building a computer, no response

[jeex]

motherboard: ECS N2U400-A
processor: AMD Athlon 2500+
memory: 512MB DDR PC2700 (single stick)
video card: ATI-9200SE
harddrive: not installed yet
sound: on board
lan/nic: on board
modem: not installed yet
floppy: not installed yet
optical drives: not installed yet

problem: monitor does not respond, it stays in standby mode.

okay, so i put this all together.. getting the heatsink/fan on the processor was a bitch and a half.. something weird, the processor was in its packaging, but when i took it out there was no protective plastic over the thermal paste/gel that was pre-applied to the heatsink.

i've tried a different video card that i know works (ATI all-in-wonder 128 16MB PCI).
i've tried a different power supply that i know works.
i've tried changing the slot the memory module was in.
i know the monitor works fine.

the processor fan spins up & the hardrives spin up (when i had them connected)

one thing i'm not sure about is if the memory is buffered or unbuffered, i looked in the manual and it said it only works with unbuffered memory. is there any way to tell by looking at the stick if it unbufered or buffered?

here is some info from it;

(on the stick itself)
Lei
LED64808TA-6
0414
64MX8 DDR-7-1

(from the sticker on the stick)
88L5KDLO-1PDG 7425
512 54X64 PC2700 CL2.5 DDR
Warranty Void if Removed

i've eliminated it being the video card, power supply, or monitor.

anyone got any suggestions or ideas?

[fmctm1sw]

motherboard: ECS N2U400-A
processor: AMD Athlon 2500+
memory: 512MB DDR PC2700 (single stick)
video card: ATI-9200SE
harddrive: not installed yet
sound: on board
lan/nic: on board
modem: not installed yet
floppy: not installed yet
optical drives: not installed yet

problem: monitor does not respond, it stays in standby mode.

okay, so i put this all together.. getting the heatsink/fan on the processor was a bitch and a half.. something weird, the processor was in its packaging, but when i took it out there was no protective plastic over the thermal paste/gel that was pre-applied to the heatsink.

i've tried a different video card that i know works (ATI all-in-wonder 128 16MB PCI).
i've tried a different power supply that i know works.
i've tried changing the slot the memory module was in.
i know the monitor works fine.

the processor fan spins up & the hardrives spin up (when i had them connected)

one thing i'm not sure about is if the memory is buffered or unbuffered, i looked in the manual and it said it only works with unbuffered memory. is there any way to tell by looking at the stick if it unbufered or buffered?

here is some info from it;

(on the stick itself)
Lei
LED64808TA-6
0414
64MX8 DDR-7-1

(from the sticker on the stick)
88L5KDLO-1PDG 7425
512 54X64 PC2700 CL2.5 DDR
Warranty Void if Removed

i've eliminated it being the video card, power supply, or monitor.

anyone got any suggestions or ideas?

Before I even read the post, I thought to myself, "RAM." That's how mine acted when my RAM was jacked up. On another computer I built, the motherboard lacked those plastic "wedges" under it in certain places. That lead to a problem with inserting cards fully into the slots. I've also seen that when I overclocked too much. I had to reset the FSB back to like 66MHZ and start over. Just a few ideas...

[jeex]

well, i've only got this one stick of ram.. i've tried it in all 3 of the slots.. so unless the actual stick is just bad then i dunno..

i just got this video card today, and i just took a look at the driver cd and its dirty & scratched!. its been in the box since i bought it.. obviously its been returned.. i'm going to take all of this stuff back tomorrow and get replacements that arent used. ******* fry's ********.

so pretty much i'll be returning the mobo, cpu, ram & video card..

the motherboard might be jacked up, the cpu could have been fried because someone tried OC'ing (paste/gel odness), there might be something wrong with the video card (dirty/scratched cd).. and i'm gonna take the ram back just incase that is it.. man, this is some bullshit..

[djKale]

ditto what fmctm1sw said, first thing I thought was RAM. I think that is the root of your problem. Go to newegg.com...

