Cannot for the life of me figure out why there's no display

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Makogeddon

Commendable
May 28, 2016
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I wasn't entirely sure whether to post this in systems, graphics cards or displays, though probably not the last one since it doesn't seem to be a problem specifically with the monitor.

My friends and I recently put our money together to buy a somewhat low-budget gaming computer for a friend of ours, and I was the one who built it. Link to the build: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/makogeddon/saved/R2G7YJ

I put it together and connected it to my personal monitor via dvi-d. I set up windows and all that, installed everything from the motherboard and gpu's driver discs (except for things like norton and msi's live update which didn't seem necessary), and everything was working, so I shipped it to her.

The monitor has a VGA and HDMI port, and the GPU has DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI, and DisplayPort. The GPU came with a DVI-A to VGA adapter (when I realized it was DVI-A instead of DVI-I I suspected it came bundled with the wrong adapter but googling tells me it should still work in a DVI-I slot). She's tried a VGA cable with the DVI adapter as well as an HDMI cable but the monitor refuses to receive a signal. She's also tried a USB to VGA adapter and it didn't work either; I suspect you'd need to use the driver disc for it, but, uh, that's a little hard to do when you can't see the screen. It doesn't seem like an ideal solution, anyway.

The thing is, the monitor works when she plugs her laptop into it with HDMI. I told her to try plugging the desktop into her TV with the HDMI cable (as well as with the VGA thing since the TV also supported that) and it got nothing either. We, along with another friend of mine, have spent hours and hours troubleshooting, making sure everything is plugged in and working properly, and nothing. The computer turns on, everything lights up, the fans spin, but the monitor doesn't detect a signal. The screen doesn't even react to the desktop being turned on, there's no message like "input not compatible" or anything showing up, nothing flashes onscreen, it's just nothing.

Things that I doubt would be relevant but I'll post anyway just in case they somehow are:
-When I had it at my house it was with a 1920x1080 resolution, her laptop as well as the monitor were set to 1366x788 (the monitor supports 1080p).
-I bought most things from newegg but ordered the GPU from microcenter since it was cheaper (or maybe it wasn't if I used a mail-in rebate but I didn't want to bother with that).
-I shipped with UPS. I'm going to assume they don't have a track record of stealthily sabotaging GPU display ports, though.

Here's a chat snippet from the friend who tried to help her while I was asleep:

Kyle: so we couldnt get it working
Kyle: things we tried:
Kyle: unplugging and replugging countless times
Kyle: configuring monitor
Kyle: making sure monitor works
Kyle: making sure comp works
Kyle: taking out ram and putting it in again
Kyle: taking out gpu and putting it in again
Kyle: taking out motherboard battery and resetting CMOS configuration in motherboard
Kyle: using hdmi or vga and swapping between the two countless times
Kyle: as well as every other fix we can find on the internet
Kyle: nothing changes
Kyle: computer starts with no beeps, all fans run
Kyle: gpu lights up
Kyle: just
Kyle: monitor wont connect
Click to expand...
I'm seriously starting to worry that the GPU came with non-functioning DVI-I and HDMI ports, but that seems like such a rare thing that would happen considering the DVI-D worked for me, and I really don't want to go through the hassle of having to return it for a new one.
 
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maxwellmelon

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Oct 2, 2013
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sounds like its time to bench test it. find the sticky at the top of the system section and follow it. pull it out of case one stick of ram and video card. don't hook up hard drives or anything else. does it power up that way? unless you have a spare video card laying abound to try in it.
 
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Makogeddon

Commendable
May 28, 2016
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I'll tell her to try that later I guess, but what exactly are we testing for here? I read through that thread earlier today and I'm pretty sure everything was fine. The computer was working for me at my house without me having to use one stick of ram or anything like that, everything seems to boot up properly, it's just not working with the different connectors that her monitor supports. I wish I had tested it with HDMI before I shipped it, but I thought it'd be fine if the DVI-D worked fine.
 
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Makogeddon

Commendable
May 28, 2016
10
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1,510
Okay, my other friend had her try to start it up without any RAM, and then without RAM or HDD connected, and both times the motherboard didn't make any beeps. Do all motherboards have a function where they beep when a component is missing, or do some come without it?

