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I need your help! Building computer; but nothing on screen :(

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - I need your help! Building computer; but nothing on screen :(

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malina   11-18-2008 at 07:51:19 AM

Hey guys,

I finally decided to build my own computer yesterday.. I bought all of the components/peripherals and was truly excited to put everything together. We'll, once I connected everything I washed my hands, and grabbed a soda to soak in my victory... To my dismay, I turned the computer on (with my fingers crossed) and nothing came on the screen. The computer appeared to have booted up just fine but nothing appeared on the screen.

WHY!?
I have no idea what the problem is. SO, just a few hours ago I went to local store returned the mobo and purchased the same mobo thinking the previous one may have been defective.
-After connecting everything again, still nothing. I tried booting it up without the RAM and I got the long 3 beeps. So at least that tells me the mobo is in fact recongnizing the RAM.
-Also, I thought it may have been the new vid card that I purchased, but nope. I plugged in my older nVidia 8800gtx (which I know is working for sure) and still no results.

Its really frusterating. Especially after having spent some good money.

Any ideas? Anything at all. AT this point i'm throwing in a hail mary for some suggestions.

purchased:
Asus P5QC mobo
C2Q Q8200 2.33 @1333mhz
Patriot DDR2 2x2GB @1066mhz
9800 GeForce GTX 512

THank you for your response in advance.

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Slomo4shO   11-18-2008 at 07:55:46 AM
- 1 +

Answer this first: did you plug in the PCIE power cable into the video card? This is usually overlooked so lets start from there...

Also what PSU are you using?

Reply to Slomo4shO
malina   11-18-2008 at 07:58:32 AM
- 0 +

Thanks for responding so quickly..

Yes, the power cable was plugged in properly.
Yea, forgot to mention the power supply; its a Cool Master 750w.

Reply to malina
Slomo4shO   11-18-2008 at 08:14:18 AM
- 1 +

Have you tried booting with a single stick of ram or using different slots?

And you say that the computer says on indefinitely but no display pops up on your screen or does it turn on and nothing comes on screen and it restart or powers down?

Also, have you tried resetting the CMOS?

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by Slomo4shO on 11-18-2008 at 08:15:56 AM
Reply to Slomo4shO
lunyone   11-18-2008 at 08:21:55 AM
- 0 +

Well I hope the Cooler Master PSU isn't bad. CM PSU's have had issues in the past, so that might be a consideration. Do you have another PSU that you can test with?

Also you might try a different output port on your video card. I've had ports go bad on them and I was able to use the other port to get things back running. I'm also going to assume that your plugging into one of the DVI ports on the back, right?
http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-143-137-03.jpg


Message edited by lunyone on 11-18-2008 at 08:24:39 AM
Reply to lunyone
kyeana   11-18-2008 at 08:55:29 AM
- 0 +

your mobo has 2 power connectors that have to be plugged in. One is a 20 or 24 pin connector, and one is a 4 or 8 pin connector. Make sure you have both of them plugged in then try it again

Reply to kyeana
malina   11-18-2008 at 09:13:46 AM
- 0 +

Slomo4shO wrote :

Have you tried booting with a single stick of ram or using different slots?

And you say that the computer says on indefinitely but no display pops up on your screen or does it turn on and nothing comes on screen and it restart or powers down?

Also, have you tried resetting the CMOS?





Slomo4shO ftw.. you were right.. I never knew that. I guess its been awhile since i've done this. Apparently this mobo requires any DDR2 containing 1066Mhz be placed in the (black) middle DIMM socket. Any DDR2 under 1066Mhz must be placed in the (yellow) first DIMM socket...
I wasn't aware of this. Brilliant. Thank you very mch guys, the computer finally booted up :D

Reply to malina
Slomo4shO   11-18-2008 at 09:26:51 AM
- 0 +

Well I am glad to hear it. Your motherboard actually has 2 DDR3 and 4 DDR2 DIMM slots. I had a feeling you might have been using the DDR3 slots instead of the DDR2 slots. They look alike so its difficult to distinguish them without either reading the manual or reading the fine print on the board itself.

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to Slomo4shO
kyeana   11-18-2008 at 06:11:51 PM
- 0 +

Slomo4shO wrote :

Well I am glad to hear it. Your motherboard actually has 2 DDR3 and 4 DDR2 DIMM slots. I had a feeling you might have been using the DDR3 slots instead of the DDR2 slots. They look alike so its difficult to distinguish them without either reading the manual or reading the fine print on the board itself.



ddr2 ram doesn't fit in ddr3 slots, and vice versa.

Reply to kyeana
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