Help with newly built PC

[OzzofAsura]

I'll start off by saying that I'm not great with PCs, but I have some understanding of them... this problematic PC was put together by my brother (He knows what he's doing for sure, but just came across this problem a little while ago and can't narrow down the problem)

Basically, he was given a motherboard with a CPU and RAM. That did not work properly, presumably because of either the motherboard itself, or the processor because it would either shut down or not boot up properly 1/5 times.

So, he purchased a new mother board (ASUS M4A78-E), a new CPU (AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz), a new graphics card (PNY GeForce 9800 GT 1 GB) and the RAM from the old mobo (4 x 1 GB Patriot DDR2 PEP21G6400LL).

--Everything seems to be connected properly, the lights come on and the fans spin. But, there is no signal being picked up by the monitor. The monitor is practically brand new, it turns on without a problem, the screen says "No signal" and the indicator light goes orange for standby. I'm pretty sure it's not a problem with the monitor. Also, the ASUS website states that the mobo and processor are compatible, though it is possible that the BIOS needs to be updated. If this is the case, what are the options with nothing being displayed on the monitor? If this is not the case, what do you think it is?--

Thanks in advance BG.

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131368

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...listo%203.1GHz

Graphics Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...%20GT%201%20GB

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...20PEP21G6400LL

Case/Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119161 (I believe it's this one with a 500w Cooler Master power supply.)

[fishstix]

Can you find out what power supply you're using? You probably used the same one for both systems, what it sounds like. The board looks pretty new, an outdated bios shouldn't be too problematic. Try using the onboard video for the monitor. You could also try running memtest on the ram while in the old system, if you can get it to boot >.>

[OzzofAsura]

The power supply came with the CoolerMaster case, it is a 500w power supply. Everything except for the RAM is new, and he tried using all the RAM sticks together and also each one individually, just in case one of them was busted.

There isn't really an old system to try the memory on, it was just a couple parts he thought were better than they really were. If he takes apart this one and puts the old mobo in there again, he might be able to test the RAM, though the system was really unstable.

Thanks for the reply, and sorry for not including links to the parts, didn't mean to leave those out and let you look them up. I'll add them now.

Edit: We had also tried the on board video, no luck with that either.

[Norellicus]

Do you get a single short beep (or any kind of sounds besides the fans really) when you power on?

[Ratatapa]

semi like norrilicus said

Take off the ram and boot the PC see if it beeps.


(make sure the PC speaker is plugged tho )

[Cephius]

Remove all the RAM except for one stick. Put that one stick in the slot closest to the processor. Take out the video card. Just use the onboard video, and see if it works.

Also, test the monitor with a known working system just to be sure.

[Isiolia]

Covering a few other bases...

- The monitor is on the correct input, right?

- The heatsink is installed correctly?

Past that, if you've checked other stuff mentioned, try popping out the CMOS battery, (and of course unplug the machine) and letting it sit for a bit to reset the BIOS settings - shouldn't need to, unless you know you got an open box board or something, but it wouldn't hurt.

It's always possible that you just plain got a DoA mobo or something as well.

[Neb]

I had the same problem with my M4A78T-E I needed to first boot up the PC with no Video card in the machine using the onboard graphics then install all the driver software then put the card back in and reboot worked for me. So try booting with NO Video card in the machine. Just my 2 cents. Hope it works for you.

[Olo401]

I had the same problem with my M4A78T-E I needed to first boot up the PC with no Video card in the machine using the onboard graphics then install all the driver software then put the card back in and reboot worked for me. So try booting with NO Video card in the machine. Just my 2 cents. Hope it works for you.

^ Yep it's a GPU conflict. Try this first, it should work. If it doesn't do this:

Connect the monitor to the onboard video and boot to BIOS. There should be GPU boot options there where you can disable the onboard video or set priority to your expansion card. Save & exit BIOS when finished, reconnect the monitor to the video card, and that should get you at least into Windows where you can install your drivers.

[OzzofAsura]

I believe he had unplugged something that caused it to beep constantly. He said "Alright, good..." and put whatever it was back in.

I will try all of those things, the GPU conflict sounds like it would fit the description... and you're right Ceph, I should not just assume the monitor works just because it is new/was working... I will test that as well.

Thanks very much for all the answers :D Yesterday, my bro said "I'll see if someone at work has any idea what's going on" and I was like "Don't worry, BG will know" hehe

[OzzofAsura]

Just wanted to bump and say thanks! Nice to have some place to go when you get stuck.

Posted from the new PC btw. :D

[fishstix]

awesome, yeah ASUS seems to be sucky/problematic lately that I've seen, even though I use one now. I'm probably going to stay away from it from now.