Building Core i7 system - can't get to POST

[mfbernstein]

Hello all,

I've been fiddling with PCs for a while, but this is my first time trying to build one. Unfortunately I'm having problems. I've connected what I believe are the minimum set of components necessary to get video output and POST, but while the fans power up and a couple of LEDs on the motherboard blink briefly, I get no video output and no indication of POST.

Currently I have hooked up:

Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3 motherboard
Intel Core i7 860 CPU
Antec 300 case
2GB DDR3 1600 G.Skill memory (1 stick)
Corsair 400CX power supply
NVidia Quadro NVS 285 PCIe video card

The motherboard is currently connected to the following:
PSU (both 8-pin and 24-pin ATX connectors)
CPU
CPU heatsink/fan assembly
CPU fan cable
RAM (slot 1)
Video card (PCIe x16 slot 1)
Power and reset cables from the case

Any ideas what I might have done wrong, or how to go about troubleshooting from here? I've used the video card on another machine, and the fans power up so I assume the PSU isn't at fault.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Do you mean the fans AND lights come on briefly? If so that sounds like an issue with something shorting, make sure there are no stray screws under the motherboard and that you have used 9 (assuming this is a standard ATX board) motherboard standoffs so the board isnt hitting the case (or that there are any stray standoffs that may be making contact where there is no hole.

http://www.cybergooch.com/tutorials/images/buildsystem/IMG_6805.jpg

 

[mfbernstein]

Sorry, should have been more clear. Fans come on and stay on (until I power things off). The 'phase LEDs' on the motherboard turn on for a few seconds (3 green, 1 red) and then go off by themselves. I believe they are related to the CPU load?

I'm actually using the motherboard outside of the case right now (on cardboard). Good point on standoffs though - I take it I need to remove the extra ones?

Regarding POST, I think I may have figured part of the problem - no PC speaker on the MB or case. I just tested with an HD attached, and the HD both spins up, and activates the drive activity lights, so perhaps it is POSTing after all?

The video card is actually a few years old. It might be PCIe 1.0. Could that explain the lack of output?

Thanks.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

You should ONLY have the standoffs where there are holes in the board for them, otherwise they hit things they shouldnt and cause shorts.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

It sure sounds that way, do you have another video card you could test with?

 

[mfbernstein]

Problem solved, thanks for the comments and suggestions.

After scavenging a speaker from another machine, I verified that it was in fact POSTing. The lack of video output was actually a monitor input error on my part - the monitor was set up for Analog (DVI) when it should have been Digital (DVI). The NVS 285 works just fine, although I'll be replacing it with something newer (need to return it to the machine I scavenged it from).

Now to find a 64-bit OS for the box. Is XP X64 (XP64) sufficiently supported (apps and drivers) at this point? I'm not very keen on Vista/7...

Thanks!

 

[manutdc]

Congrats on solving the problem. Regarding the OS, I'd seriously recommend Windows 7 64-bit over XP x64. Windows 7 is really worth giving a try at least.

 

[Intexity]

Congrats on solving the problem. Regarding the OS, I'd seriously recommend Windows 7 64-bit over XP x64. Windows 7 is really worth giving a try at least.

yeah been on 7 64x for at least 6 months now and not looking back. i love this o/s!

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Problem solved, thanks for the comments and suggestions.

After scavenging a speaker from another machine, I verified that it was in fact POSTing. The lack of video output was actually a monitor input error on my part - the monitor was set up for Analog (DVI) when it should have been Digital (DVI). The NVS 285 works just fine, although I'll be replacing it with something newer (need to return it to the machine I scavenged it from).

Now to find a 64-bit OS for the box. Is XP X64 (XP64) sufficiently supported (apps and drivers) at this point? I'm not very keen on Vista/7...

Thanks!

In my experience its a crap shoot. Vista/Win7 are better supported with 64bit drivers

 

[mfbernstein]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Regarding OS choice, I did get a chance to try Windows 7, on a friend's laptop. On the technical merits, it seemed fine, but it seems that they basically redid the interface, and while there's a classic theme that makes it a bit less jarring, I couldn't figure out how to get the basic navigation stuff to work the way it did in XP classic/2000 (taskbar, start menu, explorer and so on). Is it possible to do this?

Finally, on an unrelated topic, what do folks think of RAID0 from the performance standpoint? There was a test here last year (http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2969&p=8) which suggested that real-world advantages were rather minimal. Is this in fact the case?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[kranky]

It should be illegal to use the term RAID for "RAID 0". It is not redundant (the "R" in RAID) in any way. It increases the chance of data loss because when the first disk dies, you lose the data on both. And it provides no benefit to justify the risk. The link you provided shows there's no real advantage.

 

[mfbernstein]

It should be illegal to use the term RAID for "RAID 0". It is not redundant (the "R" in RAID) in any way. It increases the chance of data loss because when the first disk dies, you lose the data on both. And it provides no benefit to justify the risk. The link you provided shows there's no real advantage.

I'm not so worried about data loss (I have a regular automatic backup schedule). I'm just surprised that the results of the test were so at odds with the conventional wisdom that striping leads to substantially better sustained read/write performance. Thanks,

Mike

 

[RadiclDreamer]

RAID0 has little to no real world performance benefit. I tried it a few times years ago and it ended up just being a PITA to deal with.