+7
Dantos
hsalive
Bullarky
EvilDream
Stigma
Khalrez
Hect
11 posters
Built my first computer
Hect- Forum Camper Elite
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- Post n°1
Built my first computer
I just put my new comp together and turned the power on and all the lights and fans come on but nothing happens. My monitor does not come on it dosen't even try to load anything it is just dead except for the fans and lights. Does anyone have a ideas of what I forgot to do?
Guest- Guest
- Post n°2
Re: Built my first computer
You might start with the harddrive and when you boot listen to it to find out if it is actually working. Also some motherboards have a light for troubleshooting so check the MB book.
Khalrez- Colossal Poster
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- Post n°3
Re: Built my first computer
Well a power shortage at any point could cause this. Might want to make certain your PSU is connected to all the vital componants.
The only other possible problem I can think of is perhaps your CPU isnt seated properly.
The only other possible problem I can think of is perhaps your CPU isnt seated properly.
Hect- Forum Camper Elite
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- Post n°4
Re: Built my first computer
The mother board does have a green light that is lit on it. I will have to check this and my cpu.
Guest- Guest
- Post n°5
Re: Built my first computer
Usually if it is steady then it does not have an error. Some boards blink like a morse code to tell you the issue.Hect wrote:The mother board does have a green light that is lit on it. I will have to check this and my cpu.
Stigma- Forum Royalty
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- Post n°6
Re: Built my first computer
Well, if it has a light, and the fans come on, then at least it's getting power. Try some quick things:
1. Re-seat the RAM. Make sure that's it's snugly in place, and the clips on the side are locked down.
2. Jiggle the CPU. If it moves at all, it's not locked in place.
3. This may be a pain, but reconnect your internal power cables to your devices. Make sure you didn't double-dip (i.e. connect in one chain) the hard-drive, DVD player, or graphics card. I remember on my old PSU if I tried to connect anything internally on the same cord as my video card or DVD drive neither would boot. And my fans liked having their own power cable with nothing else on it.
4. Dumb question: your power supply is strong enough to run everything you installed on your computer, right? If you have less than 400w to play with, you may be underpowering your stuff.
1. Re-seat the RAM. Make sure that's it's snugly in place, and the clips on the side are locked down.
2. Jiggle the CPU. If it moves at all, it's not locked in place.
3. This may be a pain, but reconnect your internal power cables to your devices. Make sure you didn't double-dip (i.e. connect in one chain) the hard-drive, DVD player, or graphics card. I remember on my old PSU if I tried to connect anything internally on the same cord as my video card or DVD drive neither would boot. And my fans liked having their own power cable with nothing else on it.
4. Dumb question: your power supply is strong enough to run everything you installed on your computer, right? If you have less than 400w to play with, you may be underpowering your stuff.
EvilDream- Extreme Poster
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- Post n°7
Re: Built my first computer
Like the others said sounds like a seating issue of one of your cards/ram/cpu or your lacking enough power from your power supply.
What are the components you have installed currently, that way it would be easy to check if its a power issue by going to a voltage calc and adding them up.
What are the components you have installed currently, that way it would be easy to check if its a power issue by going to a voltage calc and adding them up.
Bullarky- Forum Imperial
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- Post n°8
Re: Built my first computer
Hect, lots of good advice above, heres my two cents just to muddy your brain a bit more:
First things first...
1) Tell me what's in the box... Motherboard, ram, cards, drives, power, etc.
A few things to look at...
Most motherboards have a digital read out with 2 characters on it. It looks like a digital clock. This is called your post code indicator. It tells you what phase the system got to before it failed. This is very helpful in most cases. Hopefully your MB has one.
Power supply connectors. Most motherboards require at least two connections. The main 24 pin connector and then a smaller 6 or 8 pin connector. These two connectors must be firmly locked in place.
Ram. Make sure your ram is in ram sockets 0 and 1. Some boards split these up because of SLI. So it would look something like 0 2 1 4 as far as ram sockets. Also, until you get a successful boot, I'd suggest only using one stick of ram.
