First Boot, No signal to monitor

[stevemog]

Hello,

I am completely frustrated and hoping that someone here can help me out

I just assembled a machine from a barebones kit. It is the first time i have done this so I am hoping my problem is just some stupid, simple mistake that I made in putting the machine together. Better that than the hardware, right?

Here is the machine:


Intel 975XBK2KR Socket 775 mobo
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz Socket 775 OEM Processor
Western Digital Caviar SE 400GB Hard Drive - 7200, 8MB, SATA-300
4 Corsair Dual Channel TWINX 1024MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz E.P.P. Memory
2 XFX Geforce 9600GT 512MB Video Cards
700 Watt XVS Modular Power Supply

I have a moderate amount of knowledge since this is the first time I have done this

The computer turns on, the fans spin, the HD seems to power up, but there is no signal to the monitor from the video cards

The motherboard does not seem to have an on board VGA, so I am not able to check it any other way than through the video cards.

I stuck in an old PCI card to see if that would work but same problem.

There is no way for me to adjust the bios settings because I have no monitor signal.

What is my next step?

Please help, thanks

[shyster]

Well if all the parts you listed are inside the computer currently, take out one of the graphics cards and at least two of the ram cards.

That would be my first suggestion. It is possible that two GPU's inside a computer before bios has even been set could cause a malfunction.

I imagine you are trying to run an SLI system with those graphics cards instead of just a four monitor system? If so did you already set up all the SLI stuff? If you did disassemble that as well.

Once you have done that, make sure all the cords at pulled in, in case some got pulled out slightly while you were disassembling or perhaps earlier in the process. After confirming everything is plugged in correctly try starting it up again.

If you still have two sticks of RAM in make sure they are in the corresponding docks. So usually this would be 1 and 3, and 2 and 4.

If you still have nothing after doing all that put in just one RAM stick and keep trying to start it up. Making sure to move the stick down through all the slots. If after going through all four slots with a single stick does nothing try one of the other sticks that came in a seperate package incase one of the packages you got was DOA, and repeat the process.

If none of that works, try listening to the beep code that comes out of the motherboard. Hopefully your setup has some beep code audio built into either the case or motherboard. Try to find out which code it corresponds to in your motherboard instruction manual. If it did not come with a manual try to find it online, or post the code here and someone here might be able to find it.

If you have a digital camera pictures are always good, maybe we can see something in the connections you think is right but might actually be incorrect.

Lastly it is possible that the motherboard itself is DOA, I do not know if that actually happens with barebones kits, since I would think they would test them first, but anything is possible. If that is the case you would have to call whoever you bought it from and check their RMA policy for it.

Of course always wait for other peoples responses before doing something like RMA'ing, since it is possible there is nothing wrong and the problem will just persist even after you get a new part.

In either case, please report back, success or failure so we know how to proceed.