Computer building woes....

I had bought a motherboard and processor awhile back to build a media center PC. however, i decided i needed a new case that had more ventilation for my current computer. so, I started the process of transferring the memory and graphics card (PCI express) to the new computer. For some reason, that didn't work, so I decided to put everything back in the old one to get that one working again since I figured the new one's motherboard might be bad. However, when I put the graphics card back in, nothing shows up on the monitor. No BIOS or anything else would show up on screen. I went and bought another graphics card just to see if that went bad somehow, and they only had a PCI one (not sure if that works with this motherboard though) and still nothing on screen. Everything turns on, but just nothing on screen. Is there some obvious thing that I am missing here? it is really frustrating....

Check for bent pins on your monitor cable.

unfortunately I didn't find any bent pins. However I might buy a new cable to rule that out.

Make sure the memory is seated properly?

Does the computer beep on powerup? Just once or multiple times? What pattern?

I would be checking 2 things, firstly does it have onboard graphics, if it does try that, and secondly is the MB shorting out on the case, sounds silly but i had a friend who swapped cases and there was a stand off where there shouldn't have been and that was shorting something out that stopped the graphics card working.

Cheers

Cris.

as far as the beeping is concerned, there was a speaker built into the case,however, the two wires connected to it got broken. I was going to solder them back on, but the other connector that (i assume) goes on the motherboard doesn't seem to have a matching connector on the motherboard. Would the motherboard have a built in 'speaker' (just for diagnosing problems?)

Dig out the motherboard manual, and read it.

-ml

Doesn't even need to be a standoff, I had a motherboard that wouldn't boot in a case. If you left it on an antistatic bag then it worked fine. I ended up changing all the standoffs to plastic ones and it worked.

I figured it out! Turns out the BIOS jumper came off and as soon as I put it back on, it started working again

That should NOT have caused that behavior. All that should have happened it that your bios would be erased every boot. A pain, but not a broken computer.

Sorry to rehash an old thread, but my computer stopped working again so I decided to finally finish building my new computer. However, it seems that now the computer starts up, the fan runs, but there is no output of a video signal from the VGA output (which is built into the motherboard.) Then after a few tries, when try starting the computer again, the fan comes on for a few seconds then the fan stops. any ideas on what it might be? i took out the battery to reset the CMOS, but that didn't help. I also read that manual but no luck. any suggestions? i just hope I didn't fry the CPU when i put it in.

Can you try a separate graphics card and see if its the same? What about the BIOS - can you access that to check that the in-built VGA option is set to 'on'.

Partial thread hijack...

Can anyone recommend a decent motherboard to run one of the newer Core2Duo chips that won't run me more than US$90 or so? I mainly buy parts from http://canadacomputers.com as they're not too far from me. But I'm happy to stop in at a TigerDirect as well.

I'm going to replace the majority of my PVR system, so it's time for a new mobo, CPU and then some RAM.

I'd like to avoid ASUS if possible. I've always bought ASUS in the past and I'm tired of them.

Mobo needs to have Gigabit LAN, built-in GFX, PCIe and some standard 32-bit PCI slots (at least 2).

Goals for this system are going to be brisk speed, rock-solid stability and as low power consumption as possible (24x7 operation).

Even if you don't want to or can't purchase from NewEgg.com, they have a fairly broad selection and a great search utility.

Plugging in your requirements, I get:

ASRock G43Twins-FullHD
Foxconn G43MX-K
Foxconn G45M-S
Intel BOXDG43NB
MSI G45M-FD
Supermicro MBD-C2SEE-O
Supermicro MBD-C2SEA-O

I'd go with the Intel one myself.

Edit: Whoops. I specified PCIe 2.0. Specifying "regular" PCIe gives 68 models, as low as $30.

Edit edit: There is a NewEgg.ca.

I've tried a separate graphics card and it doesn't work either (nothing, including the BIOS, shows up on screen)

If the CPU is shot, would the CPU fan still work?

Yes, the fan would still work.

What makes you think its the processor at fault? Try a bare bones boot with nothing but one stick of ram, cpu and the graphics card (or integrated graphics). Try the one stick of ram in all available slots. Maybe try another stick to check that its not the problem.

What about the PSU... could it be on the way out?

Yes. See if it boots with nothing but one stick of RAM plugged into it. If not, then try the other stick of RAM.

Make sure the video monitor you're using and the video cable are known to be good. Sometimes it's something as simple as that making you *think* the PC isn't booting.

And double check every jumper on the mobo to make sure none of them are in a funky position. Also if there is a "reset BIOS" jumper, do the necessary procedure to reset the BIOS to defaults.

