Built a computer:

Core 2 duo e6700
7600gt graphics card
2gigs corsair xms2 800mhz ram
Asus p5n-e sli motherboard

When it powers on, nothing is displayed. All of the parts are new, so I have no idea what works and what doesnt. There is an led on the motherboard that shows it's powered, and when it turns on, the processor fan spins etc and it sounds like it turned on, but the monitor doesn't display anything.

My question is: What can I rule out as NOT the problem?

1)The hard drive connected is old but I was assuming the bios should start up regardless of what hard drive is connected, if any at all.

2)If the RAM is not working (intel can be very picky on ram) would this be happening?

3)I am HOPING it's something wrong with the video card and it's just not displaying properly...somehow. The problem is: the mobo doesn't have onboard video.

4)Is it the processor? This is one thing I could try (it's compatible with a celeron, and I have an old one I could throw in if I make a long car ride)

5)OR is it the motherboard.

hellppppp argggggggggg=)

1/14/2007 7:52:21 PM

I'd make very sure that everything is seated and secured properly. RAM, video card and misc cabling especially.

Tell us what happens after you've checked those things thoroughly.

1/14/2007 8:15:07 PM

Had several people check all connections

1/14/2007 9:09:34 PM

do you hear the POST beep?

1/14/2007 9:27:32 PM

^

or several beeps in a row indicate problems.

also, does your video card require additional power from the PSU? make sure it's getting enough juice if that's the case. this happened with me once.

[Edited on January 14, 2007 at 9:32 PM. Reason : ]

1/14/2007 9:31:16 PM

This happened once to me, and it turned out the person that put the processor in (not me) bent the a pin on the processor putting it in.

So make sure the processor is installed properly.

It could also be a bad power supply, if you have a spare, try swapping that in.

[Edited on January 14, 2007 at 10:06 PM. Reason : ]

1/14/2007 10:06:28 PM

no beeps. card doesn't require pci-e power connector cause there's no place to attach one =)

1/14/2007 11:32:01 PM

Have you tried a different stick of RAM (usually an older stick will do), or perhaps no stick at all?

My DFI was a hateful bitch about RAM. I put a Mushkin PC 4000 gig stick in, and it would power on, but it wouldn't give the proper error code on the mobo, and nothing would display. I put in other RAM and it ran alright with that. I finally bought a 512 stick of PQI 3200 RAM, and it booted up perfectly with that in Slot 1 and the Mushkin 4000 on Slot 2. Moral of the story, make sure that RAM isn't faster than the mobo maximum. Sometimes the mobo dunno WTF to do with faster RAM than it takes and can seriously throw some stupid shit at you. Took forever for me to get straight.

1/14/2007 11:41:41 PM

okcoolso it could be the ram. I'lltry to scare up a stick of slow ddr2. Thanks!

1/15/2007 1:38:22 PM

ive had a lot of ram issues with booting/performance...


nothing seems to make a system more crash prone/unstable than some stupid ram problem

1/15/2007 5:08:50 PM

k I tried older (definitely working) RAM and computer still doesnt work. I also know my graphics card works because I put it in a different computer.

So recap: led light on mobo comes on when powered, and processor and ps fans spin when it turns on. However, there is no output to monitor. There is no audible post beep. What is the startup order? Is the processor checked before bios post? Or should bios pop up even if my processor doesn't work? The probelm is either mobo or processor, but no one has a lga775 processor for me to test which one is broken.

I'll owe someone a very big favor if they have a compatible (LGA 775 socket) celeron, pentium 4, pentium d, or core2duo processor, and or a compatible lga775 mobo so that I can test components...

1/17/2007 6:55:48 PM

okay, you're absolutely sure EVERYTHING is connected? if you can find another PSU to use, try that. typically no POST beep indicates either PSU or board problem in my experience. Try clearing CMOS and try another PSU if you can.

1/17/2007 9:24:50 PM

i assume he has either disappeared or find another method to solve the problem.

1/19/2007 2:22:58 PM

you hdd cable is loose

disconnect and reconnect

1/19/2007 11:04:58 PM

No, it's probably the CPU. Remove the CPU and reseat it again, carefully. I've had this happen on machines I've built and that usually does the trick.

1/20/2007 9:00:21 AM

i've seen the HDD connection cause this three times and every goddamn time nobody believed me when i told them that's what it was

1/20/2007 9:27:08 AM

Make sure the fan on the CPU heat sink is:

1) Spinning when you turn on the computer
2) Connected to the right spot on the motherboard

A lot of motherboards have multiple spots to connect the CPU cooling fan. Some will also not boot if they do not detect a fan (or something) conencted to the right pins. Had this problem with a computer I built a while back. There were no error beeps associated with it and I felt very dumb when I figured out what was wrong.

^ Possible, but don't most systems still post without a system drive? It should at least output an error either on the screen or in beep form right?