Kale

[jeex]

well, i've got 2 votes for RAM. its going back for sure..

[Cobra]

Sounds like the RAM - I have also had a machine do this when the RAM was totally nackered.

Why not get PC3200 and overclock that XP2500, jeex? I took a quick look on newegg.com and I see that the Mushkin RAM is $1 cheaper @ PC3200. Why not leave the option open?

Cobra

[Faustus]

Is the PC speaker hooked up in this box?

[jeex]

cobra, i think i'll do that tomorrow when i return it. but first i need to get this up and running.

flatysus, i was thinking the same thing you're thinking.. POST beeps, right? the pc speaker is a 3 pronger, the mobo is a 2 pronger, i'll need to get an adaptor.

so far this is resoundingly ram..

[Cobra]

Do you not have another machine that you could test this RAM in?

[jeex]

nope.. all of my friends are either using SDRAM or RAMBUS..

[DVD_Ripper]

If there is video on the motherboard then, by default, it will be set to that in the bios....

If that is the case, then pull ATI card, plug monitor into MB video, Go into bios and switch from AGP video to PCI/AGP (slot)

[jeex]

no onboard video with this mobo

[rallynavvie]

nope.. all of my friends are either using SDRAM or RAMBUS..

You have strange friends

Is it booting into BIOS from what you can tell? Are the status lights on the keyboard lighting up as if it were booting to BIOS? Also if it were RAM you would get beeps from the BIOS. Almost every BIOS I know of has beep codes for memory errors, you just need to make sure you motherboard is hooked up to the chassis speaker/piezzo/whatever so that it can beep. My case did not come with such a speaker on it so I had to rely on status lights on my board to tell me how things were going on boot. My Tyan had beep codes for memory which drove me nuts for the first few months I owned it trying to get the right RAM for it.

I would rule out memory, though not entirely, until you get some indication from the BIOS that it is the memory. However not booting into BIOS and thus not seeing your monitor come on would be indicative of memory problems. If it's easy to return and get another stick then do that just to be sure all your bases are covered.

[Gritz]

Just a thought: Does your power supply have the 4 pin 12V lead that plugs into your motherboard? You might need the extra voltagae and if you're installing into an older case then it's a possibility that lead would be missing. From PCTechGuide:

Power Connectors: To enable the delivery of more +12 VDC current to the motherboard, a new 4-pin receptacle/header combination — the +12 V power connector — has been defined. The presence of the +12 V power connector indicates that a power supply is ATX12V; the absence of the +12 V power connector indicates that a supply is ATX. To allow for greater than 3.3 V current, the AUX Power Connector is recommended for ATX and ATX12V power supplies with 3.3 V current greater than 18 A.

Not sure if that would cause the problem .... but, just a thought.

[jeex]

well i exchanged the memory and got some kingston ram.. and i am connecting the 4pin +12v (plus the regular one) and i'm still getting no response.. i've tried moving the bank that the memory was in. i've tried the PCI video card and still, i get nothing. the CPU fan spins up, but nothing comes up on the monitor.

the only other culprits that it could possibly be is the motherboard or processor.

unless i ran in to some really bad luck and got another bad memory module.

[Gritz]

Hmmm ..... I'm thinking processor first, then motherboard. Possibly since the processor/heatsink was a bit of problem at the first, the Barton was smoked because of an ill-fitting fan/heatsink assy. If so you might see a crack or 2 on the surface, or, you might smell it if you had your nose right on it. I've only had a few motherboards go bad, and that was some time back and on ones customers had brought in. I did have an Albatron recently though, that had to be RMA'd, and it was one that had been "reconditioned" (but not quite enough). I've smoked a few Durons, and one Athlon though, from using heatsinks that I had saved from other system that really didn't fit all that well .... bad choice. It looks like you're down to the last 2 choices though, as you said.

[henry97]

I am not sure it help or not that There is a three pin connector with a jumper two pins located next to the battery. Turn off the power, move that jumper to the other two pins for few seconds then put it back. Doing this is default the bios. Hope it can help.

