New computer problem

Darkside Heartless · Post by **Darkside Heartless** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:03 pm

I finally got another computer, built it myself and got everything together without much trouble. I plug the monitor in and start the computer and the monitor dosn't recognize any imputs and goes to off mode.

What did I do wrong?

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:36 pm

We need more info then that, post the system specs and everything you put into it, some pictures of the computer (with the case open) might help too.

Darkside Heartless · Post by **Darkside Heartless** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:58 pm

Asus A8V deluxe, Audigy2 ZS, Verto GeForce 6800, AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 1 gig Kingston PC2700 HyperX RAM

Sorry, but no pics, digital camera's on the fritz

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 4:32 pm

Darkside Heartless wrote:AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 1 gig Kingston PC2700 HyperX RAM

PC2700 ram isn't good enough to work with the Athlon 64 3200+, you need PC3200.

Also, tell us what power supply you have (or case if the PSU came with the case), what heatsink and fan you got with the CPU, and what thermal pad or compound you used on the CPU heatsink, hard drives, cdroms, everything.

Darkside Heartless · Post by **Darkside Heartless** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 5:37 pm

Tagan TG480-U01, can't tell what heatsink+fan came with it, it just says AMD on it, a Samsung 160 GIG drive and a WD 70 drive, no thermal paste, probably a problem:|, and a sony DVD/CD/CDRW drive

[EDIT]we took an ohm meter to the monitor port, and got solid readings, so there is power running to the monitor, and it's not the video card because I swapped out another one for it and same readings and problem.

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:25 pm

like krom said, the RAM isnt powerful enough to handle your CPU. without RAM, a computer will power up, but it will do absolutely nothing. even the BIOS POST Test requires RAM to even initiate itself.

Darkside Heartless · Post by **Darkside Heartless** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:40 pm

The manual says that it can take unbuffered ECC and non-ECC PC3200, 2700, 2100, and 1600 DDR. The CPU has RAM type requirements?

Mr. Perfect · Post by **Mr. Perfect** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:57 pm

No, it does not. The Athlon 64's memory controller can address 266/333/400MHz memory. I don't rember seeing 200Mhz mentioned before, but I probably ignored it if it was. The 333 will be considerably slower then 400, but should work.

BTW, is that the 2-2-2-5 HyperX? Those sticks where made out of the BH-5 memory chips, which where also used in sticks running 2-2-2-5 at 400MHz. I have some 333 HyperX myself and never checked to see if my chips where able to handel the higher clock at the same timings or if they where chips that couldn't quite hit 400 but had no problem with 333. Maybe yours could hit 400. If so, let me know.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:59 pm

Remove everything but the CPU, video card and the RAM. Disconnect all the drives, pull the sound card out, check all the power connections and cables, then try booting

If it still doesn't work after that, check the CPU heatsink and fan, make sure there is a thermal pad or thermal grease installed and working, make sure the CPU, RAM and video card are properly seated and have all power connections in place. If it still doesn't work, then it is more likely either the CPU, Mobo, RAM or PSU are fried. Investigate with a different (brand name) power supply first before you think about trying a different mobo.

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:44 pm

what about your first comment? incompatible RAM....

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 11:23 pm

If the system can get to the point where it reads the RAMs SPD and clocks it to 333, it might work, the early athlon 64 chips were 333/PC2700 only IIRC.

Still PC2700 is a total waste of time on an Athlon 64. It seems likely to me that the system is attempting to boot with the RAM at 400 MHz, and that RAM can't run at that speed. One solid bet is to connect the PC speaker and see if it is giving a "bad ram" beep. The mobo manual might say what the error beeps are, I had some bad RAM in my system a few days ago, plug one stick in and all I got was one long beep.

Regardless of what else is wrong with the system, that PC2700 has got to go.

Darkside Heartless · Post by **Darkside Heartless** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 10:21 am

RAM didn't work, got 3200 and still nothing. gonna haul the computer to a local techie later today, hope he can fix it.

