Sadly, the new computer I just built... Won't boot... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

KarTek · #1 10-25-2009, 04:55 PM

Ideas?

It powers up when the power button is pressed but no image ever shows on the screen. The post indicator reads "FF" which translates into "boot". So that doesn't tell me anything.

Also, the power indicators on the case don't light up.

When I press the power button again after starting it up, it won't power down and I have to hold the button until it shuts off.

Everything is seated well and all of the power cables are installed. The only thing I can figure is that the video card is too "high end" and it won't display boot/dos info until a driver is loaded.

Do I have to boot up with a cheap, low end card to set up the bios?

Thanks for any insight.

Yak · #2 10-25-2009, 05:03 PM

If you get no POST or boot screen on the monitor, then the problem is probably in your motherboard. You should at least get a splash screen from the MoBo manufacturer prior to any drivers or anything loading.

If the LEDs on the case don't light up properly or the buttons on the case don't behave as expected, then you may have it connected wrong and the MoBo is confused. Double check the case manufacturer's instructions and the MoBo book.

Check the MoBo manufacturer's website for jumper settings (although most are now jumperless). Also check your RAM is compatible with the MoBo, and firmly seated. Maybe try using only one stick in slot 0. Bent pins can also be a problem for the CPU.

Or you may have a bad MoBo.

Pavka007 · #3 10-25-2009, 05:18 PM

Since you build it up from start to finish I am sure that you've checked everything twice.... but do you have a FRESH battery for the BIOS... It happen to me before. Talking here from experience.

kknudson · #4 10-25-2009, 05:34 PM

Agree with the MOBO.

Start by removing EVRYTHING.
Memory, HDs, even video cards listen for the beeps.
Boot
Start adding video listen for the beeps
...
Repeat with each piece, even memory one at a time.

Hopefully it will id the problem item.

Crazy_Nate · #5 10-25-2009, 05:46 PM

Bare minimums:

CPU + heatsink
Motherboard
1 DIMM of memory
Graphics card (or, if the motherboard has onboard graphics, leave this out)
Power supply

When I'm testing everything, I don't do it in the case. If something's awry, you have to rip it all out anyways. I build it on top of a cardboard box. Try reseating the components...it can't hurt, and it'll only take a couple of minutes. Just use the bare minimums; KISS. There's no reason for a high end card to not display the POST information. Also, the higher end graphics cards have a 6-pin PCIe power connector - it won't be happy if it's not connected (the PCIe slots can only supply about 75W).

Good luck! Feel free to refer to my build guide here (plenty of pictures).

pawoSD · #6 10-25-2009, 05:57 PM

There is no such thing as a "too high end" graphics card....it will display the BIOS POST screen no matter what as long as the system is physically able to function.

LED's are polarity sensitive, if you have the connector backwards on the +/- terminals they will not function.

It is not all that uncommon to receive a dead motherboard out of the box, I've had it happen......

As has been mentioned, try the bare minimum, and re-seat everything.

Also, primary suspect should be the power supply. Are all power cables connected properly? I've had even high quality power supplies that did not work correctly right out of the box. They'd power up some things (perhaps only the 12V rail) but nothing else, so fans and drives would come on, but no motherboard post.

Time to do double checking and testing/troubleshooting.

iwrock · #7 10-25-2009, 06:20 PM

Try swapping around video cards.

okyoureabeast · #8 10-25-2009, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pawoSD

There is no such thing as a "too high end" graphics card....it will display the BIOS POST screen no matter what as long as the system is physically able to function.

LED's are polarity sensitive, if you have the connector backwards on the +/- terminals they will not function.

It is not all that uncommon to receive a dead motherboard out of the box, I've had it happen......

As has been mentioned, try the bare minimum, and re-seat everything.

Also, primary suspect should be the power supply. Are all power cables connected properly? I've had even high quality power supplies that did not work correctly right out of the box. They'd power up some things (perhaps only the 12V rail) but nothing else, so fans and drives would come on, but no motherboard post.

