Troubleshooting starter
1. Overview of the problem
Bought a brand spanking new computer last thursday and assembled it myself. Whenever I hit the power button all I get is a very long, loud, high pitched kind of 'scream' beep from the computer, and from what I can see there is a red light down near my RAM.
2. Full description of the problem and symptoms
First of all, the parts that I'm using:
CPU: Intel core 2 duo E8400
M-board: Gigabyte EP45 DS3L
GPU: MSI 9600 G50
RAM: 2x 2gb kingston chips
HDD: one IDE 120gb hitachi deskstar set to master (from my old system; still has windows XP installed on it), and a brand new SATA 500gb seagate barracuda
CASE: Antec Sonata III
also, a SATA dvd writer and IDE floppy drive.
(Before I start, I live in West Australia, and bought all my parts brand new from a shop called Austin Computers near where I live, except for the 120gb HDD, I already had that.) I bought all of these parts on thursday, because after reading through the anandtech forums and viewing various other things online, I felt confident that I could build it myself... and I didn't want to wait a week until I could afford for them to build it for me. While I was at the store the Austin guy very helpfully offered to install the CPU for me, because it was quite tricky. I said yes because I'd been worried about it, so he popped it in for me. When I got home I carefully followed the details in the motherboard manual, I assembled everything, then followed the case guide and plugged everything in. I was feeling fairly confident it would work, but it didn't. As soon as I hit the power button my computer started emitting a VERY high pitched, almost 'scream' type of beep.
It freaked me out so I held the power button down and turned it off. Realising that I'd done something wrong, I pulled the side off my case, and went back over everything with manual in hand. Everything seemed fine, so I tried again- and got the same result. Pretty frustrated by now, I rang up Austin Computers. The guys advice was to unplug everything except for the motherboard and GPU and try running it like that, then unplug everything, re-plug it and try again, because the motherboard was failing a power-up check or something like that.
So I did. I unplugged *everything* from my motherboard (except for the CPU), then plugged my GPU and RAM back in, and tried booting it up again. No bananas. It started screaming again. When I unplugged everything, I left all the power connectors in (because I find them really hard to pull out) but pulled all the SATA ad IDE cables out. This time when I tried running my computer again I left the side of the case off. I saw a single red light down near the RAM and two green ones.
3. Did it work normally at one time, or has the problem always existed?
It hasn't run successfully once. The parts are all brand new and I assembled them myself (except for the 120gb HDD, which is from my previous system.)
4. Is the problem consistent and repeatable, or entirely random, or semi-random?
The problem is consistent and repeatable, and I have no idea what is going wrong. According to both the manuals (motherboard and case) everything is assembled correctly.
5. I already tried these steps:
Double-checking all connections and restarting.
Unplugging everything, putting it all back in and trying again.
Called the computer shop for help.
Unplugging everything, but only leaving the GPU and RAM hooked up to the motherboard; everything else still had power cables, though.
Taking the RAM out and putting it back in.
Google. Found absolutely nothing that I understood, or pertained to my problem... pretty much everything I read was from computers that HAD run successfully.
on a side note; my monitor is up on my desk, and I'm running the computer from the floor, plugging in only the monitor, PSU and keyboard. I can't see my monitor from that angle, because I didn't think it was important.
6. My software:
the IDE 120gb has windows XP home installed on it, but I wanted to reformat it; haven't yet because my new system isn't working. Other than that nothing.
7. My hardware
CPU: Intel core 2 duo E8400
M-board: Gigabyte EP45 DS3L
GPU: MSI 9600 G50
RAM: 2x 2gb kingston chips
HDD: one IDE 120gb hitachi deskstar set to master (from my old system; still has windows XP installed on it), and a brand new SATA 500gb seagate barracuda
CASE: Antec Sonata III
also, a SATA dvd writer and IDE floppy drive.
the case has a 500w psu pre-installed.
If anyone can help me with this I would be incredibly grateful; I was really excited about getting a new computer and building it and installing everything myself, but now it's just one big hassle I want over and done with.