[rallynavvie]

If the CPU was smoked I doubt much would come on at all. You may want to check the board for things touching it. I've seen things touch the backside of the PCB and cross some leads and cause exactly what you're describing. Next I would watch for those things I mentioned in my previous post: keyboard status, BIOS beeps, status lights on board, perhaps status lights on the NIC. These things would at least tell you if it's going into BIOS. If it is then you're looking at a bad AGP slot. I had to RMA my last computer due to a bad VGA slot and it would boot to BIOS but would not turn the monitor on. I tried the video card in another computer and it worked just fine.

[jeex]

well after a few hours of finagling i was able to get it to come up. everything was looking okay. the only weird thing was that it was showing up as a 1900+, instead of a 2500+.. i went in and changed some settings, and then nothing.. i've tried clearning the cmos, but still nothing.. it was coming up just fine for a few minutes there (@1900+).. i think i may have screwed something up

[jeex]

okay.. i think i got it working now.. everything appears to be cool, its showing 2500+ and everything looks like its going good.. time to close her up and install xp..

(after 6 hours of frustration, this is a happy moment)

[rallynavvie]

What was wrong with it?

[jeex]

well after hours of trials & tribulations i *think* it was shorting out somehow.. i had a sheet of styrofoamy material between the mobo & the case and whenever i put too many screws in it would screw up.. the memory was bad though, because i had it totally out of the case the first time and was getting nothing.. i've got 1 screw holding the motherboard in place.. i'm gonna have to get some plastic washers and some kind of "professional" guard to prevent the mobo from coming in contact with the metal case.. it kept giving me a long beep, about 10 seconds of silence, and then another beep, over and over.. which i think indicated a problem with the memory or display adapter.. luckily there is no permanent damage..

[gmatov]

They don't use insulating washers, anymore. If you look at it, all the through holes are solder contacts, all of them are grounds.

You still may be grounding somewhere, but not at those points.

A video fault is 1 long, 3 shorts. Have it on my Asrock board, BIOS update doesn't cure it, works fine even with the beeps. My main machine.

Cheers,
George

[jeex]

well i'm going to have to use something.. i readjusted the stryafoam and was able to get more screws and jostle around the motherboard without it giving me any problems.

i'm not exactly sure what is grounding out when i get a long beep, 10 seconds and then another long beep. maybe its a memory failure..

i'm gonna have to figure something out.. i think it might be okay for now, but i'm not too confident in it..

[Capmaster]

It sounds like one of two things:

1) A bad contact on one of the CPU pins. Removing and re-seating the CPU will help this

2) A cracked conductive path on the MB which is making it sensitive to pressure. Common with Taiwanese MBs that have minimal quality control. Returning the MB is the only real solution since it's unlikely you'll locate the intermittent path.

[gmatov]

I think you're right on the memory for the long beeps and nothing.

I have one mach that has a bad slot, put the RAM there, long beep, wait, another long beep, no screen. Shutdown, move the RAM, normal boot.

[handyguy]

Get some cardboard, put the board on it & put in the video card & memory & power connector. See if that works, if so get another case. Cases are designed these days that you shouldn't need 'stop gaps'.

[jeex]

Get some cardboard, put the board on it & put in the video card & memory & power connector. See if that works, if so get another case. Cases are designed these days that you shouldn't need 'stop gaps'.

this is exactly what i did to determine that the case was making something go awry.

as mentioned by capmaster, it might be the screws putting stress on the motherboard and causing something to screw/short up.. i've got 2 screws in it (oppsite diagonal corners), and i've got 2 cards in it.. its secure enough in there and its working fine.. i'm fine with how it is for now.. its a cheap motherboard.. if something goes bunk, i'll spend $30 or $40 bucks and get another one..

i appreciate all you guys' help.. hopefully i dont have any more trouble with this pile.. but if i do, and i cant figure it out i'll turn to you guys first.