Partial new System; No picture
Hello,
Recently I purchased a new motherboard, an Asus P5Q-E, and a new Processor, an Intel Q6660 Quad Core. I also purchased a new SATA LG cd/dvd optical drive. Along with those, my system is compiled of a Western Digital SATA HDD, a Seagate IDE HDD, and an Evga Geforce 7600Gs GPU. All of which is powered by the A-Power Gamers Edition 480w PSU.
The Problem:
So I finally get everything mounted and plugged in and I press the power. The system turns on, all sounds great and I don't hear any beeps, but, low and behold, there is no picture running to the monitor!?!? Upon power on, I can clearly hear the HDDs power up, the CD drive kicks on, the case fans spin, as well as the CPU fan spinning.
Known Info About Hardware:
1) The HDDs work perfectly (tested in old system)
2) The CD/DVD Drive works perfectly (tested in old system)
3) The Graphics Card works perfectly (tested in old system)
4) The Power Supply works perfectly (tested in old system)
Unknown:
1) Whether the CPU works.
2) Whether the MOBO's PCI-E slots work.
-My PSU only has a 4-pin eatx12v plug, the motherboard has an 8-pin slot, however you can plug the 4-pin in. Also, I am led to believe that my issue is the PSU because there is not a little green light to indicate the voltage running through, but i'm not sure if there even is one on this MOBO because of the in-case power/reset switches that light up. I have tested the Q6660 in the old setup which resulted in the same problem which also leads me to believing it is a lack of power.
If any other information is needed for a diagnosis please ask and I will supply.
Thank you for taking time to read this,
Mark
Re: Partial new System; No picture
The answer to your problem lies with your specific motherboard and it's requirements, and unfortunately, all I'm getting from Asus at the moment is a message telling me their website is extremely busy and can't serve the page (manual download) I'm asking for, so please try another location, each of which gives the same "busy" result.
Essentially, one of three things could happen when you plug a four-pin connector into an 8-pin socket :-
- it just won't work
- it'll work, but risks causing damage
- it'll work just fine.
Arguably, there's a fourth ..... it'll work, but will fail or cause damage if you overclock.
The original design, as you probably know, was to supply CPU power directly, because some processors draw a lot of power on the 12v line, and it risked damage to the main connector/mobo if you drew it all through that. Hence, the 4-pin connector.
Later processors required even more power, and so basically split the connector in half, each half doing the same thing.
The issues start with whether the mobo design requires power to both halves of the connector or not. Some do, some don't. Those that don't should power up. But .... if you then have a power-hungry CPU, and especially if you start overclocking and drawing even more power, you then run the risk of heat issues at the connector if you draw all that power through one connector, and even through one set of 18-gauge wire. Often, you'll get away with it .... but not always.
So the optimum solution for power-hungry CPUs is a dual-rail PSU supplying each half of that 8-pin connector separately. But to be honest, the connector is normally the weak point, and you'll usually find no issues with a good single rail PSU, with an 8-pin connector because it splits the load across the two connectors, even if it's fed by the same PSU rail. It's the connector that's most susceptible. At that joint, resistance is highest and therefore, so is heat generated. And if you get a dirty connection or some other poor connection, resistance goes up again and so does heat.
The fact that your system won't power up suggests that your mobo requires power to both halves, though without the manual, I can't really do more than guess. One way round this is a four-pin to 8-pin adapter, though for a fairly hungry CPU, it's not something I'd do. You can also get molex (the flat, four-pin connector used for IDE hard drives, etc) to 8pin adapters, that allow your to use two four-pin molex connectors to supply one 8-pin 12v connector. If you do that, use molex connectors from different cables, not from the same cable.
Or, of course, update the PSU.
The above doesn't give you any real answers, but I hope it at least points you in the right direction.
Note: It's hard to remote diagnose problems. It sounds like this is your problem, but addressing it and seeing it it fixes the issue is the only way to be sure, If you use, for example, a dual-molex adapter and you still have a problem, then your problem could be elsewhere ... like a dead CPU. That's probably unlikely, but certainly possible. Oh, and that dual molex option might not be something you want to use long-term, but if you try it and it works, at least it tells you that the problem is the PSU and the connectors, not a dead CPU or dead mobo. It's a useful diagnostic step if nothing else.
