Problems With a New Build

[Thurrdome]

Here are the specs of my pride-and-joy computer that I am building:

COMPUTER PARTS:

Power:

Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL


Keyboard and Mouse:

Microsoft CA9-00001 Black 103 Normal Keys 3 Function Keys PS/2 Wired Standard – Keyboard mouse included (but I will use the mouse listed below)


Actual Mouse:

DCT Factory 03M-OPT-BCLI 2-Tone 3 Buttons 1x Wheel PS/2 Optical Mouse


Speakers:

JBL DUET 12W 2.0 Speaker


Video Card:

BFG Tech BFGR78256GTXCOD2 Geforce 7800GTX 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card bundled with Call of Duty 2


Floppy Drive:

ALPS Silver 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model DF354H168F


Sound Card:

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS 70SB035000000 8 (7.1) Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card






Hard Drive:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 300 MB/s Hard Drive


Monitor:

ViewSonic VX724 2-Tone 17" '3ms gray-to-gray (avg.); 5ms white-black-white (typ)' LCD Monitor


Motherboard:

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard


CD/DVD Drive:

LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SOHD-16P9SV


Memory:

CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory


Processor:

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice 1Ghz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3800BPBOX


Case:

GIGABYTE 3D AURORA GZ-FSCA1-ANB Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case


Operating System:

Microsoft Windows XP Pro with SP2



Virus Protection Suite:

McAfee Wireless Home Network Security Sweet 1.0


Spyware:

Webroot Spy Sweeper


I have tried to boot up the computer, but the monitor reports that it is receiving no signal. The case fans do not turn on, but the CPU fan, video card fan, and motherboard fan all are working fine. The computer is continually beeping, one beep every 3-4 seconds. Everything else seems to be fine: the CD-ROM drive and floppy seem to be working fine, and three LEDs on the MoBo are illuminated, signifying that the VGA is detected, DRAM is detected, and the CPU is detected, but not the boot-up. What should I do? I want to try to fix as much as possible before having to remove the whole darn thing from the case and take it apart. Do you think that this could be a problem with my graphics card? Any help would be appreciated!! HELP PLEASE!!!!

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by Thurrdome I want to try to fix as much as possible before having to remove the whole darn thing from the case and take it apart.

Unfortunately, that's just what you are going to have to do next.

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

You are trying to see if the motherboard is shorting out with the case (extra standoff possibly), and it must be out of the case.

[Cricket]

Follow the troubleshooting instructions found here and then tell us what happens. You must remove the motherboard from the case and only assemble the core components...no drives or extra cards.

Cricket

[Thurrdome]

How do you use a small screwdriver to momentarily short the power switch connector on the motherboard?

[Cricket]

Just like it says...you find the PWR ON pins on the motherboard, you get a small flat blade screw driver, you plug the power cord into the wall outlet and then touch the two PWR ON pins at the same time for a second and the system should fire up.

Cricket

[Thurrdome]

There is a button on the MoBo that says POWER, but it is just an emergency button. Is the PWR ON pin the place where you plug the big cable from the PSU into the MoBo?

[blue60007]

It's where you plugged the wires coming from the case in. Check your motherboard manual...it should locate it for you.

[Thurrdome]

Okay, I did all that and the monitor said "NO SIGNAL." To short out the PWR ON, I pressed the button/post on the motherboard that was labeled "POWER" underneath it. Do I have a faulty component?

[Thurrdome]

I have switched the RAM and that doesn't change anything.

[Thurrdome]

I am thinking that this may be a problem with my video card. Am I correct in assuming this?

[Thurrdome]

ALso, my keyboard's caps and scroll lock buttons do not work. My num lock button works, but sometimes it either does not turn on the num lock light or it can not turn off the num lock light. AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!

[Cricket]

Is the motherboard out of the case?

And it's only the motherboard, CPU, video card, RAM, power supply, keyboard and case speaker hooked up?

Do you have another compatible power supply you can swap in to test with?

Try powering it up with the keyboard disconnected.

Are you getting any beeps at all?

