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#1 (permalink) |
Upright
Location: Cleveland, OH/Athens, OH
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Building computer question
Heya,
So after all those threads of "what should I get" I finally got all the parts in last night. I assembled everything from Midnight to 3am....was very excited about turning everything on. Well, the system turned on (yay! I didn't fuck up the power button) but the screen was black, no signal. (Card tested was a 9800 Pro) I doubled checked that the card was seated, it was, and that the power cord was running into the card. It was. I tried the card, both analog and DVI slots on two working monitors. Nothing. This morning I woke up earlier and opened my gaming machine. It has a GeForce4 4400 inside. I know the 4400 works. I inserted the 4400, checked that it was seated properly, and plugged in the monitor. Turned the system on and again got a black screen on both monitors in both analog and DVI. To double check the 9800 Pro wasn't the problem I tried it in my older system. The computer did show a bootup screen, but locked immediately at the 'Checking NVRAM' prompt. I believe this is due to my low wattage PSU(~300W). Anyone have a fricken clue what's going on? I suspect the AGP slot is bad on my motherboard. Could it be the 9800 Pro? It seems doubtful since the other tested card refuses to show anything. Could it be a power issue? I've had the system run with a blank screen for a few minutes and nothing's seemed wrong (i.e. no unusual noises, smoke, burning smell, power failure, etc.) The parts in the TBA computer are: 2.6CGhz P4, MSI Neo2-LS, ATi 9800pro, Corsair 1GB Twinx PC3200LLPT. If you guys need any other parts in the computer to figure out the problem, just ask. Any thoughts or ideas on how to deal with this (other than immediately phoning NewEgg and asking for a replacement) would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
__________________
"I'm desperately not trying to feel the early, preconceived notion of love that only exists in top 40's pop songs." "He who wants money, means and content are without three good friends." - Shakespeare "...like Vietnam, or those bands that never got over the fact they opened for Nirvana, I never got over her." -Nick Hornsby |
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#2 (permalink) |
Tilted
Location: har!
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Do you get any beeps out of the machine by any chance? Motherboards usually have beep codes you can go by to figure out where the issue is if it's beeping at you.
It could also be the RAM, that's a big culprit for no video. It could be the CPU or the motherboard also. Hard to say but I'd disconnect everything aside from the basics (MB, RAM, CPU, Video, KB), reseat the RAM and see what it does from there. |
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#5 (permalink) |
I am Winter Born
Location: Alexandria, VA
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As suggested, first see if it makes any beeps at all when you turn it on. If so, check those against your motherboard manual - fix whatever they indicate is broken.
If there are no beeps, then it's not POSTing. Go ahead and rip out everything (yes, everything) except the motherboard, CPU, video card, and RAM. Power it on. Does it POST? No? Try putting in known-good RAM. Does it POST? No? Carefully examine the CPU/Heatsink, making sure that they're installed properly/etc. Try again. Does it POST? No? Probably a motherboard issue, RMA it. If it does post with just those few items in, add them back in, part by part, making sure that everything is seated properly and securely connected. Either you'll find a piece of hardware that makes it not-POST, or else everything will work. If you're lucky, it will be the latter and it means you just didn't hook something up completely the first time. Since you just bought it, it'll be a little bit of a hassle, but you can send back any defective hardware you may have received.
__________________
Eat antimatter, Posleen-boy! |
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#6 (permalink) | |
Registered User
Location: Somewhere in Ohio
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Quote:
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#7 (permalink) |
Upright
Location: Cleveland, OH/Athens, OH
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Just got back from work, so I'm going to do everything written down on here now.
Thank you guys so much. Let's hope nothing's messed up. *crosses fingers*
__________________
"I'm desperately not trying to feel the early, preconceived notion of love that only exists in top 40's pop songs." "He who wants money, means and content are without three good friends." - Shakespeare "...like Vietnam, or those bands that never got over the fact they opened for Nirvana, I never got over her." -Nick Hornsby |
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#9 (permalink) | |
I am Winter Born
Location: Alexandria, VA
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Quote:
__________________
Eat antimatter, Posleen-boy! |
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#10 (permalink) |
Registered User
Location: Somewhere in Ohio
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I didn't give me a sour tase, but I sure was pissed about it cause it was the first PC I built. The bad part is I had to RMA the MOBO twice! It took forever. Anyway, I'm already planning on changing MOBO's and getting a better processor. I can't wait.
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#11 (permalink) |
I am Winter Born
Location: Alexandria, VA
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Yea, I've got upgrade fever, though my system is less than a year old. Sadly, I don't have the money to buy a new machine for at least a year, possibly longer. I still like drooling over all of the new hardware as it comes out, though.
__________________
Eat antimatter, Posleen-boy! |
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#12 (permalink) |
Upright
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i just had this problem i had to deal with, with a computer from my company, i ended up finding out it was a RAM problem after i spent 2 weeks and 450$ on new equipment...you may want to try tearing out the equipment and setting it up on a desk without the case surrounding it. you may have to find an old case to tear a power switch out of, but then it makes it much easier to find out the problem. also try taking the ram from your working machine out and testing it with the RAM from the broken machine. you may want to try the whol system outside of the case in case it is a grounding issuse. but i doubt it is that. i also doubt that it might be a PSU problem since 300W is plenty to run up to a 3.0GHz off of. if you need more help email me @ seeker@omega-byte.com
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Tags |
building, computer, question |
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