Re: Partial new System; No picture
Thank you for your reply and insight on my issue. I was on the fence whether or not to uprgade my PSU or to rem my mobo for a new one. However, now I will make a quick trip to the computer shop and purchase that new PSU. The q6660 is a fairly hungry CPU being quad core and the more overclock capable than the e6660. The dual rail is most likely a requirement to run it. I will update with my results after i install the new PSU. Again, thank you,
Mark
Re: Partial new System; No picture
The ASUS website is always slow and never really works. Its a big letdown most of the time.
Re: Partial new System; No picture
OK. I have installed a new PSU (BFG 650w) it has the 8-pin eatx plug and plenty of juice to power everything, yet I still just get a black screen ( power save mode on monitor) and i have also noticed that the wireless hub for my mouse/keyboard does not receive power. The on board switch lights are all still lit up. Could there be a motherboard issue?
I have just taken out the memory to check if my buzzer is working, and confirmed that it is. Also i have left it running for about 15 minutes and the GPU is getting warm as if it is putting out an image and receiving power.
Re: Partial new System; No picture
Bit of a shot in the dark here,
When I first built my pc I forgot to install the jumpers between the mobo back plate and mobo before securing the mobo in with screws. This caused the pc to seem to be working fans spining etc.
But no display.
Re: Partial new System; No picture
Quote:
Originally Posted by
maxwilson
Bit of a shot in the dark here,
When I first built my pc I forgot to install the jumpers between the mobo back plate and mobo before securing the mobo in with screws. This caused the pc to seem to be working fans spining etc.
But no display.
I have attempted to run it grounded (out of case on non-static surface) and still no luck there. I am stuck on 3 possible issues now:
-Bad or non-compatible memory
-Bad cpu
-Bad mobo
I've checked every diagnosis that ASUS provided on the website and nothing has worked. When it powers on, all lights come on, all fans start to spin, ect., as if it were going to boot right up. However: as I mentioned before, the mouse hub is not lighting up which also controls the keyboard. this would mean that the boot-up is not occuring correct? Or is it a sign that the motherboard is damaged and power is not reaching the USB port? :confused: I'm stumped at this point.
!!!! I think I may have solved mt issue. The motherboard takes 1200MHZ ram I am running 533mhz right now. Problem? yes? no? not sure if it matters or not since it all fits. but i have the feeling this is the problem.
Re: Partial new System; No picture
Bah, DDR2 is backward compatible...Still stuck...anyone have anymore ideas? I am beginning to believe its a faulty motherboard and will require an RMA for a new one >.< what a hassle.
Re: Partial new System; No picture
MWR while the memory slots will accept any DDR2 memory the board may not support low speeds.
I will try to explain without getting too technical. The speed of your memory is determined by two factors these are (on Intel motherboards) the Front Side Bus (FSB) of the CPU and a divider. The CPU's FSB in the case of a Q6600 is 266MHz (1066 divided by 4) if your board supports a 1:1 ratio as the default setting then the memory frequency will be the same as the FSB so since DDR is Double Data Rate the memory speed would be 266x2 = 533Mhz. The default divider is determined by the SPD tables of the memory however if an unsupported speed is used it will default to the lowest available divider for the particular FSB so if the board only supports 667MHz memory then with a 266 FSB you would have a divider of 1.25:1 (5:4).
The implication is that you are effectively asking the memory to run faster than it is designed to but at its stock settings for everything else this will cause the system not to post.
Now I have had a quick check on Scan and according to their Specs the motherboard does not support memory below DDR2-800. So this could be your problem.
Easiest way to check would be to get hold of a stick of DDR2-800 either for diagnostic purposes (1GB or 512MB stick should cost you less than £10) or you could buy some for use 2GB will set you back £25 4GB less than £40.
Re: Partial new System; No picture
AH, thank you Webby. That is quite useful information!! I had done a bit of research on that earlier and came up empty handed on minimum speed. I will run out ASAP to get a bit of new Ram to plug in and I will update with my results. Meanwhile...I give thanks to all who have thus far helped me. =D
Re: Partial new System; No picture
This afternoon I purchased a pair of Kingston pc2-6400 800mhz 1G sticks of Ram and, FINALLY, the system went through POST and the system is up and running!!! (fantastically by the way) Thank you to everybody who helped me. Such a simple problem I had overlooked when building, but hey...it happens to everyone sometime.
Again thanks to everyone, and a special thanks to Webby for your research into my problem and discovering that my motherboard's lowest compatible Ram speed is 800mhz.
Mark.
Re: Partial new System; No picture
Glad you got it sorted :)