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 3:12 pm

hrmmmmmmm. okay RAM knocked off. check the CPU.

Darkside Heartless · Post by **Darkside Heartless** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 4:24 pm

we got it to work, sorta.
now it gets says "no drive connected to fastrack connector, no BIOS installed"
then if the windoze CD's in the drive it tries to install but after it loads and asks if I want to install windoze, it tells me that there's no HDD connected.

it's an SATA drive, would that cause problems? Although it dosn't recognize my brothers borrowed drive either.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:09 pm

It sounds like it might be a bad cable, or a bad connection on the motherboard.

Bonz · Post by **Bonz** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:13 pm

I had to install sata drivers before my drive was detected.

Darkside Heartless · Post by **Darkside Heartless** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 7:09 pm

Hooked up my other drive, a non SATA drive, still didn't work.

Could the motherboard be b0rked somehow? I tried everything I can think of short of a sledgehammer, all I get is the windows install telling me there's no HDD's and that I have no BIOS.
WTH is going on? I spent $300 in spare parts and tech services already, and there's no end in sight.

pATCheS · Post by **pATCheS** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:11 pm

I work at a moderately sized computer store. We sell mostly ASUS boards there. I have an A8V myself, actually, works well ^^ We get bad mainboards almost daily, but we sell quite a few, and considering that there's probably hundreds of different things that can go wrong on a mainboard, that's not too bad. Take the board back to whereever you got it from and have them look at it or replace it. If you got it online... good luck

ASUS RMA can take anywhere from two weeks to over a month. Which is what makes it so nice to be able to come to a store in the event of a problem, they can usually just swap the mobo on the spot and send the bad one to the manufacturer for repair or replacement.

Based on what you've said, it's either the mobo or PSU. If it's running Windows setup at all, the CPU is probably fine.

"no thermal paste, probably a problem:|" YES, that's a problem

Fix that before turning it on again...

Darkside Heartless · Post by **Darkside Heartless** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 11:19 am

not the PSU, tried it in my brothers computer, and worked fine. everything's fine but the mobo, gonna have to get it replaced. at least we finally know what it is. Thanks everyone.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 11:23 am

Be more careful with the next one, mobos break easily.

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 7:21 pm

Bonz wrote:I had to install sata drivers before my drive was detected.

a friend of mine just had the same problem. so i told him to install the SATA drivers first. worked perfectly.

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 4:46 pm

AMD stock HS has a square patch of thermal goo on it, so technically he should be ok...

of course, being a proper lil techie he should wipe it off, clean thoroughly and install new arctic silver or similar

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 5:28 pm

WarAdvocat wrote:AMD stock HS has a square patch of thermal goo on it, so technically he should be ok...

of course, being a proper lil techie he should wipe it off, clean thoroughly and install new arctic silver or similar

That's assuming he peeled the plastic protector off the thermal pad. Also, once you put one of those pads on, do not remove the HSF because those pads are a use once thing, they have to be replaced each time you remove the heatsink.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:45 pm

Krom wrote:That's assuming he peeled the plastic protector off the thermal pad. Also, once you put one of those pads on, do not remove the HSF because those pads are a use once thing, they have to be replaced each time you remove the heatsink.

And if you remove it, do it RIGHT after you shut the machine down. Otherwise you'll run the risk of damaging your brand new CPU.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 5:30 am

MD-2389 wrote:And if you remove it, do it RIGHT after you shut the machine down. Otherwise you'll run the risk of damaging your brand new CPU.

Yum I smell burning flesh!

handle with care contents hot

WarAdvocat · Post by **WarAdvocat** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 7:26 am

MD-2389 wrote:And if you remove it, do it RIGHT after you shut the machine down. Otherwise you'll run the risk of damaging your brand new CPU.

yeah, I almost found that out the hard way. I pulled an HSF off cold once and ended up pulling the locked-down CPU 1/2 way out of the socket...