A little progress, but something's still wrong

[MysteryBowler]

Quick recap: Put together a new PC from parts. Power would come on for a brief moment (about 2 seconds) and then power off automatically.

Thanks to agnitrate for the good advice about checking the fan plugs and reseting the CMOS. It wasn't the fan, but resetting the CMOS got me to where I am today.

The motherboard will, indeed, power up. All the fans spin, the drives spin, etc, etc. But it still doesn't boot.

A quick scan of the manual (which contains no troubleshooting information, I might add) for my ECS K7VMM+ revealed a note that the default video setting is PCI, which enables the onboard video. I plugged my monitor into that, but to no avail. Still nothing that indicates that the mobo is indeed getting underway.

So...it's getting power, but something's still not quite right. I'm at a loss as to what to do next. Any ideas?

 

[jackschmittusa]

If you have onboard video, you probably have to have a stick of ram in the first memory slot. Look in the manual to id the 1st slot.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Actually, this may sound silly, but remove your CPU. The system should come up to a point and then spit out some error beeps. This will tell you that it is starting the POST (Power On Self Test) process. If nothing changes then you might just have a dead motherboard and need to RMA it.

 

[Bartman39]

or simply pull all the memory out and it should give a beep...beep...beep to let you know the bios see`s no ram installed...? (would know if its a good bios from this...)

 

[MysteryBowler]

Thanks to everyone for all the advice, but unfortunately nothing has worked as of yet. Also unfortunate is that I don't have a compatible mobo on hand to try just the processor on another box or a known good processor in the new PC.

*sigh* I resorted - finally - to taking the mobo, processor, RAM, PSU and case to a local tech shop and telling the techie "you get it to POST and I'll take it from there." I did tell the guy that I wanted to know what was wrong with it and I'll post the outcome on this thread.

Thanks again for all the good advice.

 

[Amarok]

Sounds to me like your mobo is touching the metal edges of the case causing it to screw up. You have to make sure that you screwed in all the little gold screws in the positions where the slots for screws on the motherboard are to make sure that its not touching the bottom of your case. I know it sounds wierd but it does matter. I have heard of this happening so many times...

 

[MysteryBowler]

Thanks for advice, but I think I've eliminated that by assembling the PSU, mobo, etc outside of the case on a non-static surface. I did that specifically to eliminate the possibility of a short against the case.

Thanks, tho.

 

[MysteryBowler]

As luck would have it, I have gotten ahold another Athlon-based PC with which I can swap parts until I figure out just what the heck is going on. I'll post to the thread when/if I find a solution.

 

[dnoyeb]

This is becomming a common problem. I am in another thread here about the same thing right now. It seems the BIOS can panic or something. I dont really know how to fix it.

It is most certainly a BIOS problem nonetheless.

First time ithappened to me my MB default FSB speed was incompatible with the CPU I had installed. If ever I clear CMOS, I would have to go hunting a different CPU. That is not fixed though with a newer bios.

Currently I have an Abit BP6 and an Abit NV7-133R both in this vegetative state. I have no idea how to fix it. I have recovered from this before though and its usually just a result of swappping in and out power supplies till it starts to work.

My NV7-133R started for a minute and windows came up and all. So I went back to working on the BP6. later I turned around to find the NV7 locked up. and Its back to being a vegetable again...

I *highly* suspect the PSU is a problem. the NV7-133R started acting funny after I used its PSU to start the BP6, which didnt start. I think that might have toasted some portion of the NV7s PSU.

In fact I am suspecting this is a BIOS vs. PSU issue. Probably if I get the comp to start one time with a good PSU, then it will start with the old one again. Don't ask me why. I'm going to test this on my wife's computer when I get home.

2 of mine are down and thats rough. But If I bring my wife's down, their will be hell to pay