PC Pals Forum
Technical Help & Discussion => Self Building, Upgrading & General Hardware Help => Topic started by: USS Delta on June 29, 2003, 11:36
-
i'm building my own pc and i can't get any picture on the moniter on startup. i don't have anything installed on the hard drive
my hardware is as followed:
k7s5a socket a motherboard
amd athlon 2100+ xp processor
nvidia geforce4 mx 440 se gfx card
maxtor ata 40 gb hdd(empty)
cd-rom and floppy
-
Hi,and welcome aboard.
I assume that you mean that you cant even access the BIOS screen as that is all you would get before installing an operating system ???
You dont mention any memory,I assume that you have some and its inserted correctly.
Are all these components brand new or have you had them in a previous PC or are you able to try them in a different PC,I am thinking of the memory and the graphics card.
Do you get any beep codes when you switch it on?
Are you trying to boot from the floppy or from the CD or just attempting to access the BIOS in order to prepare it for installing your OS ?
-
i'v got 256 mb of ddr ram, all of the hardware i'v got is new.
i haven't tried any of the hardware in another pc as of yet, and i don't get any beeps when i start up
oh yeah, i'm trying to set up the bios so i can install an os
-
I assume that you have power going through ok,lights showing somewhere?
Its possibly the graphic card where the problem lies,I havent had time to check yet but are your grahics card and motherboard compatable?
I understand that there are 2 main voltages used for the graphics card (again assuming that its an AGP one and not a PCI one) and as far as I know they are not interchangeable.
-
i do have power going through, even the fan lights up ;D
the gfx card is also an agp card and my mother board does have an agp slot, unless the manual for it's wrong
-
I cant find the AGP voltage for your board,but having a quick look at the manual (assuming its a ver 1.1 board),it suggests that it may be a good idea to check that the jumper (J4) is set to normal as this can stop the motherboard from working.
It may also require resetting it to clear the CMOS then back again later,(see attached screenshot).
The jumper is just next to the CMOS battery :-*
-
i do have power going through, even the fan lights up ;D
the gfx card is also an agp card and my mother board does have an agp slot, unless the manual for it's wrong
If the motherboard dosnt have an AGP slot then you may have a hard time fitting an AGP card m8,
Its more than likely to be a memory problem or the AGP card not in its slot properly.
Did you buy tha AGP card with the mothereboard, Sandra has just said that some new AGP cards need to be set at a different voltage?
Boot from a floppy and see what happens
Brian ;D
-
i'll have to try that when i get home sandra
i think the cards fitted properly, i had a little trouble getting it in so me dad done it, and no, i didn't come with the motherboard, and i think i'v got enough ram to run the pc(256 mb ddr :P)
i did try to boot from a mini os that's on a floppy but the moniter isn't getting a signal, i know it's not the lead or the moniter thats got the problem because we tested it on another pc
-
@USS Delta
Try anothe Video card m8
Brian ;D
-
I found this from an earlier thread on AGP cards,so it may be worth checking what the voltage supplied by the mobo is and what the AGP card takes :-*
I just read that 8x AGP Pro sockets work at 1.5v rather than the more usual 3.3v. Apparently some boards refure to boot unless a 1.5v card is installed.
AGP details:
8x = AGP 3.0 supports 1.5v cards.
4x = AGP 2.0 supports 1.5v/3.3v cards.
2x = AGP 1.0 supports 3.3v cards.
Some 8x boards now support 3.3v 4x AGP. As far as I'm aware, you cannot use 2x AGP - THIS WILL DAMAGE THE PORT.
Some mobo's with 8x AGP ports have a jumper to change the voltage, so its always worth checking your manual carefully.
-
i'm now at home and i'v wiped the cmos like you said and it didn't work, i also checked the manuals of both the mother board and the gfx card, the mother boards got an agp4x and the gfx card supports agp4x and agp2x
i think the only thing i can do now is to take it to a pc repair shop or someone who has experiance in building pc's
-
USS Delta, Adept is back from his holidays now and he actually builds pc's for a living. It may be past his bedtime but if he doesn't reply tonight then he certainly will tomorrow morning.
