First build won't boot

[silverlinkx2]

Hey,

I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out why my system won't boot. It's a first time build so anything could have gone wrong. I'm running a

Mobo: LanParty UT RDX200 CF-DR
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 939 Socket
PSU: Rosewill 480 Watt PSU
Video Card: Sapphire ATI Crossfire x1600 PRO 256 meg (x2)

My motherboard has 4 LED diagnostic lights in the corner. When it is first powered on, they are all lit up and gradually all go out. Sometimes it only gets to 2, meaning it can't detect the VGA but it can detect the processor and RAM, but most of the time it gets to one LED light left, meaning it can detect everything but the system isn't booting up.

Most of the time the screen never gets past the LanParty UT splashscreen, sometimes it starts to post but the only thing that comes on the screen is the text for the video card and it never proceeds past that. Sometimes there's nothing on the screen at all but the monitor is getting a signal from the video card.

I've also noticed the Processor fan tries to spin sometimes but it acts like a battery dying, the fan tries to spin a little bit but stops. Every now and then it will nudge a little bit and then stop.

Does this sound like a bad motherboard? Or do you think it's the power supply? I can see no visible damage to the processor, the ram is good from what I can tell, and the monitor is getting a sig from the video card. I have no idea where to look. This is a custom built rig I was building for my bro so I can go to the parts store today before christmas and get whatever it is I need.

any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks


EDIT:

Here is the power supply:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182049

And here is the mobo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.asp?Image=13%2D136%2D165%2D01%2Ejpg%2C13%2D136%2D165%2D02%2Ejpg%2C13%2D136%2D165%2D03%2Ejpg%2C13%2D136%2D165%2D04%2Ejpg%2C13%2D136%2D165%2D05%2Ejpg%2C13%2D136%2D165%2D06%2Ejpg%2C13%2D136%2D165%2D07%2Ejpg&CurImage=13%2D136%2D165%2D01%2Ejpg&Description=DFI+LanParty+UT+RDX200+CF%2DDR+Socket+939+ATI+Radeon+Xpress+200+CrossFire+ATX+AMD+Motherboard+%2D+Retail

I'm kind of confused about the power connectors. maybe that has something to do with it. If you look to the right and top, you'll see an 8 pin cpu connector and a 24 pin atx power connector. The psu has 24 pin, a 6 pin, and 4 pin connectors. Which one do I plug into the connector on the mobo???

 

[silverlinkx2]

I should also mention that I have a DVD-ROM and a CD-RW in there and they both open and close fine. And it looks like they're reading cd's fine too but I can't really tell. I don't know if that helps

 

[baddad]

What do you have for memory?

 

[silverlinkx2]

1 stick of pqi ddr400 ram (1 gig)

Checking all my connections and stuff now, I'll let you know how it goes

 

[silverlinkx2]

I actually got it to the screen that said press f1 to continue or del to enter setup, but when i hit del it froze up. it seems to be very selective about when it wants to post or boot. It's quite frustrating. Checked all the connections, everything is nice and tight. i have no idea what's causing this.

 

[baddad]

Is your CPU fan running and is it seated correctly?

 

[silverlinkx2]

CPU fan seated correctly, is running. I have the machine stripped down to barebones now. one video card, processor, ram, keyboard. Still doing the same thing.

 

[baddad]

First try a different PSU, next the motherboard, then memory, last the CPU. Sorry to say any one of those could cause this problem.

 

[silverlinkx2]

If it was overheating wouldn't it just simply shut down? The power supply is blowing cold air. The cpu fan is installed correctly, I triple checked. The comp freezes on the mobo splash screen.

 

[silverlinkx2]

I went and bought a 500W antec psu from Office Depot today and switched it out and it was doing the exact same thing. Any other suggestions?

 

[The_OGS]

I went and bought a 500W antec psu from Office Depot today and switched it out and it was doing the exact same thing.

Aarrrgh! That's too bad eh? Well at least you have a better PS now...
Your problem at POST could be harddisk/optical drive related, or memory related, involving BIOS version and settings.
The latest BIOS version is almost exactly 1 year old (Dec.23/05) and claims to fix all kinds of stuff...
But assuming your BIOS is the latest one, off the top of my head I suspect that your mobo is not liking your stick of memory.
I would drag it to my local shop and try different memory sticks in it - but I see you do not have a local shop...?
Make sure your single vidcard and single stick of memory are in the correct slots, and I trust you have gotten the mobo powered up correctly.
Hope you get it going (looks like a nice mobo).
Regards

 

[silverlinkx2]

I fixed it! It was the ram. I had another stick of ddr in one of my old compaq boxes and I installed it and the system booted up just fine. Thank god i didn't try replacing the mobo or the processor first. Got lucky there. Thanks for all your help guys.