1. Overview of the problem
Bought a brand spanking new computer last thursday and assembled it myself. Whenever I hit the power button all I get is a very long, loud, high pitched kind of 'scream' beep from the computer, and from what I can see there is a red light down near my RAM.
2. Full description of the problem and symptoms
First of all, the parts that I'm using:
CPU: Intel core 2 duo E8400
M-board: Gigabyte EP45 DS3L
GPU: MSI 9600 G50
RAM: 2x 2gb kingston chips
HDD: one IDE 120gb hitachi deskstar set to master (from my old system; still has windows XP installed on it), and a brand new SATA 500gb seagate barracuda
CASE: Antec Sonata III
also, a SATA dvd writer and IDE floppy drive.
(Before I start, I live in West Australia, and bought all my parts brand new from a shop called Austin Computers near where I live, except for the 120gb HDD, I already had that.) I bought all of these parts on thursday, because after reading through the anandtech forums and viewing various other things online, I felt confident that I could build it myself... and I didn't want to wait a week until I could afford for them to build it for me. While I was at the store the Austin guy very helpfully offered to install the CPU for me, because it was quite tricky. I said yes because I'd been worried about it, so he popped it in for me. When I got home I carefully followed the details in the motherboard manual, I assembled everything, then followed the case guide and plugged everything in. I was feeling fairly confident it would work, but it didn't. As soon as I hit the power button my computer started emitting a VERY high pitched, almost 'scream' type of beep.
It freaked me out so I held the power button down and turned it off. Realising that I'd done something wrong, I pulled the side off my case, and went back over everything with manual in hand. Everything seemed fine, so I tried again- and got the same result. Pretty frustrated by now, I rang up Austin Computers. The guys advice was to unplug everything except for the motherboard and GPU and try running it like that, then unplug everything, re-plug it and try again, because the motherboard was failing a power-up check or something like that.
So I did. I unplugged *everything* from my motherboard (except for the CPU), then plugged my GPU and RAM back in, and tried booting it up again. No bananas. It started screaming again. When I unplugged everything, I left all the power connectors in (because I find them really hard to pull out) but pulled all the SATA ad IDE cables out. This time when I tried running my computer again I left the side of the case off. I saw a single red light down near the RAM and two green ones.
3. Did it work normally at one time, or has the problem always existed?
It hasn't run successfully once. The parts are all brand new and I assembled them myself (except for the 120gb HDD, which is from my previous system.)
4. Is the problem consistent and repeatable, or entirely random, or semi-random?
The problem is consistent and repeatable, and I have no idea what is going wrong. According to both the manuals (motherboard and case) everything is assembled correctly.
5. I already tried these steps:
Double-checking all connections and restarting.
Unplugging everything, putting it all back in and trying again.
Called the computer shop for help.
Unplugging everything, but only leaving the GPU and RAM hooked up to the motherboard; everything else still had power cables, though.
Taking the RAM out and putting it back in.
Google. Found absolutely nothing that I understood, or pertained to my problem... pretty much everything I read was from computers that HAD run successfully.
on a side note; my monitor is up on my desk, and I'm running the computer from the floor, plugging in only the monitor, PSU and keyboard. I can't see my monitor from that angle, because I didn't think it was important.
6. My software:
the IDE 120gb has windows XP home installed on it, but I wanted to reformat it; haven't yet because my new system isn't working. Other than that nothing.
7. My hardware
CPU: Intel core 2 duo E8400
M-board: Gigabyte EP45 DS3L
GPU: MSI 9600 G50
RAM: 2x 2gb kingston chips
HDD: one IDE 120gb hitachi deskstar set to master (from my old system; still has windows XP installed on it), and a brand new SATA 500gb seagate barracuda
CASE: Antec Sonata III
also, a SATA dvd writer and IDE floppy drive.
the case has a 500w psu pre-installed.
If anyone can help me with this I would be incredibly grateful; I was really excited about getting a new computer and building it and installing everything myself, but now it's just one big hassle I want over and done with.
Facebook
Twitter