| Forum Home | ||||
| Press F1 | ||||
| Thread ID: 50177 | 2004-10-13 00:16:00 | Building computer - Has this happened to anyone else??? | geekgirl (5999) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 280744 | 2004-10-13 00:16:00 | Hi, Ive built a basic computer from a kitset . The only problem is now that everything has been connected, I've turned the power on and the power supply and fan are working, and the monitor (which works fine) is lighting up but nothing shows up! It doesnt beep on startup to let me know theres something wrong, but there is a red light on my motherboard (Albatron mobo, with a Duron CPU) . Theres nothing in the MOBO manual that helps and im totally tearing my hair out over the ****ng thing!!!! Please, please please give me your ideas, Im willing to try anything! :) |
geekgirl (5999) | ||
| 280745 | 2004-10-13 00:25:00 | First thing I would check is the FSB jumper setting. Depending on what Duron CPU you have, the FSB should most likely be set to 100MHz or for newer Durons set to 133MHz. If that jumper is set wrong the PC will not boot. |
CYaBro (73) | ||
| 280746 | 2004-10-13 00:31:00 | Check all your cable connections for correct orientation, fit, and location (ie, plug a) on pin a) ) What is the power supply rated at, can you swap in a known working unit. What model is the motherboard, is it the type that auto senses the CPU and sets the FSB or do you have to flip a dip switch or jumper on the motherboard? (some systems wont boot up if your effectively "dangerously" overclocking) Ram and CPU seating. Any hard drive activity? Take the board out and attempt to run it out of the case with just the vid card CPU and RAM. Is it onboard or separate video? as your monitor works I doubt an issue here but! No POST beeps usuall means a RAM, CPU or motherboard issue although video can cause this on some BIOS's. Cheers Murray P |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 280747 | 2004-10-13 01:30:00 | I had a similar 'no-boot' situation arise with an Abit motherboard due to an error in the manual. The manual says connect the cpu fan to either FAN1 or FAN2 sockets. But no, if the cpu fan is plugged into FAN2 socket, the BIOS thinks there is no cpu fan, and the system will not boot in order to protect the cpu from burn-out. So there can be silly things like that to look out for. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 280748 | 2004-10-13 01:45:00 | Thank you all! I've ended up leaving it at a computer place for an assessment, so they can make sure none of the hardware is damaged, and test it . Unfortuntely (and theres a lesson to be learnt here) I may have exposed the RaM to static so that may be the problem, although the technician said it possibly/probably wasnt . Since theres no beeps, the problem is apparently probably not the RAM, since its before the RAM stage (if that makes sense) . yes the sound and video is all onboard by the way Will try more of your suggesstions later when i get my computer back . |
geekgirl (5999) | ||
| 280749 | 2004-10-13 01:47:00 | oh and the fsb settings are automatic so shouldnt be a problem!. :( so, anymore ideas??? |
geekgirl (5999) | ||
| 280750 | 2004-10-13 06:25:00 | Believe me, no beeps can and often does mean the RAM. Manufacturers try to make motherboards beep for bad RAM, but this is often not the case. I am speaking here from at least 20 PC's of experience, ranging from a Pentium 100Mhz to a P4 3.0Ghz. Sometimes, a faulty piece of hardware just kills (temporarily I mean) a motherboard so it is unable to beep. This is like a human instructed to shout out if he is hit in the head, but the hit knocks him out. There are 6 things that can result in power, but no beeps (on order of likelyness). 1) User error 2) Faulty montherboard 3) Faulty / Incorrectly installed CPU 4) Faulty RAM 5) PSU 6) (only on older machines) faulty graphics card It sounds to me like you have checked carefully the setup of the board, and for most it is not too hard. In my cases, 80% of the time it was the RAM, 20% the motherboard. Also, the main thing I forgot to mention: CHECK THE MOTHERBOARD IS CORRECTLY SEATED If say a metal mounting thingy is under the mohterboard where there is no screwhole, it will be shorting it. This rarely causes damage but it won't boot. HTH - George |
george12 (7) | ||
| 280751 | 2004-10-13 09:41:00 | Yeah make sure its not grounding on the case, I remember that happened on one computer I built and caused a similar problem (boot up but not do anything). Just make sure theres plastic or some protection between the mobo and the metal casing. - David |
DangerousDave (697) | ||
| 280752 | 2004-10-13 20:00:00 | Without denying any responsibility for it :), the setup of everything was fine - there was nothing in the wrong place that shouldnt have been there. So user error may not be the case this time, as several experienced technicians have investigated this. However, thanks for your comments, I'll print off this thread and see what the technicians think about it (bearing in mind that PCWORLD has a dedicated team of thousands of experienced ppl, and they are just 2 people!!!). :) Grounding on the case - is this a common problem??? i never thought about that..... I'll look into tht, make sure its not the problem |
geekgirl (5999) | ||
| 280753 | 2004-10-14 01:09:00 | The motherboard should be "grounded on the case". Its ground plane needs that. But there are a number of mounting holes on the MB. Only one of them should have a metal screw to a metal pillar grounding the MB. The rest should use plastic standoffs, because they have circuit lines running close to them, and earthing those is a Bad Idea. I'd unplug everything: RAM, video card, disks, etc and listen for beeps. Then plug in the video card, and monitor and look for BIOS errors. As long as it's complaining, it's working. ;-) |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 1 2 | |||||