First boot issues: No display

[thesalche]

First off build specs:

EVGA 896-P3-1260-AR GeForce GTX 260 896MB
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S8P4 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply
XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor

All purchased from NewEgg. This is my 2nd self-built computer. The first one didn't have too many troubles, so I don't have much experience. I have been using an anti-static wrist strap.

I've been having the problem of booting up the computer w/ no beeps and no display. The CPU fan works, but the video card fan does NOT. I tried to boot up with no memory / video card installed and there was also no beeps. I have reset the CMOS several times (by leaving the battery out for 10 to 30 minutes). I inserted my old video card (also PCI express 16x, but not 2.0) and the fan worked for that one, but the display still did not boot up. I am using a previous monitor that does work.

My current thoughts right now are that the video card is DOA. As far as I know I can't test the video card in my current PC because my old mobo does not have PCI Express 2.0 on it (just 1.0). I have contacted tech support for the video card, but I wanted to see if anybody here has any input or other tests I could run to figure out what's wrong.

[The Wise Monkey]

PCI-E 2.0 is backwards compatible, so the card will work with your older motherboard.

Also remember to plug in all of the power connectors for your GFX card - does the GTX260 require two of the 6-pin adapters?

[thesalche]

Yeah it does require both connectors and I had them both plugged in. I tested them both out with my old card. I suppose I'll give the new card a try in the old comp ... will post results when that happens. :(

edit: I suppose I should ask this ... should I basically just uninstall old video card drivers before putting in the new video card? Then if I get a boot just re-install the old ones? Or can I just plug in the new video card and swap out the old one knowing that it "won't work"

[The Wise Monkey]

You don't even need to boot into your OS - just as long as you get any display, then you know that your card will work.

[thesalche]

So I did two tests today. The first was putting the new video card in my old computer. That test was a "success" in that the new video card worked and the BIOS display came up. This indicates that the video card is not my issue.

The 2nd test I did was the motherboard short to case test, where I put the mobo on its box and tried to startup with the components in it. However, the display did not come up even after I switched the video card into both PCI express slots. The video card fan still did not spin.

This is making me believe it is a motherboard or processor issue. If the RAM was broken, I would have gotten some sort of display, right?

I plan on contacting the support for these two components and seeing what I can figure out.

Something I didn't mention previously ... I put thermal grease on the processor, but I believe I put more on than was recommended ... could this be causing the result I am seeing?

[The Wise Monkey]

Too much thermal grease is always better than not enough, so I doubt that would cause any problems.

It sounds like your motherboard may be DOA. You should still be able to RMA it and get a replacement. Before you do this, make sure that everything is connected up correctly, including all power adapters to your components, especially the 24-pin and 4-pin power adapters to the motherboard.