newbie and my blank screen

[tballing]

Hello to all,

First off, thanks for all the help while I have been lurking here and trying to build my first computer ever. The advice has been great.

I am relatively versed in computers and have dabbled in trouble shooting hardware for years but I have never tried to build from scratch before.

I have purchased and put together the following list of items in a Cooler Master mid-tower ATX case with 2 fans.

MSI 870A-G54 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130275

CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139008

AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103702

A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600GB2G9-2G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211409

ASUS EN9500GT/DI/1GD2/V2/A GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121339

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106335

ASUS PCE-N13 IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Express Wireless Adapter Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates 64-bit/128-bit WEP, TKIP, and AES WI-Fi alliance WPA, WPA2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833320048

Seagate Barracuda Hard Drive 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB cache

Windows 7 Professional 64

Everything seemed to go together very easily and when I power up the computer all of the lights and fans come on (case fans, graphics card fan, cpu fan, etc.) I can feel the hard drive whirling away and the DVD rom also lights up and spins the discs. The motherboard has lights that are coming on as well.

However, I cannot get anything to appear on my monitor. The computer obviously fires up but I’m not sure if it is “posting” properly? In fact, I’m not sure I even said that properly. I have swapped out the graphics card for a cheap ATI 46xx series card from brick and mortar and that gave the same results.

I have read that the DDR3 1600 memory can only be used with over-clocking on this motherboard. I had no intention of overclocking since I am not a gamer and simply wanted a future-proofed media storage and internet computer. Plus, I’m not sure that a memory problem would leave me with no screen image. The motherboard does have some overclocking features built physically into the board such as a +/- knob and a O/C button next to it, but I can't find any real instruction on how to use them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I hope that I didn’t waste anyones time with this long post.

Thanks,
Troy

[glc]

Did you look at the sticky threads?

PROBLEMS with a NEW BUILD? Try This!!

[orbrit]

Did you make sure to use slots DIMM1 and DIMM2 first?

Do you have the mobo manual?
Download it here.
http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=do...99&type=manual

[tballing]

Thanks for the quick replies.

I did look at the sticky but, I have to admit, I got excited and a little over-zealous when all the parts arrived. I am to the point of replacing parts to see if I can localize a component. Today I tried a different set of memory modules. Still getting the same results.

PNY - Optima 2-Pack 4GB PC3-10666 DDR3 DIMM speed 1333 htz Desktop Memory Kit from brick and mortar

I'm pretty sure that I am using the correct connectors but I will double check tonite.

Does memory limit itself given its environement. In other words will 1600 memory "dumb itself down" to 1333 to allow a motherboard to us it?

I looked at a sticky from the above notes that mentioned a scheme for the beeps that a computer emits upon startup. I have the speaker part installed on the motherboard, but it never makes a peep.

I have also tried using both PCI-E X16 slots to no avail. I'm getting concerned that it is either the processor or the motherboard. I was a complete nervous nelly about putting the processor on the board, so I'm about positive it is seated properly.

I'm going to take out the motherboard and try the simple approach that glc pointed to. If I have a simple connector from a usb, hdd light, power led, etc not correctly placed, would that cause symptoms like this?

I really appreciate the help.

Thanks,
Troy

[tballing]

I think I figured out my problem and I feel like an idiot. I posted on another site and someone talked about the power cables going to the motherboard. I am pretty positive that I didn't plug in the secondary 8 hole cable.

Thanks,
Troy

[orbrit]

yes memory will only work at the speed of the chipset. Many require overclocking to reach 1600 MHz.

DIMM 1 has to be the first slot for it to work. If you only put in 1 DIMM it should still boot but just be single channel.
If you put both in, the second has to go into DIMM 2.

From the looks of the board, there is only 1 PCIe 2.0 x16 slot. The second PCIe 2.0 slot is x4. Both should work, but for performance the x16 is the one to use.

[orbrit]

Originally Posted by tballing I think I figured out my problem and I feel like an idiot. I posted on another site and someone talked about the power cables going to the motherboard. I am pretty positive that I didn't plug in the secondary 8 hole cable. Thanks, Troy

I hope that's all it was!
You should definitely download and read that manual.

[tballing]

Well I won't be skipping anymore pages in the manual. I got everything to fire up today at lunch. I got into the BIOS no problem. I'm hoping that was the biggest hurdle besides configuring Win 7 for the first time.

Thanks again

Troy

[Nikon]

yeah, forgetting the dedicated CPU power tends to cause malfunctions lol. good luck!