HELP - Middle of a build

Hey everyone. I have just finished assembling my new PC, and I went to turn it on for the first time... it started.... but nothing on the screen at all... no BIOS, nothing. I waited 30 secs like the Mobo manual told me too.... nothing. So I brought it back upstairs, I opened the side, plugged in the PSU again. The light on the Mobo is lit up, showing that I do have power going to the mobo. Can anyone think of what my problem is?My SpecsAntec 300 Case
Corsair 750 Watt PSU
1GB Ram
ASUS P5Q Pro MOBO
Western Digital 160GB HD 7200RPM
nVidia 6800 Video Card.Any help ASAP would really be appreciated.ThanksHELP - Middle of a build
Ok, my Q-Connect became dislodged when I was re-arranging some cables. Nothing shows on the screen when I start tho. I dont see anything however. Any suggestions?HELP - Middle of a build
The graphics card is not the 8600GT?
no its my older 6800, im waiting for my new card in the mail. Going to use this one until my other one comes in
First things first. Always, always, always build your rig out of the case. Make sure that every thing works before you go through the trouble of installing it all in a box. Maybe you did, but you didnt mentino that. Of course, try reseating everything. But if that doesnt do it then, you might want to consdier tearing it all apart. I know it's a pain, but it can help solve your problem. I will say this though. The Antec Three, Nine, and Twelve hundred series of cases falls victim to a common problem with many PSU's. The CPU power cords (those four pin plugs that are alwasy near the CPU) get streched to much and get a short. This is because many PSU's give more than enough lenth to them if the are top mounted. The Antec cases here are botom mounted and most CPU's are located in the part of the mobo that would place it near a common top mounted PSU. I know your PSU though and both it's4 pin CPU plugs should be long enough and have a extra couple of inches to spare. However it may be a revised modle and the cables could be shorting if you are stretching them to much. Also, if you ran them under the mobo (I tend to do) then you need to flatten them out so the pointed ends of some solder joints dont dig in and short out the line. That being said, I still recommened that you rebuild it out of the case. If it turns out to be the mobo is bad you are going to have to rebuild it anyway. Reinstalling the PSU and drives only takes a few extra minutes. If it works outside of the case, then you have either shorted the mobo out at someplace, or you have power cable problem. Only use the minimum parts you need to get a POST. PSU, mobo, CPU (with cooling), single stick of RAM, and video card if you are not using an IGP. Nothing else. No drives, second or thrid video cards, soundcards, or anytihng else. Just the very basics. From there, start adding more parts and keep checking for POST. Dont even bother with more than one stick of RAM until after you have your OS installed (as that can help prevent installation issues). That should be your final bit of work. Once you have everything working and the OS installed, then push it hard (no overclocking though) to test it. Give it a day if you can of hard work. Then you can put it all in the case. When putting the mobo in, make sure all the standoffs of the mobo are used if they can be. If there are 9, 10, 11, or even 12 standoffs to use, then use all of them. Make sure you dont have any standoffs in the case that do not line up with the mobo and are not being used. If you find any of those, then remove them. They may very well be causing a short. Give us more details on your build so we can offer more ideas.
could it be that the video card is shot? Nothing comes up on the monitor, it just blinks green. (The led that is)
kodai, what other specifics do you need to know?I have ran everything, PC starts up, you can see all the drives working, all LEDs flashing, showing they are accessing drives, HDD's, etc. Just nothing on the screen shows up, I am thinking that the video card could finally be shot? What do you think?
Borrow a card of somebody and stick it in.
yeah I just reseated everything, no cords are stretching at all in the case.... and still nothing. I seriously think it could be that video card. I am going to try and find another to use and see if thats the reason.
The Asus P5Q Pro only supports PCI-E 2.0 cards, doesn't support 1.1. Just wait for your new card.
[QUOTE=''Sordidus'']The Asus P5Q Pro only supports PCI-E 2.0 cards, doesn't support 1.1. Just wait for your new card.[/QUOTE]The PCI-e spec calls for backwards compatability with previous versions. If it supports PCI-e 2.0 then it must suppot previous versions, or its not PCI-e at all. LaxBandit, have you tried hooking up the bare minimum parts (outside of the case) like I suggested? Just the PSU, mobo, CPU with cooling, one stick of RAM and GPU with nothing else? No drives, keyboard, mouse, soundcards, etc. Nothing else at all. Also, have you made sure that you're using both of the 4 pin CPU plugs and not the four pin PCI-e plugs? I'm trying to help you eliminate multiple causes here. The case could be an issue for grounding problems, and the all to common issue of the overly complex PSU molex adaptors that are a constant source of confusion for new (or infrequent) system builders. After those those things are done, then try another video card. If you need to, find a BestBuy or Walmart and get the cheapest PCI-e video card you can find. They both offer a no questions asked return policy on those items. That way you can return it when your done with the tests (or keep it for emergency use if it's cheap enough). Another thing to note. Many variants of the 6800 needed two different 4 pin molex connections for power. Make sure that if yours is one of these, then you have two different lines running to it that are not hooked up to anything at all. No fans, drives, or other cards. Just seperate lines. Also, if you have multiple D-SUB/DVI outputs on your 6800, then make sure you try both. I have seen some cards that only work on the top port in one system and bottom port on another. For the life of me I cant begin to explain why that happens, but I have seen it. Are you using an internal PC speaker? If so and you hear beeps, then your getting POST, but not seeing it. If you're not hearing anything, then it's not your vide card. You mobo is not POST'ing. I cant recommend enough the value of using a PC speaker for dealing with these problems. Do try to hook one up if you havent done so. If you dont have a momentary switch to use in starting the mobo outside the case (and the case wire is not long enough to reach for this), then you can use a clean pen knife or flat head screw driver to start it. Just a once second contact of the two header pins to start it and use the PSU switch (or power strip switch) to turn it off. Keep a steady hand about you and dont rake the other contacts and you should be fine.
