no display one long beep two short beeps

[blazer]

my first buld
antec sonata III
asus m2n32-sli wireless
evga 8800 gts 320

display adaptor error? any ideas?

[zburns]

Blazer, I will try to help. My recent build is same as yours, so far; also, my first build. I had no problems but I was intentionally slow and very careful, double checking, etc. all the way. I am experienced at building things electrical, just not computers.

I assume the components you listed are those installed to date. Comments as follows: Have you consistently used a wrist static grounding strap thru out the assembly so far? Are you working on carpet? Are you touching the metal part of the computer case (while wearing the wrist strap) before handling or installing the motherboard? Are you wearing rubber sole athletic shoes while doing the work; doing so may or probably reduces static buildup on you and helps protect the computer, particularly if your room is carpeted. These points may sound nutty but doing them consistently reduces the chance that you create a static problem that harms the mobo or video card.

Next, I used both Rob's book (or the website instructions which are mostly same as the book) and the ASUS mobo book simultaneously, going back and forth. I got more direct help from the ASUS book as far as the wiring assembly to the Mobo was concerned -- all of chapter 2. Section 2.6 in the ASUS book is very clear on how to "clear CMOS".

Hopefully the prob is a poor connection with a cable, card or the RAM. Page 2-28 of the ASUS book, section 2.7.2, para 9 shows the ATX power connectors, 24 pin and 4 pin form the power supply. The 4 pin plug should present no problem. Unless you are certain of the orientation of the 24 pin plug, unplug it check the plug from the power supply and the mating mobo connector for proper orientation and reinsert it, push it down firmly but not super hard. Make sure you have good light on the "put together final connection".

Your video card power plugs in at the right hand corner (actually under the card) of the card when installed in the Sonata case.

You should be able to visually orient the rectilinear lines of the plug and connector being parallel or square to each other -- hope this makes sense. You should visually be able to see that they look like they are fitted together in a symetrical fashion -- sorry for the verbage -- I am trying to convey a picture of how the two look together. Good light on the plugs will help a lot. I used a small "maglite" thru out my build to get "light in close and bright".

Your two or four sticks of RAM should all look "equally" pressed into their respective slots. Shining light on them. Rob's instructions are good on installing the RAM. Hold down connectors at each end of each stick should all be equally seated and all look the same. Parallelism and symetry again visually tell you a lot; they have to look right. If something is "cocked" or at an angle, it is not right.

Your video card visually should look "square" in the cabinet when plugged into the mobo. The PCB pins just outside the mobo blue connector are evenly spaced along the mobo blue connector. The video card rear plug portion fits up against the inside back of the case perfectly and the folded metal angle for the anchor screw also fits perfectly up against the inside I/O port area with no forcing etc. Again it (video card) visually has a "perfect fit" to the blue connecor and the rear of the case with no forcing.

Your DVI monitor cable goes to one of the 8800 gts female plug outlets and fully seats against the metal housing of the video card female plug. The male plug side screws should both be firmly snug -- do not get "heavy" with them.

Everything you have done "plugwise" -- go back and check it for full insertion, snugness, etc.. Follow along with the ASUS book as you do it just to be sure you are in the right place, etc.

Look at the back of your case at the I/O port area. It should all look very neat, square and symetrical -- meaning the plugs/connectors from the mobo and 8800 sticking thru.

I cannot say anything quickly. Hope some of this helps. zburns

[blazer]

thanks for the reply. i haven't received the memory from crucial yet.
i fired it up with no ram just to see if all the fans worked. wondered why i got display error beeps.

[zburns]

Gotta have your RAM. It does come before first boot in Rob's instruction. Don't worry about the beeps. They will straighten out probably on their own; I had strange beep sequence when I first turned on, but at some point it was fine; I did nothing specific to cure it.

One other thing, make sure your front panel is wired to the mobo correctly. The combination of the Sonata III booklet, Rob's instructions and the Asus book work well together on this part of the assembly.

My advice is go slow, be careful, double check, make sure things look correct meaning aligned, parallel, symetrical. zburns.

[blazer]

making progress. i ordered everything at the same time and got everything but the ram 2 days ago. this morning i went to wal-mart and bought 1 stick of ddr2 ram just so i could proceed. i think i can return it when my crucial memory shows up. anyway, everything booted up. i configured the bios according to rob's article and right now i'm testing the hard drive with wd's diagnostic tool. if that goes ok, i'll load the os.

[zburns]

Good result!! The WD Data Diag will take some time; do not remember exact time. Rob re-ran his several weeks ago; I think maybe 2 1/2 hours total. Do not be surprised or concerned by the long time. Test should come out perfect! By the way what OS are you using? zburns

[blazer]

gonna try vista home premium

[blazer]

everything is up and working. posting from it now. just 1g of ram til my order gets here