Asus has the "plus" of providing regular BIOS updates and stuff, which helps as new CPUs come to market. But they tend to omit details such as back-panel SPDIF connectors and such. I have a P5B-VM mobo that was in our PVR originally.

It has since been replaced by a Foxconn mobo, which has buggy DSDT tables (ACPI BIOS stuff), but otherwise works reasonably well in the PVR. The back panel optical SPDIF is how we connect it to the 5.1 amp/speaker system. But its back panel eSATA port has never worked -- the BIOS never sees drives on it, and neither does Linux.

Both boards were chosen for their PCIe plus 2 PCI slots in a mATX form factor to fit the Antec Fusion case.

So, hohum average rating from me on either.

Cheers

They still ship from the USA, but collect sales tax at the source, so no brokerage fees. Shipping costs are good, though they do insist on using UPS Ground (ugh).

30-day return policy on much of the stuff, but returning to the USA from here would be a nightmare, on top of the 15% "restocking" fee.

Cheers

Now it keeps doing the 'fan start for a few seconds and then stops...." thing and won't keep running. I doubt this is it, but do you think the power supply is not big enough? I have a 400W in it.

The power supply is brand new ...I had taken the fan/heatsink of the power supply and was afraid I might have wrecked it because they are overly sensitive.

I had a problem like this with a msi motherboard recently, the processor i bought for it (e8500) was supported in the new firmware, but not whit the firmware that came in the box.
Had to buy as cheap a processor i could find that worked (celeron e1200) and boot with that, flash the firmware and then i could use the new processor.
It did the fan spinup, stop, reboot loop too.

Sounds like either the processor is kaputt or something is shorting the motherboard. What I always do in a situation like this is completely remove the motherbord from the case, put it on some sort of non-conducting material (like the bag most motherboards come in) and then build the 'computer' separate from the case.

If it works then, you'll know something about the case was shorting out the motherboard. It could be one of the pegs the motherboards rests on, in which case you could use some of those small plastic grommets to put between the pegs and the motherboard.

400w is more than adequate unless its a gaming rig (overclocked?) or if you have a crazy amount of hardware in the case.

Was this system running at some point in the past? Or is it new? I've also experienced what Schido mentioned with the motherboard being listed as compatible with the processor but the firmware it shipped with didn't. I too had to buy a cheap £30 processor to boot the pc and upgrade the firmware before swapping it over to the new processor.

If all else fails I'd go on eBay (or phone a friend) and find the cheapest earliest cpu the board supports and see what happens. Could be as simple as a firmware update.

it is a new one, however, during this process, I've been trying to get the old one to work too. and now both are doing the same thing (I turn it on, the fan on both the CPU and the power supply and after a couple of seconds, both fans shut off.)

Also, i tried building the computer outside the case, and it still does the same thing. However, if I do it that way, does it matter that the power switch isn't hooked up?

Certain kinds of motherboards (newer ones usually) do, in fact, need a power switch attached before they can be turned on.

You turn on the power supply's switch (which is really just a mains cutoff switch) to get power to the motherboard, and the fans run for a moment as it gets its first bit of power. Then it waits for the command from the real power button to turn on all the way.

400W is HUGE. More than enough for all but the most packed of systems. By comparison, my PVR here has a Core2-Duo, two 750GB SATA drives, two old-school PCI tuner cards, PCIe graphics card 2GB RAM, external bus-powered USB peripherals, multiple case fans, front-panel alphanumeric display, etc..

And uses only 75-90W most of the time (measured it).

-ml

Holy crap!...so I just bought a new power supply from Best Buy...just to rule out the possibility that the power supply got fried and after I hooked it up, there literally was a spark that came off the cpu/heatsink fan! I unplugged it and then tried it again a little while later and the fan would turn on for a little while, stop, and then come on again....and it would keep doing this until i shut off the power supply switch.

As Tony said, YES it matters. The case front-panel power switch is REQUIRED to get it working.

Cheers

But it doesn't actually have to be a *switch*. Simply briefly short the appropriate pins on the motherboard with something suitable. I use fine-pointed steel tweezers.

it seems that when i hook up the switch...it really has no effect...it (the heatsink fan) keeps turning on and running for a little while..stops then the fan starts again...i tried hooking up the monitor cable again, but there is no output....

Is there any beeping? Most motherboards (maybe it is the BIOS?) have a series of error codes they make known through a series of beeps when the video output isn't available. I honestly don't remember if it is through an onboard speaker or if it needs to be hooked up to the case speaker, though.

it does have an on-board speaker....it used to beep a few times...but hasn't in quite awhile....