[QUOTE=''kodai''][QUOTE=''Sordidus'']The Asus P5Q Pro only supports PCI-E 2.0 cards, doesn't support 1.1. Just wait for your new card.[/QUOTE]The PCI-e spec calls for backwards compatability with previous versions. If it supports PCI-e 2.0 then it must suppot previous versions, or its not PCI-e at all. [/QUOTE]I know that, but this is a known issue with Asus P5Q series.
[QUOTE=''LaxBandit'']Hey everyone. I have just finished assembling my new PC, and I went to turn it on for the first time... it started.... but nothing on the screen at all... no BIOS, nothing. I waited 30 secs like the Mobo manual told me too.... nothing. So I brought it back upstairs, I opened the side, plugged in the PSU again. The light on the Mobo is lit up, showing that I do have power going to the mobo. Can anyone think of what my problem is?My SpecsAntec 300 Case
Corsair 750 Watt PSU
1GB Ram
ASUS P5Q Pro MOBO
Western Digital 160GB HD 7200RPM
nVidia 6800 Video Card.Any help ASAP would really be appreciated.Thanks[/QUOTE]Why such a powerful PSU for such a non power demanding system? It has something to do with you interface between GPU and monitor is my guess
Does your mobo have onboard video - you could trying removing the GPU altogether
Ok I installed an 8600 GTS video card. Here is my problem now.When I had it laying on its side... i had everything outside its case... it works...I have everything in the case... and standing straight up... and it doesnt work.Also the PSU will suddenly shut down and then restart...What is going on now?
[QUOTE=''LaxBandit'']Ok I installed an 8600 GTS video card. Here is my problem now.When I had it laying on its side... i had everything outside its case... it works...I have everything in the case... and standing straight up... and it doesnt work.Also the PSU will suddenly shut down and then restart...What is going on now?[/QUOTE] Did you install the motherboard standoffs before mounting the motherboard?
I had a similar problem, everything started up fine except i had no video - as if my monitor was in standby. My problem was the PSU putting out far more than it should have done causing trouble. This in turn fired my motherboard - so once those were replaced i was good to go.
so marc... you had to replace the PSU and Mobo? PSU was faulty.... giving out more power then it should of.
All right. So it all works outside the case but not inside. Lets take this one step at a time. Only install the PSU, mobo with CPU and cooling, one stick of RAM and GPU. Again, make sure all the standoffs that the mobo can use are in line with standoffs in the case. If you see a hole on the mobo that does not have little solder pads around it, the odds are it's not a stand off spot. The solder pads are for grounding. Some mobos have holes in them that the machines putting the mobo together use to hold/move the board along and they are not meant for a user to shove a case screw into. So only look for holes with a little ring of solder pads. Again, double check that the case doesnt have standoffs installed that dont line up with the mobo holes. They can touch and short out other componets on the mobo. I've seen a number of cases were the thin metal backplate that goes in the case and fits the IO pots of the mobo, ends up grounding things out. Take that out for testing. Make sure you are only tightening the standoff screws just enough to keep them from falling out. No need to use 20lb of torque on them as it can stress the mobo and again, cause a short. Also, since you are using a Three Hundred, dont worry about hooking up the case fans while doing any of this. You might want to take them out to prevent breaking the blades. The 140mm on top is a tad more delicate than the 120mm's and big 'ol CPU fansinks can bump right into the blads while installing them and snap them right off. Just dont forget to put them back in (and you may have to take the mobo out to do it) before you put it all back together.Now with just the basics (which we now know are working) installed in the case with all the standoffs double checked, power it up. If it doesnt work, but you see a LED on the mobo light up, start moving all the PSU cables around. Both at their mobo connections and at the base of the PSU. You dont have to jerk or yank on them. Just push, pull, and jostle them a bit to make sure there is not an issue with the PSU cables shorting out. Sometimes it can take a second for the system to respond to this and kick on. Just jostle the cable, push the power switch and wait a second. This can take a few minutes to do, but it's worth it. Do it again with the case in both the upright position and laying down. If it only works while laying down, then there is a good chance your PSU has a short in it somewhere. Let us know how it goes.
[QUOTE=''LaxBandit'']so marc... you had to replace the PSU and Mobo? PSU was faulty.... giving out more power then it should of.[/QUOTE] Yeah at first i thought it was my video card but i had that tested and it was fine. PSU was outputting far more than it should have thus damaging the internet access thing (cant remember the name right now :P) on my motherboard - the computer worked perfectly fine with old motherboard except i was unable to connect to the internet, so obviously that had to be replaced aaswell.