First Build/Newby

pdwill

Junior Member
Jan 1, 2008
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Greetings and thanks in advance for any advice you can throw my way. I have reviewed a lot of info throughout this forum and others and am hopefully beginning to get a few clues on how to proceed. Your collective knowledge is a motivator!
I am new to doing my own builds and must admit to being overwhelmed. On my first attempt with this set up it would not post or send a signal to the monitor. I foolishly took it to a repair shop and they kept it for a week and then told me it was either a bad motherboard or faulty cpu. My gut tells me they did not even try to diagnose the issues. I rma'd the mb/cpu on their suggestion and am waiting for the replacements. In the interim I have been doing a lot of research regarding the motherboard and cpu. I'll be damned if I will hit the repair shop again without trying everything I can find first.
My basic request is this, what is the best initial BIOS to use and what settings are recommended to initially set up the following? :

ASUS P5N-E SLI
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz
OCZ Platinum Rev 2 (2 x 1024MB)PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel Memory
Thermatake/Silent 775/Copper Core/Copper Heatpipes/CPU Fan
Ultra/ X-Finity/600 Watt/ATX Titanium PSU
XFX GeForce 8600 GTS Video Card (single-SLI later)
Vista Home Premium

I just want to get the system up and stable. Later, as I get more confidence I can look into overclocking. I have reviewed the initial set up advice and plan on following it closely. Set up first out of the case, 1 stick of ram, no hard drive or optical,etc. I have assembled it once before and was careful with grounding. I would be very gratefull on any step by step procedures you can throw my way or references to other sites that can help a first time builder. Thanks again. Humbly yours....
 

pdwill

Junior Member
Jan 1, 2008
13
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Thanks! I did a quick view and trust me, that is the level of advice I am looking for! Basic, very basic.
 

cozumel

Senior member
Nov 29, 2007
337
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Firstly, the OCZ RAM that you have bought likes to have 2.1v. So the very first thing once she POSTs out of the case with one stick, is to enter BIOS and change the DDR2 voltage to 2.1v (as the default is likely to be 1.8v). Also change the main memory timings to 5-5-5-15. This may have been the reason for your system not working originally as there are certain motherboard/memory combinations that won't boot unless the memory voltages are corrected first.

Have a look at this guide from DriverHeaven:
DriverHeaven.net: Building a PC - Step by Step
 

pdwill

Junior Member
Jan 1, 2008
13
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Keep it coming gents...I am following up on everything sent my way. It is appreciated.
 

DSF

Diamond Member
Oct 6, 2007
4,902
0
71
Did the fans spin up at all, or was there no response at all to the power button?
 

pdwill

Junior Member
Jan 1, 2008
13
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I was able to get power to the system. Lights on, fans spinning vid card fan was also spinning. No video signal to monitor. Power ok on monitor, tried 2 different ones. Since it is my first build I don't have access to spare components to test on the system. When Tiger sends the new Motherboard I will start from scratch and try the suggestions that you have all provided. I am new to messing around in the bios so will focus on learning how to adjust timings and other settings. That is, if I can get to boot!
 

pdwill

Junior Member
Jan 1, 2008
13
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I did a quick edit to my original post. The mb identifier was transposed. It is : Asus P5N-E SLI.
 

pdwill

Junior Member
Jan 1, 2008
13
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Finally received my parts and have reassembled the basic setup as advised. I have been able to get into bios and update settings!! Now the issue is that the system powers down on it's own after running (in bios) 4-5 minutes. I have reset the cmos and downloaded the latest bios but it continually shuts down after just a few minutes of operation. Any ideas?
 

krunt

Member
Jan 11, 2008
98
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plug in your speakers. Many mobos, like my older ASUS, give audio error messages.
I had a similar problem (older build) where my computer would start fine, and I could get into bios, but then it would shut down. Eventually I plugged in the speakers and heard "cpu fan failed". Turns out my aftermarket fan didn't jump into action quick enough and the board didn't like it. The fan ran just fine, just slower then the board wanted. Went to bios, changed the "halt on" settings and it worked. Stupid little thing like that took me hours to figure out.

Not saying that is what is happening in situation, but if it is a failure of some component, and the MB is shutting down for safety, the MB might tell you why.

Your mobo will have some kind of error reporting system, if it isn't audio it may be lights, or something else. Figure out what it is and check to see if it is trying to tell you something.
 

krunt

Member
Jan 11, 2008
98
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One other thought, because shutting down after a few minutes is odd, usually they either will or will not boot. The only thing that causes a BIOS to shut down after a few minutes (that i know of) is the temperature warnings. Start up your bios and go to the PC health screen. Watch the temperatures as it goes to shutting down. May be a poor connection on the heatsink and the cpu is not getting as cool, or some other component.
 

pdwill

Junior Member
Jan 1, 2008
13
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Thanks for the insight troops. I fiddled with the reset button and then for some reason the system stayed up and running in bios after the next start up. I was able to do recommended tweaks as to timings and voltages and the system stayed up,but only on one stick of ram. Each time I tried to load the other gig, no deal. As usual tried every combination regarding dimm slots I could concieve including just testing the other stick solo. So I assumed that stick was fubar and did yet another rma, this time to OCZ. For a first build my I am testing my patience and spending a great deal of time pushing my pile of components around the worktable and checking my email for return info......frustration is my tuition.
I read the link about the hole with OCZ and this MB. Being a newby, some of it went right over my head. Do I interpret that the updated bios referred to in the link will work with this board also? I flashed the bios to the very latest one offered at Asus, 803. And it seemed to work, at least without an OS with one stick. I really don't want to try to install Vista without at least 2 gigs of ram running smoothly. Let alone the other two I hope to add down the road. Thanks again for the replies from everyone. It keeps my hopes up.
 

pdwill

Junior Member
Jan 1, 2008
13
0
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I read the link about the hole with OCZ and this MB. Being a newby, some of it went right over my head. Do I interpret that the updated bios referred to in the link will work with this board also? I flashed the bios to the very latest one offered at Asus, 803. And it seemed to work, at least without an OS with one stick. I really don't want to try to install Vista without at least 2 gigs of ram running smoothly. Let alone the other two I hope to add down the road. Thanks again for the replies from everyone. It keeps my hopes up.

Any insight on this? OCZ has my memory hostage at the moment.