Nothing happens

phlogger

Junior Member
Sep 23, 2006
7
0
0
nothing happens...

I have built the following, and when I hit the power button, it comes to life for about half a second (the fans come on the lights flash) then it stops. dead. nothing. nada.

I've tried disconnecting each power lead, one at a time, to isolate the culprit. nothing. I've swapped the ram slots, and tried without ram. nothing.

Heeelllppppp!!!!

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6300
====
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (1.86Ghz/Allendale/2MB/1066FSB/EMT64/XD/Dual Core)

MOBO: Foxconn 9657AA-8EKRS2
=====
Processor:-Intel® Core? 2 Extreme, Core? 2 Duo, Pentium EE, Pentium D, Pentium 4, Celeron D processors , Socket T (LGA775)
Chipset:Intel P965+ICH8R
Front Side Bus:1066 / 800 / 533 MHz
Memoryual Channel DDR2 800 / 667 x 4 DIMMs, Max 8GB

DDR2: 2gb OCZ DDR2 6400 Platinum EL rev1
=====
800MHz DDR2
CL 4-5-4-15 (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS)
Unbuffered
2.1 Volts
OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) PC2-6400 (800mhz) Platinum Dual Channel with XTC Heatspreader

VID: Albatron 7900GS
====

PSU: Cooler Master Real Power 450w
===
 

Raider1284

Senior member
Aug 17, 2006
809
0
0
make sure your motherboard isnt grounding. You need to use the plastic washers on either side of the motherboard when your installing it.
 

lyssword

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2005
5,630
25
91
Most likely causes: 1. Dead vid card 2. dead mem sticks 3. powersupply 4. Mobo not grounded 5. Try looking for power button connectors to make sure they are in the right spot
 

Regs

Lifer
Aug 9, 2002
16,666
21
81
Well, I don't think anything is dead.

You likely just mis-placed something. Ram not in matching slots, video card in the SLI slot, your IDE channel mixed in with the Optical drives, power wires/reset/ or HDD led lights in the wrong posistion (also make sure the letters of the connectors face outward when inserted into mobo), CPU not seated properly, and so forth.
 

Kougar

Senior member
Apr 25, 2002
398
1
76
If you still don't have any luck with it... take it all out of the case and take it apart, then rebuild it again. That seems to work quite often. ;) And don't forget those motherboard risers! Remove any that are in the case that don't align up with screw holes in your motherboard.
 

bobsmith1492

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2004
3,875
3
81
Make sure your video card's extra power wire is hooked up, also; mine didn't do anything until I connected that. In fact, check all your power connections (two to the motherboard, one to the video card should get it started) along with the wire to the power button. Then, check: is it plugged in? Is there a switch on the back of the PSU and if so, is it on?

Some things to check.... :)
 

phlogger

Junior Member
Sep 23, 2006
7
0
0
hey thanks people

have taken it all out of box - no luck tho

tried reseating cpu & fan, ram, vid card - no luck

going to try getting some cheap ddr2 at 1.8v instead of the ocz at 2.1v - see if i can start it long enuff to change vdimm setting in bios

ps. tried new power supply on old mobo - works fine
 

tersome

Senior member
Jul 8, 2006
250
0
0
Mobo is probably giving 1.8~1.9v to your ram.

Get some super cheap ddr2 and change the voltage in the bios.
 

phlogger

Junior Member
Sep 23, 2006
7
0
0
well... tried some ddr2 667 1.8v - and no luck, damnit

methinks it's time to take mb & cpu back to shop & get them to confirm they work
 

phlogger

Junior Member
Sep 23, 2006
7
0
0
ok, just to summarise:

I fully installed:
-- old atx tower case
-- new foxconn mb & connected power, leds, reset & usb leads
-- new 450w psu (24 pin lead to mb, 2x4 pin lead to mb, 6 pin lead to vid card),
-- new c2d e6300 cpu & fan, connected fan lead to cpu fan hdr on mb
-- old ide hdd,
-- new sata2 hdd,
-- old dvd,
-- new 7900gs vid card,
-- new 2x1gb ocz ddr2 800 2.1v
and it doesn't work - only a 1 second flash of activity (all fans & keyboard lights, no monitor)

-- I removed all disks & removed mb from case to eliminating possible mb grounding - no go
-- I tried psu on old mobo - works fine
-- reseated cpu & cpu fan (new thermal goo) - no go
-- reseated vid card - no go
-- installed cheap 512mb ddr2 667 1.8v - no go

have i missed anything?
 

jedisponge

Member
May 2, 2006
75
0
0
Also I'm about to RMA my motherboard because similar stuff is happening: How do you ground your motherboard? Also, how should you go about grounding the screws you put in the motherboard?
 

bobsmith1492

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2004
3,875
3
81
It should be grounded through the power connectors... nothing you have to worry about. The screws should be isolated electrically from the motherboard (i.e. make sure they aren't touching any metal on the board unless the board has metal studs around the screw holes). Make sure you're using official screw holes (check if there are small wire traces right by the holes, and the corner holes are usually not for mounting studs).
 

phlogger

Junior Member
Sep 23, 2006
7
0
0
problem turned out to be psu - 12v rail was rated too low amperage (peak 16a) for the vid card (needs peak 22a per the box - works with peak 19.5)
 

Dribble

Platinum Member
Aug 9, 2005
2,076
611
136
Originally posted by: phlogger
problem turned out to be psu - 12v rail was rated too low amperage (peak 16a) for the vid card (needs peak 22a per the box - works with peak 19.5)

You sure? That figure does not make sense:
you say your 7900GS needs 22a = 12*22 = 264W. 7900GS is pretty efficient, I think you'll find it's using no more then about 60W (60/12=5a) most of the time, and a lot less then that at startup.

Also 16a is plenty for a PSU, my 550W SLi certified one only gives 18a per rail. You're whole setup (without o/c anyway) is pretty low power, can't believe a working 450W cpu won't handle it.
 

betasub

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2006
2,677
0
0
The manufacturer's recommended 22A is for a PSU with a single 12V rail to supply a full system. Not surprisingly, it's very conservative & intended to cover a wide variety of systems, possibly with "over-rated" PSUs. Of course, a quality PSU supplying far less on the 12V rail should be suitable.

I'm not sure the comparison with your dual-rail system PSU is that simple. By having separate 12V rails, 18A is available to the CPU/motherboard, and a further 18A for add-in cards/peripherals such as graphics cards. That's very different from his old PSU which claimed to supply 16A on its only 12V rail.