Just Built possibly HDD error...

[FoSheezy]

Hey all, i just built a computer for my friend. I've built several computers, but this is my first time running into this one.

1st I boot up the system, no beeps(no internal speaker wires came with case/mobo), nothing showing up on monitor as it continues to sleep. Power supply, fans, cpu, and everything seems to be running fine.

Now on my LED lights my HDD Led stays lite. The first thing I did was check the cables, several times I tried diff IDE cables on the HD, no go. I tried using a diff HD to see if that one I had just got was corrupt. Still no go. I thought maybe the light was just bugged or something, so I replaced the video card. Still nothing.

So I read the mobo manual and it showed a FAQ on what I was experiencing somewhat. If your computer starts normally, no beep codes, and nothing showing up on monitor and it gave me a list of things to try. I attempted all of them, even the jumper part which was hard since the mobo didn't come with a jumper, only the pins. So I had to find one, nothing worked. I even tried taking my mobo away from the case a little. No go.

Computer specs:
1.7ghz Intel Celeron fbs 400mhz
Soyo mobo SY-P4VTP 400/5333/800mhz fsb
40gb Western Digital HD 7200rpm 8mb cache
512mb DDR266 pc-2700 ram
Sony CD-Rom and Floppy drives
GeForce 2 MX 400+ 64mb DDR


Any help is much appreciated.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by fosheezy on 05/05/04 10:04 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[mrmonsoon]

This may sound silly, but check your floppy cable, if plugged before the "twist", this kind of problem could occur. Try having the computer ignore the floppy drive from bios (something like flopy seek -disable and one other and first boot to cd as 1st and only boot choice) and see if this works.

 

[FoSheezy]

I'll check on that, but I can't access bios since nothing shows up on monitor.

 

[mrmonsoon]

More stupid questions-have you reseated the video card-sometimes it seems in when it is not fully seated. Have you checked that both ends of the video cable don't have any bent pins and both ends are secure. Is the monitor plugged in (power), is it turned on-don't be insulted, most problems are simple issues, not complex ones. If it plugged in and on does the power (on the monitor) ever change from yellow to green?

 

[FoSheezy]

yes to about everything u said. I'm using the monitor on my main computer, just on his built one for testing. It changes from green to yellow when idle and right when turned on even when not connected or detecting it's green, then moves to yellow.

 

[FoSheezy]

Think it could be my vid card? It's an old gf 2 mx 400 on a new soyo. It's not gone bad since I tested an nvidia tnt2 on it too...just some spare crap i had around. But didn't try any newer vid cards.

 

[Crashman]

Normally when the hard drive light stays on it means the cable is flipped on one end. Try booting the system with all the drive cables detached and see if you can get to the POST screen.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[FoSheezy]

I tried that just now. I even disconnected all IDE cables including the floppy cable and still, sounds like it starts fine. No display on monitor and HDD light stays lit. Down to motherboard, vid card, or cpu issue. All of the items are right out of the retail cases too.

 

[Crashman]

The only time I've seen the HD light stay lit with no IDE cables installed was when the HD controller was fried!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[FoSheezy]

jiggah what?! What u mean?

 

[Crashman]

The hard drive controller is part of your chipset. It shouldn't be lit when no hard drives are connected. Therefor the light staying on might be an indication of chipset problems, and since the chipset is soldered to the motherboard, motherboard problems.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[mrmonsoon]

You may have hit on the problem. When I upgraded from ti4200 to 5900, I tried to put 4200 in my dads P4 2.0 gig computer. It would not boot and the screen was blank. When I put his ATI 8 Meg-ya I know, but its his computer, it worked just fine. Try putting a newer v-card in and see if it works. I saw an article somewhere about older v-cards and newer ones using different voltages. Worth a try.