CPU and CPU Fan. Make sure these two things are seated and connected properly. The heat sink should also be installed after these two things are verified.
Video card... If your motherboard has more than one PCIe slot, I would try them all. It's possible one of the slots is fried. Also, make sure it locks in place. Most components you should hear a snap when seated properly.
If still you get no loving, disconnect everything accept for the absolute basics. CPU (fan and heat sink), Power Supply, 1 stick of ram, and your video card. Nothing else needs to be connected for the computer to boot to BIOS. If you still can't get to BIOS at this point, then one of your components is either not installed properly or is defective. The only way to find out which one is have another PC that you know works and swap out pieces with it. Unfortunately most times the ram and cpu are not able to be swapped because of the motherboard.
Hope something here helps you... My motherboard was fried and I'm waiting on a replacement so it's not out of the realm of possibilities that a component can be bad.
First things first...
1) Tell me what's in the box... Motherboard, ram, cards, drives, power, etc.
A few things to look at...
Most motherboards have a digital read out with 2 characters on it. It looks like a digital clock. This is called your post code indicator. It tells you what phase the system got to before it failed. This is very helpful in most cases. Hopefully your MB has one.
Power supply connectors. Most motherboards require at least two connections. The main 24 pin connector and then a smaller 6 or 8 pin connector. These two connectors must be firmly locked in place.
Ram. Make sure your ram is in ram sockets 0 and 1. Some boards split these up because of SLI. So it would look something like 0 2 1 4 as far as ram sockets. Also, until you get a successful boot, I'd suggest only using one stick of ram.
CPU and CPU Fan. Make sure these two things are seated and connected properly. The heat sink should also be installed after these two things are verified.
Video card... If your motherboard has more than one PCIe slot, I would try them all. It's possible one of the slots is fried. Also, make sure it locks in place. Most components you should hear a snap when seated properly.
If still you get no loving, disconnect everything accept for the absolute basics. CPU (fan and heat sink), Power Supply, 1 stick of ram, and your video card. Nothing else needs to be connected for the computer to boot to BIOS. If you still can't get to BIOS at this point, then one of your components is either not installed properly or is defective. The only way to find out which one is have another PC that you know works and swap out pieces with it. Unfortunately most times the ram and cpu are not able to be swapped because of the motherboard.
Hope something here helps you... My motherboard was fried and I'm waiting on a replacement so it's not out of the realm of possibilities that a component can be bad.
hsalive- Forum Lord
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- Post n°9
Re: Built my first computer
or be sure you plug the cpu fan into the mobo cpu fan monitor and not into the power supply
in otherwords
when i built mine it did the same thing because instead of allowing the mobo to monitor my cpu fan by making the board its power source i wanted to just run it straight from the power supply, however i learned after feeling the same panic your feeling that my mobo would not allow the pc to power up unless my cpu fan was plugged into the motherboard
also, not that i doubt anyone here but
http://www.hardforum.com/
has people just waiting to diagnose and solve your problem
in otherwords
when i built mine it did the same thing because instead of allowing the mobo to monitor my cpu fan by making the board its power source i wanted to just run it straight from the power supply, however i learned after feeling the same panic your feeling that my mobo would not allow the pc to power up unless my cpu fan was plugged into the motherboard
also, not that i doubt anyone here but
http://www.hardforum.com/
has people just waiting to diagnose and solve your problem
Dantos- Extensive Poster
Number of posts : 207
Age : 38
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Registration date : 2008-04-16
- Post n°10
Re: Built my first computer
Is there any audio signal? Some boards (mine for example) give a loud long beep instead of a short one at start up if something isnt seated properly as was the case when i put in my new video card.
Hect- Forum Camper Elite
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- Post n°11
Re: Built my first computer
Bullarky wrote:Hect, lots of good advice above, heres my two cents just to muddy your brain a bit more:
First things first...
1) Tell me what's in the box... Motherboard, ram, cards, drives, power, etc.
