Newb build gone bad, what went wrong?

DpR

Junior Member
Jul 15, 2006
12
0
0
Ok, I came pretty close to a successfil build, but things have kinda blown up.

Ill start with the most recent and pressing issue, which is basically a total malfunciton. While I was installing windows (was probably about 90% done, I had entered in computer name et al.) the computer just shut down. When I try to start it up again it does not work. With the power supply on, the two LEDs on the motherboard are on. However, when I push the 'on" button on the front of the case, the fans twitch as if to start adn then nothing happens. I do not really know, but I assume this has to be a problem with the power supply or motherboard? (one is broken?)

My set up is exactly as described in the anandtech guide (AMD system):

http://anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2753&p=10

The only difference is I have two of the video cards, and an additional Raptor WD 74GB HD.

So that is my current problem which has put my plans to a complete stop.

Prior to that disaster there were some other issues. The actual assemby went pretty smooth. I started up ok, made some minor changes in the BIOS (boot off CD first, RAM timing speeds, and set to boot from my Raptor 74GB drive second, then the 250GB drive)

Now I go ahead and start the windows installation. It recognized both hard drives. I press C to particition the Raptor (where I want to install XP). That works, and I press enter to load XP onto that drive. Now, setup says that it needs write some files on the 250GB drive (huh?) and it is not partitioned. It wants to particiton it, so I say ok. It goes ahead and formats BOTH hard drives and installs XP on the Raptor (the file directory tree is all on the Raptor). Windows is up and running great! I put on the drivers for the video cards, motherboard etc and all looks good.

Now I resart the computer and it goes to a start-up page and basically cannot boot up. It asks me to put in a system disk. Hmm. I restart and hit esc. to get to the device boot menu. I try to boot off the Raptor 74GB drive and the same thing happens. Try again and boot off the 250GB drive and windows loads up just fine (how is that?) So basically, the system will boot up off of the big drive, even though windows is installed on the Raptor.

The only thing I could think of was that either the Raptor did not come as a bootable disk (seemed unlikely), or that there was a SATA driver that I should have installed at the beginning of XP installation (although I though thtat it would not recognize the drive if this was teh problem), I wanted to try to correct this problem, so I was going to do some research to figure out what the problem was. So I wanted teh computer to be able to run if I had to mess around with the raptor. So I removed teh Raptor drive and re-ran teh Windows installation disk. During that installation, the blow up I started this post with happened.

Any help troubleshooting this would be greatly appreciated.

Doug
 

DpR

Junior Member
Jul 15, 2006
12
0
0
Originally posted by: Fishbone Walker
You have a spare, more powerful PSU laying around? You're asking way too much of a 400 watt PSU.

Unfortunately no. It was working OK for a bit. IS that the most likely problem? I figured since it was mentioned in the article that it would be ok with some room to spare.
 

Fishbone Walker

Junior Member
Jul 25, 2006
23
0
0
Originally posted by: DpR
Originally posted by: Fishbone Walker
You have a spare, more powerful PSU laying around? You're asking way too much of a 400 watt PSU.

Unfortunately no. It was working OK for a bit. IS that the most likely problem? I figured since it was mentioned in the article that it would be ok with some room to spare.

I don't know for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me. Dual GPUs and multiple hard drives like power.
 

TheRyuu

Diamond Member
Dec 3, 2005
5,479
14
81
Originally posted by: DpR
Originally posted by: Fishbone Walker
You have a spare, more powerful PSU laying around? You're asking way too much of a 400 watt PSU.

Unfortunately no. It was working OK for a bit. IS that the most likely problem? I figured since it was mentioned in the article that it would be ok with some room to spare.

You can get a cheap (good) PSU at newegg.

If you get a PSU, make sure it's a good one. Seasonic, OCZ, FSP, etc.
 

mayest

Senior member
Jun 30, 2006
306
0
0
Did you try removing the extra video card? That would reduce the load on the PSU.
 

Boy Hits Car

Member
Mar 24, 2005
71
0
0
I had a similiar problem with my first build(the fans twitching and the system not powering up). The computer loaded windows fine, loaded drivers, etc, restarted the computer and the power just went off. Couldn't get it to power-up. I eventually just took off the main 24-pin power connector, and reconnected it and it started working again. Shrug.

Also, try taking out one of the vid cards out.
 

DpR

Junior Member
Jul 15, 2006
12
0
0
Originally posted by: Boy Hits Car
I had a similiar problem with my first build(the fans twitching and the system not powering up). The computer loaded windows fine, loaded drivers, etc, restarted the computer and the power just went off. Couldn't get it to power-up. I eventually just took off the main 24-pin power connector, and reconnected it and it started working again. Shrug.

Also, try taking out one of the vid cards out.


I will try taking a video card out right now, but I doubt that is the problem. I only say that becasue I did unplug ALL of the drives and try to boot it up and that still had no impact.

CONFIRMED: I still only got a shimmer out of the fans with ONLY the motherboard plugged in with 1 video card.

Could the PSU have shorted in any way and is letting out less power? or does that mean it is most likely a faulty MB?