Another 1st-Timer - Help Required

[Disgrace]

Yo folks... Disgrace in Geneva, Switzerland here. Need some help with my first homemade computer. It's (I hope!) probably 1+1 for the experienced of you but to me it's an algebra equation! =(

Basic tech specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - CPU
Asus P5W DH Deluxe - Mobo
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2x1GB - Memory
HIS Excalibur Radeon X1950XTX PCIe - GC
Samsung WriteMaster SATA - DVD
Antec P180 - Case
Seasonic SS-401HT 400W - PSU
Hitachi Deskstar SATA 500GB - HDD
Acer AL1715 - Monitor (Analogue)

Problem:

1) Everything seems to work... fans running, CPU and GC fans running and LEDs on case are on. However, the monitor displays 'No Signal'. There is also no BEEP on boot-up which I hear is rather something to look out for for a boot-up. I've checked all my wiring and everythings in order. No loose nuts or bolts or anything!

Potential Causes:

1) My original 4-pin cable to connect to mobo was too short so brought an additional cable which connected via a spare other cable from the PSU. Could this be the problem? If so, how can I possibly connect it up to my 4-pin plug without having to re-route?
2) The manual for my GC says minimum spec for PSU should be 450W and my PSU gives out 400W. Everything in the case seems to power up without a problem so I don't see why this should be the cause as it doesn't provide any further evidence that it doesn't work.
3) Possible static build-up and frying of something but I did touch the front aluminum door of my P180 to discharge those extra electrons before and after dealing with my components so this shouldn't be the logical cause.

Notes:

1) My next step is to take it all apart and start from scratch and to check all components over.
2) I, annoyingly, don't have access to another monitor to find out whether it's the monitor or the computer i'm supposed to be looking at.
3) I did plenty of research before spending my cash on my computer, so i'm pretty sure it's all compatible.
4) The monitor is nearly a year old (and has served me well and without fault) but it's still a flat-screen LCD with VGA out. A VGA-DVI adapter is provided with GC so I can connect to my PC. I've got 2 and tried both. Both had no affect.
5) If these problems relate to things such as Jumpers, BIOS and so on and so fore, could you also explain what/where they are and how to use them because I really don't know about those things. =)

To you it could be a day in the office but i'm a newbie so any assistance would be most welcome! Hope you didn't get bored by this post, lol. Thanks! =)

[glc]

Yep, take it apart.

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

Do it with the right 4 pin cable - if it works, then try it again with your adapter - this will tell the story.

Cable length is an issue with the P180. Antec recommends you use one of their PSU's - but I believe the latest Seasonic S12-500 has long enough cables.

[Disgrace]

Thanks for the info. BTW, i'm not brand-fussy so if anything that's not Seasonic and decent can do. =)

I'm afraid the right 4-pin cable will never reach unless I take the PSU outside the case which I presume you mean(?)... there's at least (if you just stick a ruler very carefully in), around 9-10 inchs gap. A VERY long cable would be needed!

[glc]

Yes, pull the PSU out of the case for this test.

[flanzig1]

should be able to find a 4 pin extension cable on your favorite on-line retailer or the local computer store.
As a quick thought, that video card needs the 6 pin PCI-E power plug that comes from the PSU

[Disgrace]

Yup, I ordered that and received it. Just an extension cable for the 4-pin. I tried from all my spare PSU cables... still nothing on monitor. No signal was what I got with and without the 4-pin plugged into the mobo.

The 6-pin plug was secured.

[flanzig1]

Gonig back to basics:
The full 24 pin ATX power plug to the mobo.
The CPU 4 pin power plug to mobo.
Video card in slot closest to CPU.
All four pins of the CPU heatsink fully latched.
Could try clearing the bios by pulling the mobo battery(looks like a coin) for 5 minutes with all power disconnected
Try boot with 1 stick of ram and no drives.
If still no video- would look at a bigger PSU.

[Disgrace]

Understood, thanks! Have already considered and browsed around for a more powerful PSU. By how much is recommended? glc recommended the Seasonic S12-500 which gives out 500W... sounds like plenty to me.

[flanzig1]

The 500w will provide some good headroom. The 1950XTX are pretty power hungry.

[glc]

Have you tried out of the case with minimums as described in the thread yet? Your PSU should be able to handle that fine.

[Disgrace]

I disconnected everything from the PSU except the mobo. Shouldn't the mobo still beep in any way? This is didn't do so perhaps it's a mobo problem? I'm now going to try with the mobo outside the case.

[mevensen]

I disconnected everything from the PSU except the mobo. Shouldn't the mobo still beep in any way? This is didn't do so perhaps it's a mobo problem? I'm now going to try with the mobo outside the case.

This may seem really simple, but did you connect a speaker to the mobo? I forgot to do this once, and was puzzled at the lack of POST beeps, until I noticed the speaker connection. Doh!

This could give you some indication of what might be wrong.

[Disgrace]

Originally Posted by mevensen This may seem really simple, but did you connect a speaker to the mobo? I forgot to do this once, and was puzzled at the lack of POST beeps, until I noticed the speaker connection. Doh! This could give you some indication of what might be wrong.

