Topic: no picture

[USS Delta]

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

[Sandra]

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 ?

[USS Delta]

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

[Sandra]

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.

[USS Delta]

i do have power going through, even the fan lights up

the gfx card is also an agp card and my mother board does have an agp slot, unless the manual for it's wrong

[Sandra]

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  

[lobo]

i do have power going through, even the fan lights up

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

[USS Delta]

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

[lobo]

@USS Delta

Try anothe Video card m8

Brian

[Sandra]

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.

[USS Delta]

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

[Clive]

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.

[lobo]

"i had a little trouble getting it in so me dad done it,"

Try another video card

Brian >

[Big_Boss]

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

[Sandra]

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