I'd be more concerned just now about the sparks you saw

i am actually.....has anyone seen anything like that before?

Only once.

Peter

I'm assuming no, but is there some easy way to find out if the CPU is still working?

Unplug everything except the CPU, CPU-fan, soft-power switch, and speaker. Remove all expansion cards, keyboards, mice, drives and even the RAM.

Power it on and see if it beeps. Unplug it afterwards.

I already did that and there is no beeping...

The fan currently turns on for a little while at first, then shuts off...but now starts up again...then shuts off and keeps doing this until I unplug it. there is no video output while this is going on...what might that mean?

I fear that it means that you've toasted something. Did you try stripping back to basics and listening out for beeps?

i did... and there were no beeps....i thought about contacting Intel to see if they would replace it...but i can't find a direct email...however, i would think there would be a way to at least get my old motherboard/cpu to work, but to no avail.

Normally when you see sparks coming from things, that's not a good sign... Do you have another fan you could connect up instead of the CPU fan, just to rule out a fan problem?

Stig

ok..through an Intel program at work, I bought a new motherboard and CPU. I put it together before putting in the case, and it seemed to work. When I put it in the case, then it wouldn't work. So I figured it was a short. So i unscrewed the screws and then just tried a few at a time. Then...a little puff of smoke near where the battery is.....argh!! then i take out the screws...then it seems to work (although i haven't tried hooking up the hard drives or video card yet. then i tried screwing in the screws again.....smoke and i can see the one of the circuit board 'lines' getting very red and then the fan stopped. What might be causing this short? it seems that where the connections are in the back, that part of the motherboard has to be slightly elevated where the opposite doesn't. might it be the type of screws that I am using that is causing this short?

Check that you don't have an extra standoff post under the motherboard that doesn't correspond to a mounting point.

At this point your motherboard is hosed.

Of curiosity, What program was it, you spoke of?

The program is Intel Retail's Edge program. You have to work at a eligible electronics dealer to be involved, however. My motherboard should have been hosed for all practical purposes, but it wasn't. I actually got it to work. However, the reason why it didn't work was for something really, really dumb of me. For the first time (in a very, very long time) I had a new computer case. And i didn't put the little spacers beneath the motherboard. I know, i know that was very stupid. The first time I built a computer awhile back my roommate did most of the work since I didn't have a clue what I was doing...(and obviously haven't gotten much better.)

Speaking of dumb things, I did another one. I have been trying to use one of the partitions of my hard drive to try to run OS X on it (via hackint0sh) and in the process of trying to get that to work, in the BIOS i changed one of the settings to disable the USB ports (stupid, i know.) so now I cannot change it because the keyboard no longer works, there is no PS/2 connector on the motherboard, and i tried to reset bios via the jumper and the CMOS battery but to no avail. Any suggestions? what i will probably have to do is re-flash the bios when I get my new dvd burner, but i thought there might be another way that I'm not thinking of....

The cmos reset thing has to work maybe it's a different jumper or something else to reset it. What is the motherboard model ?

Now make sure there aren't any spacers that don't have a screw going into them. Like one under a spot on the motherboard without a hole.

The motherboard model is (intel) dp45sg

I looked thru the manual. There doesn't seem to be a way reset the bios, short of pulling the jumper and reflashing it from a special boot cd.

I assume that where they mention Configure mode on page 54 which automatically enters the menu is what is needed. I'd be surprised if somebody made a motherboard that can't be reset to factory defaults.

You shorted out the motherboard against the tray and it still worked afterwards? o.O

I wouldn't trust that motherboard to be reliable in the long term especially since yo usaid there was a puff of smoke and some PCB lines went bright red...

Yeah, I saw that, but this board doesn't seem to allow changing the bios except with a kbd or by reflashing from a boot device.

I agree, It dosen't seem sane that a bios can be set to disable the only on-board means of changing bios configs.

Have you tried fiddling with the jumper described on page 54 of the manual?

Most motherboards won't reset the BIOS settings even if you do reflash it.

well..i think it is toast now....i accidently bumped the dvd burner's eject button while flashing the bios for the billionth time and now it does nothing....it will shut off right away and turn back on....

There should be someway to recover from a bad bios update otherwise you should be able to order a new chip and replace it.

so i sent it in to intel but rejected it because of the "thermally damaged circuit board." however, when i sent it in to them, they had me put the little cover over the cpu area and in the process, i think it damaged a couple of the pins (they won't go back in.) do i dare put the CPU back on it (to try to fix the bios again)

No. If you've damaged the socket then your motherboard is junk. It is possible to get the socket replaced but it would be expensive and not worth it.

R.I.P.