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Trying to Start New System

Forum Homebuilt Systems : General Homebuilt - Trying to Start New System

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Maynard123   05-11-2009 at 03:49:21 AM

I just built a system with an ASUS P6T mobo, GFX285 graphics, 6GB Ram, i7 920 CPU, Zalman 9900 cooler, Antec EH750 PSU, WD Raptor HD, etc. I powered it one and all of the fans and lights came on, optical drive spinning, lights on mobo, but nothing on the monitor and no sounds or beeps.

Any idea on how I can diagnose what is wrong?

Thanks for any suggestions.


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Maynard123   05-11-2009 at 02:57:10 PM
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Thanks...a great thread. Unfortunately I did all the things suggested and still have the problem. It's very strange. I thought it was the video card, since the card's fan isn't spinning and it sends no signal to the monitor. But I but a different, working, video card in the slot and it doesn't work either...no fan, no signal to the monitor. All other fans in the case work, the mobo lights up, and drives are making sounds as if they are working.

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Bronze Home Brew badge jsc   05-11-2009 at 05:00:13 PM
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After the checklist, try this:

Pull everything except the CPU and HSF. Boot. You should hear a series of long single beeps indicating lack of memory. Silence here indicates, in probable order, a bad PSU, motherboard, or CPU - or a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU.

To eliminate the possiblility of a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU, you will need to pull the motherboard out of the case and reassemble the components on an insulated surface. This is called "breadboarding" - from the 1920's homebrew radio days. I always beadboard a new or recycled build. It lets me test components before I go through the trouble of installing them in a case. Example:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] _13_0.html

Basically, you are building a PC without the case. You can turn it on by temporarily shorting the two pins that the case power switch connects to.

If you get the long beeps, add a stick of RAM. Boot. The beep pattern should change to one long and two or three short beeps indicating missing video card. Silence indicates that the RAM is shorting out the PSU (very rare). Long single beeps indicates that the BIOS does not recognize the presence of the RAM.

If you get the one long and two or three short beeps, test the rest of the RAM. If good, install the video card and any needed power cables and plug in the monitor. If the video card is good, the system should successfully POST (one short beep, usually) and you will see the boot screen and messages.

Note - an inadequate PSU will cause a failure here or any step later.
Note - you do not need drives or a keyboard to successfully POST (generally a single short beep).

If you successfully POST, start plugging in the rest of the components, one at a
time.

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