[Edited on January 20, 2007 at 9:29 AM. Reason : ]

1/20/2007 9:28:19 AM

no, not necessarily. we're not dealing with an absent HDD, we're dealing with a loose cable

[Edited on January 20, 2007 at 9:34 AM. Reason : s]

1/20/2007 9:33:42 AM

Quote :

"but don't most systems still post without a system drive?"

every system i've ever worked on posts without a drive

1/20/2007 8:44:44 PM

yes of course goddamnit

this is ridiculous

fucking idiots not knowing the difference between a loose cable and a completely disconnected one

1/20/2007 9:39:53 PM

i can attest to this, a loose of shorted ide or floppy cable cna fuck a system up. Mine would nto boot till i replaced the ide cable, on a system that had run for years with that cable. All i had done to it was unplug it and replug it when rerouting cables

Moral? buy a new cable if reseating ours does nto work, cables are cheap.

1/20/2007 10:02:41 PM

^^You can get pissy all you want. But we're waiting on this guy to even come back and tell us what was wrong. No one was saying you were wrong, so calm down. A lot of different things can be causing it.

1/21/2007 1:43:53 AM

Asus mobo's are very picky about ram. Just visit their website to see what is compatible. I know for certain that the 2gb corsair xms2 rams aren't officially supported and can lead to errors. I built an asus system 6 months ago and had to get another set of cheap ram just to boot and install the os and then update the bios with the latest rev. once I got it booted, I switched back to corsair ram without any problems. I'm also building a new e6600, 8800gts, 2gb corsair xms2 800, asus p5n board next week. Got most of the parts, just waiting on the ram and case.

BTW, Asus mobo's tend to have a high failure rate compared to other manufacturers and it could be that you got a broken one.

1/21/2007 4:23:12 AM

^^ yes, I know that a lot of different things could be causing it and I'll freely admit that there's a chance that its not a loose HDD cable. What I'm "pissy" about are these so-called experts who keep jibber jabbering about how a computer will POST without a HDD present as if that disproves the loose cable theory

1/21/2007 8:44:15 AM

yay thanks everyone for trying to help me out. To be honest, I've had to just ignore the problem this weekend because it has drained me mentally and I haven't been able to focus on more important things (finding an internship, getting into a prereq i need).

there is only one place to plug in the processor fan, and it's right beside the processor, so I know that's not it. Keep in mind there is a very explicit and well illustrated manual that comes with the Asus boards.

i tried a SATA hdd it's not a faulty ide cable. The hdd spins, and the processor fan, graphics card fan, and ps fan all spin.

I tried a slower stick of RAM so I don't think it's that. It's possible the slower stick is also not compatible with the motherboard.

Cleared CMOS. No change.

New plan is to continue looking for a ddr2 compatible stick of RAM and after I try that, rma the board cause it's either the board or the cpu. JBaz, can i bring my shit to your place when you're building and we try something? I don't want to risk frying any of your stuff, but I need to try some compatible ram, and I would like to try my cpu in a working comp.

thanks again guys! I would have gone insane if I hadn't had help!

1/21/2007 3:32:19 PM

pull all the memory out and see if it beeps. if it does, it's probably the memory. if it doesn't, it's probably the board. could be the CPU in either case, but the board is a lot more likely.

1/21/2007 3:44:17 PM

Ooooooh it beeeeep beep beeped. Askin around for ram that asus claims it supports.

1/21/2007 4:25:52 PM

Arg apparently I'm the only person to ever own ddr2. I've checked circuit city and best buy and neither lists any compatible memory online. I've read online that once the computer boots, it will work with my specific memory (which is why I bought this type, also some people said my memory booted the computer, alas, I am in the first group) does anyone have a compatible stick I can use to boot? I live in sullivan but I'll come to you of course.

1/21/2007 4:48:41 PM

ah Asus site working again. Compatible RAM:

http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5N-E%20SLI/e2968_P5N-ESLI.pdf

Pages 18-20

Sorry I tried to post them here and save you the trouble but it didn't like my images

[Edited on January 21, 2007 at 5:03 PM. Reason : stupid image]

1/21/2007 5:01:31 PM

I hate it when people make the settings in PDF's of something like a manual so you can't cut and paste in acrobat reader...

1/21/2007 6:36:08 PM

just get some cheap 512 ram on newegg or something. Those cheap valued ram from various of manufacturers should work fine, I'd just get cheapest one on the compatible list.

1/21/2007 9:43:38 PM

i hope you get your system up and running.

this proves a good point in the long run however : dont buy asus.

1/22/2007 8:35:02 AM

haha, yeah, good to know you may have figured it out. let us know what happens with the new (old) ram

1/22/2007 12:05:20 PM

Also try different slots on the RAM. If it don't work in 1, try 2 or 3. You'd be surprised how often the mobo doesn't like a stick or RAM in a particular slot, but get it in the one she wants, and your PC will purr all night.

1/22/2007 12:59:49 PM

oh

1/22/2007 9:28:58 PM

my god. WHooOOOOOOOOOOOOO i think that did it. So if your computer doesn't work when you build it, try 31380 different combinations of things, and eventually it might work =) THANKS EVERYONE i'll make a longer post on what i think did it after I get windows up and running

1/22/2007 9:45:36 PM

getting close...

