Please help! new PC won't boot.

TheKhan

Member
May 23, 2000
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Hi All,
I just finished putting together a P4 1.6
Asus P4S533 ;
256 MB (mwave generic)
ATI AIW 7500
Maxtor 20 G (7200), CD-RW, DVD etc...

I just dont see anything on the monitor, no beeps, nothing. The mobo led does go on, the fans start up as well. But nothing on the monitor. I checked the jumper settings, cleared the cmos settings. Don't know what else to try except RMA the mobo. Even a barebone start didnt do anything to the video.

Also....I tried an old video card ( a POS S3 virge) and that didn't do anything, but now this video card wont work on the old system either. Could a defective mobo fry both video cards?? any ideas suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

TIA

PS.
Anyone in the DFW area wanna help me test my video cards and mobo?.....please!
 

LiLithTecH

Diamond Member
Jul 28, 2002
3,105
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My guess would be the Generic RAM being the issue here.
Sometimes cheaper isn't always the best way to go. Especially with DDR333 ram.

Do you have it set-up in JUMPER-FREE mode in the BIOS?

Do you have any USB Devices plugged in? If so, remove them.
 

TheKhan

Member
May 23, 2000
42
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0
thanks for the quick reply!

the jumper settings on the mobo are set to jumper-free. I cant even see all the bios settings since video wont work.
I can probably run to fry's or best buy and try another stick.

Right now I dont have any USB devices on it.

Would bad ram cause no video to show up?? shouldn't it just give me an error message on the monitor?
 

LiLithTecH

Diamond Member
Jul 28, 2002
3,105
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0
You can try plugging the ram into another slot.

I recently have had 2 of the ASUS boards (PB4's) with bad DIMM sockets.
 

TheKhan

Member
May 23, 2000
42
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Tried that as well! no luck....i'm heading over to bb for some new ram and see if that helps.
 

TheKhan

Member
May 23, 2000
42
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0
nope..new ram didnt help.

How can I tell if its the processor or mobo?

thanks for the replies.
 

LiLithTecH

Diamond Member
Jul 28, 2002
3,105
0
0
Is the motherboard correctly identifying the CPU?

There is no easy way to tell which it is. It would have to be by deduction. Simple things 1st.

Have you tried reseating the CPU (making sure no pins are bent)?

Try re-clearing the BIOS again (make sure the power cord is out of the PSU).

Re-seat all cards (do not screw them in).

Unplug all drives.

 

TheKhan

Member
May 23, 2000
42
0
0
Thanks for you help LiLith.

I figured out the problem. It IS a bad mobo! I bought a "loaner" mobo (shuttle as40gt) from Fry's and it works fine, and so does the ram, cpu and video.
RMA'd the old mobo to MWAVE and getting a replacement.

 

woodcomp

Member
Jul 3, 2002
55
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It is possible for a bad mobo to fry a video card as it is a bad video card to fry a mobo. Case in point, I put a defective card from a customer in a good mobo to test it and the video card was grounded, it fried that board crispy. Oh the smell of burning silicone... I have aso seen the reverse with mobo's. This does not happen to often, and when it does it is very frustrating.