parts arrived today... hit a road block... help

[rootb33r]

hey everyone. thanks to you all for the suggestions on the parts, i ordered them Tuesday and they came in today... awesome!

So, I built the PC and it went smoothly, until i tried to start 'er up.

She starts up with one beep, which the mobo manual says is "successful startup." However, there is no display on the monitor. I tried another monitor and the same thing.

I took out one piece of RAM at a time to see if that was the case, and I checked to make sure the Vcard was pushed in all the way and the power connector was in properly. Everything on the Vcard looks good, and the fan is turning... so I guess I'm wondering what the hell's going on?

specs:
gigabyte mobo GA-P35-DS3R 775
intel c2d e4300
2x 1gb Gskil DDR2 800
Thermaltake 500w power supply
Lite-on dvd burner
250gb WD 7200rpm hdd
ummm what else... i think that should do it.

 

[badge]

hey everyone. thanks to you all for the suggestions on the parts, i ordered them Tuesday and they came in today... awesome!

So, I built the PC and it went smoothly, until i tried to start 'er up.

She starts up with one beep, which the mobo manual says is "successful startup." However, there is no display on the monitor. I tried another monitor and the same thing.

I took out one piece of RAM at a time to see if that was the case, and I checked to make sure the Vcard was pushed in all the way and the power connector was in properly. Everything on the Vcard looks good, and the fan is turning... so I guess I'm wondering what the hell's going on?

specs:
gigabyte mobo GA-P35-DS3R 775
intel c2d e4300
2x 1gb Gskil DDR2 800
Thermaltake 500w power supply
Lite-on dvd burner
250gb WD 7200rpm hdd
ummm what else... i think that should do it.

ummm what else... i think that should do it.

Be sure you have the 4/8 pin auxillary 12v power connector lead from the PSU plugged in to the MB. Otherwise the CPU will not get power and the system wil not post.

 

[notherdude]

Yes, that 12v CPU plug is frequently overlooked. But he wouldn't get a 'system OK' beep if this were unplugged would he? On my system I get momentary fan spin and then cut off when the CPU plug is out.

What video card do you have?

Perhaps a CMOS reset or else hold down whatever key loads BIOS defaults on that MOBO during power up and boot. This will be spelled out in the manual. You can always remove CMOS battery to get a full reset but you will need to leave it out for a good while. Manual should explain all this.

Some CPUs are not fully supporetd out of the box and may require a BIOS update. I have no idea if this is the case with your system but on some systems this is the case. I realize you can do nothing at all if you have no video but I have seen some boards at least POST to setup if you hold down the correct key during start-up. Once in you can then upgrade BIOS.

Is it f2 on the Gigabyte? You can at least try this -hold down F2 continuosly during power up and see what happens.

 

[rootb33r]

the aux power connector is that little square 4-pin one right? yea i have that in... i also just noticed the CPU fan isn't spinning. well, it spins for a second then stops. But, if i plug the CPU fan into one of the other 4-pin fan connectors on the motherboard (SYSTEM_FAN1 or SYSTEM_FAN2) as opposed to the "CPU_FAN," it spins fine. Is that power connector dead?

Ahh haha i forgot the video card in the first list of specs!

Sapphire ATI x1950XT 256mb

 

[badge]

the aux power connector is that little square 4-pin one right? yea i have that in... i also just noticed the CPU fan isn't spinning. well, it spins for a second then stops. But, if i plug the CPU fan into one of the other 4-pin fan connectors on the motherboard (SYSTEM_FAN1 or SYSTEM_FAN2) as opposed to the "CPU_FAN," it spins fine. Is that power connector dead?

Is that power connector dead?

Sounds like there is a problem there. MB problem of some kind. Previous poster made a good point about your BIOS needing a later revision to possibly support the 4300. Maybe check the MB website and see if a later BIOS is needed for your CPU support. When you reset the CMOS jumper, be sure to remove the battery AND unplug the PSU. HTH.

 

[badge]

Sapphire ATI x1950XT 256mb

That card will require a 12v lead from the PSU for proper power.

 

[notherdude]

Do you get the 'ok beep' when that CPU fan was not spinning? The MOBO might not even start the system if no CPU fan is detected and in any event you will almost certainly overheat and then INTEL thermal protection will kick in and shut you down, I would think.

