (4x1) molex connector and a 6pin (3x2) PCI-express connector. This should be plugged into your X800XL.
 
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I've tried it with just one stick inserted, and I've also tried resetting the CMOS, both by changing the jumper switch, and by removing the battery. The video card is plugged into the power supply via the six-pin power cord. So, when I head back, I guess that leaves me to try unplugging the IDE connections.
 
If all that doesn't work, you either have a bad graphics card, mobo, or CPU, possibly RAM you mgiht want to try each RAM stick in there to make sure one wasnt bad. This happened to me before and I had to replace the CPU. Graphics card is usually large cause with this but it can be caused by any other component.

Note: I think all mobo makers should do what Abit did and put a POST digital display screen. This would make things much easier to troubleshoot sometimes because a sometimes there won't be any beeps for some problems, while for every problem I've had, my POST display always displays a code.
 
Try booting with no memory in it. If it beeps at you (assuming you have a speaker properly connected or one is itnegral to the motherboard), then we know that you at least have some motherboard/processor capability. If you try booting without the PCI-e card in (and memory), you should also get some beeps. Same with keyboard.

If you don't get any beeps that way, then the system isn't getting to or completing POST. Ensure the PSU is putting out what it's supposed to (check the motherboard manual for minimum PSU current requirements and bounce against the PSU you have, should be min 16a on the 12v rails). Verify the processror is well-seated and get ready to RMA either the Processor or motherboard.
 
Alright, I'll check the PSU current requirements, though I should expect that a brand spankin' new Antec PSU would meet them. I'll also try to get it to beep at me somehow... I've actually had the opportunity to try it with another CPU, with the same result. So, I reckon that narrows the problem down to the motherboard.

Thanks to everyone who's offered their help. Technology is annoying...
 
does it power up? if so, make sure you have speakers connected to it, i have the same mobo and it will actully TELL you whats wrong with it, such as:

"Boot Failed At VGA Test"
or
"Boot Failed At System RAM Test"

just give it a listen, and if it doesnt even power on at all, make sure you have all of your power connectors connected
 
That PSU - is it a NeoHE model? There's a known incompatibility between Antec NeoHEs and Asus motherboards. I thought they'd fixed it with the newer releases, but if it's an older PSU that might have been in stock for a while .....

I got this from the Antec website:
Antec website said:
Are there compatibility issues between ASUS motherboards and Neo HE power supplies?

We have received multiple reports of such issues, and ASUS and Antec technical teams have been able to confirm the existence of a random problem. If you believe you have encountered this incompatibility, please do the following:
1. Update your motherboard BIOS to the latest version. This step solves the incompatibility problem in a majority of cases.
2. If you have successfully updated your BIOS and still encounter the compatibility issue, please contact Antec Customer Support for a replacement power supply unit that has implemented a fix for the "ASUS motherboard problem."
Click to expand...

So if it's a NeoHE - contact Antec for a replacement
 
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The manual mentions the vocal POST reporter, but says nothing of how to make use of it. Do I just need regular PC speakers plugged into the motherboard's onboard sound controller? That would be the obvious thing to try when I head back home (I'm posting from one of my school's computer lab). Or does something special need to be connected?
 
I would Reseat the Memory

You have a SHORT !! :confused:

If you have not tried yet.. Reseat your Video card in place again. Take out all you memory and Installed only one module of memory is DIMB1. Unplug any USB connection done on the Mobo. unplug the ATA HD also.

2.- Make sure that the Gold triagle of your CPU is on the lower left corner of the socket and seated propertly. Also since you mentioned you touch clear CMOS jumper. You might want to double check in place right and not clearing the CMOS.

** Leave only you CPU, Memory, Video card and the CDROM unit installed, keyboard.

3.- Fire up and see if you get something. Right from the bat you are not getting into the POST at all. Which means that is why you monitor displays NO SIGNAL. MOBO could be the problem.

Hope you getting up and running..
 
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You have a SHORT !!
Click to expand...
That's awfully specific for the amt of info given .... it could just very well be lack of power



In any case, a few things
- ATX 12?
- PCIE power?
 
Update... I've gotten a hold of another motherboard (Abit KN8) to test with, and it works just fine. So, for whatever reason, my Asus motherboard is dead. I'll be contacting Newegg for a replacement.

Thanks for everyone's input... I appreciate the helpfulness through what has been, all in all, a thoroughly irritating experience.

(My use of "extensive" was aimed more at "extensional," i.e. concerning objective reality) ^__^
 
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