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1st computer build, need help!

T

TheMJ

Junior Member
I recently built my first computer, here are the specs
-Intel Desktop Board DX45WN
-Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz
-1.5 GB PC133 DRAM
-Nvidia GeForce 6800
-Audigy 2
-DVD Player
-DVD Burner
-200 GB HDD (im returning it tho, LOUD)
-Floppy

Here's my problem(s):
-I plug it in
-I flip the rocker switch on the power supply to the on position (I don't push the power button, it has no effect 😕 )
-The fans start spinning (including CPU fan)
-A tiny LED on the mobo lights up
-The hard drive starts spinning
Meanwhile, I get no video, and no beep codes. The floppy light is lit, and when I put a floppy in it, it dosen't make any noise. And Neither of the cd drives do anything.

Now, the first problem is that none of the fron panel display things are working. LEDs dont light, and the power/reset buttons dont work. One interesting thing about this problem is that both LEDs are "open" according to my multimeter. Does this mean they're dead? I believe that diodes should have low resistance in one direction and high in the other. I don't know how exactly motherboards are wired, but if they were busted, could it affect the power and reset switches as well?
Then I have no video. I have no idea what the problem could be. the video card's in properly, and it's little onboard fan is spinning. when I remove it, i get an ear-splitting beep. Eather the video connector is busted somewhere along the line, or the motherboard is simply not telling it to display anything.
And lastly, neither cd-drive works. Tray won't eject, no lights on the front panel. They're jumpered correctly, and the IDE and power plugs are both plugged in correctly. Again, I can only assume that the motherboard's not telling it to do anything.

I did my homework and everything (or I thought...) and I'm 99% sure everything is plugged in right. The only thing that I can think of that could be the problem is the BIOS is corrupted. That would suck serious @$$ because i'd need a new mobo AND new ram.

I am too scared to check if the processor is heating up.

:brokenheart:
help!

EDIT: I don't have any extra parts to swap out...
 
Are you certain of the model number on that motherboard? I can't find it at the Intel site. Do you mean D845WN?

I'll take a guess that this board will not support that much ram. I'm also going to venture a guess that the board will not support that processor without a BIOS update.

Do you have full specs on the Processor?

Edit: Here's a link to the manual for your board. There is mention that the board supports 1.5GB ram but that it has not been tested.

Here's the latest BIOS. The release notes are vague, so I am not certain if your processor is supported. You might as well flash to it if it's not the version you're at. I think it's your only hope.

I think you will be OK though. But I have not read everything through thoroughly.

Edit again: Fixed the bad linkage. And after thinking about it, I doubt that vid card is compatible. Although I guess it plugged in?
 
Ok, I'm not an Intel guy so take this with a grain of salt.

Your mobo supports 400Mhz FSB.

I don't believe that Intel made a 3GHz socket 478 processor with a 400 FSB, only 800 FSB. But I am unsure of this. I highly doubt a BIOS revision would allow your processor to run on that board.

That video card will not work on your board. Your board only supports AGP cards of 1.5V.

At this point, I hope you haven't hosed any of the current generation components. The mobo and ram will have to go to run the rest.

Edit: And welcome to the forums!!!!!! 😀
 
PC133 on intel board, holy cow that is old. As the other poster stated, that video card should not work on older P4 boards. You're lucky if nothing got fried.

I think its time to upgrade. Yes, that means a new mobo/ram, powersupply, etc.

 
Actualy the video card will work fine. 8x AGP is backwards compatible with 4x. It's 1x and 2x agp slots that use 3.3v that aren't compatible. The problem is that your cpu is 800mhz FSB, and you have a really really old 400mhz FSB board. Even if by some miracle you got it to work, it would be completely bottlenecked by that ancient ram. You need a newer motherboard, and you need PC3200DDR to go with it. And if that P4 3ghz is a prescott, make sure you get a motherboard thats compatible, as not all 800mhz FSB boards are compatible with prescotts.
 
dang =(
thats a lotta money!
sigh. oh well.
So the mobo would spin up the hd without the processor? hm.
And what do u think about the front panel display problem? I wouldn't think the processor would affect the funtionality of that.

Thanks for your help g(uy/al)s! fast replys!

I :heart: anandtech!

EDIT: Wow, thanks for the link, ITjunkie! I had been using a somewhat-outdated guide at www.pcmechanic.com/byopc
 
Well the FP LED"s are polarized, so perhaps you just have the + and - in the wrong position when you connected them to the motherboard..

Did you already have that ram? 1.5gb of sdram couldn't have been cheap if you had to buy it, you should be able to easily get a gig of PC3200 for less. Maybe you can sell it along with the motherboard at a slight loss, and use that to buy a compatible motherboard and memory. Do you know weather you have a prescott or a northwood?
 
Well, I used a Ohm-meter to test the resistance both ways on the LED, and is was open both ways. This could mean that the LED's dead, but would that affect the rest of the front panel?

I got the mobo and ram from a friend who used to build computers and had it left over 😛. I purchased a new mobo and a gig of ram last night. Im using a normal P4 processor. not prescott or xtreme or celeron or anything.
 
Originally posted by: TheMJ
Well, I used a Ohm-meter to test the resistance both ways on the LED, and is was open both ways. This could mean that the LED's dead, but would that affect the rest of the front panel?

I got the mobo and ram from a friend who used to build computers and had it left over 😛. I purchased a new mobo and a gig of ram last night. Im using a normal P4 processor. not prescott or xtreme or celeron or anything.
Click to expand...

Prescott and northwood are both a normal P4 core. A 3ghz could be a Northwood with 512k of L2 Cache, Prescott has 1mb of L2 cache, but tends to run hotter, and has slower cache.
 
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