A few things to look at...
Most motherboards have a digital read out with 2 characters on it. It looks like a digital clock. This is called your post code indicator. It tells you what phase the system got to before it failed. This is very helpful in most cases. Hopefully your MB has one.
Power supply connectors. Most motherboards require at least two connections. The main 24 pin connector and then a smaller 6 or 8 pin connector. These two connectors must be firmly locked in place.
Ram. Make sure your ram is in ram sockets 0 and 1. Some boards split these up because of SLI. So it would look something like 0 2 1 4 as far as ram sockets. Also, until you get a successful boot, I'd suggest only using one stick of ram.
CPU and CPU Fan. Make sure these two things are seated and connected properly. The heat sink should also be installed after these two things are verified.
Video card... If your motherboard has more than one PCIe slot, I would try them all. It's possible one of the slots is fried. Also, make sure it locks in place. Most components you should hear a snap when seated properly.
If still you get no loving, disconnect everything accept for the absolute basics. CPU (fan and heat sink), Power Supply, 1 stick of ram, and your video card. Nothing else needs to be connected for the computer to boot to BIOS. If you still can't get to BIOS at this point, then one of your components is either not installed properly or is defective. The only way to find out which one is have another PC that you know works and swap out pieces with it. Unfortunately most times the ram and cpu are not able to be swapped because of the motherboard.
Hope something here helps you... My motherboard was fried and I'm waiting on a replacement so it's not out of the realm of possibilities that a component can be bad.
Thanks for all the help. Bull your answer with the power supply to the mother board was it. I only connected one connecter not both like you stated. My system is now working like a champ.
Bullarky- Forum Imperial
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- Post n°12
Re: Built my first computer
I'm glad I could help bud... Enjoy!
hsalive- Forum Lord
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Registration date : 2008-04-23
- Post n°13
Re: Built my first computer
anyone ever turn their pc on with the power to the pci express video card unpluged?
thats a sound you never forget
i seriously thought i did something wrong, it actually made me sick to my stomach
thats a sound you never forget
i seriously thought i did something wrong, it actually made me sick to my stomach
Jephthah- Extreme Poster
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- Post n°14
Re: Built my first computer
When I built my current PC that burnt me too. I was like ugh. That is basically the power for the cpu.
I was up until about 3 in the morning working on that. I gave the EVGA guys a good laugh.
I was up until about 3 in the morning working on that. I gave the EVGA guys a good laugh.
Dantos- Extensive Poster
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- Post n°15
Re: Built my first computer
Thankfully i took an A+ class in high school for my req computer course, best decision ive ever made. If i haddnt id probally still be buying from dell *shudder*
EvilDream- Extreme Poster
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- Post n°16
Re: Built my first computer
Glad to hear your systems up and running and it wasn't anything major.
sideshow- Stout Poster
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Registration date : 2008-04-20
- Post n°17
Re: Built my first computer
this sort of thing happened to me once...was flustered until i remembered to reset the CMOS jumper... >.<
Probie- Moderate Poster
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Registration date : 2008-04-23
- Post n°18
Re: Built my first computer
on a quick break at work so didn't read everyone's posts. I'm sure this has been said but..
Same thing happened to me just the other day. My GPU wasn't locked into the PCI-E slot like it was supposed to be. Took it out and put it back in and it was all good.
Hope you already have your issue resolved.
Same thing happened to me just the other day. My GPU wasn't locked into the PCI-E slot like it was supposed to be. Took it out and put it back in and it was all good.
Hope you already have your issue resolved.
Bigmac- Wobbly Poster
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- Post n°19
Re: Built my first computer
evilash wrote:anyone ever turn their pc on with the power to the pci express video card unpluged?
thats a sound you never forget
i seriously thought i did something wrong, it actually made me sick to my stomach
I just put my new PC together last night and got that same noise. I was like "WTF is that!". After plugging that in and the power to the CPU I finally got Vista64 loaded. Now I have to finish building the desk to put it on.....why do I start these projects....