Please Check Build Specs

[teacher_mark]

Great idea Durvelle. If it's the open box GTX that's giving me trouble, I'll be returning it, and will go with the 7850 & bioshock.

 

[Durvelle27]

Sounds like a GPU problem to me if no beeps or errors just a blank screen. Did you make sure the power connectors are plugged in snug

 

[teacher_mark]

Curiouser and curiouser.
The tech I took it to switched out the GPU- nada. But when she replaced the RAM with some she had lying around, it booted-- at least it came on screen with the message that there were no bootable drives or whatever.
So, joyous, I took the Vengeance DDR3 1600 back to Microcenter and got a Ballistic DDR3 1600 for a few dollars less, plugged them in and voila: same bunch of nothing: fans and drives spinning but no post beep and nothing on the monitor. I might note that the tech had also used her own monitor, which, like mine, required a VGA to DVI adapter: so it worked with her Ram, her monitor, and her adapter, but not with my RAM, my monitor, and my adapter.
I had to leave the problem at home while driving to Tennessee to visit my parents, but I'm thinking maybe try a DDR3 1330? We already tried un- and re-plugging just about everything. And I wonder if the folks at Microcenter would poke at it for free.
Wait-- I didn't mention the one error I know I made: I accidentally put a thumbprint in the thermal paste.
Did I mention how traumatic the whole situation has been? Hopefully this visit to the folks will keep my build troubles in perspective.

 

[XavierMace]

What was the specs on the memory of yours that it did boot with? that would seem to be a good guideline of what type of memory to get.

 

[teacher_mark]

Yeah, but I'm afraid I don't know. At the time I didn't fully appreciate...
But I found a list of tested, compatible RAM:
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970 Extreme3/?cat=Memory
I think I should try one from the list.

 

[Durvelle27]

Curiouser and curiouser.
The tech I took it to switched out the GPU- nada. But when she replaced the RAM with some she had lying around, it booted-- at least it came on screen with the message that there were no bootable drives or whatever.
So, joyous, I took the Vengeance DDR3 1600 back to Microcenter and got a Ballistic DDR3 1600 for a few dollars less, plugged them in and voila: same bunch of nothing: fans and drives spinning but no post beep and nothing on the monitor. I might note that the tech had also used her own monitor, which, like mine, required a VGA to DVI adapter: so it worked with her Ram, her monitor, and her adapter, but not with my RAM, my monitor, and my adapter.
I had to leave the problem at home while driving to Tennessee to visit my parents, but I'm thinking maybe try a DDR3 1330? We already tried un- and re-plugging just about everything. And I wonder if the folks at Microcenter would poke at it for free.
Wait-- I didn't mention the one error I know I made: I accidentally put a thumbprint in the thermal paste.
Did I mention how traumatic the whole situation has been? Hopefully this visit to the folks will keep my build troubles in perspective.

What was the exact ram as it could have a higher voltage causing problems and also i'm from TN XD

 

[teacher_mark]

Vengeance Series 8GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules)
Was the original. I don't have details on the "ballistic".

I'm in what used to be called the "Harding Mall area" in Nashville, until they replaced Harding Mall with a Wal-Mart. I don't know what it would be called now, though in some folks try to claim Brentwood.

 

[Durvelle27]

Did you try other slots on the board as its possible for the motherboard to have a bad RAM slot

 

[teacher_mark]

Oh yeah, we shuffled them.

 

[teacher_mark]

OK! Used kingston RAM from the tested list-- still didn't work. But the helpful guy at Microcenter thought to reset the CMOS and that did it. Windows is loaded and updates are making progress. Thanks ya'll for all your help.

 

[jofrie]

I would be careful with buying open-box parts. Take a good look at it and check for obvious damage. Also, give it a good sniff (not kidding!). Stay away if you smell burnt electronics.

Agreed, i once buyed a gtx295 but he showed me it worked running crysis 3.
If something is wrong you see maby purple dots or even green bars whole time even with booting up. I would never buy used stuff without knowing it even works.

 

[teacher_mark]

Well, I thought we had a happy ending here, but my euphoria over getting to post and installing the OS has died down after a day of struggling to get the sound working. I was supposed to be up all Sunday night gaming-- and now it's Friday! I'll start a new thread to post about the sound issue. Thanks again for all your help.