Weird Startup

Just put together a new system,

specs;

1GB XFX 7950GX2 DUAL GPU*OEM*
500W SEASONIC S12-500 + TIES
Antec P180 Black Case (no PSU)
Arctic Silver5 THERMAL PASTE
Asus P5B Deluxe i965 s775 WiFi
Intel E6600 Core2Duo 2.40GHz
XFi Xterme Music OEM
74GB WD SATA 10K 16MB RAPTOR


Upon turning it on the motherboard lights and the gpu's lights are visibly on. There is no system beeping of any kind. (checked manual and any type of beeping is a boot error from what I can tell).

The hard drive is on from what I can tell (noise I think).

ram is in from what I can tell.

There are no jumper settings on the motherboard besides the bios reset and that's definately set to normal.

Have tried and retried all connections and no joy. Would there be any reason to suspect dodgy hardware or the like?

I'm finding it just plain weird that the monitor doesn't turn on. It just sits there on standby.

What's most likely wrong?

Have you plugged in the 4-pin PSU lead to the motherboard to power up the CPU?
If the CPU has no power the rest of the system will spin up but you would get no beeps or BIOS.

You also haven't mentioned what ram setup that you have.

Got any RAM? disconnect all devices such as HDs, DVDs and remove PCI cards. Does it boot further?

Yup, strip it down to the basics - cpu, ram, gfx and see if you can get any signs of life. Sounds like somethings not correctly seated / connected.

Check RAM, gfx card and cpu cooler are seated correctly. Check the jumpers on the mb are set correctly (eg RTC RAM CMOS clear jumper is not set).

Check the power and other connectors are correctly connected to the mb. Is the CPU cooler running?

Could trying clearing CMOS and reboot.

Chnks

woops, ram is;

g. skill ddr2 2x1gb pc2-6400 cl4 4-4-12 2.0-2.1v

Will strip it down to basics and reset the cmos. I'm also going to try a different ram module tomorrow. I've tried moving one stick of the g.skill single stick of ram about the dimm slots, no change.

both the atx 12v and 24 pin EATX plug is in the baord. cpu fan is running, as is gpu fans.

thanks guys, appreciate the input

ok, cleared cmos and took out everything bar one stick of ram, hdd, cpu.

Tried it with ram module in different dimms. same thing. No beep, no picture.

Need to try it with a different ram module?

Ok, now remove the hdd, gfx, memory, etc. until just the CPU (and fan) are installed. When you power up your system should beep like crazy reporting no ram.

have you double checked the jumper wires for the on/off switch? failing that, take off the jumper for the switch and short the 2 pins where it would normally go for a second and see if it starts up, if it does, its the switch.

ok, tried removing the hdd, gfx, memory so that it's just the mobo and cpu running. No beeps.

This may sound silly, but under the system panel connector [20-8pin panel with the reset, power switch, speaker etc...]

I haven't connected anything to the four pins under speaker [+5v, ground, ground, speaker]. Could this result in no beeping?

edit//the pc turns on just fine. All the lights are on, all the fans are running, but there wasn't any output for the monitor.

Check that the reset switch lead is on the right way round.....this can cause a new pc to sit in permanent reset....no beeps, noise, nothing....but it looks all powered on....

ah, sorry, i read it as though it was dead, but with leds on the board.

you sure the speaker jumper is on the right way round? that wouldnt stop it from booting, but it would explain no beeps.

tried the reset switch both ways ound, no change. Is there supposed to be a four pin connector in the system panel connector for the system warning speaker? Is the boot up error beeping speaker wired in to the mobo or do I need to hook it up?

From manual; "This 4-pin connector is for the chassis-mounted system warning speaker. The speaker allows you to hear system warnings and beeps."

There's nothing in the jumper connector for this chassis mounted speaker. I'm guessing that the mobo error speaker is wired into the mobo. hmmm

You will only get beeping when the speaker connector is plugged into that system panel header on the motherboard.

One other common problem is pins on the back of the MB shorting on the inside of the case, try removing the MB and powering it up when it's sat on top of it's cardboard box to remove any chance of shorting.

You may have to remove your PSU from the case so that the cables can reach.

The speaker will be mounted in the front of your case, or in some cases is a little speaker mounted on the end of a couple of inch long wires (which would have come with your motherboard) which must be plugged into the speaker connector of the system panel header.

It should look like a large reset/power connector spanning 3 or 4 pins.

Here's a picture of the little one I was talking about:
http://www.clearpc.ca/catalog/images/speaker.JPG

some motherboards have them built on i dont know bout that asus, but even if the speaker was working it wstil wouldnt boot would it, nd is unlikely the beep code is going to be the most helpfull thing as they never are

There's no little speaker mounted on a couple of inch long wires amongst the mobo contents so I'm assuming it's in the case, but there's no wire coming from the front for the system panel header. :/

the speaker might be attached to the motherboard which is what i just said, and the speaker wire rarely comes from the front panel imo because the are often mouted on the case floor. but check your motherboard.


i dont see what the big thing with this speaker is if you do find it and plug it in it will make no differnce just beep codes and unless you know what they mean useless...

You might not have a speaker at all. My stacker doesnt have a speaker in it and the mobo didnt come with one.

It came with a 4 four LED bracket that attaches to a special header on the mobo. Different combinations and colours of the lights denote different problems. Did yours come with anything similar?

Also, make sure you gfx card has a molex or whateve it uses plugged into it. It seems like your card isnt displaying the picture, maybe its a doa

i think it's the mobo.

Removed the cpu from the mobo and still no errors.

No led error lights, no speaker. Not very thorough is it. :/

Gonna try and find a mobo speaker to plug into the board, if not then I'm gonna RMA its ass.

Thanks for the help guys, top job.

I read with interest your question because I'm having the same problem with my M4A79T and I sure can't find the "chassis-mounted system warning speaker" on my CM 690. This is a simple question and I'm afraid the complicated answers are diligent, but I'm not sure they address what we're talkin' about. Anybody else want to weigh in in where the heck this 4 pin cable is? Maybe we need to go out and buy a "chassis-mounted system warning speaker"?

FAO targeting, you can buy a Motherboard Testing Switch Set from http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=98842 for £4.99, which includes a speaker.

Have you plugged any PCI-e power cables into your GFX card ?

To all--here's the answer to why I didn't get beeps or start-up. It's not really a "why". It turns out one of my 2 GB DDR3 RAM thingies is defective. Now why this would cause a paralysis of start-up and POST response is beyond me, especially when the other 2 GB DDR3 works fine and alone makes a fine machine, but there you have it. The POST did not give a signal for no DIMM (digo bien?), so it was never clear.