LCD no longer recieves a signal after setting BIOS

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I have another problem with my new build. Everything was put together, booting fine, and posting, no problems. I went into the BIOS, and changed the boot order to read from CDROM first, since I have Windows Vista Ultimate DVD for my OS. I made NO other changes, then saved and exited the BIOS. I inserted the Windows OS install DVD to my CD/DVD combo drive, and then restarted the system. Everything starts running fine, it seems as if the PC is reading from the DVD drive, everything is like normal, except now I can't recieve a signal on my LCD.

I am running 2 graphics cards in SLI mode, and I tried swapping the LCD's cable between them, but no luck.

My system is as follows:
EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
BFG Tech GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI x 2
Thermaltake Toughpower W0155RU 1000W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
8 GB CORSAIR 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N
ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface Sound Card
Intel 2 Extreme Quad Core 9650
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate (Obviously not installed yet)

The LCD monitor is a Hanns-G 22-inch, model number HG216D.

It seems the closer I get to finishing this build the more things go wrong...:(
Any help or suggestions are very welcome!

[Kov-Ice]

If you go back to original boot order, can you see the screen again and boot into BIOS?

I have no real knowledge of SLI, but is it possible that you need to install the OS with only one video card, and then after all is up and running add the second card and software for SLI mode?

[>:() - Tiki Man]

Try this:
-Turn the computer off via psu switch.
-Pull out psu power cable from back of psu.
-Wait a few sec.
-Plug power cable back into psu.
-Turn on switch.
-Attempt to boot.

Im still not sure how this works, but 99% of the time it does for the problem you are describing.

[Cricket]

Did you try booting up with just 1 video card installed?

:) Cricket

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I tried doing the thing with the power cord that you described, and I am still having the same problem.

I also tried removing my SLI bridge and one of my graphics cards, and tried starting up with just the first graphics card in PCI-E slot 1. My LCD is still not receiving a signal. Both video cards are good, as is my RAM, the CPU, and the monitor. My boot screen detected and identified all of them correctly during my first several boots, as did BIOS, so it must be something I did in BIOS, right, since nothing else was changed between boots?

How do I reset BIOS and my boot order if I can't receive a signal to my LCD to see what I'm doing? That is about the only thing left to try it seems.

Thanks for all the help so far. It doesn't seem quite so frustrating as long as I still have avenues of attack.

[doubledragon5]

Try removing the battery for a few minutes, then put it back in it will reset the bios to defaults.

[>:() - Tiki Man]

Or alternativley look for the reset jumpers on the motherboard (you can refer to manual or online documentation to find them) and you can reset it that way.

[Cricket]

Time to do the out-of-case troubleshooter. (http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=12753)

:) Cricket

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Well, I removed the battery and that reset the BIOS, allowing me to boot back up with a signal to my LCD. I repeated what I had done the first time, and set my boot order to boot the CD drive first, and the hard drive second. I also set the time and date. I saved and rebooted the system, and everything went fine this time. My LCD always recieves a signal on boot now. I have no idea what could have gone wrong the first time.

I do have a new, *SIGH* problem. I don't know whether to start a new thread or continue here, but I guess I will lay it out.

I am trying to install Vista Ultimate to my system. Everything goes fine booting from the DVD, and the Windows installation starts. I put in my product key, agree to the EULA, and it starts installing. It copies all the files to the hard drive, and expands them, and then begins installing them. It informs me that it will need to restart to continue the installation, and proceeds to do this. (I don't have to do anything myself.)

When the system reboots, it asks me to hit a button to boot from DVD or CD. I don't do anything. It then proceeds to boot from the hard drive. The Windows start bar appears (with the moving green blocks) and then the screen flashes blue briefly and the system restarts. (I assume this is a Blue Screen of Death, but it flashes too quickly for me to see anything on it.) This will repeat once or twice, and then on the third automatic reboot, I get a message saying that Windows suffered an error when trying to start. It gives me the options to boot into safe mode, to the C: prompt, or into Windows normally. Choosing any of these options causes a repeat of all of the above.

