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Thread: Build a computer help!

  1. #11
    Senior Member IKnowNot's Avatar
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    In the old days we always put the largest closest?
    This is for testing ... on that motherboard the first mem slot is the one physically closest to the cpu.

    Yes, although you did go over much of what I said, with the problem of getting NO screen he really needed to start again.

    nihil , in the old days we used solder to piggy-back the chips!
    .
    Last edited by IKnowNot; October 31st, 2010 at 02:21 PM.
    " And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be" --Miguel Cervantes

  2. #12
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    on that motherboard the first mem slot is the one physically closest to the cpu.
    I must say that I have never seen a MoBo where that was not the case, at least MoBos with 30 or 72 pin memory strips or later, as opposed to onboard chips and riser cards.

    I really don't know if the order makes much difference these days, but I still do it out of force of habit My thinking was if I put the 2GB in the first slot it would save me having to swap the two strips around once I got it going.

    Certainly, without sound or video he can neither see nor hear what is going on, which doesn't help!.

    I would say that the first priority is to get the main power and restart buttons working............that will tell you which way round all the connectors should go. I don't think he has fried the chip if he got a boxed retail processor, or made sure that he bought an approved heatsink/fan combo. It is strange that neither button works.......if it were dud equipment I would really only expect it to affect one of them, assuming that the connectors are the right way round (polarity)?

    I suppose static could have been an issue?

    CN22 did mention seeing an Asus warning screen the first time he booted it....... that is obviously the BIOS. As he says the fans are spinning OK, I would guess that was temperature driven? I wonder if it has set an indicator that needs resetting?

    If there is no BIOS reset jumper switch on the MoBo, I would try removing the 2032 CMOS battery for a few hours with the box disconnected from mains. It doesn't clear passwords but it should still reset the BIOS.

    Getting sound and video would then be my next priority.

    At this point I am inclined to suspect the case/PSU? if it is a hardware defect, although it would seem that there might have been a temperature issue.

    It looks as if we are dealing with more than one problem here, so starting from the beginning is probably the best way to go.

    Yes, I remember when you added chips individually.......... back around 1980 I seem to recall?
    Last edited by nihil; November 1st, 2010 at 06:14 AM.

  3. #13
    Senior Member IKnowNot's Avatar
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    Yes, I remember when you added chips individually.......... back around 1980 I seem to recall?
    Yes, trying to get the system to recognize (using a RAM drive derived from an add-on card) an unbelievable total of 1 Megabyte (or more!) of memory!!


    But in this case, better to use the smaller chip when starting to find problems then the larger: one can always substitute chips latter.

    Bottom line here:
    He has a problem. There is NO video, no nothing after an initial error screen; now he cannot tell what the problem is.
    My solution is geared to find out what damage has been done, ( if any, ) then move on from there to find a solution to his problem, all this without knowing his expertise.
    I can tell you this: I just built my wife a new box with an i7. The CPU fan mounts in a similar manner. The mounting is designed ( IMHO ) to be cost efficient rather than ease-of-use. It was a pain-in-the-ass to get the push-pins to properly seat in the motherboard and align on the CPU thus allowing proper contact with the CPU. The original Athlon fans were easier to mount, even though more often than not the CPU was damaged if the installer did not know what they were doing.

    And I agree: chances are the motherboard prevented heat damage to the CPU and board chips, but at this stage it is better to check then try to chase a problem that should have been prevented.
    Again, we do not know his expertise: he is using a motherboard with PCIe v 1.x with a video card PCIe v 2.0? Do we assume then he knew the requirements of the motherboard ( 400 watt PSU ) or memory modules? That is why I made references in my post.

    This **** has become too confusing, and I am drunk. gore happy Halloween!
    " And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be" --Miguel Cervantes

  4. #14
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Yes, it is confusing and it would be nice if we could at least get sound going.

    What I find significant is that the power up/reset buttons do not work, assuming they have been connected to the MoBo correctly?

    However, he says that the fans come on when he uses the power switch at the back? None of my machines do that, the fans only start when you hit the power up button at the front?

    CN22, have you looked at it with the case sides off? does the CPU fan spin when you power up as well? It should be getting its power from the MoBo?

    I don't think that the PCIe v1 and v2 is an issue, as they are supposed to be backwards compatible and both the MoBo and video card are Asus products. Anyway you should have removed the video card and be using the onboard chipset for troubleshooting.

    Another thing you might try is connect:

    1. Keyboard
    2. HDD
    3. DVD/CD

    All three lights on the keyboard and the DVD/CD and HDD lights should come on briefly when you power up. Do they?

    Also, did you buy these components separately, or were they part of a bare bones bundle?

    The 3GB of RAM has me puzzled as well............you have a 64 bit processor and a MoBo that supports 64 bit. Were you intending to load a 32 bit operating system? In which case it would make sense given that you have a 512MB video card.
    Last edited by nihil; November 1st, 2010 at 10:54 PM.

  5. #15
    Senior Member IKnowNot's Avatar
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    I don't think that the PCIe v1 and v2 is an issue, as they are supposed to be backwards compatible and both the MoBo and video card are Asus products. Anyway you should have removed the video card and be using the onboard chipset for troubleshooting.
    Agreed, but as you said, supposed to
    At this point nothing should be left to chance.

    BTW, if the memory was not on the manufacturer's list, it may still work as long as they are the proper type ( unbuffered non-ECC DDR2?) But the modules may not work together even if they are both good! Another reason I said use just one chip.

