So I researched parts and everything in buying components and so everything is compatible.

I'm not very knowledgeable on how to troubleshoot problems I'm facing now that its built (didn't plan on building it now, was gonna read up more first)

I'm super short on cash right now so I can't really pay anyone to take a look at it.

Anyone interested in taking on a charity case and helping/tutoring via PM?

8/4/2010 10:52:26 PM

Just post here about what problems you're having. We should be able to help you.

8/4/2010 10:59:57 PM

what's the problem, broski? I don't think anybody would get a kick out of charging you.

8/4/2010 11:00:38 PM

I mentioned PM because last time I posted a legit question in tech talk several people flamed me. Sure I troll a lot but I keep it to chitchat.

Nevertheless, I bought parts spread over time but always made sure they'd be compatible

Now everythings hooked up correctly, and it won't boot. Won't do anything but power on (fans and leet leds and whatnot).
This doublefucks me, because I don't know where to start to find. The problem.

There's a red light on the board next to the ram modules, but mobo manual doesn't mention that light at all.

If I bought non compatible ram by accident, would it cause what I'm seeing? Or is it something else. I read that some boards like mine would have a series of beeps if it was a ram fuckup

8/4/2010 11:26:09 PM

no beeps? no LED flashes? Fans spinning?

Easiest place to start is removing non-essential parts one at a time and try to boot. Graphics card, sound card, DVD drives. Still no boot then remove one stick of memory at a time. Still nothing check the processor and make sure none of the pins are bent.

Just some ideas to start with.

[Edited on August 4, 2010 at 11:42 PM. Reason : a]

8/4/2010 11:39:00 PM

No beeps, all lights on, fans spinnin(they don't stop). Lolz rap

Ill start with your suggestion of takin out the non essentials

That'll last me til bedtime probs, so I'll post outcome tomorrow

[Edited on August 4, 2010 at 11:51 PM. Reason : your]

8/4/2010 11:49:33 PM

Also, thanks and thanks in advance to anyone else with suggestions

8/4/2010 11:52:28 PM

give us a list out of your parts plx sir

8/5/2010 12:05:16 AM

clear cmos jumper

8/5/2010 12:06:58 AM

I have found the simple things are the culprits sometimes. Make sure the stand offs are in the right place so the board is grounded. Did you look at the processor before you put the heat sink over it. Make sure nothing got damaged before you locked it in place.

8/5/2010 12:21:55 AM

Checked standouts

Parts:

Amd phenom
Ecs kn3 sli2 motherboard
Ocz reaper ddr2 800 2x2gb.
Xfx nvidia 9000 series
Samsung ide dvdrw
Antec truepowertrio 650w
My old hard drives from another comp, both eide 120gb wd's

Don't have exact specs off top of head and don't have boxes nearby. Hope this basic info is good enough.

[Edited on August 5, 2010 at 1:10 AM. Reason : got the box...vidcard is a 9800 gtx+]

8/5/2010 1:02:45 AM

I’ve seen this before when the processor wasn’t seated or had a bent pin (i don’t think they use pins anymore).

It could also be cause if the auxillary power connector isn’t connected properly.

I doubt it’s bad RAM type because that would typically be associated with beeps.

And make sure your graphics card is seated properly too.

8/5/2010 9:02:18 AM

double checked the video card last night, its seated properly. Then that storm came through and I said fuck it and went to bed. Ill check the processor. I hope its not a problem there.

8/5/2010 11:11:47 AM

Ok checked cpu, no bent pins. Non essentials taken out. No luck.

How can I check to see if maybe the processor was just doa?

8/5/2010 11:36:56 AM

Bad motherboard. You could've fried it with static electricity when putting it in or wasn't grounded properly to the case or it could've been bad out of the box.

If it's less than a year old and you have the receipt, you can RMA it.

[Edited on August 5, 2010 at 11:42 AM. Reason : *]

8/5/2010 11:41:25 AM

I had assumed that's where the problem was. All things I've tried are pointing to that.

2 questions:

Is ddr3 still 240 pin and accomadating to ddr2? Or will I need to find a mobo specifically for ddr2

Anyone have a favorite/trusted brand they'd recommend for mobos (can't rma it)

8/5/2010 11:57:23 AM

I going to second the guess of motherboard. CPUs are almost never DOA. I've never known anyone to have a bad CPU. Bad motherboards are much more common.

8/5/2010 2:49:27 PM

^^Gigabyte, motherboards are specific to DDR2 & DDR3, you'll need to find a DDR2 motherboard that supports your AMD Phenom socket type (assuming AM2+ or AM3)

This may be a silly question but did you plug in the PCI-e power to the graphics card?

I just have a hard time believing the motherboard is shot w/ no beeps and all LED's & fans turn on.

Red LED just means it's on standby, you should see a Green light upon power on.

[Edited on August 5, 2010 at 3:20 PM. Reason : .]

8/5/2010 3:19:47 PM

I've seen a few that would spin the fans and not do shit... But I dunno.

