No display signal, no beeps

[pdavies10]

Specs:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400
Video Card:EVGA GEforce GTX 260
Memory:Corsair (2x2gb) DDR2 800
PSU: Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W ATX12V
Case: Antec Nine Hundred

When first booting, I receive a no display signal message on my monitor and it goes to sleep. The leds on the motherboard light up. The case fans work and the lights and fans on the power supply come on. The cpu fan starts but stops after about a second. The fan on the video card doesn't start at all. I have tried booting with both sticks of memory and with just one. I've tried booting with no memory, no video card, and with neither and haven't gotten any beeps. I already rma'd the motherboard and the new one gave me the same result.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[zburns]

I am not familiar with your video card or mobo, however, I can point out some common mistakes in assembly. Your mobo is supposed to be mounted on metal standoffs probably; any chance you used washers to space the mobo a little farther off the case mounting surface. You should only have used the standoffs and screws thru the mobo, no washers.

Did you use a wrist strap for static control and did you use it consistently?

Your video card probably requires two connectors. One may plug into the video card directly, the other, a four pin connector into the mobo (in my case) right beside the PCIe mobo connector.

Your mobo specs call for a 24 pin main pow connector at location #1, 8 pin 12 v power conn at location #2, and a 4 pin PCIe 12v pow conn (just mentioned this one for the video card) at location # 3. #s 1,2 and 3 refer to locations on a drawing in your mobo book for the internal connectors on the mobo. Each of these mobo connectors should have a PSU cable and mating plug in connectors -- particularly the mobo 24 pin connector, all 24 pins.

The CPU fan cable has how many wires associated with it? At least two or three will plug into the mobo at location # 7. There may be more associated with a separate or manual fan control.

I looked up your mobo "Internal I/O connections" under specs for the mobo. Info should be accurate.

You have had two mobos with same result. You could have a simple "omission" in the steps you have taken or if you did not use good static control, you could have, worst case, popped two boards. Not saying you did, just that it is possible. Less likely in this warm weather.

Is there a 24 pin plug in the 24 pin mobo connector? If none of this works, the next step might be to check all power supply voltages coming to the mobo. Hope something here helps!

[pdavies10]

I didn't use washers to space the mobo. However, there did not seem to be enough screws that came with my case for the number of holes in my motherboard. Could this make a difference? I have tried building out of the case and I get the same results.

Yes, I have used the antistatic wrist strap consistently.

I'm not sure what you mean about the two connectors for the video card. I put the video card in the pci-e slot. There are two connectors on top of the card that i connected my psu to but I don't see anything else to connect to the mobo.

I will have to wait until I get home from work to check the mobo connections again.

[zburns]

Washer comments were intended to rule out the possibility that you put washers on top of the standoffs, then the mobo and screws thru the mobo into washer/standoff combo. Or, you may have used washer under screw heads. Either would ground out the mobo at some point.

Your mobo inst booklet says that there is a 4 pin mobo psu connector for PCIe slot. This means, to me, a 4 pin psu cable plugs into the mobo for the video card not the video card, unless the video card inst. book specifically says "do not plug the cable into the mobo, but the video card instead. This is a key statement!!

Is there a 24 pin psu cable in the 24 pin mobo connector? How many wires on the fan cable coming from the CPU fan and where do they go? Your mobo booklet will tell you which light comes on with power, its color and hopefully, it will say the fact that it is on means your psu voltages are there!! This is not as precise as using a dc voltmeter but the result is probably the same, meaning ok voltages.

If you have a psu cable wrongly plugged into the video card, it could be causing other psu problems.

[zburns]

You indicated you tried building outside of the case and got the same result. Does this mean you pulled the psu out of the case or just stretched the cables to get to the mobo which I presume was laying on a table or standing upright, etc..

I am not sure doing this is a good idea because the case acts as a common ground for all installed components. I would just be inherently against doing it, unless I knew more specifically about how to ground (or not) each component outside of the case.

That said, I have no way of knowing whether doing this can "easily" cause a problem or is "unlikely" or "very unlikely" to cause a problem. The problem, meaning component failure, would be similar to a static caused problem.

Someone with a lot of building experience can best comment on this topic!

[The Wise Monkey]

Building outside the case is fine as long as you have a static free surface to work on.

[pdavies10]

Well I feel stupid, but it works. I didn't have the 8-pin connection in. Everything is working fine now. I still couldn't find anything about a 4-pin pci-e psu connector in my mobo booklet. But it is all working. Thanks a lot for your help.

[zburns]

Glad it finally worked out for you. Good luck!!