The thing is, she has her mouse and keyboard plugged into the back USB ports directly into the motherboard and they appeared functional (the lights on the keyboard were working), and she told me that the fans are normally quiet but sometimes get louder, which I thought would require the motherboard performing certain functions to tell them to spin faster. Is it possible that only certain parts of the motherboard are broken? Is it common for motherboards to be damaged during shipment? Because everything was working fine for me and I put the finished case back in exactly how it was shipped to me when empty, and it seemed pretty secure with styrofoam around it and everything. Or maybe the motherboard itself was just cheap and easily broken? I dunno. I just need confirmation on all this so I know which part to send back. Which, if I do end up doing, should I be trying to get my money back from the motherboard manufacturer or UPS?

Of course it's my hope that we're just somehow missing something and all the parts are still working, but that doesn't feel likely right now.
 
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Makogeddon

Commendable
May 28, 2016
10
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1,510
She removed the RAM, hard drive, and disc drive from the motherboard, plugged in both speakers and headphones to the front and back ports, and never heard any beeps each time she started it. I'm still confused though, because other aspects of the motherboard are working (usb ports, cpu fan spins, etc).

Could I please get some confirmation that this all points to a broken motherboard before we decide to return in? I still don't know for sure if all motherboards are supposed to beep, or if you're meant to use external speakers/headphones for ones that lack an internal speaker (I mean, that sounds like a pretty obvious thing to do, but I'm used to things not making sense). So we're still not totally sure if it's a problem with the motherboard or gpu.
 
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Makogeddon

Commendable
May 28, 2016
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1,510
Oh damnit no you're not supposed to use normal speakers or headphones for that. I had assumed we had everything we could need to troubleshoot since I plugged in everything from the case but I forgot that didn't include a speaker for motherboard beeps and I totally forgot about that section in the stickied thread.

Sorry, looks like we'll have to buy one of those motherboard speakers. The DS3P doesn't have an internal speaker built in, right? I couldn't find anything pointing to the fact that it does.

EDIT: Does anyone know of any walk-in stores that might sell them? I'm having way more trouble than I thought I would looking online trying to find somewhere that sells them, unless I order one online but the sooner I can get it to her the better. I found this but I can't tell if it's even the right thing since it doesn't show the other end of the wire: https://www.radioshack.com/products/radioshack-pc-board-12vdc-70db-piezo-buzzer?variant=5717357765
 
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maxwellmelon

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Oct 2, 2013
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apparently you didn't look up how to bench test.

1.remove the main board from the case and sit it on something non conductive like wood or a tile floor

2.hook up power supply only to it (nothing else)

3.leave cpu/heatsink installed. and put one stick of ram in.

4.in your case due to no video connector on the motherboard install video card and make sure you hook the power supply up to it also.
****(before power on make sure the video card is all the way down) being outside the case you might have to have something non conductive hold up the back side of the board so the tab on the bottom of the card isn't holding up the main board.

5. try power up the system.



also that speaker would work if you wire it correctly to the motherboard pins for the speaker.
 
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Makogeddon

Commendable
May 28, 2016
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1,510
Is that really necessary? I mean, testing the components one by one, sure, but removing it from the case? Can't I just have her unplug the hdd, cd drive, gpu and ram from the motherboard and then gradually re-add them? I fail to see what we'd accomplish by removing it from the case.

Anyway, she got a motherboard speaker. 1 long beep and 3 short beeps, which points to the GPU. I wish I had the foresight to test it with an HDMI cable before shipping it, but I figured if DVI-D worked then the others would probably work too (my mistake for assuming everything would be fine when building a PC I guess). Is there any chance that it could still be the motherboard, or maybe the power supply?

I'm still not sure what the most likely option here is; that the GPU came with only one functional port, that the GPU was damaged during delivery, or that the motherboard was damaged during delivery and the slot for the GPU became busted...now that I think about it I don't think we've had the thought to test it in other slots. I'll have her do that as well as bench test it (I'm not telling her to remove it from the case unless there's some sort of benefit to going through the trouble, though. Not trying to sound snarky or antagonistic, it's just that I really don't see what the difference would be and she doesn't have a whole lot of workspace room/any prior experience with this kind of stuff, my other friend and I have been guiding her via video chat).
 