Cricket

[Thurrdome]

The motherboard is out of the case, the keyboard is disconnected, but to no avail, and I do not have another compatible power supply that I can swap in. Only the motherboard, CPU, video card, RAM, power supply, and case speaker are hooked up Repeated beeps every 3-4 seconds.

[Thurrdome]

Help!

[Cricket]

What's the beep pattern? Is it just one beep over and over or is it 1 long beep, 2 short beeps? Give us the beep pattern.

Cricket

[Thurrdome]

One medium-long beep, three to four seconds, one medium long beep, three to four seconds, etc. No short beeps in any pattern, just medium long beeps separated by a time period of roughly 3-4 seconds.

[Thurrdome]

What should I do now? I am currently waiting for BFG to pick up the phone so that they can determine whether or not it is a problem with the video card.

[Thurrdome]

Alright, BFG has told me that the problem is either with the motherboard or the video card. I am going to bring the card into Best Buy tomorrow and get them to test it out and see if it runs okay. If it does, I will return the motherboard for a new one; if it doesn't, I will order a new video card. How does this plan sound to you guys?

[blue60007]

Do you have another video card you could put in there? Even a legacy PCI one would work.

[Thurrdome]

Well, it doesn't matter now. Best Buy is conducting a diagnostic test to determine what could be wrong. And to make matters worse, my power supply isn't even turning on now .

[Thurrdome]

Could the problem be with the keyboard, which is not working (neither num lock, caps lock, nor scroll lock function)?

[Cricket]

Could be...sometimes a system will stop booting if the keyboard is faulty or not connected. Do you have another keyboard you can test with?

Cricket

[Thurrdome]

I'll try out some USB keyboards . . .

[Thurrdome]

Nope. It still doesn't work. Do you think it's probably a bad video card?

[Cricket]

What did the Best Buy technicians find?

Cricket

[Thurrdome]

I am truly sorry for the delay, but I was busy over the holidays. The Best Buy technicians said that the motherboard was fried!?! That makes some sense, but what doesn't make sense is that they said a potential reason for this is that the motherboard is attached to the case with only four screws. Those four screws, however, were the only ones that threaded with the holes! Could the problem have been that the screws were touching a part of the motherboard, thus causing it to short out?

[nicolaus corelius]

this is the rule:
if the hole is surrounded by a ring of metal than u just screw it to the chassis
if its not, then you have to get little plastic stand-offs.

[Thurrdome]

So do you think I fried it with the screws? All the holes I threaded screws into were surrounded with a metal ring, as you described.

[nicolaus corelius]

words of wisdom
"everybody is full of, you know what"
no, seriously lot of these pretentious computer expert diagnoses are not accurate. with hundreds of wire tracings and dozen of chips, getting a broken mobo is not exactly creating a warm hole in the time-space continuum.
i hope u could RMA it and get a new board

[Thurrdome]

I'll definitely have to RMA the motherboard, seeing as that all the holes I inserted screws into were surrounded by the metal ring.
However, my monitor wasn't receiving a signal even before the motherboard got fried. I didn't do anything wrong - I've checked and checked and checked and checked and checked and checked the screws, connections, etc., and corrolated them with the instructions in the manuals. Everything is okay! Therefore, the original problem can't be traced to the motherboard, as it was working fine the first time I attempted to boot-up.
I'd hate to think that I wasted money on the diagnosis!!! The technicians reported that the video card and RAM were fine, but that the motherboard was fried. But doesn't it seem logical that the whole problem of the monitor not connecting could be traced to the video card?
Also, my keyboard broke after my first few attempted boot-ups !!! Could this have accounted for the "NO SIGNAL" report?
Or, do you seriously think, as aforementioned, that the problem could just be with a simple piece of wiring that went awry, rendering the whole system useless?
Could the problem be with the RAM?
The power supply is definetly working, so that can't be an issue.
I have followed the instructions several times for how-to-diagnose-a-build-gone-bad, or whatever it is called, but to no avail!
What could possibly be going wrong!!?!??!?