New system won't POST. Need help :(

[greatromances]

Hey everyone, first timer on the forums! Anyways, I just got all the parts for my new system in yesterday and put it all together. Here are the specs in case you need them later to help me diagnose the issue:

FOXCON P4M800P7MA-RS2
INTEL Pentium D 805 2.66G
Stock CPU Cooler
(2) 320G|WD 7K 8M SATA (RAID 0)
(2) 512mb PQI PC5400 Turbo DDR2 Sticks
Radeon X850Pro AGP
Antec Sonata II Case
Antec 450w PS included w/ case

After setting everything up, I powered it up. All the fans and power LED work, both hard drives running, but the system isn't posting at all. No beeps, cuz there is no case speaker. I thought it might have been the onboard video, so I put in a vid card to check, but it wasn't that. Tried other ram, wasn't that. I've tried to post the system using only cpu, ram, and onboard video, and it still won't post. Could it be a DOA motherboard? Or a bad CPU? I'm pretty sure it's not a CPU-motherboard compatibility issue, cuz the specs on the motherboard says all Pentium D supported. Any suggestions? I've gotta figure out what the problem is fairly soon to do an RMA to newegg with the product that is causing the problem for replacement. Please help me

 

[jamesbond007]

Looking at this URL, the motherboard has an integrated PC speaker. It's located on the far left of the board, next to the last PCI slot and just below what looks to be an audio input (white) connection from a CDROM. It's the small, black cylindrical thing. At any rate, your motherboard IS capable of producing beeps, if it needs to.

Have you tried booting the machine with only a single stick of RAM in? There is always the chance of having DOA hardware - it's just life.

My suggestion is to try and force the machine to beep. Boot the machine without any RAM in it. That should definitely tell you if the board is dead or not. One last thing to try is to reset the CMOS. Sometimes they're in the form of jumpers and sometimes they'er just two solder points on the board you have to connect using a flat-head screwdriver. This information should be located in your motherboard's manual.

Good luck!

 

[greatromances]

Thanx a ton for the tips and quick response! I haven't tried booting w/ a single stick, but i'll try it as soon as i'm off work and let you know. Sorry, I should've checked about that spkr on the board. I'll try both resetting the CMOS and trying the single stick of ram and see what happens. If neither works, would it be a dead board? Is it possible that it could be a dead CPU at all?

 

[j00fek]

try rebuilding the whole setup and see what that gives you. and make sure your cards are seated properly

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: greatromances
Is it possible that it could be a dead CPU at all?

Always possible, but assuming the motherboard is functioning correctly, you would hear beeps of some sort. I see dead motherboards about 10000 times more than I see dead CPUs. Until you start hearing beeps, my finger points towards the motherboard.

On another note, did the powersupply come with the 24-pin ATX connector? And you have the smaller 2x2 (4-pin) cable hooked up as well? (upper-right corner of the motherboard)

 

[greatromances]

Originally posted by: j00fek
try rebuilding the whole setup and see what that gives you. and make sure your cards are seated properly

I've done that. All memory is seated properly. I've tried booting with both the video card installed and with just onboard video as well.

 

[greatromances]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007

Originally posted by: greatromances
Is it possible that it could be a dead CPU at all?

Always possible, but assuming the motherboard is functioning correctly, you would hear beeps of some sort. I see dead motherboards about 10000 times more than I see dead CPUs. Until you start hearing beeps, my finger points towards the motherboard.

On another note, did the powersupply come with the 24-pin ATX connector? And you have the smaller 2x2 (4-pin) cable hooked up as well? (upper-right corner of the motherboard)

No, the 2x2 isn't connected. However, when first setting it up, I did connect the 2x2, and nothing happened at all when i pushed the power button, so I reviewed the motherboard manual and saw that i shouldn't be plugging that one in with the type of power connecter it uses. So i unplugged the 2x2 and that's where i'm at now.

 

[pkme2]

Check this out!
http://www.mechbgon.com/build/index.html

 

[Buck Naked]

No, the 2x2 isn't connected. However, when first setting it up, I did connect the 2x2, and nothing happened at all when i pushed the power button, so I reviewed the motherboard manual and saw that i shouldn't be plugging that one in with the type of power connecter it uses. So i unplugged the 2x2 and that's where i'm at now.

The Antec Smartpower 2.0 450 watt has a 20+4 main, and a separate 4 pin. Both need to be hooked up. The separate 4 pin powers the CPU...

 

[greatromances]

Originally posted by: Buck Naked

No, the 2x2 isn't connected. However, when first setting it up, I did connect the 2x2, and nothing happened at all when i pushed the power button, so I reviewed the motherboard manual and saw that i shouldn't be plugging that one in with the type of power connecter it uses. So i unplugged the 2x2 and that's where i'm at now.

The Antec Smartpower 2.0 450 watt has a 20+4 main, and a separate 4 pin. Both need to be hooked up. The separate 4 pin powers the CPU...

Haha... well that will probably solve my problem... Hopefully. I did see an extra 4-pin connecter, so I plugged it in to the 4-pin power connector located directly under the audio jacks at the top and it wouldn't even power on when i did that so I took it out and got it to power up, just no POST. So I need to connect that 4-pin to the main 20-pin connecter and then connect that to the 24-pin connecter right??? Without all 24 pins being used, i'm not getting any power to the CPU? I'll try that after work and see what happens. I just want to thank you all for the responses and help i've gotten from these forums! You guys are all great.

 

[Buck Naked]

You should have a 20 pin connector with a detachable 4 pin connector, and a completely separate 4 pin connector. You should be using the complete 24 pin main connector, and the separate 4 pin.
It looks like you tried this, and it wouldn't power up.
Bad PSU?

 

[greatromances]

Originally posted by: Buck Naked
You should have a 20 pin connector with a detachable 4 pin connector, and a completely separate 4 pin connector. You should be using the complete 24 pin main connector, and the separate 4 pin.
It looks like you tried this, and it wouldn't power up.
Bad PSU?

No no. It looks like i'm an idiot actually. What I tried was i hooked the 20 pin connector (without the attached 4-pin [it wasn't attached to the 20 pin connector out of the box] ), and then connected 1 of the 4 pin connectors to a seperate 4 pin connector on the top right corner of the board. This isn't correct, right?

 

[mechBgon]

Your motherboard has a 24-pin main receptacle. Connect the two parts of your 24-pin cable to eachother so they look like this picture and plug them into the motherboard.

Your motherboard has a 4-pin ATX12V receptacle. Find your ATX12V cable, which is distinquished by having two yellow wires and two black wires like shown in this photo. Plug that into your motherboard's ATX12V receptacle, which is at the upper rear corner of the motherboard.

Do not get the ATX12V cable mixed up with the 4-pin sidekick piece of the 24-pin cable. They have different voltages. That means you can blow stuff up if you put 'em where they don't belong. Like... oh... unplugging all the spark-plug wires from your car's distributor, and then putting them on in some incorrect order. Fun.

 

[greatromances]

Haha ******... Why was my AMD 2500+ system so much easier to hook power to than this bitch? Anyways, I thank you all so much for helping a newbie out! I'll be off work in 2 hours and let you all know how it goes down

 

[greatromances]

Well everyone, I finally got it working. I just want to thank everyone in helping me diagnose and fix the problem. It was the power connector that was causing all the problems. Thanx again for your time, i'll for sure be coming back here if I need anymore assistance!

 

[jamesbond007]

Yay! Glad to help! Enjoy that dual core!