Powering Up

[Leogecko]

I have everything connected to my new build, but the monitor does not seem to be receiving a signal from the computer when I turn it on. First it has this box that alternates between two messages in the upper-left hand corner of the screen: "Digital" and "Analog". Then it becomes this bouncing box in the middle of the screen "Check Signal Cable". Since this is happening I can't even get into the BIOS.

Also, neither the power LED's nor the optical drives seem to be working. All I can confirm is that all the fans are running and the Power LED is on.

What should I do from here?

[blue60007]

Try this. You are trying to see if the motherboard is shorting out with the case, so the motherboard must be out of the case. Also, you are going to see if the main components are working.

[Leogecko]

I tried the procedure, still the same results. What next?

[rjfvillarosa]

What power supply are you using and do you have another you can substitute it with?

[Leogecko]

I am using the PC Power and Cooling 510 SLI. There are no other power supplies I could test with.

[rjfvillarosa]

Can you tell me what you had plugged into the mother board when you did the "out of case" build?

[Leogecko]

1 stick of Corsair XMS RAM, a 7800GTX, AMD Athlon x2 4400+, the motherboard power connector, the supplemental video card power connector (the one that is attached to the power supply, not the one that came with the video card if that makes a difference). And the monitor is plugged into the video card, with both the PSU and the Monitor receiving power from the outlet.

[rjfvillarosa]

During the "out of case" test/build did you have any of the optical drives plugged in and did they work or not?

[Leogecko]

No, I did not have any drives plugged in. During the first test (when the MoBo was still in the case and everything hooked up) they didn't work. The floppy drive LED was lit, though.

[rjfvillarosa]

I know that PSU is in the list of good PSU's, but from what you are saying I would be very suspicious of it, it would help if you could beg,steal or borrow a known working PSU to test with or put that PSU into a working computer to test it.
Was the floppy drive light on all the time during the "out of case" test?

[Leogecko]

All the fans are working fine (including the case fans, video card fan, cpu fan). Does that make a difference?

The floppy drive was not hooked during the out of case test.

[rjfvillarosa]

As you know the PSU is supplying several different voltages to your machine, it sounds like it is only faulty on one rail which just happens to be the rail feeding the optical drives and the video card.

[Leogecko]

I don't think it's possible to get another PSU (especially one that's powerful enough for the GTX), but I'll try. My dad doesn't want to fool around with anything inside his working computers.

Is there any other way to test the PSU?

[Stevevai9]

Did you make all the right connections? Make sure you plug the right cables into the opticals and your video card.

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by Leogecko Is there any other way to test the PSU?

If you don't have a PSU tester I am afraid substitution is the only way.

[Leogecko]

I was not 100% sure about the optical connections (when I had them connected) but I had followed the intructions... the video card connections are pretty straightforward, right?

The reason I don't have the opticals connected right now is because the linked procedure said to not have anything else connected.

[Leogecko]

Would a PSU tester be able to verify what we're looking for?

[rjfvillarosa]

Yes, the usual ones have a green LED for each rail which glows green if the monitored voltage is correct and a single red LED if anything is way out of range or it detects an internal fault.
I will see if I can post a link to one for you.
Take a look at this from Powmax.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817163011

[Leogecko]

Would this one work as well?

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/produc...BT&view=photos

[rjfvillarosa]

I don't know that one you have linked to but I actually have the powmax model and it works fine, it has an indicator for each power rail where as the one in your link only has the one LED and so just gives a good or bad result with no indication of which rail is faulty.

[jayb1234]

Does your motherboard have the 4 pin auxillary power connector near the cpu, and is it plugged in if you have one?

[Leogecko]

YES! I connected the auxilary cpu connector and the PC was able to boot! I didn't think I needed it with an AMD, but it worked. Thank You.

I'll keep you guys updated.

[Leogecko]

Is 43 degrees C reasonable for the cpu? (AMD x2 4400+)

[blue60007]

Yeah, that's a good temperature. I believe the critical point for AMDs are are around 65-70C.

[Leogecko]

So I'm guessing heavy load should be around 55 degrees.

This is with the stock heatsink.

[Leogecko]

Is there a good, illustrated guide to setting up the BIOS somewhere? The motherboard manual is pretty basic. I don't really have a good idea about what to do now.

[nicolaus corelius]

go to your mobo's website. they should have documentation

[nicolaus corelius]

double post

[Leogecko]

Is there any harm in running the computer on its side?

[rjfvillarosa]

No not at all, the only thing you need to look out for is cables hanging down on your fans.
On a side note, you need to be wary of hard drives, over time they like to operate in the position installed, ie: if they are mounted horizontally keep it horizontal and vertical vice versa.