If you know someone with a processor that would work, try their processor. That would at least pinpoint the issue... It has to be one or the other.

[Edited on August 5, 2010 at 4:50 PM. Reason : *]

8/5/2010 4:49:59 PM

yea, but i'm more concerned with not getting any error beeps or codes, typically you get something if it goes wrong, hell most motherboards even have a beep code for OK

8/5/2010 5:15:42 PM

This is why you don't try to build a computer by yourself without any background.

You need to get someone to take a look at it. There's a 99.5% chance the computer is just fine and you've done something that you don't even know to tell us you've done. Of the 30-40 cases like this I dealt with back in the day, not one actually had a defective component. But there were plenty of cases of things not being properly installed, not in allowed configurations, not being grounded, shorts, and all kinds of other little gotcha's that take hours to diagnose remotely and 5 minutes in person.

8/5/2010 6:30:57 PM

Prospero - not a silly question. Pcie 6 pin was connected. Vid card fan spinning

Noen - I researched everything and have experience upgrading older pc's. This is the first time I built from scratch and I followed every manual and watched several vids on youtube to make sure I didn't miss anything. If you'd like to take a look at it, be my guest.

8/5/2010 9:38:53 PM

Next thing I'd try is a known working video card. And make sure you have a speaker on your motherboard to listen for any beeps.

8/5/2010 11:53:09 PM

If it was me I'd reseat the entire bundle of chords for the motherboard (for switches/fans/audio and the main connectors.)

And like everyone has said, strip it to nothing but a processor, then add RAM, then video. You should at least be getting some beeps or blink codes to tell you whats up.

8/6/2010 12:04:20 AM

Haha the only other video card I have is an agp from like 2004

If the motherboard is just fried, I'm assuming id have no beeps or blinkies right?

8/6/2010 1:38:48 AM

If it was completely fried, the fans wouldn't spin. But you may have shorted it somewhere, yeah. That's the confusion between the mobo and the processor.

8/6/2010 12:42:34 PM

Quote :

"I doubt it’s bad RAM type because that would typically be associated with beeps."

NOTE - Apparently not all Motherboards beep anymore. When I built my rig 2 years ago, I had a similar problem and questioned the lack of beeps. I looked at the manual and found out that the MB simply did not support beeping. Not sure if that is becoming standard or if it was just them being cheap. (Dammit, I even memorized those long-short combos back in high school).

I've had similar problems to what you are seeing the last two times I built a new computer for myself (granted the time I did it for my GF it was flawless, go figure). In those scenarios:

1. In the first instance, the MB jumpers weren't set up by default, so I had to do it myself. I had looked at the diagram wrong and placed them in a wrong order.


2. This latest time, it was the Video Card that was the culprit. In addition to being plugged into the MB, my video card also required a separate power cable be plugged into its side. Previously, the cards I had gotten was run of the mill low-mid performance so I had not run into this before. The lack of beeping lengthened the time it took me to realize this problem. The computer was running, I just didn't have video out.

8/6/2010 12:52:02 PM

^ My Asus A8N-SLI board doesn't beep and it was the best MB you could buy in 2005.

8/6/2010 1:06:54 PM

It was mentioned before, but you didn't address it - is the auxiliary power to the board connected? The connector is a 4/8 pin deal located near the processor. In my experience it will not run if that's there but not connected.

8/6/2010 1:15:04 PM

sounds like you have a underpowered power supply / not enough juice

8/6/2010 3:06:18 PM

Quote :

"My Asus A8N-SLI board doesn't beep and it was the best MB you could buy in 2005."

If your motherboard has a speaker pinout, it beeps. If your motherboard uses a BIOS, it has a speaker pinout.

The problem is that very few CASES come with system speakers anymore, and they are a pain in the ass to buy standalone. CHECK THE SYSTEM SPEAKER FIRST.
---------

In a pinch, you can tear the wires on an old set of headphones open and just wrap them around the pins for the motherboard speaker output.

[Edited on August 6, 2010 at 3:07 PM. Reason : .]

8/6/2010 3:06:46 PM

I had a similar issue with a pc im trying to build except all I got was the green light on the motherboard and a quick red light flash when I tried to power it on. The fans attempted to spin but just jumped. I checked all the components I could and ended up sending back the mb for replacement. Just got the new one in but haven't tried to install it yet.

8/6/2010 7:44:15 PM

^now that sounds like your power supply is jacked up.

Could also be motherboard, but I'd put a dollar on power supply

8/7/2010 2:33:58 AM

Could be. But I swapped it out with a known working power supply and got the same thing. I may try to put the thing together tomorrow.

8/7/2010 9:26:35 PM

I think the part about TWW that I like the best is the amazing amount of closure you get after help people with their problems and you find out the true trouble.

lol, dammit. I always wanna know what it ended up being!

8/12/2010 7:59:49 PM

Unless otherwise indicated, I go on the assumption it was user error.

8/13/2010 12:54:36 PM

Update on my issue. RMA'ed the MB, got the new one and it's working now.

8/23/2010 6:29:51 PM