chaintech vnf3-250 and no video

[chaosdollheads]

I'm attempting to upgrade my mobo (chaintech vnf3-250) and processor (semperon 1.8ghz 3100+) and i've found myself repeatedly hitting a brick wall. when I plug in the 12v power to the mobo I get a split second sputter from one of the cpu fans (power supply says 12v on the side). With the 12v plug unplugged all of the fans run (2 case, radeon 9800, and heatsink fan), but I get no video - just a blinking monitor led. Everything is seated well and I've played musical ram with my 2 Crucial pc2100 256mb sticks of ddr. Perhaps I'm missing something really obvious (and at this point I would be quite happty learn this is the case), but I just can't see it from here. A friend has suggested I buy a stick of better memory and see if it does the trick, but I would like to only use that as a last resort as what I've spent on the upgrade so far has all but drained me.

This is only the 2nd time I have ever attempted to piece a computer together, so feel free to point out the obvious ^_^ and thanks for the help.

 

[crazycarl]

do you have the power supply plugged into the radeon? i ask because you didn't mention it.

 

[chaosdollheads]

Thanks for asking - yes, it's plugged in.

 

[mechBgon]

More info would help What brand and model of power supply is it? The label on the side will say. If you really want to humor us, hit Quote and fill in this semi-ficticious template with your own parts info as far as you know it:

• 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
• 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)
• 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

(I gotta find me a mad l33t HTML person who can make a fill-outable one of these that kicks out FuseTalk code )

 

[chaosdollheads]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
More info would help What brand and model of power supply is it? The label on the side will say. If you really want to humor us, hit Quote and fill in this semi-ficticious template with your own parts info as far as you know it:

• Power supply Turbolink Switching Power Supply (420W max, 12v)
• Motherboard Chaintech VNF3-250 Nforce 3
  • Revision ?
  • BIOS Phoenix-Award
• CPU Sempron 3100+
  • Core ?
• Memory (2) 256MB Crucial CL2.5 266Mhz
  • Voltage ?
  • Timings ?
• Primary video card ATI Radeon 9800Pro AGP 8x
• PCI slot #1 (top) empty
• PCI slot #2 empty
• PCI slot #3 empty
• PCI slot #4 empty
• PCI slot #5 (board only has five PCI slots)
• PCI slot #6 (board only has five PCI slots)
• Boot drive 40GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus8 ATA133
  • Interface 39 pin. thingy
  • Controller hosting this drive ?
  • Jumper setting master
• Optical drive #1 Toshiba DVDRW
  • Interface 39 pin
  • Controller hosting this drive ?
  • Jumper setting Master

 

[jbh129]

I would remove 1 stick of ram. The CD drive and the hard drive and see if you can get it to boot. Do you have another video card to try?

 

[mechBgon]

Turbolink PSU, huh? Yeah, try a low-wattage video card like an older GeForce or Radeon-series card. Your PSU may not be able to tow the boat with all that 12-volt draw.

Other things to check:

1) is the mobo mounted on standoffs

2) could some of the springy things on the rear I/O shield be getting into the USB or network jacks and causing a short-circuit situation

3) is your keyboard in the purple port (green is for mouse only)

4) is your power supply set to the correct input voltage (115 or 230 volts)

5) if nothing else works, next take the mobo out of the case and lay it on cardboard like this. Don't connect the case wiring except the power-switch wire. No drives, no extra cards besides video, we just want to see if it will POST with the absolute essentials.

 

[chaosdollheads]

No go with those two disconnected or with Asus V 7100 Deluxe Combo.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

My first choice is bad PSU.

 

[chaosdollheads]

Originally posted by: jbh129
I would remove 1 stick of ram. The CD drive and the hard drive and see if you can get it to boot. Do you have another video card to try?

Wait, scratch that - no vid, but the fans run with the 7100 and the 12v plugged in, but only for 13 seconds.

 

[chaosdollheads]

switched card with an asus 7100, fans run fo 13 secs vs split-second

case has brass standoffs (though now i've got the board on cardboard)

i/o shield detached

keyboard and mouse are disconnected

psu is set to 115, is this right? i didn't know this could be set

oddly enough, with just the bare essentials the heatsink fan runs for a split second, but with the two case fans reconnected they all (heatsink included) run for a good 10 seconds.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Beg, borrow, or buy another PSU to try.

 

[chaosdollheads]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Beg, borrow, or buy another PSU to try.

I'll be forking out somae cash for a psu tomorrow. I'll post the results.

 

[chaosdollheads]

antec smartblue psu arrived today and though it looks very nice, it hasn't remedied the problem - still no post : /

 

[LOLWTFBBaCUE]

I had a similar problem, with the exact same setup.

I have a sempron 3100+, ZNF3-250, Infenion PC2100, 9800pro, and a raidmax PSU.

The thing would get a picture, but the keyboard/PS/2 connections didn't work.

Some guy told me to do the following

1.Mount the CPU in the motherboard, and connect the power cables only. Do not add RAM, or anything else. Turn it on, if you hear a recurring long beep, your CPU/mobo/PSU are fine. The long beep comes from a memory problem(no memory maybe?)

2.Repeat #1, but plug RAM in. If you get a long beep in each slot, your RAM, or RAM slots on your motherboard are broken.

3.Plug in your video card, and if this works, go ahead and add each other component of your PC one at a time.

4.Tell us what happens.

If you already fixed it...then, cool?

 

[chaosdollheads]

now that you mention it - the speaker simply doesn't work. i'm assuming it isn't getting power to the cpu speaker - i'm hooking it up exactly as shown in the manual and i can't get a beep out of for anything. the cpu works when connected to my older mobo. perhaps it's time to get a replacement mobo.

 

[LOLWTFBBaCUE]

Then the problem is either your PSU or motherboard.

Sorry I don't know which.