    Just waiting for CN22 to get back to us now on how he made out.
    .
    " And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be" --Miguel Cervantes

  6. #16
    AO's MMA Fanatic! Computernerd22's Avatar
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    I am talking an A+ class 1 hardware (my weaker areas) and for the final project we have to assemble the PC from a kit. Meaning, I recieved two boxes, one for the case which is a Super Case TX 381, motherboard we are using is a P5G41-MLE/CSM also this unit came with 2gb of ram and one extra stick of 1 gb of ram DDR2 for a total of 3GB total. Video Card is a EAH 4350 Silent 512mb it says on box and for the processor dual core desktop intel pentium processor E5400 LGGA 775.

    I installed mostly everything on the motherboard before installing the mobo to the case. Like I said before, I was able to see the blue ASUS screen then a message came up saying the system will shutdown in 15 seconds. I tried to write the error message down but no luck. I tried to get the message or any image to come back up it's not.

    I am able to turn on the PC both fans are running, very quietly I can see the power light on the front of the case cd drives work, optical drives work, however, no image is displayed on the screen. Just a black screen. I read the ASUS motherboard manual 3 or 4 times and it seems very basic nothing technical. I applied the thermal paste like it said. I tried un-installing the video card and using the one that is intergrated on the mobo but no luck. I uninstalled and re-installed the memory, I cleared the CMOS (little quarter looking thing) I am having no luck. All this stuff is brand new right out of the box. I never built a PC from scratch before. I think I am going to take it all apart and just redo everything from scratch and then go from there. Sorry for the late response.

  7. #17
    Senior Member IKnowNot's Avatar
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    Make sure you re-read my initial post. Every step was put there for a reason.
    I cleared the CMOS (little quarter looking thing)
    That should be the battery, which may not have cleared the CMOS.
    ( If there is no jumper you can clear the CMOS by removing the battery and waiting up to a few days for it to clear. )
    Make sure you use the jumper to clear it: it is there for a reason.

    Again, refer to the motherboard manual.

    .
    " And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be" --Miguel Cervantes

  8. #18
    AO's MMA Fanatic! Computernerd22's Avatar
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    Okay, I went ahead and uninstalled everything started from scratch. I wired everything up correctly the only thing is when I hold down the power button the system will not shut off. I have to flip the switch on the back in order to power off the machine. I am very intelligent with networking, security etc... building these things not my expertise. I have read the users manual a few times. I do have a couple questions which are not in the manual, #1 I have a USB 56 port and a USB 78 port does it matter which one it goes into?

    #2 I have a SATA black cable plugged into the hard drive then plugged into SATA port 1 on the mobo. The only issue I think I might of did wrong was inserting the chipset into the CPU socket. It doesnt have or show arrows in the manual or on the physical piece so I am a little not certain which way it goes. I used thermal paste on the smooth side, not he circuit board side. Then I placed the heatsink that already has a fan connected to it with thermal glue as I placed it on the chipset.


    If the F_Panel (system panel connector) was wired correctly wouldn't the system shut off after holding the power button in for over 5 seconds? Instead of me having to hit the switch.


    RESET WIRES ARE BLUE AND WHITE? Which one is the ground wire?

    Power SW WIRES ORANGE AND WHITE WHICH ONE IS THE GROUND WIRE?

    I just wanted to say thank you guys for your advice and helping me out because to be perfectly honest I need it right now. Thanks again, Later mike. Trust me I have been reading the manual, googling, posting here on AO I have a brand new system with windows 7 ready and I want to dual boot it and also have a Linux machine and show my teacher I can do this but I keep running into a issues. I am not new to computers or anything I just don't know. Thanks for the help guys,

  9. #19
    Senior Member IKnowNot's Avatar
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    Just a question: has this package been built by another student before you then disassembled, or was it new factory wrapped parts? Asking because someone might have been playing with BIOS settings on board, which would be another reason to properly reset the CMOS.

    You said you have hard drive connected. I take it then the system is booting properly into BIOS setup screen now?

    I have a USB 56 port and a USB 78 port does it matter which one it goes into?
    No. I use them in order just to keep things uniform, but it does not matter. In case you haven't guessed it, the connectors are for USB ports 5&6, the other for ports 7&8. 1-4 are on rear MB panel.

    ... I might of did wrong was inserting the chipset into the CPU socket.
    CPU has a small triangle in one corner for orientation: also notches along the edge. If you did not use one of nihil's big hammers it should only be able to go in one way.
    I used thermal paste on the smooth side, not he circuit board side
    The thermal paste does go between the CPU and the heat sink. It is meant to fill imperfections in the metals to make conducting heat more efficient for the heat sink. The fan then cools the heat sink.
    Thermal paste on the pin side would short the CPU.

    RESET WIRES ARE BLUE AND WHITE? Which one is the ground wire?

    Power SW WIRES ORANGE AND WHITE WHICH ONE IS THE GROUND WIRE?
    Since white is common to both, I would go with white as negative.
    " And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be" --Miguel Cervantes

  10. #20
    AO's MMA Fanatic! Computernerd22's Avatar
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    Just a question: has this package been built by another student before you then disassembled, or was it new factory wrapped parts? A
    Again, this is a brand new computer. Not a hand me down. Not used. Not another student used it. I took the PC to class took it apart and rebuild it in front of my instructor he said I hooked up everything correctly. The system is not POSTING no beeps. It is getting power, it is wired correctly, I tried what my instructor said to go home and take out the memory then see if it POSTS but no luck. Get this, I was helping other people assemble there computers but my sh1t don't work I am very discouraged.

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