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Makogeddon

Commendable
May 28, 2016
10
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1,510


Yes, the motherboard has no slot to plug directly into the monitor. As I said, the 1 long + 3 short beeps points to an "agp error" which I take it means either the GPU is faulty or the motherboard's GPU slot is broken (I do not know what the likelihood of the latter option is, though). I mentioned the power supply too in my previous post because my friend found something that said it was possible for the PSU to be at blame in our situation, but this was before we were able to hear beep codes so it may not apply anymore and I can't remember the details of why it could have been a possibility in the first place; I'd have to ask him later.

EDIT: Ok I'm confused. Gigabyte's website says:
1 long beep and 2 short beep：Graphic card error
1 long beep and 3 short beep ：AGP error
So it's...NOT a graphics card error, it's an "accelerated graphics port" error. What's the difference? Does that mean the slot itself on the motherboard is broken?
 
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Makogeddon

Commendable
May 28, 2016
10
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1,510
Oh for god's sake we are stupid. We never thought to test the GPU in a different slot, and everything works now that we did. So it was actually the slot on the motherboard that was broken; I guess it got damaged during shipment.

Is it ok to keep using this despite the fact that one of the slots appears to be broken?
 
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maxwellmelon

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Oct 2, 2013
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I'm not sure how it can be an AGP error. there is not AGP on that motherboard and the card is PCIx.

I still think something came lose during shipping and why I was saying to rib it all apart but below is simpler

Just wondering is the card plug in the top PCIx slot or the bottom PCIx slot (only two pcix16 slots on that mb)? normally you want it in the top one but it can work in the lower one also...has she tried removing it and putting it in the one that you didn't use yet?
 
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Makogeddon

Commendable
May 28, 2016
10
0
1,510


I'm guessing we both made our posts around the same time since you didn't see what I said, but yes, we just tried the other slot and it works.

http://www.gigabyte.com/fileupload/product/2/4591/7941_big.jpg

We originally had it in the one labeled pciex16 and now it's in pciex4...you said you normally want it in the other one, will its performance be compromised or something with it in the x4 slot?
 
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maxwellmelon

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Oct 2, 2013
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yes you will lose high end performance in the pciex4 slot. this will not effect videos and stuff but games running higher resolutions will see a fps drop

ok now that we know everything is working has she tried one last time to move it back to the 16x slot. if it doesn't work there you know for sure now that the motherboard has a defect and that you should RMA the motherboard if you like. if it works in the 16x port then for some reason it came lose in shipment and just wasn't getting it installed right. FYI I don't know the weight of that video card but most are pretty heavy so in the future I would not recommend shipping a computer with a video card installed (ive taken mine out just to take move my pc across town as its a heavy sucker).

 
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Makogeddon

Commendable
May 28, 2016
10
0
1,510


I googled a bit to see if there were any precautions I should take before shipping it as I was worried about something like this happening, but unfortunately I guess I didn't look hard enough. I've never RMA'd something before, so I'm honestly not really sure what the process is like...am I even eligible to get it replaced? I mean, it wasn't defective, it was broken after arriving, and even though UPS is technically the one who broke it I feel like I could be reasonably blamed for not taking the proper precautions.

And yes, we tried putting it back in the x16 slot on multiple occasions (my other friend had her reseat it on the first day of troubleshooting and I had her try it again the other day just in case). Will there really be that much of a difference in performance, though? Like, how much lower of a framerate are we talking here? She actually doesn't even like 1920x1080 (I guess she's too used to her 1366 x 768 laptop) so she's only running things at 1600x900, mostly things like overwatch, team fortress 2, minecraft...(ironically minecraft tends to give us the worst performance out of any of these). If you expect she'd see, say, 20 frames per second less than she would on x16 or something like that, I'd consider that reason enough, but if we're talking like a 5 - 10 FPS difference when she's already getting around 40 - 60 FPS I'd honestly have a hard time justifying us going through the trouble. I hate to say that and I know how lazy it makes us seem but, well, everyone has their own benefits vs laziness meter and that's where ours are at.
 
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