tried to assemble a new system and running out of ideas

[blasimon]

Hi everybody,

I'm trying to assemble a new system, well, and I can't get it to the bios. I'm running out of ideas, so let me walk you through what I've tried.

Material:
Rosewill case with 400W PSU
AMD A64 2.6 CPU
500GB WD HDD
MB FOXCONN A7GM-S AM2+ 780G RT
2GB skill RAM

The problem:
I assembled everything following MB manual closely. I power the system on: the power seems to go on, then off, then on, then off.

I first checked the PSU. Following the PSU manufacturer rep recommendation over the phone, I use the paper clip and started it. It works. Smoothly. I think, and so does he, that it must be the MB.

I returned the MB to newegg (where I bought it). They say it's DOA, then return me another one. I get the second MB, same problem.

Granted Foxconn isn't the most well known company, I decide to buy-return a PSU at a large store. Replace the PSU, same result. Doesn't seem to be the PSU, so at this point I'm thinking I'm just not lucky and got two DOA MB.

I'm obvious a little tired of foxconn, so I cancel the order and get an ASUS instead:
MB ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+ 780G/SB700 RT (onboard video)

and plug everything in.

Now, it's not really shutting down (the green Power light on the MB stays on), but the screen stays blank and I can hear the HD, heatsink and case fans slow down, accelerate, slow down, etc. If I plug-in the blu-ray drive, it does the same thing too. Basically the same problem... or so it seems.

Any ideas? I'm tired of returning parts and everything, this whole process has taken well over 3 weeks.

Thank you in advance...

 

[mpilchfamily]

One problem you have is the PSU. It may not be the current problem your havuing to deal with right now but it is a problem. Overall Rosewill has very poor PSUs. The Ones they bundle with the case are the worste they offer. Its very rare to finde a Case and PSU combo that comes with a decent PSU. So do yoursefl a favor and replace the PSU with a good quality one like an Antec Earthwatts or Corsair PSU. There is a good chance the PSU isn't offering enough power to get the system started. Sure 400W is plenty of power but chances are the Rosewill unit isn't putting enough of that power to the 12V rails where the system needs it most. Being a POS PSU there is a very good chance that it could fail in the next few months and possibly damage your system.

 

[rayjayturbo]

I had the same problem last week with the TUL version of this motherboard (TRS780-MI) and I also had the same problem with the Asus M3A78-EM AM2+. For me the problem on both boards was the memory I was using. The 780G motherboards appear to be very picky on the memory. I tried Crucial DDR2 800 on the Asus and it wouldn't boot. I tried some OCZ DDR2 800 and it would not boot. I then tried some OCZ DDR2 1066 and the Asus came up fine. Both OCZ were 2.1 volt sticks with the Crucial being 1.8v. On the TUL board, I tried the Crucial DDR2 800 and it would not boot. Put in the OCZ reaper DDR2 800 and it is running fine on both of the rebadged Foxconn boards I was using. Try using some different memory so you can get to the bios, and then maybe you can raise the voltage to the ram to run the memory you have. Most of the posters here have had good luck with GSkill memory, buth the memory that did not work for me was good memory also. Hope it helps.

 

[blasimon]

Thanks for your advice! I just went back to best buy (the only store available around here), and bought this one:
http://www.svc.com/w0141ru.html

Now, that skipping noise is a lot more subtle and is coming only from the CPU. The PSU runs smoothly, and so does the system fan.

 

[blasimon]

Rayjay, that makes a lot of sense but I'm not sure which memory to try next though. I had picked this one because so many people on NewEgg had reported succesfully used it with this board..

 

[Ausm]

I stopped reading after Foxconn.

 

[blasimon]

Lol. But I said right after I get a similar problem with an ASUS board. For now, I got my hands on some DDR2 sticks that I'll try using tonight, following Rayjay's recommendation...

