Frustration with new build

[vertigofm]

Hi guys- I hope you can help me! I'll try to be as detailed as possible.

Basically, my mom's computer broke and it was such an old POS I just tolder her- "Let me build you a new one cheaply. I have some old parts and I can order some new ones".

I've done this many times, but never had this problem before. First let me tell you the parts.

Case: GIGABYTE KF Series GZ-KF01B Black SGCC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Power Supply: LOGISYS Computer PS550ABK 550Watts ATX12V (After failure went to Best Buy and bought a 500W Rocketfish "gaming" PSU

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor

Video Card: ATI Radeon X1800XTX

Hard Drive: Western Digital 120GB 7200RPM (already had OS and stuff installed but I planned to reformat and reinstall XP)

RAM: Generic Corsair stick from CDW: 2GB DDR2 (nothing special)



Alright. So everything was looking beautiful. Went over the checklist- yep! Went to start... and nothing. Although I oddly noticed that the video card was running at full fan speed. I suspected it was the power supply so I went out to Best Buy and got the rocket fish.

Round 2: Yay! It's loading up. There goes the Windows XP screen- but whoops, it runs into a blue screen obviously because it's for a different computer with all the wrong drivers.

No problem right? I'll just reboot and reformat the hard drive. But then the USB keyboard wouldn't work when I tried to press Delete or F2 to get into the BIOS.

So I plug in a PS/2 Keyboard. That doesn't respond either (maybe the PS/2 slot on the mobo is bad?).

So I take out the CMOS battery to reset it. Maybe that will make the keyboard respond.

But when I give it some time and try again- it seems the PSU had failed again! (this was the best buy one).

At this point I am very frustrated. My wife suggests that perhaps the socket is bad and is ruining the Power Supplies. She might have a point... We live in an apartment that has some really bad sockets, and this one is a little loose itself.

I'm heading to Best Buy tomorrow to try another Power Supply and a DIFFERENT socket this time with a surge protector.

I also might have to RMA the motherboard if it doesn't detect the PS/2 keyboard.

But since you guys are smarter than me and better at this than me... I wanted to ask you for your thoughts, insight, and advice.

Thank you so much guys- you are always lifesavers!

Best,

Frank

 

[doive1231]

If the graphics card fan started up that would suggest there was power to the board and therefore the PSU was not at fault.

However, now the keyboards don't respond. Is it still booting up your old Windows XP screen and then blue screening. If so, this would suggest it's still not a PSU fault.

Will think about the keyboard issue.

 

[vertigofm]

Well the first PSU didn't even get to the blue screen. Actually on the graphics card it had two red lights on indicating insufficient power.

On the second PSU all was good- for like the first hour- then the graphics card fan became noisy and it had the insufficient power light on it as well. At that point the computer would turn on but just be a black screen.

 

[banthracis]

Have you gone through this checklist?
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-boot-video-problems

Also, please don't get a junk PSU. Looks for something with active PFC and is 80+ rated. Best buy's should carry Antec's earthwatt PSU's.

 

[vertigofm]

Have you gone through this checklist?
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-boot-video-problems

Also, please don't get a junk PSU. Looks for something with active PFC and is 80+ rated. Best buy's should carry Antec's earthwatt PSU's.

Went through that list- yep.

Could it be that after resetting the CMOS (by removing the battery) the motherboard is defaulting to the onboard video?

But that wouldn't make sense because before the PCI E vid card worked before...

 

[banthracis]

If it is defaulting to onboard, that's an easy change in the BIOS.
Really should have a surge protector to your PC.

Make sure the 6/8pin connectors are connected to GPU. That's the most common reason for insufficient power leds to light up.

How exactly are you determining a PSU fail?

Is the system posting? If not, do you have a case speaker? Any beep codes?

If you can POST, what about BIOS settings? Were you ever able to get into the BIOS after using the PS/2 keyboard? According to your narrative you weren't able to get the PC running again after CMOS reset.

 

[vertigofm]

If it is defaulting to onboard, that's an easy change in the BIOS.
Really should have a surge protector to your PC.

Make sure the 6/8pin connectors are connected to GPU. That's the most common reason for insufficient power leds to light up.

How exactly are you determining a PSU fail?

Is the system posting? If not, do you have a case speaker? Any beep codes?

If you can POST, what about BIOS settings? Were you ever able to get into the BIOS after using the PS/2 keyboard? According to your narrative you weren't able to get the PC running again after CMOS reset.

Even when it was running to the windows XP screen the keyboard wouldn't work.

The six pin connectors were firmly in place.

I was determining power failure because of the red lights on the vid card and blank screen.

What confuses me is why for a while it would get to windows but now it won't. It seemed to stop right after I reset the CMOS battery.

 

[vertigofm]

I'm going to try a new PSU tomorrow and will report on the results!