First build wondering if cpu or power supply problem.

JoeFly50

Honorable
Dec 16, 2013
2
0
10,510
My problem is as follows: when I power on my build nothing is displayed on my screen no bios screen, the fans spin and everything lights up not that that means much. I've tried with 2 working tvs via hdmi and vga. I've ruled out it being the motherboard as this is my third motherboard with this problem. I've removed my video card cleared cmos each time i start up and have tried with each stick of ram removed. I have even removed my hard drives just to see if it would boot. This is my first build but from what I have gathered online the problem is either related to the cpu or power supply or ram (I'm not sure if two sticks can go bad at the same time?) I'm in pretty deep here financially for me at least I would like any possible help. here are the parts: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/joefly50/saved/3a4o
Thanks for any help you can give.
 
Solution
Four things I suggest you check:

1. Your mobo will default to using its on-board chip to generate the video signal. Thus you MUST connect your cable from your monitor to the video output port on the back of the computer where all the other mobo connectors are. For this you have a choice of a 9-pin VGA port, a DVI-D port, or an HDMI port, according to the mobo specs. You will NOT get a video signal out of your Sapphire video card until you can boot up and use BIOS Setup to change which video output device the mobo will use.

2. When you installed the CPU cooler, some come with pre-applied thermal past, covered for protection with a thin plastic film you must REMOVE before installing. Did you do that?

3. Some mobos have a system to...

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
If you have a voltmeter handy you can test the voltages coming out of the power supply. One of the 4 pin molex connectors will have two grounds, a red 5V wire and a yellow 12V wire. Measure between one of the grounds and see if you get something near 5V and near 12V. 12V should be 11.4-12.6 volts if I recall correctly. Not sure on 5V, but it should be quite close to 5.0.

If you decide the power supply is working, then it is probably the CPU. Make sure there are no bent pins and that the CPU is properly seated. If your case has a 4 pin speaker wire, plug that in to the motherboard to hear beep codes. You might also have been given a small Piezo speaker (little black round thing with a 4 pin connector) that is also a speaker.
 

JoeFly50

Honorable
Dec 16, 2013
2
0
10,510


Not sure about if I can get a voltmeter I could ask some people, should have mentioned have not been getting the beeps except for one time. the pins aren't bent. I may buy a power supply to replace the one I have and return it plus the cpu if that doesn't fix the problem I will have to see what amazon/newegg's return policies are though. thank you very much for your help.
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Four things I suggest you check:

1. Your mobo will default to using its on-board chip to generate the video signal. Thus you MUST connect your cable from your monitor to the video output port on the back of the computer where all the other mobo connectors are. For this you have a choice of a 9-pin VGA port, a DVI-D port, or an HDMI port, according to the mobo specs. You will NOT get a video signal out of your Sapphire video card until you can boot up and use BIOS Setup to change which video output device the mobo will use.

2. When you installed the CPU cooler, some come with pre-applied thermal past, covered for protection with a thin plastic film you must REMOVE before installing. Did you do that?

3. Some mobos have a system to monitor the CPU fan speed in case it fails. If the mobo does not receive a fan speed signal back from the CPU cooler fan, it assumes it is dead. In that case, mobos with this feature typically will shut down everything immediately, without waiting for the CPU to overheat. So, IF your CPU cooling fan is plugged into the CPU_FAN port of the mob, check to be sure it is connected securely. IF, on the other hand, it is NOT connected there (say, you have it plugged into a power connector direct from the PSU), you MAY have to get into BIOS Setup to disable this feature. If that's what you need, post here so we can advise further. (Personally, I prefer to connect this CPU cooler to the mobo port and let it do its automatic controlling thing.)

4. On the mobo, above and to the right slightly from the CPU socket is an 8-pin ATX 12V connector. You must plug into that the 8-pin power supply connector from the PSU to provide power to the CPU. Check that it also is securely connected.
 
Solution