If after the first part of the installation restarts, and I choose to boot from the CD by hitting a button, it merely starts the installation all over again.

I decided to try installing my old version of Windows XP to the system, and then upgrade to Vista from within that operating system. However, I suffered very similar problems with the XP disc unfortunately, with everything going fine with installation until the install needs to restart the system to continue. Once again, I get an error.

I have a feeling these may be caused by my hard drive. It is SATA (you can see it's exact specs in my first post), and I'm wondering if perhaps I need to install drivers for it to work properly with Windows. The install discs don't seem to have any trouble copying files to it and expanding them to begin with, but can't seem to read those files again on reboot. Or maybe my problems come from something else altogether.

Does anyone have any help to offer or suggestions? If you think my SATA drive IS the problem, perhaps you could offer me advice on the easiest way to install the drivers I need without the operating system?

Thanks for all the help so far, without it, this build would have been much more frustrating than it has been. (I guess I missed out with my first build 5 years ago being so uneventful and easy - this time around it has been quite educational!:rolleyes:)

EDIT:

Cricket, I did that out of case troubleshooting for an earlier hardware problem, when my build wasn't powering on at all, and it is the best PC advice ever! I wouldn't have thought to try it on my own, but it does work wonders. (Very out-of-the-box thinking!:p)

[doubledragon5]

I assume your typing this from a seperate computer? I would download the diagnostic tools from WD and save it to a floopy or burn to a Cd and run it to see if it passes or fails. Or if your HD came with one try it, and report back what you found..

[Ethdios]

I did read somewhere on this forum that you need an IDE hard drive to install the operating system...

Or maybe it was an IDE DVD drive... I don't remember. I think it was an IDE DVD drive 'cause I remember thinking "good, I have one". :/

[doubledragon5]

I did read somewhere on this forum that you need an IDE hard drive to install the operating system...

Or maybe it was an IDE DVD drive... I don't remember. I think it was an IDE DVD drive 'cause I remember thinking "good, I have one". :/

You don't need IDE cables to install any software including OS, when the drive is SATA which is faster, and more common now than IDE. You can alos buy a DVD/CD rom drive in SATA form as well..

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I used Western Digital's Lifeguard diagnostic tools on the hard drive, both the quick test and the extensive test. Both returned no errors.

Any other idea of where to go from here? This build has taken nearly four days so far, and seeing as how I only lack installing an OS before the thing is official operation, this is very frustrating.

I had heard something about IDE drives for OS installation as well . . . has anyone heard anything about SATA problems with the 780i mobos? I really hope this isn't the case, as I don't own any IDE drives. Even my previous build (the one I am right now) uses all SATA hard drives and disc drives.

[doubledragon5]

All I know is that MB with any IDE channels use generic drivers and are not much good.. If you still have issues it may be a MB issue instead of a HD issue

[LateWhiteRabbit]

PROBLEM SOLVED

So, after much internet searching, it appears that Windows Vista has trouble starting if the user has over 3 GB of RAM installed without having a hotfix installed to Vista. :confused:

I made sure I had just 2 GB of RAM installed and started the whole installation process over again. It worked flawlessly, and I know have an OS installed and working.

Now just to install all drivers and fixes and patches for everything installed and then hopefully install my second graphics card and remaining RAM with no problems.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions guys, it has really been appreciated. Cross your fingers with me that I won't have to post again with problems anytime soon!

[XenaWP]

I just installed Vista Ultimate from a DVD-ROM drive with a floppy drive for installing the SATA drivers (as well as 4 GB of RAM). No IDE drives required (neither optical nor HDD).

[Ethdios]

You don't need IDE cables to install any software including OS, when the drive is SATA which is faster, and more common now than IDE. You can alos buy a DVD/CD rom drive in SATA form as well..

No I was saying, you need an IDE drive because the computer doesn't recognize the SATA drive without having an operating system with the proper drivers.

But apparently that's not true 'cause he got it to work. :D