Built my first computer... no signal to the monitor.

[holycalamity]

So, I built my first computer, ever, tonight. Solo build. Probably a bad idea. Everything was going perfect. I mean, I was doing everything exactly as I was told to. When it came to hooking up the PSU / other cords to the mobo, things got a little tricky but I eventually got through it.

But now. Oh god, now.

I plugged it in to set up the BIOS... but no. That's simply not allowed. Everything sounds perfect in the case, so I took off the side panel to take a peak.

CPU fan: check
Front/rear chassis fan: check
Video card fan: check

Fans are running good, so that's good. No beeps from the computer, either. Definite plus. However, it's not sending any signal whatsoever to the monitor. Absolutamente nada. I even went downstairs and stole my brother's LCD monitor to try things out and it wasn't getting any signal, either.

Any ideas? Anything in general to point me in the right direction? I've got a couple of friends who have built many computers, so I'm going to call them tomorrow, but I'm frusterated now.

Specs:

Intel C2D E6600
MSI P6N SLI-FI mobo (nForce 650i SLI chipset)
eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB
CoolerMaster 650W PSU
Patriot 2GB PC26400 DDR2 memory
1 500GB WD Caviar HDD
1 160GB Seagate Barracuda
1 Lite-On DVD-Burner
1 Sony DVD reader
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS

Please help!

 

[mechBgon]

Just to cover easy things first, did you get your ATX12V cable connected to the separate ATX12V receptacle on the motherboard, which is the one marked "8-pin CPU power connector" in this pic :camera:? And you got the video card's own dedicated power cable hooked up?

 

[holycalamity]

That's one of the things that I was confused about, the ATX12V cable. With the PSU, there was no additional 8-pin connector. Just another 6-Pin one like the one that goes to the Video card... will this still work or am I missing something here? I'll check again, but I swear there wasn't one coming out of the PSU.

 

[mechBgon]

If there isn't an 8-pin ATX12V cable, there'll at least be a 4-pin ATX12V cable. Plug that into the unblocked holes on that 8-pin receptacle, then start the system and see if it POSTs for you.

The extra 6-pin PCI-Express connector is for your second PCI-Express video card, in the event that you set up SLI.

Welcome to the Forums, by the way If you're about to set up Windows, here are security suggestions in case you need them (scroll down halfway, to the first large pic).

 

[holycalamity]

Oh my god. I can't believe I didn't see the 4-pin connector with "P2" on it. Wow. What a fleeting moment of idiocy. You did help me out a lot, though, by pointing out that that slot did need to be filled after all.

Thank you so much! BIOS boots perfectly! I'll install the OS first thing tomorrow!

 

[mechBgon]

sweet enjoy the new rig!

 

[holycalamity]

Well, new problem. lol

Alright, so went into BIOS last night and everything was fine. Set the boot order to my DVD-R/W, then DVD reader, and lastly the HDD. Right. However, I only have a copy of XP. This is due to the fact that since my last computer was a Dell, and Dell so wisely doesn't give hard copies of OSes anymore unless you ask for them, I had to ask my friend at the tech department in my college to burn me a copy of disc 1 & 2 of XP just in case. Well, I put Disc 1 in the DVD-R/W and reboot... nothing. It goes through the POST perfectly and then it tells me to insert boot media or reboot blah blah blah.

I've tried a bunch of different things, including using the the plain DVD reader to try and install, but that doesn't seem to work, either. Even used disc 2 first to see if it would recognize that and tell me to put in the first, but that isn't working, either.

Temps are fine in the system and everything else looks ready for the install, it's just this one little gap and then I'll be homefree. Any ideas?

 

[Insomnibyte]

Make sure your run through your BIOS one more time, try possibly checking the auto detect for HDD devices and have it re-detect. THan reset your boot device order.

 

[Tegeril]

Disc 2 of XP?

Are you sure the discs you have are good? Can you test in another system?

 

[Insomnibyte]

I know, that kinda got me to, Unless he has Windows XP Plus! which counts as a XP Disc 2

 

[Noema]

Don't the newer versions of XP MCE have two disks as well?

 

[holycalamity]

Ok, well, I downloaded an ISO of XP Pro and it's burning right now, so all I've got to do is format and install, hopefully. lol

About how much space should I partition out for XP Pro? 30GB?

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: holycalamity
Ok, well, I downloaded an ISO of XP Pro and it's burning right now, so all I've got to do is format and install, hopefully. lol

Where did you download it from? Isn't that like...illegal? Unless you are downloading it from Microsoft directly...?

I strongly suggest you get a legit copy of Windows if you are indeed warezing it. We don't take kindly to piracy here. And XP Pro SP2 is only US$139 OEM. XP Home is even cheaper at US$89 (OEM).

Since you just aquired such a nice rig (E6600; 8800GTS and all), surely you can afford to drop some extra clams for Windows, can't you?

 

[holycalamity]

That's the thing, though. I have a legitimate activation key for Windows XP Professional. That's not an issue. I have it left over from my Dell, but when I bought my Dell, they stopped giving out copies of the OS to people and just left it in a partition. When I had to reformat my last computer a while ago, the computer technician couldn't access the partition and he couldn't reinstall Windows XP without using his own copy. So, after he reinstalled and got everything taken care of, he burned me a copy. However, when I try to use it now, it's a bum copy.

Yes, I downloaded an illegal ISO, but I have a legitimate activation key that I paid the full price for it a long time ago. Just a matter of getting the install CD so I can activate it myself.

The question still remains, though: how much space should I allocate for XP Pro? Would 30GB be sufficient?

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: holycalamity


Yes, I downloaded an illegal ISO, but I have a legitimate activation key that I paid the full price for it a long time ago. Just a matter of getting the install CD so I can activate it myself.

That's an OEM license as well...and (not always though, there are particular contractual exceptions, but they are seldom) it's limited to that Dell computer. It's not transferable...unless you personally bought a retail license later on and installed it on the Dell on your own. That's the difference between OEM and retail...OEM licenses are legally bound to the hardware (usually the motherboard is the decisive factor) it was activated on. You can read up all about it here.

I don't want to sound like an ass here.....I just want to make this clear You can't (legally) transfer an OEM license from a Dell computer to a new build since the license is forever bound to the Dell hardware.

Anyway...about the partition...since you have a 500GB HDD (are you installing Windows on that?) I'd go for a bigger partition if you absolutely must partition, since many apps install lots of files on the Windows drive even if you install the application on other partitions. Windows partitions tend to fill up pretty quick. So I'd for 50GB, though I am not as convinced about the benefits of partitioning as I was in the past.

 

[holycalamity]

I see...

Well, I honestly had no idea about that whole situation with the OEM/Dell license. I had just assumed that if you bought a copy with a pre-built computer, then you could run it on one computer at a time, like for say, if the old one crashed and you needed to upgrade something. It's not my intention to pirate an OS by any means, because I'd just assume have a legit copy of an OS just in case anything went wrong.