Building new HTPC - Can't Get Vid Out on 1st Boot!

[pratik97]

NEED HELP TECHIES!!

I have one of those small Shuttle like cases and I finally got around to putting my system together. Got a DVD drive in there, with a 2.0 GHZ Celeron, put in a Hauppauge PVR card and an ATI Radeon AGP card with 512 MB of Kingston and a 120 gig 7200 RPM hard drive. When I press the power button the lights come on the front panel (blue and orange) but nothing comes up on the monitor. I'm plugging my monitor on the on board video currently. The monitor just acts as if it were idle. The interesting thing is even when the machine is on the DVD does not even power up (I can't open or close the tray) and I'm sure the connections are all solid and everything has power.

Does anyone have any idea what is causing this? Is it possible that something is wrong? Or shoudl I perform a diagnostic by taking out the cards and just using whats on board to start? Please let me know with any suggestions!


UPDATED - Still not working

Well I put in a working DDR stick from another machine which was known good. In fact I put in my Kingston RAM into the old machine and that booted up fine so the RAM isnt defective. The Centon RAM I put into my HTPC got the same result. The only thing I have hooked in is the processor and the memory and a monitor. Still get nothing from the video. What baffles me is even if the DVD drive isnt hooked up to an IDE channel it should still power up shouldnt it? Atleast open and close the tray so I know that its getting power but instead it doesnt do anything. My monitor is known good. Actually I've tried 2 monitors. The other thing I'm gonna try is hook up an S-Video from my machine to my HDTV but dont want to damage that.

Any other suggestions? Thanks guys.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by pratik97 on 10/29/03 03:17 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[cleeve]

Could be a bad power supply... might want to try another one if you got one lying around...

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Radeon 9500 (hardmodded to PRO, o/c to 322/322)
AMD AthlonXP 2400+ (o/c to 2600+ with 143 fsb)
3dMark03: 4055

 

[pratik97]

If it was a bad power supply wouldnt the power not even come on? I can turn it on and have the lights from the front come on but then it just sits there.

 

[marneus]

if the power is flowing at all correctly, even if the computer doesnt pass post, the optical drives should have power flowing to them... ie if you cant open the drives, I say a PSU fault as those leads come direct from the PSU...

Trust me I know what I'm doing... ooops, grab the cat...

 

[cleeve]

The lights require very little power to turn on.

Regardless, trying a different power supply will at least give you the peace of mind knowing that the problem isn't there...

And it's one of the easiest things to swap, to boot.

------------------
Radeon 9500 (hardmodded to PRO, o/c to 322/322)
AMD AthlonXP 2400+ (o/c to 2600+ with 143 fsb)
3dMark03: 4055

 

[pratik97]

Well problem with that is this is just a small shuttle machine and all my other power supplies are in big towers. Would that cause any problems? The power supply in the HTPC is just 150 watt and i believe my other one in a tower is 300 watt. Also where's a retailer I could get a small 150 watt PS from?

 

[pratik97]

Also one other stupid question. I can hook up the ATX motherboard connection for another power supply but on my Shuttle case there's a 4 pin power connector at the front of the machine which I don't have on my other power supply. Its a square 4 pin connector. Without that other connector on my other PS how can I test it?

 

[Crashman]

These types of systems are junk for that purpose, I'm 50% certain your power supply can't power all those parts reliably. You should have built a MicroATX Desktop. Those are the cases that lay flat, and are available in varieties that resemble a home stereo in both design and size. Some use full sized ATX power supplies.

If it is a power issue, I have one thing to say: You should have ask an expert before attempting to build this garbage.

Did you know your "small" form factor case takes up more space than a Micro ATX desktop in a home theater rack, because it's taller? And that unused width in the rack simply makes the unit not match any other full sized stereo components. All the way around it's a bad choice, fostered by hype created by editors who probably have too much time on their hands.

<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>

 

[pratik97]

Thanks for your help on criticizing what I've made. As a matter of fact coupled as an HTPC I can also use this as a great gaming machine. Why I got this case? Did you see NewEgg's crazy deal on closing these out and how cheap they were? Probably not.
It turns out the Power supply is JUST FINE. I was using a bad power lead. It turns out there's an issue with the processor.

Again thanks for flaming my post. How about next time you actually give help instead of saying I should have gotten this and that?

 

[cleeve]

Holy $hit! You're trying to get a 2ghz CPU, 512 megs of RAM, and a 120 gig HD on a 150 watt power supply?

Dude... you have no idea how horribly underpowered that is. I'm sure shuttle or somebody makes small form factor power supplies with decent output. Don't go anyth8ing less than 350 watts, man.

Dude!

------------------
Radeon 9500 (hardmodded to PRO, o/c to 322/322)
AMD AthlonXP 2400+ (o/c to 2600+ with 143 fsb)
3dMark03: 4055

 

[Crashman]

Because by buying this machine, you incrementally increased their "popularity". Eventually small machines that can only do a few simple tasks will displace power boxes in the market, with low sales of power box components prices will skyrocket on the parts and choices will become slim. Power users will be pigeonholed into niche markets like PC based servers are, enthusiast will no longer be able to afford the hobby. By limitting your choices you limit mine and have made yourself an enemy of the enthusiast community. I think it's important to let you know.

What you're doing is the same as non-smokers voting to raise the tax on cigarettes but worse, more like environmentalist voting to heavily tax large light trucks to reduce gas-gusling SUV's, but having the tax even apply to light work trucks used by people like contractors and handymen.

<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>

 

[Crashman]

BTW, I hope your computer catches fire and burns your house down.

<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>