HELP! PC turns on, powers fans, GFX & HDD but no display.

[ink420]

Hello,

I finished building my new computer today and upon attempting to turn it on to run Ubuntu, the computer powers up the CPU fan, case fans, graphics card, HDD and DVD drive but does not show anything on the screen and when I attempt to open the DVD drive it opens and then closes the tray straight after opening.

The specifications of the computer are:
Case: Huntkey A502
M/B: J&W JW-A870T-UC3 AM3
DVD: Samsung SH-222AB SATA DVD-RAM Drive
FAN: Two case fans going through a Deepcool Rockman fan controller
CARD: Rock CR-705 Card Reader
RAM: 4x G.SKILL GS-F3-10600CL9S-4GBNT 1066mhz 4GB Module (16gb in total)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda Green 5900RPM 2TB SATA III
CPU: AMD FX-4100 Black Edition 4-Core AM3+ 3.60GHz
CPUC: CPU cooler provided with the CPU by AMD
GFX: Inno3D Nvidia GeForce GTX 550Ti PCI-E 2.0 1GB GDDR5 192-bit
PSU: Aywun Megapower 550W
RACK: Welland EZStor ME-751 5.25" rack for 3.5" SATA II HDD
WIFI: D-Link 'N' PCI Card (I can't bring the model number to mind)

All of the above parts are connected to the motherboard. All above parts are brand new apart from the Wi-Fi card, but it was functioning perfectly well in my last computer.

Now you may notice that the motherboard contains an AM3 socket and my CPU is AM3+ but AMD ensured backwards compatibility between the new AM3+ and the previous series AM3, so that isn't the problem.

Basically my final order arrived today, finishing off the computer, so I installed the parts which included upgrading the PSU from 420W to 550W just in case. I have the 8 pin connector connected to the motherboard and one of the two 6 pin connectors connected to my GFX card. I have my HDD in SATA port 1, the rack plugged into SATA port 3 and my DVD drive plugged into SATA port 5. All RAM sticks have been clicked in place and are in all the way. The CPU fell into place perfectly and without force, and the CPU cooler clicked in fine.

When I turn the computer on the following happens:
Power LED light turns on
CPU fan powers up
Power is applied through Molex and SATA (fan controller is running off Molex, that works, and the HDD runs off SATA, that works)
The GFX card turns on, well the fan on it powers up anyway which suggests to me that it is working
No beep occurs as far as I am aware
NOTHING is displayed on screen, not even BIOS. The screen remains in sleep mode.
When I open the DVD drive it closes straight after opening.
The hard drive spins up and makes activity noises but then no more noise from it, it is completely silent.

So basically no display, no beep (buzzer is connected correctly), DVD drive closes itself and basically no HDD activity.

Extra care was taken when putting this computer together, all instructions were followed and nothing was forced into place. As stated above, all parts are brand new and are working to the best of my knowledge. The power supply works fine, of that I am sure.

If someone out there reading this could lend a hand by sharing some knowledge and helping me with these problems, I would be EVER so grateful. This is my first build, although I disassembled and reassembled my previous computer several times with no problems, granted that computer had far less parts in it. I have checked some of the troubleshooting guides on this website, with no results.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Luke.

 

[tlmck]

It seems you have what I call the FX bug. While an older AM3 motherboard may be qualified to run an FX CPU, the BIOS might not be updated to recognize it. This is happening a lot. Unfortunately, the only cure I know of is to install an older CPU, update the BIOS to the latest, and then reinstall the FX.

If you do not have an older CPU, you could either buy an older model AM2+ or AM3 CPU, or perhaps borrow one if possible. You might check the motherboard's CPU support list to see what the low end is. maybe even go to a local shop, explain your dilemma, and see if they can help.

 

[Petrofsky]

What he ^ said. You could try to get a refund on the mobo and get a new one that you know will accept your CPU. AMD can't guarantee backward compatibility---it's the motherboard that will or will not work with a given CPU. Get a name brand mobo with a website you can check for compatibility and updates.

 

[ink420]

I have decided to purchase a new Motherboard, as the existing one that is not accepting the AM3+ CPU is too old to be returned for change of mind. I have decided to buy the ASRock 970 Extreme3 M/B, it has an AM3+ socket so it should be all good with my CPU. Plus it is cheaper to buy that than to buy an old quad core CPU.

Thanks for your help and I will be posting on this forum again if I encounter any problems in the future.

 

[tlmck]

Actually, you did not need to buy an old quad core. An ~$35 Sempron would have done the trick.

The new motherboard does have the latest tech so at least that will be something. I would still double check the motherboard revision you are getting and make sure it is indeed the latest or you could wind up in the same boat.

 

[ink420]

@tlmck That is very true, I could purchase a Sempron but I would rather purchase a new Motherboard that can support much faster RAM, more RAM, has USB 3.0, has an AM3+ socket, has dual graphics card slots, etc... The new board will support the AM3+ CPU which is basically the only problem that I am currently facing.

Thanks for your help and I will post here if there are any problems with the new board.

 

[ink420]

Best answer selected by ink420.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey