Can't get any video or POST on new build!!!

[walkure]

I can't get any sort of POST or BIOS screen on my new build!

I have:

Asus A8N-SLI
Athlon 64 3200+ Winchester
Thermalright XP-120 heatsink with Antec blue LED 120mm fan on top
Vantec Stealth 520W PSU (28a on 12V rail)
Mushkin PC3200 RAM (trying to get the system to run with only one 512MB stick in slot dimm B1 before I put the other 512MB stick in dimm A1)
Leadtek Winfast 6600GT PCI-E graphics card
Samsung 193p 19" LCD monitor

Also:
Samsung floppy drive
Seagate 7200.7 160GB SATA HDD
NEC 3520A DVD+/-RW

Part 0: Components setup
I hooked all my components up (HDD in SATA 1 Nvidia slot), IDE cable from the DVD-RW drive to the SEC_IDE on the motherboard. 24 pin ATX power connector, also the 4 pin ATX 12V 2.0 connector. I also switched the SLI selector card from "Dual Cards" to "Single Card" (my board shipped with "Dual" set instead of "Single" as shown in the manual -- many others have reported this as well, so I made sure to check it, and sure enough, I had to switch it).


Part 1: DVI Cable Testing


Everything was connected (video using DVI cable). I turned on the monitor. Then I pressed the power button on my case, and sure enough, my Antec 120mm fan started spinning and also lit up, the fan on the Leadtek 6600GT started spinning, and the fan on the motherboard (northbridge cooler I think) started spinning.

In the middle of the screen, a rectangular box flashes back and forth about 6 times: "Analog", then "Digital", it says. After that, I get this icon that says: "No connection, Check Signal Cable", and below that it says "Analog" and has 3 small rectangles: 1 red, 1 green, 1 blue (RGB). The image can be found on page 39 of the Samsung 193p monitor manual. The image stays there, even if I let it sit for 30 seconds or so. NOTE THAT the manual says: "If the monitor is functioning properly, you will see a box with a border and text inside as shown in the following illustration." (illustration is exactly as I described). This makes me think that the problem is not with the monitor itself. Heck, it IS brand new, came packaged very securely, and looks to be in flawless physical condition.

At that point, I power down the system by holding the power button in for 5 seconds.


I unplugged the DVI cable a few times and repeated, but same results. I also took the video card out of the board each time to make sure that I had the cable connected tightly (since right now I'm running the motherboard on top of its cardboard box, not in the case yet). I tried reversing the DVI cable, even though both ends look identical (i.e., the end that I had in the video card, I switched to the monitor, and vice versa). Same results.

I thought there might be a problem with the DVI cable, so I moved onto....

Part 2: Analog Cable Testing


I took the video card out of the motherboard, removed both ends of the DVI cable, and plugged the Analog cable into the video card and also the monitor. Very tight fit. Video card goes back into motherboard (snaps into place pretty smoothly... a click is heard).

Now I turn on the monitor, and turn on the computer power. The monitor starts with the same back and forth flashing of the rectangular box: "Analog", "Digital", and it repeats like 6 times. This time after the flashing, I get a new box that says "Going to Sleep...", and then the monitor shuts off after 2 seconds. I hit the monitor power again, and it does the "Analog", "Digital" flashing, then goes to sleep again.


I have looked for support on Samsung's website, but the only relevant thing that I found was the manual that I linked above. As noted above, I don't think the problem is with the monitor. In fact, my next step is to test that monitor on the computer I'm typing this on (my old old POS rig that I'm trying to replace!)
with the analog cable.

I looked on http://www.leadtek.com/ but found no relevant info.

The last thing I tried that I knew wouldn't work was putting the Samsung 193p installation CD into my DVDRW drive immediately after powering on the computer, but of course I still get the same results as above.

My computer components sound like they're functioning normally... fans going, hard drive seems to be making a little noise (though it's very quiet!)... DVDRW opens without a problem and sounds like it's reading the disc, etc. I have made sure that no wires are caught or anything like that. My motherboard is resting on its anti-static bag, on top of the foam strip that came with it, all on top of its cardboard box.


Please any suggestions? Thank you very much!

EDIT: Added "Part 0" at the top, mainly to mention the SLI selector card.

 

[shimsham]

My computer components sound like they're functioning normally... fans going, hard drive seems to be making a little noise (though it's very quiet!)... DVDRW opens without a problem and sounds like it's reading the disc, etc.

do you have another power supply you can test with? both times that has happened to me, its been the power supply.

also, check the cmos to make sure it isnt on the reset setting. if its not, it may be worth trying to reset it, and then see if it will boot.

 

[walkure]

I do not have another PSU to try, nor any other components. Do you really think the PSU could be the problem? I mean, it is brand new, seems to have more than sufficient power, and mainly, all fans are spinning, blue LED on top of my Antec 120mm fan lights up, drives have power, motherboard green power LED lights up. The computer I'm running is an old Compaq Presario with onboard 4MB video RAM... definitely can't try the PSU from this thing.

I also had to clear the CMOS a couple times, because after the very first time that I powered on and got those video signal error messages, I turned off and unplugged the PSU in order to cut power from the board while I adjusted the video card and DVI / Analog cables. There is a problem with the A8N-SLI where cutting power forces you to have to remove the battery and reset CMOS jumpers in order to be able to power up again. You can read all about that here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=29&threadid=1493386

So actually I reset the CMOS several times, since I figured that I shouldn't take any chances working on the board while it still had power running to it.

ALSO, I just tried powering up again, and this time, I...
1. Power on monitor
2. Power on computer
3. Immediately hold down power button on front of monitor for a couple seconds (note that the power button is the ONLY button to be found on this monitor -- apparently all settings adjustments are handled in software).

This time, with the analog cable still connected, instead of "Going to sleep..." I get the rectangular box as above with the RGB boxes, but it says "Digital" instead of "Analog".

I tried holding that button down since I thought it would switch the monitor's input from digital to analog or vice versa. Apparently holding the button did something, since as I said, the message changed slightly. But still no good

Maybe I'll try with both DVI and Analog connected? Blah, I know that's not really the answer...

 

[shimsham]

yah, it could be the power supply. ive had the same symptoms and ps was the culprit. since its brand new, i highly doubt thats it. but still possible.

are there any beeps from the mobo? did you try the other monitor yet? have you tried reseating all components? somtimes you have to apply some force. not a lot, mind you, but even if the vid card is slightly not in far enough, it wont post. just dont bare down with all your weight or anything.

 

[mechBgon]

Video card's in the blue slot?

 

[walkure]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Video card's in the blue slot?

Yes it is. I just double checked the mobo manual myself because I thought perhaps somehow I screwed up and it was supposed to be in the black, but it clearly says for using 1 card, you must use blue slot.

I also made sure that the video card was seated properly in the PCI-E 16x slot. It was very firm, couldn't go down any farther (it did click into place each time I placed it, so I wasn't too worried about that being a factor).

I also tried turning the jumper cap on the CMOS the other way around (that is, still having it on pins 1-2, but flipping it 180 degrees). Of course, didn't help (noob content). Also double checked the chassis intrusion detection jumpers to see if that could be affecting anything, but the jumper is in the default position as noted in the manual.


I'm about to test the Samsung 193p on my OLD computer (which I'm typing on) using the Analog cable (or D-Sub, whatever). If this works, then I'll rule out the monitor (I'm already 99% sure it's NOT the monitor).

After that, I could even try this old Chuntex (CTX) brand CRT monitor on the new build using the analog cable, but I don't anticipate that helping much...

 

[walkure]

Update: I am now posting from my OLD computer, with the NEW Samsung 193p hooked up to it via the Analog cable that came with the Samsung. 800x600 text is now huuuuge (coming from a 15.7" viewable CRT).


Anyway, as stated in the Samsung manual, and as I suspected, my problem apparently does NOT lie with the new monitor.

Now I'm thinking the video card could be the problem. Unfortunately I don't have any old cards lying around to test, so I will have to ask some friends if I can borrow one to throw in one of the A8N's PCI slots.

Well, perhaps before I do that, I will unplug everything (video card, RAM, IDE cable, SATA cable), reset the CMOS again, and then try powering up with just the CPU/HSF (which I DON'T want to remove... the XP-120 is so hard to work with!!), along with RAM, and video card.

I could also try using the other 512MB stick of Mushkin RAM in slot Dimm B1 instead of the one I've been trying (again, I bought a "dual pack" of 1GB). However this seems like a video problem, not a RAM problem.

I would appreciate any more feedback, and I will certainly update with any progress...

 

[Viper96720]

Yeah try unhooking the drives. Just the cpu, video card and memory. See if it at least posts don't need any drives for that.

 

[mircea]

This hapened to me to. I just finished a system almost like yours 3 days ago. The computer would start but nothing was coming out to the monitor. So I took everything off, and try boting it with only the video card on the mob and 1 ram stick, and all went well. After that I inserted everything and no more problems. So I put everything back in the case, while booting at diferent times while new stuff was connected. It all went no problems. So my guess is that I had some short on the mob with the case that by reinstalling everything was fixed. Try that too.

 

[lavagirl669]

are you getting any beep error codes?

different mobo/bios have different error codes.

I had this similar problem and it was the vid card, but it also sounds like a PSU issue.

Even though they are new, they can be shipped DOA, or faulty.
See if you can borrow a friends.

The bare minimum method is also a good idea.

 

[Viper96720]

I think most newer asus boards have vocal post reporting. Try plugging a speaker into audio out of the on board audio panel in back. Usually that's the one to use if not try the others. Hopefully it's enabled by default in the bios.

 

[walkure]

LOL, I thought the mobo had some sort of tiny built-in speaker. The manual talks all about the "Vocal POST Reporting", so I was hoping to hear something, but I haven't, since I didn't have a speaker plugged in.

Later today when I have time I'm going to unplug stuff, go with the bare minimu, and throw a speaker on too, and see what happens. Also I can try swapping the RAM stick, but I'll probably do that last, if nothing else works..

Thanks everyone.

 

[shimsham]

good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

Check all power supply connections to make sure no pins got pushed back.
Happened to me. A pin on the 24 to 20 pin connector got pushed back, but I couldn't see it.
When I powered up the system, all fans would spin up but the cpu was dead.
Go to my site to see a picture of it.
http://www.nogodforme.com/MyBabyTera.htm

And to the person who got their machine working, you may have just moved the cable enough to have the wire make contact.

 

[MrControversial]

Check to see if the video card has power (you might need a special PCIe power connector). Secondly, check to see if your motherboard requires that you plug in the four pin 12V connector.

 

[Arcanedeath]

I'm willing to bet you have a short or something is grounding your motherboard w/ it in the case, remove everything except the CPU + HSF and video card and 1 stick of ram, and put your MB on the static bag it came w/ and try and get it to post w/ the Dsub connector and see how that goes.

Edit: also just as an FYI I'd always suggest doing the above before putting a new rig in it's case to make sure everything works before going to the hastle of mounting everything.

 

[walkure]

My new build finally POSTs!!!


Part 1: Short version

One of the two 512MB sticks of Mushkin Dual Pack 1GB PC3200 RAM that I purchased from Newegg is fried like KFC!!! Or, at least it's defective in some way.


Part 2: Longer version

I first unplugged the power, then unplugged the following from the motherboard:
- SATA cable
- Floppy IDE cable
- Secondary IDE cable (from DVDRW drive)
- 24 pin main ATX cable
- 4 pin ATX 12V cable
- 2 pin Power SW cable (from power button on front of case)
- Leadtek 6600GT video card

All that was left on there was my CPU, Thermalright XP-120, Antec 120mm fan, and 1 stick of 512MB Mushkin RAM. I then removed the CMOS battery, flipped the jumper switch, and then moved it back, and then put the battery back, thus resetting the CMOS.

I then plugged the D-Sub tightly into the video card, and put it back in the mobo. I then plugged the power cables back into the mobo, and flipped the switch on my power strip (surge protector), and then the switch on the back of the PSU, and finally powered up the monitor, and then the computer. Same result -- no video at all.


Though all fans were running (as before), I figured that the GPU circuitry was somehow dead (I mean, it does happen, right?).

