New rig won't POST

[Gusty987]

Athlon 64 3000+ s754 Newcastle
Mushkin 2x512 PC3500 DDR
eVGA 7900GS (brand new)
DFI NF4X

I received my DFI NF4X and 7900GS yesterday to upgrade my s754 rig. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be working. It powers up normally, all the fans work, but I get no display to the monitor (have tried 2). Also, the Power LED on the front of the case only stays illuminated for a couple seconds after start-up.

One thing I did do wrong was booted it with the CMOS jumper on "clear" the very first time I started it (actually, could that have screwed something up?). I have since cleared CMOS again, including removal of battery, but still nothing.

Also, I get no beeps whatsoever. I even tried booting with no RAM, but still no beeps!

Please help me AT

 

[SickBeast]

How's your PSU?

Clearing the CMOS won't hurt anything.

Boot with one stick of RAM for now.

Make sure you have a power cord going to the graphics card.

 

[Gusty987]

PSU is Antec 380w with 24A on the 12v rail. I have tried with just one RAM stick in DIMM 1 with no effect. Power cord is hooked to the video card (2 molex to 6-pin adapter). Video card fan spins normally.

 

[SickBeast]

Have you tried swapping in the 9800pro?

 

[Gusty987]

I can't, the mobo is PCI-e

 

[Gusty987]

Also, my PSU only has a 20-pin ATX connector, while the mobo's plug is 24-pin. But I've read its fine to use the 20-pin on the 24-pin, right?

 

[silverpig]

Is there an extra power connector for the video card? How about a 4-pin connector for the mobo?

The DFI boards are picky about ram. I played with mine for 3 days before finding out the ram that I had didn't want to work with this board.

 

[Gusty987]

The square, 4-pin connecter (black and yellow wires) is plugged in. Video card is directly plugged in to 2 molex's, there is no extra video plug on the mobo.

If there was a RAM compatibility issue, shouldn't I get error beeps??

 

[Nohr]

Assuming this Infinity NF4X is the mobo you have, there's a 4-pin power connector you need to plugin. It's located between the memory slots and the rear ports. I don't know if this is the cause of your problem but it probably isn't helping.

 

[Gusty987]

Yes it is the Infinity NF4X, and yes, the square, 4-pin 12v plug is connected.

 

[Nohr]

Ah sorry, I misunderstood.

In situations like that I pull motherboard out of the case and leave only the absolute essentials for posting connected. That'd be cpu & hsf, psu, video card and the memory sticks. You can power it on by shorting the power switch pins with a screwdriver temporarily. I find that helps isolate where the problem is though it takes some effort.

 

[Gusty987]

Originally posted by: Nohr
Ah sorry, I misunderstood.

In situations like that I pull motherboard out of the case and leave only the absolute essentials for posting connected. That'd be cpu & hsf, psu, video card and the memory sticks. You can power it on by shorting the power switch pins with a screwdriver temporarily. I find that helps isolate where the problem is though it takes some effort.

That's exactly how I have it (mobo is sitting on its box next to case), except I'm using just one of the memory sticks in the DIMM1 slot, and have the power switch and case speaker plugged in.

 

[Nohr]

You've tried reseating everything I assume?

 

[Gusty987]

Have reseated the video card and the RAM, not the CPU yet, but it can only go one way?

 

[Nohr]

Yeah it's hard to mess up the cpu install. Perhaps the heatsink isn't seated properly though. I'm grasping at straws.

 

[Gusty987]

HSF is on tight.

 

[grohl]

Double check the PSU connections, or try alternate molex connections as well as alternate 4 pin connections.

Reseat the CPU. Had a bent pin once that I failed to recognize until it was the last thing I checked.

 

[Gusty987]

Checked PSU connections and reseated PSU...nothing.

 

[dreddfunk]

I have the same motherboard but I'm using it with a 24-pin PSU (Antec TruepowerII 430) so I don't know if that could have anything to do with it. I thought as you did that many 24-pin motherboards were still compatible with 20-pin PSUs, but it may have been the reverse (e.g. 24-pin PSUs are compatible with 20-pin motherboards; I know my PSU has a 20+4 arrangement of the main power connector, i.e. you can detach a 4-pin set, so you can have only the 20-pin if you want).

Have you tried every RAM stick/slot combination? I really don't think that's it, but it would eliminate the possibility that only one stick and/or slot is non-functional for some reason. I have a single Patriot 1GB stick and haven't had any problems with it.

As a last resort, I'd reinstall everything into your old motherboard (except the PCIe GPU of course), just to verify that they're all in working order. After that, if everything still works, it would seem a likely problem with the new components.

If you've got a mate who can put the 7900gs into his rig to test it, that would be a good idea as well.

Good Luck!

 

[Captante]

Sounds like one of three things:

(1) The PSU isn't delivering enough power to the motherboard which may have to do with the 20-pin plug combined with the fact that older PSU's lose considerable amounts of power output .. in any case this would be the first thing I tried because it would be a good idea to replace it regardless of wether its the problem here.

(2) The RAM is either not getting sufficient VDIMM at default BIOS settings to be properly detected, or its just incompatible with that particular motherboard ... I suggest you head over the the DFI forums & see what they have to say about this.

(3) You have a defective motherboard & its time for an RMA.

Step one is to do as suggested & pull the system out of the case & re-assemble with minimal parts... if that doesn't work then put all the parts except the GPU back in the old MB to verify they work. Finally I'd replace the power supply with somthing better & equipped with a 24-pin plug. (if you have to buy retail & are forced to go with another Antec, note that the Neo & Earth-power models are now made by Seasonic & are vastly improved over the older ones ... I suggest going with a 500 watt model.)