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Nothing on display at all! and LEDs don't turn on..

maseAT

Member
So I finally put together this new system today but my monitor won't be in until next week, so I plugged my video card into the TV. When I press power, the case fan, CPU fan, and video card fan turn on. The power supply fan does not. None of the LEDs on the case turn on. Pressing num lock on the keyboard doesn't activate the num lock light on the keyboard. Nothing displays on the tv. No splash screen, nothing.

I reversed the led wires on the motherboard io panel thing, and the led's still don't turn on.

Any ideas why nothing is displayed on the TV? is it because the video card doesn't output to the circular jack (i have dvi, vga, and circular jack), which is what I have plugged in to the TV, on bootup?

Why wouldn't the keyboard light turn on? How come the led's won't turn on even after reversing them?

If you've had these symptoms before and can give me advice, I'd really appreciate it!
 
hmm. hello there.

first of all list your complete specs.

secondly, i doubt you will be able to use the TV-out functionality of your video card before configuring it in Windows. if this is your initial build you will definitely want a monitor of some sort to at least set it up.

ok... on to the power (?) issue. you say your fans are operating so I assume your system is getting power. do you hear a beep when you turn it on? also, are you sure the fan on your power supply is not working? that is a serious issue if so, and unless you have some sort of fan control on that PSU, you may need a new / better one.
 
hi, thanks.
here are the specs:

antec 1650 solution case (power supply included)
ecs kn1 sli lite
opteron 144
2x512mb ocz pc3200
sapphire x800 gto

ok, i can borrow a friend's monitor today or tomorrow. when i turn it on, there is no beep. fan on outside side of the power supply (that is visible from the back of the case) is definitely not on. however, there is another fan on the inside side of the power supply (total 2 fans) that is on when i turn it on. does this mean anything? antec smartpower 350 psu..
 
ok, scrap the monitor idea for now. you have other issues to contend with 🙂

if you don't hear any beeps at all (one single beep is what you will hear under optimal conditions), your system likely isn't POSTing and since we already have an apprently suspect power supply to deal with, i would look into that first.

try another PSU, or go purchase one. ideally the one that came with the case can be easily removed (they all are, thankfully 😉 ). there are many power supply buying guides out there. acquaint yourself with them if this is indeed your issue and try to buy a quality branded PSU. good luck!
 
so, you're saying that both fans on the power supply should be on at all times? i'm going to cry if i have to get a new power supply.. can i return it to zzf?

also, I just stuck the memory sticks in dimm 1 and dimm 2.. is that correct? or should i be doing 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 or something crazy like that?

the beep should be coming from the computer speaker, right? what causes it to beep?
 
Melty is right,

new or replacement psu is needed.

If the fan in the psu isn't going - it is only a matter of time till we see a mushroom cloud (maybe not a big one but your very sensitive components MIGHT get counted as collateral damage)
 
If you aren't getting any LED's on either, then I would go wtih what they are saying, faulty PSU. Voltage might be off, or it's just not pushing enough power. In any case, the PSU is the root.
 
but the fan on the mb, case, inside of psu, and graphics card are all running, as is the hard disk.. from my limited ee knowledge, i'd think that the led current draw would be minimal in comparison, right?
 
gah.. sorry.. there's two fans on the psu (front and back). the one on the inside of the case (front) is running, but the one on the outside (back) is not..
 
What are the specs in the manual?
Does it say that one fan is thermostatically controlled?
If no, then replace.
If yes, my apologies for not doing research on it.
 
Well, some fans work, some don't, you get zero display and apparently your keyboard doesn't work either. Curious, if you have an optical mouse, does it light up? It sounds like only half your system is getting any power to me, which would still lead me to believe it is the PSU.
 
actually, now i think i remember that there was a slip of paper saying that the fan wouldnt immediately start on boot up.. anyone with antec power supplies remember anything like this? it doesnt say anything in the manual though.
any ideas as to why lights on the keyboard won't turn on? and do you think the video doesn't show up because i'm using s-video and it isn't supported pre-os loading or something weird like that?
 
It probably isn't supported pre-OS, because you need drivers to support tv-out probably.

The keyboard lights only come on if the keyboard gets a signal from the computer. Is it a USB keyboard by chance?
 
no.. that's the weird thing.. it's a normal keyboard circular plug thing, and that's usually the way i check to see if a keyboard is connected.. i push the num lock and check the light. =(

i'll test on a real monitor tomorrow to check the display

(shoulda just bought a prebuilt dell or something..)
 
so the fact that the speaker doesn't beep means that the computer isn't "posting" right? what could prevent it from doing that? can i troubleshoot it in any way to see what's wrong?
 
so, if i took out all the memory, vid card, everything except cpu and motherboard, should it beep? i'm trying to figure out how to pinpoint where the exact problem is..
 
If you take the RAM out, it should beep. If it doesn't, either the mobo is bad or the PSU isn't supplying enough or the right voltage of power. The only way to know for sure is to swap PSU's.
 
Since I havn't seen it mentioned yet... you do have the 4 pin 12v cable connected from the PS to the motherboard right? IE you should have 2 cables from PS to MB one has 4 pins, other is the larger "normal" 20 pin connector.

This may or may not apply to you but definately WOULD keep your system from posting should it be the problem.
 
either my speaker is broken or my system just doesn't beep on startup.. shrug. and confirmed, s-video does not work on boot without configuration. everything looks like it's working now, i'm pretty happy, and i really appreciate all you guys helping me troubleshoot! you all are awesome!
 
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