Before giving up for the night (and hoping to soon find a friend with an old PCI graphics card lying around that I could test in the regular PCI slot), I figured hey, why not test with the OTHER stick of RAM in there? First I unplugged the wall power, then reset the CMOS again. Then I popped out "stick A", and put in "stick B" (of course using Dimm slot B1 as instructed in the motherboard manual). Double-checked all power connections again, and gave it a whirl. Holy shit! I see the Asus A8N-SLI logo screen (with pic of motherboard featuring dual GPUs installed), then get a BIOS-looking screen in the background, and in the foreground a window that says something about chassis instrusion detected, or case open, or something, and to hit OK. Well, I didn't even have a keyboard plugged in, so I left it sitting for a couple minutes, and then powered it off.

At this point I wanted to confirm that RAM stick A was causing the problem. So I swapped them out again, and sure enough, I got no video when powering on. Put RAM stick B back in, powered up, and bam, success! However this time I did not reset the CMOS, and after the A8N logo/pic screen, it went into some sort of list of devices, which correctly listed my AMD 3200+ processor. I believe it also said 524828KB RAM or something like that. And it said "none" next to all IDE devices and all SATA devices (appropriately, since nothing else was plugged in). Finally, a few seconds later, I heard "no keyboard detected" from the speakers that I had plugged in to the line out. I should have mentioned that in all my power-up attempts tonight, I connected the speakers, in the hopes that I would hear some informative message (such as "System failed CPU test"), but all the times that I got no video, I got no "Vocal POST" messages from the speakers. So I guess the bad RAM was preventing the system from doing anything.


Part 3: What to do next? (RMA content)

Obviously I have to RMA the Mushkin RAM to Newegg. Since I bought the dual pack, I'm assuming that I have to send both sticks of RAM back to them. Is this correct? Here is an excerpt from Newegg's RMA help page:

"Is it necessary to return each individual accessory when I send in a return? What should I include with my RMA?

Yes. All original equipment, components, manuals, cables, documents, packaging must be returned with your item in order for Newegg.com to process your RMA. Missing items will incur further charges or less of a refund. In most cases, items sent in for RMA repair will be replaced with another full item set with accessories. Please return all accessories."


Part 4: Closing, for now...

Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions. I mentioned in a post above that I would try swapping the RAM sticks as a last resort (since I had no inkling that they would completely prevent any video from being displayed), and surprise surprise, I'm now 99% sure that the RAM was indeed the problem.

Now maybe I'll go browse through the BIOS with my 1 good piece of RAM before I have to send it back (I do have to send both, right?)

EDIT: 524828MB = 524828KB of RAM. That first figure would have been a lot of RAM sticks!

 

[walkure]

RMA Update

I just filled out Newegg's RMA form online, citing "DOA" as the reason, and explaining what happened. It was automagically approved. Do I have to send it back via FedEx (as opposed to USPS)? I guess I'd prefer to use FedEx anyway (faster), but possibly more $$.

 

[Viper96720]

the ram came as a pair? A dual channel kit if not then just gotta send 1 back.

 

[walkure]

Originally posted by: Viper96720
the ram came as a pair? A dual channel kit if not then just gotta send 1 back.

The RAM did not come exactly as pictured on Newegg.

There were 2 plastic RAM cases, each with a 512MB stick inside, held together by a Mushkin label wrapped around them (sticky on back, like tape). The 2 adjoined plastic containers came inside of an unmarked white box (I guess for safer shipping).

 

[Viper96720]

Darn gotta send both since you got it as a dual pack. Have you tried contacting Mushkin instead? Tell them you have 1 bad stick. Maybe you can send the bad one to them instead and get a good one. Instead of having to send both back to newegg. That way you can use the computer until you get the other stick.

 

[Viper96720]

http://www.mushkin.com/epages/...10205bb/UserTemplate/5

Muskin support page got number to call or can email them.

 

[walkure]

Thank you for the Mushkin links; I didn't think about contacting them directly (figured Newegg RMA would be quick and painless, based on reading tons of others report easy RMAs with them).


I have cleard the first big hurdle in getting my rig going... now I was thinking that I wouldn't mind waiting another week or so for RMA. BUT perhaps I should toy around with it with just 1 stick and test all the other components as best I can -- CPU, including temps with my XP-120 , also of course run Memtest on this apparently good stick of RAM, and also run some 3DMark and games to test video card...