Booting for first time - assistance reqiured

[Hologide]

Built my first computer today - just booted for first time.

All fans turned on - there were however no LEDs lit up on the front of the case nor was there any display on my monitor.

A light on the motherboard is lit up - I assume that's the one which shows that there is power in the system. No lights on keyboard either.

Why would the bios not appear on start up? Have I missed a connection or could there be a hardware issues?

[Hologide]

In slightly more detail - when I went through my motherboard manual these were the parts I didn't install - in each case because I didn't have the necessary components (or was unable to find such components):

- Clear RTC RAM jumper
- USB device wake-up jumper
- keyboard power jumper
- Floppy disc connector
- chassis intrusion connector
- IDE connectors (I dont have any IDE components)
- digital audio connector
- optical drive audio in connector
- serial port connector
- front panel audio connector
- HDD power cable

[Funkstar]

none of that should make a difference.

Standard troubleshooting procedure is to remove everything that isn't completely necesary for boot. So unplug everything appart from graphics card, CPU and one stick of RAM, and plug the monitor in.

If there is onboard graphics as well as a seperate card, remove the card and use the onboard for just now.

Would also be useful if you post your system spec.

[Hologide]

Okay sure.

I'm using an ASUS M3A78 Pro Motherboard
Asus HD 4850 Graphics
AMD Phenom II 920 Processor
2 x 2GB crucial 800MHz RAM DDR2
250GB Maxtor SATA HDD
460W PSU
coolermaster 330 case
LG optical drive (not sure on the exact model number) SATA

I'll have a go at disconnecting all non essentials. thanks

[Hologide]

Okay - removed HDD, graphics card, optical drive. Still no change - LED illuminated on motherboard, all fans spinning but nothing on the screen. *sigh*

[Funkstar]

are you using the VGA or the HDMI output? try the other one if you can.

Also try the other stick of RAM.

[CaptainCrash]

In slightly more detail - when I went through my motherboard manual these were the parts I didn't install - in each case because I didn't have the necessary components (or was unable to find such components):

- Clear RTC RAM jumper
- USB device wake-up jumper
- keyboard power jumper

Sorry if I'm being thick, but when you say "these were the parts I didn't install," you don't mean you removed the jumpers altogether, do you?

[Hologide]

As far as jumpers are concerned i left the motherboard in it's original state. Didn't put anything in didnt put anything out.

More failure with the RAM/monitor output idea. I'm going to bed now, thoroughly grumpy. I'll take it down to the local repair store tomorrow and hopefully one of the guys there might spot a missing connection or a faulty part. I'm dead worried i've got a faulty processor or motherboard now.....

Thanks for the help though, its appreciated.

[shadowmaster]

Are you getting any motherboard beeps? (Assuming that motherboard has a built in speaker or that you have connected it to the case speaker)

[Hologide]

Jeese... I dont know what to do now.

I took it down to the repair store today. They suggested it was either the motherboard or processor that is faulty. However, they could not observe nor diagnose any particular fault.

It was also suggested that the motherboard was incomaptible with the processor. They both have the same socket type so I was under the impression that they would be. However, upon closer inspection of the AMD website it appears my mother board is not listed under their reccomended components for the Phenom II processor.

Is it more likely i've made a complete screw job of the components than a faulty part? If the motherboard being incompatible is the problem, the processor should be undamaged because the socket is the right type?

I'm starting to lose complete faith in myself now

[shadowmaster]

I'm starting to lose complete faith in myself now

Easy now......take a deep breath and relax

Anyhow according to this your mb should be compatible with an amd phenom II cpu.

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/c...Language=en-us (Choose your mb)

TBH it sounds like a dodgy motherboard, do you have a spare am2 cpu that you could confirm it with?

[Funkstar]

Both the CPU and the motherboard are AM2+ so there shouldn't be a problem there.

How can they suggest it is either a CPU or motherboard problem if they can't find a problem. Did they get it running? If not how did they test it?

[Hologide]

Hmm I was on the ASUS forums and it appears I need to flash the BIOS on my motherboard to update it to a Phenom II compatible BIOS. Which means getting an older AMD2 processor, doing the flash, then re-installing the Phenom II? This is becoming quite the effort!

To the above two posters:

No - I dont have a spare AM2 CPU. The repair store didnt have one so I might try a store in town.

They tested it by resetting some of the parts on the motherboard, using various combinations of monitors, RAM to see if anything changed. To be honest, I thought they'd at least get the fan off the CPU and poke about but it was a free service so I cant really complain.

[SammEl]

You sure it's not dodgy RAM? No screen, no beeps, it could just be faulty RAM modules (it was in my case), just borrow some RAM from somewhere and try it if you haven't already.

[Hologide]

No its been tried with a variety of RAM.

I'm going to purchase another AM2 processor off of Scan.co.uk. An older, vastly cheaper one which I can use to update the bios/diagnose a faulty motherboard.

Going to order this one:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=964145

its definitly on Asus' list of compatible processors:
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/c...Language=en-us

I'll do that later on this evening in time to get it tomorrow. Unless anyone could suggest an alternative strategy?