problem building new system (for first time)

[eusdawb]

Hi. I'm a newbie to building my own system, and am having some big problems in the early stages.

I bought the following stuff yesterday and am just trying to get it up and running:

AMD XP1600+ processor
IWILL KA266plus mobo
AOpen Geforce3 video card
1 256MB DDR dimm

I am sure I have the processor seated correctly, the heat sink and fan applied, the RAM installed, etc. I mounted the mobo in the case and added the video card. I wanted to power it on to be sure I have everything ready to go before I start dragging my hard drives over from my existing system, so...

When I turn it on, it powers up - fans on the CPU and video card go into motion - lights on case are on, etc. but there is no signal on the monitor and no beep at all from the PC speaker.

So, I have no idea if it's a problem with the CPU, Mobo, Video card or a combination. I tried to search the forum but didn't find anything.

Are there some basic things I can check to attempt to remedy the situation? If I need to supply more info, I will be happy to do so.

thanks for any aid.

 

[ddeder]

Check the connection to the monitor and make sure the monitor is turned on.

Check to see if you have a standoff in the wrong place under the mobo. If you have one that does not line up with an eyelet, it can short the mobo and cause the problem you are having.

 

[bozo1]

Standard troubleshooting:

Remove mobo from the case. Put it on a box, foam, whatever.
Verify that all the jumpers are set correctly.
Connect nothing to it but the CPU, heatsink/fan, powersupply, RAM, videocard and front-panel power switch. (no hard drives, etc.)
If still no video, reset CMOS and try.
Try RAM in a different slot.

 

[GreenWolf]

I recently went through the same problem. Swapped out everything and found out it was the CPU. If you have a friend with an AMD system try running your CPU in his rig. Until then, reseat everything and try again.

 

[briddle]

I know this is elementary, but I had this problem one time and then noticed that the arm that holds the cpu down was still straight up in the air instead of down.

I have noticed that some boards like the floppy drive connected up also.

The others seems to have good advise! Resetting the bios is also good!

If you have a bad video card, you could try and pull the one you are using to see also!