New Computer Build Not Working Right

[Demeter]

Hello! I am so relieved that someone has had the SAME EXACT problem that I'm having now!! It makes to happy to see how helpful and friendly you all are too!

Anyway, let's get down to business.

Like NewGuy, I'm building a computer from scratch, and it's my first. Here is a list of my hardware, all of which I have bought from Newegg:

eVGA 256-P2-N384 Geforce 6800 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz HT 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor
ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory

When I first installed the motherboard I made the mistake of screwing it directly to the case. It was that way for a while. Then I removed it and put in the standoffs, but I didn't use the little plastic washers.

Also, my PSU had a 20 pin connector and my motherboard has as 24 pin. It actually kind worked just hooking the 20 pin into the 24 pin, but I bought an 20-24 pin adapter just to be safe.

My motherboard didn't come with a speaker, so I'm using the one that came with my case (which is a piece of crap). I have never heard a sound come from the damn thing. Sometimes I think I hear a few pathetic ticks, though.

I tried to turn it on with just the mobo, processor and video card, but it immediately powered itself back down, but once I bought and installed the memory this took care of this problem.

When I turn it on, everything looks really good. The LED on the front of my case turns on, all of my fans run, and the LED is on on the motherboard. But the video card outputs nothing! I've tried both the vga and dvi interface with no results. I've reseated the video card several times, with no luck.

I took my PCI video card from my working computer and installed it in the ASUS motherboard, trying all 3 PCI slots and that didn't output anything either. I think the problem must be the motherboard. I'm going to test my video card in my friend's computer tonight confirm this.

I think that pretty much covers the history. Tonight a plan to try a lot of your suggestions, like playing around the jumpers and taking out and putting back in the battery. Do you think it could be dead from the times I powered on the mobo when it was screwed directly to the case? I have not tried reseating the CPU, mostly because its install went so smoothly, I really don't want to take it out! But I will as a last resort. Oh, and I will add the plastic washers to the standoffs under the motherboard.

If any of you have any additional suggestions, please let me know!! Thank you in advance.

[Leonardo]

Demeter, I split off your post from the other thread you posted in. It's usually much easier to help with members computer problems if multiple systems/members aren't jammed into one thread.

Welcome to Short-Media! :wave:

[Demeter]

Thank you!

[lemonlime]

Welcome to Short-Media Demeter..

Definitely start with the CMOS battery removal, that can fix a lot of weird issues. I'm hoping that you didn't damage anything when the board was flat on the motherboard tray. There are quite a few contacts that likely shorted out. Those plastic washers are not 100% necessary, but they do provide a little bit of extra insurance. Usually the motherboard has a couple mm worth 'safe' realestate around the screw holes that can contact metal.

Good luck..

[edcentric]

If you have used the right (small headed) screws you don't need the plastic ro fiber washers.
Make sure that you unplug stuff before clearing the BIOS. And put the battery back in and put the jumper back in the run opsition before restoring power.

[Demeter]

Yeah, the screws fit fine how they are, so I think I'll skip the washers. I can't wait to get out of work and try this stuff!

[Demeter]

I tried everything I said I would with no results. However, I found out that my video card DOES work. I tried it in my friend's computer. It looks like I'm going to have to send the mother board back :(

[Pcycho]

I have a configuration similar to yours the important diferences are that i have geil memory and a asus x800 vga.

My problem: the system hanged up randomly during post.... and yes no video signal.
I did some research and found out that this motherboard has some issues with some pci-x cards (they didn`t say exactly witch ones) and on the asus tehnical support found the solution: an updated bios version that is suposed to solve the problem.....i`m still testing it and it seems it actually might work...

[Mt_Goat]

Have you tried to power just the board, CPU, RAM and vid card outside the case on the mobo box? This will tell you if you are doing something wrong or if the board is fubared. Try re-seating the RAM first and try just one stick in the #1 slot.

[Caxus]

This is a longshot but back when i built my first A64 i didn't know that i needed a power supply with the 4-pin connector and the exact same thing happened. Does your power supply have that little sqaure 4-pin plug and did you plug it into the motherboard in addition to the main power?