So I reformatted my hard drive and installed xp on it with the install cd. It gets to the point where it reboots, but then it won't boot from the hard drive, it will only boot from the cd, which starts the install process over again. Tried this a few times, with different combinations of BIOS boot order settings, but it just refuses to boot from my hd. When I put cd as 2nd or lower priority, it says os error, hit ctrl alt del to reboot.

The only thing I can think of is that I need to update bios, which I'll do tomorrow with a floppy (I tried usb but didn't work, even though manual said it would, nice try asus, nice try)

I hope everyone enjoys reading about my plight.

1/23/2007 12:24:59 AM

;lasidjfoawehflkas;jdf

So to fix the windows install problem (above) I updated my bios by dling the updated bios and putting it on a floppy, and using the bios update utility. After I updated it, it restarted, and now every time it turns on, it shows the "Asus blah blah Motherboard" screen for a few seconds, then goes to a black screen. Doesn't matter if I hit delete to go to setup, or if i just let it try to boot, it just goes to a black screen. I'm kind of worried I really messed something up SOMEHOW. Should I just clear CMOS and try again? Was it a windows problem to start with? al;kdsjfl;as THIS WILL NEVER END, EVER

1/23/2007 10:48:08 PM

clearing cmos worked. Bios is now updated to most current version =)

Still won't load operating system. When I try to load os from hard drive, it doesnt work, it just goes to a black screen. Thoughts?

1/23/2007 11:42:13 PM

Quote :

"P5N-E SLI featuring the nForce 650i chipset."

problem found

1/24/2007 12:05:47 PM

Quote :

"Asus p5n-e "

problem found

1/24/2007 8:51:22 PM

?

It says disc error hit ctrl alt del to reboot. What does that have to do with my chipset. I've tried 2 different hard drives by the way. ARGGG

1/24/2007 10:08:59 PM

have u tried the forums over at anandtech for more advice?

1/24/2007 10:14:00 PM

personally, after dealing with Asus crap so many times, I don't think I'm gonna buy asus again. I keep giving their boards a chance, but it always end up me figuring it out why it doesn't work, search hours on end to figure it out, and finally get it to work by myself. And their customer service isn't the best either.

I bought an intel mobo to build a cheap system now, so I'll see how that goes. I haven't built a system on an intel based chipset in a few years.

1/25/2007 9:07:18 AM

intel chipsets are the only way to go with an intel proc.

going with anything else is just asking for trouble.

1/25/2007 12:25:58 PM

Of the systems I've built, the 3 that had Asus motherboards all had serious problems within the first year. One bricked itself during a bios update, one seemed to like to destroy any memory placed in the second slot (memory would fail after 20 or so days, kept getting new ones under RAM manufacturer warranty though), and the other one simply failed to post 5 months after purchase.

I never bothered figuring out what was wrong with the third one. I had an extended warranty through new-egg and they were out of stock of that particular model. They offered to do a rapid exchange for a comparable DFI motherboard and I gladly accepted. Needless to say, that was the last Asus motherboard I ever plan on buying for any build I do for my friends or my self.

I have not had anywhere near that rate of failure with DFI, Biostar, or Intel products that I've used. Kind of resent the people at Intrex for selling me that first Asus board and going on about how great the brand was.


EDIT:
Before anyone says anything, these systems were all on surge protectors and used either PC Power and Cooling or Antec power supplies. Only one of these systems was one I built for myself, the other two were for friends. In those two cases I felt obligated to fix the problems whenever they popped up. I was glad I had convinced them to get extended warranties through new-egg because it allowed me to get non-asus replacements in the end. They haven't had any problems since.

[Edited on January 25, 2007 at 1:10 PM. Reason : power supplies, etc.]

1/25/2007 1:07:57 PM

^no doubt about that. Asus are over hyped pos, although for the price and features, they seem good... when they work.

DFI are awesome boards, but usually they are out of my price range for the good ones. I have an old abit mobo that is great and has awesome features. got it free after my gigabyte mobo went dead. That gigabyte had 6 ddr rams slots and was awesome.

1/25/2007 10:45:00 PM

i've never seen anyone have this many problems

you're going to have to either just give up and buy a lot of notepads and pens or just shoot yourself in the head now

1/26/2007 11:25:56 AM

so this would be a bad idea then?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131025

1/26/2007 12:13:10 PM

Yeah shit is getting ridiculous. I managed to get the computer up and running with xp installed on an old ide hdd, but it will have nothing to do with my sata drive. Anytime I try to install xp on it, it says disc read error, hit ctrl alt del to restart. My question is...can I install xp on it from within xp, instead of installing it by booting it up with it?

For some reason, my 650i chipset has problems with sata drives, so to recognize them, I have to patch the chipset. To patch the chipset, xp has to be installed. To install xp, my chipset must be patched....

So with xp installed on my ide drive (which is borrowed) can I install xp on my sata drive...which is being treated as an external drive? I tried just hooking both drives up, and booting fromt he ide drive, and then using the xp cd to try and install xp on the sata drive, but it defaulted to the ide drive and none of the options let me install to the sata drive. So anyone knwo how to install xp on a different hard drive from within xp?

Thanks!

1/26/2007 3:24:32 PM