Multiple Issues - From Assembly to First Boot

[OhJay]

Got to a point last night in assembling where I wanted to check to see if I had made progress. Went for a power-on check, and can't get system to stay on.

When I first flipped the switch, it beeped, all fans ran for about a second, then nothing. When I try to cycle the power, I have to wait a bit, unplug the power wire, re-plug then flip the switch again. Same thing, power up, now no beep, power down. There is an audible high-pitched noise when the power switch is on whether the fans are spinning or not, which continues for a little bit after the power switch is off. Also, the power LED blinks. Otherwise no other activity.

Checked all the connections, and I guess here is my first concern. I have a K8N Neo Platinum MS-7030 mobo, and an Antec Sonata 2.0 550W power supply. The wires coming from the PSU are 24- and a 6-pin. The places to plug them in on the mobo are 20- and 4-pin. How do I interface those correctly? There seems to be just a certain way they can go in, with of course the extra pins just hanging over. And do all the components need to be plugged in? I have the CD drive powered and IDE'd, and I have the HDD SATA powered, but not connected to mobo. Would that affect a power-on?

Also, pulled all the RAM, reseated the video card, re-did all other power connections. Same thing every time.

Please help, first assembly and I am worried that I have fried something.

[Jamie Nixx]

The 6 pin power connector is for a graphics card.

Plug the Harddrive in, make sure the connectors are the right way around, on the small connectors there is an arrow that has to be alligned with the positive side of the sockets on the mobo.

Check you have seated your CPU cooler correctly, a computer will shut itself off if the CPU is overheating rapidly.

I doubt you have fried anything, but having experienced problems like this, i would say the PSU is suspect at the moment.

If you could take a pic and upload it, that would be great.

[acidfire]

I had a problem like that and it was a psu problem. I got another psu and solved the problem. Are you using a psu that came with your case? If it came with the case some lower end cases come with cheap psu and it's best to pull the psu out and get a new psu.

[Jamie Nixx]

Even many expensive cases come with generic PSU's, the Antec sonata series being a good example, most of them come with an Earthwatts PSU, and i have heard nothing good so far about it, it has a tendency to fry itself and take down anything in your computer thats plugged into it.

Spend a good part of your budget on the PSU, its probably the most important component.

[OhJay]

It was a bad PSU, went and picked a new one up yesterday, plugged it in and everything booted up ... now I just have to troubleshoot why nothing displays when it's turned on!

Thanks guys!

[Jamie Nixx]

Glad i could help!

:)

Your second problem is very common, if you don't want to start a new thread just post it in here and we can see if we can help.

[OhJay]

So now I have power ... just no screen. Had not reset CMOS, so did that last night (by jumper and removing battery), and still a black screen. Here are the steps I took ...

Disconnected everything except RAM, reset CMOS turned on, and got long single beeps separated by probably about 5-10 seconds. Pulled all RAM, reset CMOS, turned on and got one constant long higher pitched beep. Put one RAM chip back in, re-connected everything, reset CMOS, turned on and got nothing again.

Don't know what that means, but here are some questions ... I have the hard drive SATA cabled to mobo, but power is coming via molex connector. Would that make a difference? Also, I am planning on using this with a regular TV, so I am connecting via S-Video cable to a 27" Phillips standard set.

Here is my set-up:
MSI K8N Neo Platinum (MS-7030)
GeForce 7600GS 256MB AGP
Western Digital 300MB HD
CompUSA 500W PSU
2-1GB Kingston RAM
DTK CD-Rom drive

One caveat ... the PSU I am using is basically a replacement for the Antec TruePower 2.0 550W that I received that was DOA. I am planning to upgrade that, but my first hurdle was getting a working PSU, and since I have already shot most of my budget getting to this point, I will be replacing when I have a chance.

Thanks!

[The Wise Monkey]

Have you got a spare monitor that you can try it with to see if it displays anything?

[OhJay]

Working on that right now ... I think I can dig an old one up at work.

[The Wise Monkey]

Good plan - it might be the S-Video cable playing up, or a setting must be changed in the BIOS. I don't really know. :)

[OhJay]

Okay, tried two different computer monitors, and still getting a black screen. Not even a flicker. One monitor was quite a bit older, the other a flat screen. When plugged into the flat screen, after about 20 seconds it gave me a "Monitor going to sleep" message.

Steps I have taken so far: Took out one of the RAM chips, unplugged PSU from HDD and CD-Rom drive, removed battery from mobo for over 30 minutes. Tried booting up, nothing. Plugged power source back into HDD and CD-Rom drive., still nothing.

What's my next step, try booting up with mobo out of case?

Also found this today ... the RAM I bought from CompUSA (which they said worked) is the KVR4001GR. But looking at the Kingston/MSI sites, it suggests the KVR400X64C3A1G RAM chip. Would this make a difference?