 

[blasimon]

Lol. But I just said I get a similar problem with an ASUS board.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Do an out-of-case build on a nonconductive surface with only CPU, HSF, a single stick of RAM, and video card if you haven't done this already. You may be having grounding issues with your case. I was seeing this kind of behavior in my own system when I had a combination of mobo grounding and a bad stick of RAM.

Edit: Also, as mentioned, note the voltage requirements for the RAM. If the spec'd voltage is too high and your board doesn't supply it or underclock the memory by default, you will not be able to boot. Try some 1.8V sticks if you can.

 

[blasimon]

I'll try that tonight too ) Thanks

 

[blasimon]

I took it out of the case, and i still don't get to the bios. For the memory, the precise model of sticks that I bought is written as supported in the manual. It says as a note: supports one pair of modules inserted either in the yellow slots or the black slots as one pair of dual-channel memory configuration.

It doesn't seem like it supports having only one module (I'm guessing that's a stick) at a time.

 

[Provenone]

Is your heatsink in place properly? I've had this problem in the past, granted it was with the POS Intel stock fan, but still, sounds the same.

 

[blasimon]

I just checked, and it does seem like the heatsink is in place correctly. I took it off and back in, and verified the retention bracket. The heatsink fan still does the same thing.. every second or so I still hear that little skip, like it's going off and right back on.

 

[boomerang]

Reset the CMOS following the instructions in the manual.

 

[blasimon]

Resetting the CMOS didn't help. Could it be a problem with the CPU?

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

You should be able to run only one stick of RAM. It just won't run dual channel interleaved. Try it. Then try the other single stick. If you see a difference, then you probably have a bad DIMM.

Personally, I doubt it's the CPU, but it's possible. They're usually pretty rugged unless you really overvolt them or bend/break the pins. More likely culprits are PSU, mobo, and RAM. It sounds like you've ruled out the PSU, and you're on your second mobo from a different manufacturer, so the common thread here seems to be the memory.

Since you've done an out-of-case build, it doesn't seem to be a grounding problem -- however, if you're using a heatsink that uses a motherboard backplate, you could be making contact there. That's the only other thing I could think of.

The other possibility is that your original PSU gorked up your first mobo or that the mobo was DOA and messed up other components somehow. Unfortunately, these cold boot issues can be hard to diagnose without suitable replacement parts for PSU, mobo, CPU, and RAM.

 

[blasimon]

Ok, I think I found the problem. After trying two different types of memory (which didn't change a thing), I decided to take out the processor. And I find two bent pins:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/sxb975/IMG_2792.JPG

So this isn't normal correct? If it isn't, what do you think are my chances of getting this replaced? Newegg's policy is pretty stricked on damage CPUs. Although I'm pretty sure that I saw this when I first got the processor 20 days ago, this is the first computer I've built in way over ten years and didn't know better. Am I better taking a shot a straightening them, and if it still doesn't work to just throw it away? If so, how should I do it?

 

[rayjayturbo]

Sorry to have led you down the wrong path on the memory blasimon. You are correct that the pins are supposed to be straight. You can try a return to Newegg, but it doesn't look like shipping damage. I have had luck straightening pins like those with an exacto knife by pushing them up to the correct position. I think that straightening the pins is your best option, but let's see what the other posters think. They might have a better way to fix the pins. I would definitely not throw the cpu away.

 

[blasimon]

No worries! It got me convinced. Thanks for helping. I can return the memory anyway

I followed a couple guides, but those two were so bent that they were very soft and despite by best efforts, one broke. Ohh well. Hopefully that's the only problem!

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Ick. It's possible to run a CPU with a bent or broken pin, depending on which one, but it sounds like you may have found the source of your initial problems. Good work. Hopefully you can convince Newegg that it was shipping damage, if that's what actually happened.

 

[blasimon]

Finally. Thank you to all of you who helped with this. This forum has been great!

The CPU was the only culprit. Ordered a 2.7Ghz CPU, plugged it in, and everything worked perfectly. Out of the box with Vista Ultimate, this board had HDMI output (sound and video) and played blurays-hddvds flawlessly