Time to do double checking and testing/troubleshooting.

Definitely going to X2 on the video card sentiment. A video card can definitely post boot messages and every operating system worth its weight can post to a frame buffer.

Does the motherboard have it's own built in video card? If so connect to that and see what happens.

KarTek · #9 10-25-2009, 07:05 PM

OK, thanks for the good suggestions. I'm making progress here. I did like you all said and tore it back down to basics and even installed a cheap, basic video card that I had layinig around.

It worked!

Next thing I did was set all the bios functions while it was giving a display. Finally, I started swapping the parts back in one by one until I found the offending piece. Turns out it was the dang wireless network card. I pulled it from a working machine but it sure does nothing in this one...

Oh well... Now friggin' Windows want's me to re-activate even though I pulled this HD and OS from a working machine. What a pain.

The video card fan sounds like a vacuum cleaner!

Crazy_Nate · #10 10-25-2009, 07:11 PM

Hm, if you think the Nvidia cards sound like vacuum cleaners, you should see the ATI ones!!

The only time my card (basically the same chip - 8800GTS) makes any sort of noise, is when I crank the fan up to 100% while running folding at home (donating GPU computing time). It also serves as a space heater during that time.

Glad you found your problem

BTW, who makes that case? I had an Aspire / Apevia that looked to be the same construction. Too bad the power supply was junk. I'm probably going to do another mATX build in the near future.

pawoSD · #11 10-25-2009, 09:41 PM

X2! That is a sweet case, what brand is it?? Is that a normal ATX size power supply in there? The power supply is usually the downside to those mini cases.

Usually the graphics cards throttle the fan based on load.....is it loud/full speed all the time?

KarTek · #12 10-25-2009, 10:02 PM

Hey,

I talked to a nice lady in India and we got Windows activated again. I'm now letting it burn in and formatting the new hard drives. I also deleted a bunch of old crap off of it in preparation to install my new software.

The case is an Ultra Micro Fly seen here:

http://ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=13&pPath=439&productID=443

It says it retails for $90 but I got it for $30 at Tiger Direct, er, I mean Comp USA... I have a full ATX 600W power supply in it.

Pros:

Lightweight.
Strong/rigid.
Fits full ATX power supplies.
MB tray.

Cons:

Have to cut a hole in the frame for the GPU power supply cable.
GPU power supply cable makes it impossible to install an optical drive in the lower bay. (A 3.5" HD with an adapter will work fine which is what I did.)
Full ATX power supply gets in the way of the upper optical drive but careful cable routing makes it all fit.
WEAK plastic carrying handle. (I don't think I'll be using it...)

Other problems:

Connector for audio header on MB is UNDER the graphics card. Makes it nearly impossible to connect. (This is not the case's fault...)

pawoSD · #13 10-25-2009, 10:29 PM

That is pretty sweet! I might have to get one of those!

KarTek · #14 10-26-2009, 11:39 AM

Everything's still cooking along this morning. I'm finished installing all of the drivers for the MB and video card and I'm downloading and installing all the old valve games and such from the old machine. The video card fan settled down after I installed the drivers and it's running quiet now. Well, relatively quiet since it still has 6 fans moving air. I suppose it'll get much better when I cover it up.

I un-installed all the old software and am re-installing it to make sure the installs are clean and suited to the new hardware.

Crazy Nate,

That's a nice write up! I'll have to refer back to it when I tweak my bios settings to better match the components. Right now, everything's set on "auto" and I'm sure I can probably get a little better performance out of it if it's customized.

Here' s list of the components:

Ultra Micro Fly case
Ultra X-finity 600W PS
EVGA SLI mATX MB
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66ghz
EVGA GeForce GTS 250 graphics
OCZ gold 3x2G DDR3 RAM
Logisys media reader
WD 160G and 1T SATA HD's
LG BlueRay burner

G-Benz · #15 10-26-2009, 12:07 PM

Congrats on taking this on your own...much satisfaction doing this yourself...and not dealing with all of the third-party junk that comes with the turn-key boxes!!!