-
"i had a little trouble getting it in so me dad done it,"
Try another video card
Brian >:(
-
When i first read USS Deltas post at the top, the words memory and graphics card jumped out at me.
Im assuming you have 1x256 DDR RAM so if you can, try swapping it with a friends to check if its faulty. Also check again that the memory is properly seated. Also try putting the memory into a different slot on the motherboard (youll probably have 3)
If youve reset the CMOS doesnt that mean you had a display :-\ (am i being silly)
Hope this helps
-
Placing the clear CMOS jumper on the motherboard in the "clear" position with the power off for a few seconds wipes it BB,then it needs replacing in the "normal" position.
I was hoping that it had defaulted to AGP disabled in BIOS so hoped that it would enable him to get into the BIOS screen on rebooting and enable it from there.
Its definitely sounding like a card or memory or even a motherboard fault though isnt it.
I think at this stage it is down to doing as you suggest and trying stuff in a friends PC or from a friends PC in that one ???
-
It may be an idea to double check that the CPU is seated properly and that you havent bent a pin while inserting it along with yet another check that the memory is in properly too,as even without the graphics card you should at least get a post beep when you start it up ???
-
It may be an idea to double check that the CPU is seated properly and that you havent bent a pin while inserting it along with yet another check that the memory is in properly too,as even without the graphics card you should at least get a post beep when you start it up ???
Absolutely Sandra. If there are no power on self test beeps, the problem is more fundamental than just a GFX card problem. Although it might just mean that the speaker cable is not installed ::)
I'd be checking that the power and reset cables from the case to the motherboard are connected correctly. As Sandra says, also check that the CPU is correctly installed and there are no bent pins.
Some motherboards have diagnostic LEDs on them. If these are present do they give any clues as to the problem?
Please don't think I'm being patronising, but one thing you might also check is that you haven't mounted the motherboard straight onto the metal backplate of the case instead of using the supplied spacers. I have actually seen this done by a so-called IT Expert who I used to employ :lol: (only I think he spelled it "IT Ecspurt" ;D ;D )
-
i'm building my own pc and i can't get any picture on the moniter on startup. i don't have anything installed on the hard drive
The original post didn't say that the PC would not boot just that the Monitor would not display an image, looking at the ongoing posts it would seem to be either a major Motherboard or Power Supply problem and I would advise you to take it to someone who has a bit more experience with computers my friend, even if you disconnect all the leads to the hard drives/CDs and remove the memory the PC should beep, its also possible that you have fried the CPU if you tried to start the PC without the CPU cooling fan working
Brian ;D
/me sorted out the Quote tags for you Brian :)
-
the cpu fan is working
theres no lights on the motherboard
i don't have any friends with computers that support ddr ram, i only have 2 ddr and 2 sdram slots, though i haven't tried sdram chips yet
i didn't get any spacers with the motherboard, only screws to put put it on
i didn't get a beep before fitting the gfx card(thought my mother baord had a built in one)
lobo, i'm not gonna buy another video card without knowing if the current ones faulty, i spent over £150 on it
i'll check to see if the cpu hasn't got a bent pin
-
i didn't get any spacers with the motherboard, only screws to put put it on
Are you sure that the motherboard is not shorting out on the case as the spacers usually lift the motherboard clear of the metal base plate by a few millimetres ???
-
The spacers normally come with the case USS Delta :)
-
@USS Delta
Check that your speaker is pluged onto the motherboard
The spacers are the brass bits that the motherboard screws screw into, again take all the cards memory and IDE cables off the motherboard and see if it beeps when you switch the PC on if it doesnt beep then the problem is in the motherboard/power supply
"i didn't get a beep before fitting the gfx card"
then its not likely to be your Video card is it?
It should beep even if you remove the memory and the CPU!!!
The suggestion was to try another Video card not buy another one, borrow one off a m8 preferably a PCI or ISA one and try that before you decide on the fault
Brian ;D