It appears from your manual that the 'end' key bypasses BIOS setup and goes directly to the BIOS upgrade utility. It would be interesting to see what happens if you hold it down during startup.

 

[rootb33r]

OK so in response to badge, I have the PCI-E power connector hooked up to the card.

Also, i reset the CMOS (and took out the battery for 5 minutes) and still a no go.

It's unfortunate this motherboard doesn't have onboard video so I could troubleshoot and see if it's the V-card... but I think that "notherdude" was right about the CPU fan not being detected and the system not starting up. It's not the heatsink because i tried plugging the fan into another slot on the mobo and it spun fine, just not in the "CPU_FAN" 4-pin thing.

I guess right now I'm not so much worried about BIOS uipdates as I am about the CPU fan not workig properly. I guess it's time to RMA the motherboard. damnit.

 

[notherdude]

You still getting the 'ok' beep? And do some of the fan plugs still work and spin up the fan? It seems odd to get the system OK beep and yet no video.

 

[systemlord]

But if he's getting the "ok" beep then he should at least get video right. You should see some text saying something.

 

[Thunderfox]

On my DS3, the CPU fan doesn't always start right away either. My guess is it doesn't start until the CPU heats up enough to trigger it.

As long as you have the heatsink on it, it should not heat up quickly enough to trigger a thermal shutdown just because the fan isn't working. I know my old Athlon XP machine had a BIOS setting to shut down if no CPU fan was detected, but it wouldn't get far enough to make any beeps in that case. Dunno if the same would apply to your board or not.

I take it you have no other video card or CPU to try, to eliminate those possibilities? Try starting it without the video card and see if makes any difference. There should be a different beep error code for that, if the motherboard is working properly.

 

[mboorman]

Mate, all the new Gigabyte 965 and P35 boards do the same thing with the cpu fan. It can be disabled in the bios to keep the fan spinning. Ive had the same trouble with no picture before on several builds and i removed and replaced the video card 5 - 6 times and eventually it starts working. Cheers.

 

[nvalhalla]

It isn't the fan header. What if you were watercooling and not using a HS/fan? I used my 965P-DS3 fanless for a while, it never had a problem.

 

[Gundam1s]

You should definetly have the video card tested on another computer since the computer seems be fine and just not displaying anything.

About the CPU fan, like Thunderfox said, the CPU fan speed only starts spinning when it is required, IT IS NORMAL. This can be changed to automatically spin at full in BIOS. And yes plugging it into the SYS_FAN would have it running at full too. I don't believe anything is wrong with the Motherboard.

 

[rootb33r]

OK so it's possible that even though the PC is turned on, the HSF fan may not be on right away because it's not needed? But the Sys_Fan pins would make it turn on right away because it's confusing the HSF fan for a Sys_Fan so it's not controlling it like a HSF fan?

I'm scared to do the finger test haha... The longest I've had the computer on with the HSF plugged in to the CPU_FAN pin was like 10 seconds... long enough to see it wasn't working and freak out and worry about overheating the chip.

Also, is there any way to test a graphics card when there aren't any other PCI-E-capable computers around? DAmn I wish my mobo had onboard video.

 

[mboorman]

I know it is not the fan header. It is not really a problem... The fan spins and stops because of the 'Smart FAN control method' setting in the bios. If you go into the bios and look under 'PC Health Status' find 'Smart FAN control method' set it to Disable and the fan will spin normally. I never said it was a problem with the fan header. Read the forums this "problem" has been discovered before. The no signal issue is not related to the cpu fan speed "problem.

 

[notherdude]

rootb33r, do you have an old PCI video card (not PCI express but good old PCI)? If so, or if a friend does, put it in instead of the new one. Or else take the new card to a PC shop and let them test it. I know it's a PITA - nobody has PCI-e systems laying around to use as a test bed yet.

Also, when testing your unresponsive system, it is best to go to barebones (cpu, 1 stick RAM, video and PSU). Sometimes malfunctioning peripherals will cause a system to hang. This will also help to rule out insufficient power from PSU for your video card, though I really doubt a 500 w TT would have any problem, but still you need to rule out ANY possible suspects.

