Built New System, Will Not Post, Help?

[jteekell]

Ok, here's the story: I am building a computer for my folks that up to date and will run XP Pro. I love the fact that with XP, the next time my dad forgets how to burn a cd I can remote assist. I am sure many are in the same boat!

Building a athlon xp2500 with a MSI mobo, sata drive, cd burner, 2 x 256 ram. Put it together, everything seemed like it was going well. Hooked it up to install the OS and other stuff. Turned it on, no post. The fans came on, the drives spun up, USB mouse had a light, and that's it. The monitor did not come on, the keyboard num lock key light did not come on (even with pressing it), and no beep. I took it down, looked over all the connections, swapped vid card, memory. Unpluged the unnessecery front pannel wires, still no go. Oh, removed the HSF to make sure I didn't chip the core.

Any thoughts?

 

[nick1985]

what model is your MSI motherboard?

 

[imverygifted]

make sure all your cables that connect the mobo to your case power/ reset/ spkr and stuff is plugged in correctly (might try flipping the +/- side on the spkr 4pin. try a different video card, if it beeps you might want to try new memory or a new processor but first make sure everythings plugged in correctly also try resetting the cmos

 

[jteekell]

The mobo is a MSI K7N2 Delta 2. I have already swapped memory and vid card from my system, still nothing.

 

[mechBgon]

How about hit Quote and edit this example to fit what you've got cookin'...

• CORE HARDWARE
  • Power supply Antec TruePower 430
  • Motherboard Asus K8N-E Deluxe
    • Revision 1.03
    • BIOS 1005
  • CPU Athlon64 3000+
    • Core 130nm Clawhammer
  • Memory (2) 512MB Corsair XMS 3200C2 modules
    • Voltage Manually set to 2.7 volts
    • Timings AUTO, results in 2-3-2-6 @ 200MHz
• CARDS
  • Primary video card ATI Radeon 9800Pro AGP 8x
  • PCI slot #1 (top) empty
  • PCI slot #2 empty
  • PCI slot #3 LeadTek Winfast TV/FM tuner card
  • PCI slot #4 Creative Audigy 2 ZS
  • PCI slot #5 LSI Logic Ultra160 SCSI
  • PCI slot #6 (board only has five PCI slots)
• DRIVES
  • Boot drive 160GB Seagate 7200.7
    • Interface Serial ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 SATA controller
    • Jumper setting not applicable (SATA)
  • Additional hard drive 40GB Seagate 7200.7
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, primary channel
    • Jumper setting Master
  • Additional hard drive 18GB Seagate Cheetah 15k.3
    • Interface SCSI
    • Controller hosting this drive LSI Logic U160 card
    • Jumper setting SCSI ID 01
  • Optical drive #1 NEC 3500A DVD burner
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
    • Jumper setting Master
  • Optical drive #2 Lite-On combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
    • Jumper setting Slave
• OS AND SECURITY
  • Operating System WindowsXP Professional
  • Service Pack SP2
  • Internet connection Cable
  • Hardware firewall Netgear RP614 router
  • Software firewall WindowsXP firewall
  • Antivirus Norton Antivirus 2004

 

[jteekell]

CORE HARDWARE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Power supply ISO 400W

Motherboard MSI K7N2 Delta2

Revision ?

BIOS ?


CPU Athlon 2500+

Core Barton


Memory (2) 256MB Geil Modules

Voltage by SPD

Timings AUTO




CARDS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Primary video card ATI Radeon 9250 AGP

PCI slot #1 (top) empty

PCI slot #2 empty

PCI slot #3 empty

PCI slot #4 empty

PCI slot #5 empty

PCI slot #6 (board only has five PCI slots)



DRIVES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Boot drive 80 GB Hitachi

Interface Serial ATA

Controller hosting this drive nForce2 SATA controller

Jumper setting not applicable (SATA)


Additional hard drive None


Optical drive #1 Generic DVD-R, CD-RW

Interface Parallel ATA

Controller hosting this drive nForce standard ATA controller, primary channel

Jumper setting Master

 

[mechBgon]

1) What speed is that RAM rated for?

2) Do you have a high-quality power supply available that you can use for testing? Cheap PSUs are the :evil:. Also, is the ATX12V cable plugged in?

3) Is the keyboard in the purple port where it belongs, not green (green being for mouse)?

4) plan on raising the memory voltage manually to whatever GEiL spec'ed, don't leave it on AUTO in the BIOS

5) If it continues to put up a fight, peel it out of the case and try a benchtest on a cardboard surface with only the absolute essentials to POST, like shown here.

6) Be aware that the thermal patch on a retail AthlonXP heatsink is a one-shot item. Once it's melted to fit the gap between the CPU core and the heatsink, if you subsequently remove it, you must replace it with high-quality thermal grease, because it won't melt to fit the gap a second time. Since you say you removed the heatsink, you may now have that complication too, unless you were using thermal grease to start with.

 

[jteekell]

1: The RAM is PC3200, but also tried PC2100 from my rig.
2: Nothing else handy, but the one I have isn't the cheapest thing around, bought it from a local store that builds custom PCs and they said that they have had good luck with this brand.
3: Yes, KB is in purple.
4: I don't get anyting on the monitor. I can not adjust the voltage.
5: I will try that
6: Arctic Silver grease.

 

[mechBgon]

I was going to download the manual for the mobo to try to get more insight on it. They seem to have at least three K7N2 Delta2 variants: LSR, FSR and Platinum. You've got the Platinum, right?

 

[jteekell]

Looks like I have the LSR flavor

 

[mechBgon]

D'oh! *cancels Platinum download*

 

[mechBgon]

Having looked through the manual, all I can think of is to unplug the system and clear the CMOS, aside from possible PSU issues. I made a no-POST brainstorm guide you can look through here (top link on page) for a few other things to double-check, such as the PSU's 115-volt / 230-volt slide switch and whatnot.

 

[jteekell]

Thank you mechBgon for your help. I will check out that guide. For tonight though, I have had enough. I will tackle it again in the morning.