new Motherboard defective?

[azntiger0586]

my friend just bought a Gigabyte 8sg800 (info here.) He hooked up everything and when he boots up the computer, the contrast and brightness are very dark, like very very dark. only possible to see aything if all lights were turned off in the room. But as soon as it gets to the windows xp loading screen (the one with the blue bar going across) it freezes.

we tried:
-updating motherboard bios
-switching video cards
-switching monitor
-unplugging everything and plug it back in
-made sure everything was where it was suppose to be

None of this fixed any of the problems. The screen was still dark and it still freezes at the windows xp loading screen.

anyone know whats wrong?

 

[mechBgon]

What brand and model of power supply is he using? Also, is the secondary ATX power plugged in, and if the video card is the kind that has an onboard power plug, is that plugged in too? The monitor works normally on other computers?

 

[azntiger0586]

-antec power supply smartblue 350watts.
-atx is power plugged in
-the video card does not have a onboard power plug
-the monitor works with other computers and so does the video card.

 

[mechBgon]

Freaky! :Q Ok, hmm... my next suggestion is to remove the board from the case and unplug all the case wiring except the Power and Reset (meaning, no USB/Firewire wiring attached to the board... Gigabytes have unusual USB pinouts, I've heard). Try it like that, with the board laying on cardboard outside the case.

This eliminates a bunch of possible causes of electrical shorts, like those springy finger things on the I/O panel (sometimes they get into USB or network jacks). If this doesn't help, then I'd be thinking it's RMA time. Good luck to you & your friend

 

[o1die]

Is your video card 1.5 volts? An older card may be 3.3 volts, which may not work.

 

[carpenter]

I agree with o 1die, I have a Giga 400Pro and it states in the manual that the older 3.3v cards may not work.