Thanks for your tip! But speakers were connected fine. =)

I've got a friend whose now going to test out individual parts for me as he also brought components and hand-built his machine so it's now a process of elimination. Should all the parts work with his configuration then it'll be mobo time then that would get more complicated.

[glc]

No, not the external speakers - you need an internal speaker which most cases come with. It connects to a header on the motherboard that's part of the front panel group - with the power and HDD LED's and power and reset switches. Some motherboards do have a small onboard piezo speaker, those boards won't have the speaker header.

You must try out of the case - it's the only way to rule out improper motherboard mounting and to validate the basic core components.

[Disgrace]

Hi guys i'm back at last and found some time! Right, everything the link to HAL9000 is ready apart from this:

10) Use a small screwdriver to momentarily short the power switch connector on the motherboard.

How does this work? What's the 'power switch connector'? Thanks.

[glc]

Those are the 2 posts you connect the front panel power button to. Momentarily bridge the 2 posts with a screwdriver or other conductive object.

[Disgrace]

Thanks guys! Managed to find the issue following HAL9000's orders... it seemed very strange because the RAM worked the whole time but only when I moved it to different ports facing the other direction, I got a visual. =)

Now there's a new problem: after all systems checks this message comes up: "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key."

If I press any key the same message will come up again and again, obviously meaning it couldn't find any such device but what does this mean? Is it something do to with the HDD or a CD that came with the mobo? How can I rectify the issue? Thanks again in advance.

[flanzig1]

In the BIOS, set your DVD or CD to first boot device and HD to second. Put in the XP CD into the drive and save/exit the BIOS. XP install should start.

[Disgrace]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 In the BIOS, set your DVD or CD to first boot device and HD to second. Put in the XP CD into the drive and save/exit the BIOS. XP install should start.

Afraid not, still nothing. I've tried with DVD and HDD both on 1st boot drive also with the XP CD and mobo CD. The computer says it doesn't find any drives! But the DVD rewritable at least works as it tries to read the disk but it doesn't read it.

FYI, both the HDD and DVD rewritable are SATA and not IDE, if that would change the situation.

[glc]

SATA should just *work* - maybe you have a defective drive or defective CD - or possibly a defective SATA data cable on the DVD burner. Can you borrow another bootable CD to test with? Do you have an old IDE CD drive to pop in there and test with?

[Disgrace]

I was flicking thru my mobo manual and found this: "You must install Windows XP before using SATA HDDs...." Could this explain it? I can't seem to install XP so now it's a bit confusing. I've also got 2 different pairs of SATA cables. One pair is orange and labelled GBR and the other is red and labelled AsLink. Does this mean anything? They both fit into SATA sockets but neither has produced any results as of yet.

Oh yeah, furthermore, I again, annoyingly, don't have a IDE CD drive. But I may have access to a bootable CD.

[Disgrace]

Been rewiring/examining/researching and can't think what to even try as I don't have an extra HDD or DVD-drive or XP CD to test with. All are brand new so can't understand why there should/could be a hardware fault. Only issue i'm worried about is the 400W PSU, which, from what I make out, is too little but all components work so this wouldn't cause this error, would it?

[glc]

No, it shouldn't. You have a core hardware component that's not 100%. The ram should work no matter what slot you put it in. A SATA optical drive should boot. The only common item here is the motherboard - but you may have a flaky optical drive. I haven't had the best of luck with Samsungs in the past.

[Disgrace]

Could be... i've followed all sorts of advice... the main worry for me is a message that flashes on the screen before I get my select boot drive message that says 'Detecting drives complete, no any drives found'... drives meaning what and how can this be sorted?

I'm getting conflicting reports on whether to put HDD or DVD in SATA1... can someone clear this up for me? I think I know less about building computers now than I did before!

[glc]

Put the HDD in the lowest number socket.

[Disgrace]

Hooray! New problem!

Further advice lead me to write down where I had my mobo jumpers and try moving them. It didn't boot so I changed them back now I can't get into BIOS at all because of this error message:

CMOS Setting Wrong
CMOS Date/Time Not Set
Chassis Intruded !
Fatal Error... System Halted.

Argh.

[Disgrace]

HDD is in SATA1 now... if I don't try to enter BIOS it says:

CMOS Checksum Bad
Press F1 to go to Setup which will lead me back to the previous error message up in previous message. Or:
Press F2 to load defaults and continue which will lead me to my reboot and enter boot device message.

BIOS has been reset since.

[Disgrace]

Huh? I didn't do anything to anything apart from reset the computer a few times and now the fatal error is gone and I can access BIOS. What IS going on?

Still the boot device error along with 'no any drives found' message.

HDD is in 3rd IDE Master with CD-Drive in 3rd IDE Slave... hope that's correct? But then the CD-Drive is called ATAPI for some reason... mean anything?

[Disgrace]

Well I got the DVD-RW replaced and now no error. As for Windows XP, I go thru the procedure and press ENTER to install Windows XP and then I get a blue screen saying at the top 'Windows XP Home Edition Setup' and at the bottom 'Please wait...'.

Nothing happens for ages... what's wrong?

[glc]

Try a different SATA socket for the DVD.