And try moving the RAM to a different slot. It doesn't sound like a RAM problem but it's worth a try.

 

[notherdude]

Mate, all the new Gigabyte 965 and P35 boards do the same thing with the cpu fan. It can be disabled in the bios to keep the fan spinning. Ive had the same trouble with no picture before on several builds and i removed and replaced the video card 5 - 6 times and eventually it starts working. Cheers.

Did you also get the 'sytem OK' beep when you had no picture?

 

[swifty_morgan]

Hate to tell you, and a lot of people think they are good, but, that thermaltake 500 watt power supply is probably what's causing the problem. Some people buy by name, others buy by watts....... but if it doesn't have the AMPERAGE to run everything, it's a piece of crap.

A friend of mine uses many of these in the less demanding machines he puts together in his shop, but they don't cut it in a "decent" machine.

Start "unplugging things you don't need, like the cd-rom/dvd-rom drives, floppy's, a stick of memory, etc. Then try and boot and see what happens.

 

[rootb33r]

OK I just tried again and it gave me one loud beep and then it sounded like a very muffled short beep but not in the same tone/frequency/volume as the first... so it must have been something else?

This time, the CPU fan worked fine! oh i'm so happy i don't have to RMA the motherboard! glad to hear that the CPUfan thing is normal.

Still no video however...
How can i boot barebone without video? (no onboard)

Maybe I'll go buy a cheap PCI-E card, test it in my machine, then return it haha.

Also, in response to notherdude, yes i get the system ok beep and still no video.

And I have a couple AGP cards lying around but no PCI v-cards.

 

[Cooperstown39]

I am pretty new at this and only have a few builds but had the exact same experience with the last one. Long story short, the cable that came with the video card (DVI) was dead. Just about every problem I have had with any build so far as been due to some cabling issue. Apologies if this is obvious but didn't see this mentioned in any of the posts.

 

[madmurph]

Despite the focus on all these other issues, I think you are overlooking one obvious: RAM. Usually failure to display video is a function of RAM, assuming your gpu is good. In that vein, a couple of thoughts. Is your RAM on the "qualified vendor list" for that MB? Are you using the proper channels when you plug the memory in? Check your manual, there are very specific sequences for populating the slots when using dual channel, or a single stick. Make certain the sticks are fully seated. If available, try another stick of RAM, perhaps of a lower clock speed, eg DDR2 667. I would think if your gpu is bad, you would get a beep code for gpu failure. At the same time, I've experienced crummy RAM getting past POST, but unable to initiate video display. Just a thought.

 

[rootb33r]

OK.... got it working... but there's a caveat here.

First, I went completely barebones and i started it without the video card and got a "video card error" beep.
Then i put the video card back in and it worked!
Now, the system only had one stick of RAM in it. Since i knew that stick of RAM was working i tried it in the other 3 slots. The left 2 slots were NOT working with the working stick of RAM. (see link for pic)

P35-DS3R top view

Both sticks of RAM work in both of the right-hand slots. This is problematic because i need the red slot from the left pair, and the red slot from the right pair (or yellow and yellow respectively) for my dual channel memory to work.

Is this a sign of a faulty motherboard?

 

[swifty_morgan]

read this, it might help ?

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/Gigabyte-965P-DS3-beep-code-long-short-ftopict242051.html

 

[rootb33r]

OK so I'm in the formatting stage of installing XP (with one stick of RAM... i just wanted to make some progress to give me some hope haha) and i am randomly getting beeps from the computer, and these beeps mean "power error." Is this a shortage of watts?

Now, the system only has one stick of RAM in it. Since i knew that stick of RAM was working i tried it in the other 3 slots. The left 2 slots were NOT working with the working stick of RAM. (see link for pic)

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-128-050-04.jpg

Both sticks of RAM work in both of the right-hand slots. This is problematic because i need the red slot from the left pair, and the red slot from the right pair (or yellow and yellow respectively) for my dual channel memory to work.

Is this a sign of a faulty motherboard? does the fact that my RAM doesn't work in 2 of the slots mean they're dead?

Cooperstown39: Thanks for the thought, but neither my monitor nor video card came with a DVI cable. I had to run to CompUSA right before they closed (after i realized it) and buy a $45 "Monster" DVI cable... what a ripoff.