Can't get new system started up!
Okay, here's the problem. My new computer system won't start up. Well, it will when I press the power button, but nothing else happens.
System:
Abit NF7 MB
2 sticks Samsung PC3200 256 MB memory
400 watt power supply
ATI Radeon 9200 SE video card
FireWire card
The 2 hard drives and CD-RW / DVD drive from my old Dell 2100 system.
When I start up the system, the fans turn on, and it'll beep once every few seconds for as long as I can stand to listen to it. I tried to be careful and get everything right. Clearing the CMOS didn't help. The beeps are coming from the MB directly. It has little green and red LED's lit up at the base.
Putting the drivers CDs in for the MB and video card didn't accomplish anything. The CD drive would spin them up, but I wasn't able to get them to do anything.
I'm thinking that since the video card drivers aren't installed on my C drive yet, that's the problem. The video display does nothing at all. But you'd think it has a way to boot up initially somewhere.
I tried putting the C drive back in my old system and loading the drivers to it there, but they won't go in. Even when I get the InstallShield wizard, it doesn't help.
Any ideas on how to get this system going?
System:
Abit NF7 MB
2 sticks Samsung PC3200 256 MB memory
400 watt power supply
ATI Radeon 9200 SE video card
FireWire card
The 2 hard drives and CD-RW / DVD drive from my old Dell 2100 system.
When I start up the system, the fans turn on, and it'll beep once every few seconds for as long as I can stand to listen to it. I tried to be careful and get everything right. Clearing the CMOS didn't help. The beeps are coming from the MB directly. It has little green and red LED's lit up at the base.
Putting the drivers CDs in for the MB and video card didn't accomplish anything. The CD drive would spin them up, but I wasn't able to get them to do anything.
I'm thinking that since the video card drivers aren't installed on my C drive yet, that's the problem. The video display does nothing at all. But you'd think it has a way to boot up initially somewhere.
I tried putting the C drive back in my old system and loading the drivers to it there, but they won't go in. Even when I get the InstallShield wizard, it doesn't help.
Any ideas on how to get this system going?
0
Comments
1) RAM
2) Video-card
3) CPU
Check and make sure your cpu is seated correctly and that the heatsink is on nice and tight.
Drivers have nothing to do with this problem, they are only used by windows when it loads up. The stuff you see when your computer boots of the start is the result of the Bios (Basic Input Output System) and will occur with or without an operating system , like windows, if everything is working correctly.
Here's how to debug this (post the results of each of these tests):
1) Unhook/unplug everything except the CPU, RAM and videocard try and boot. Make sure the videocard is seated well (flush with the socket all the way along).
2) Take out 1 stick of ram, try and boot. Switch sticks and try and boot.
3) Try a different video card (from your old computer, even a PCI card will do) try and boot.
4) If possible try the ram in a different computer and see if it works (if it does boot download memtest86 from www.simmtester.com).
There's some things to start with, post any positive / no change results in this thread and we'll narrow it down.
I have 2 sticks of Samsung 256 MB PC3200 memory in slots 2 and 3 like the manual says to do.
I need the video card because this NF7 does not have on board video. My old Dell 2100 did. And the 2100 has no AGP slot. I tried loading the video drivers to the C drive with it in the 2100, but it just sits there and does nothing. Same with the MB drivers.
Unplugged the FireWire card and the E: drive (second hard drive).
Unplugged one stick of memory. Still got the beeping when the computer was turned on. Changed to using the other stick ONLY. No beeping. Still no video, though.
At the bottom of the motherboard, near the CMOS battery, I get 2 LEDs. One comes on red when the power supply is switched on. The other comes on green when I press the power button to start the computer up. It stays green when the computer is on.
When the computer is on, the monitors' light changed from green to orange. If I unplug the monitor cable from the video card, it goes back to green.
I think the video card is screwed up. Hard to tell anything when you can't use the monitor!
Does the video card HAVE to have its driver CD installed for it to run initially? Does XP Home support this card?
Windows and drivers come AFTER the BIOS boots. If you can't even get the computer turned on, then it doesn't even know Windows/drivers/etc exist.
Despite the fact that your video card is shrinkwrapped-brand-new, I still think it's the problem. You may have electrostatic discharged it during installation, or who knows what.
The only other thing I can think of is a grounding/shorting problem. Check my post here to see what I'm talking about. It's possible that you have a stray screw or standoff under that mobo that's causing a short.
Either way, don't concern yourself with hard drives, software, or drivers at this point. Your problem is at the raw hardware level, and is either the motherboard, CPU, memory, or video card.
Just to double check.
1) Have you got the 12v line plugged in as well as the ATX main power?
2) Have you tried a single stick of memory in slots 1, 2 or 3?
Prime suspects (oh...I made a funny) anyway...Primesuspect...suspects the video card. Pull the video card...fire up the board...it should go into alarm with a series of beeps.
Put the card back in and refire the board. If the same problem exists that you had described then the culprit could be the video card. To me...this sounds like a power problem....It sounds similar to INTEL mobos when the 4 pin 12 volt line needs to be plugged in as well as the main ATX power line.
I was not in a rush when I built this computer, I had to wait for the heat sink to get here so things were assembled a little bit at a time.
I tried to be very careful with keeping myself grounded to the case at all times. Always touching it, etc.
Here's one question on the motherboard mounting - I screwed the standoffs into the computer case, set the MB on them, made sure everything was in the right place (no extra standoffs or holes), then put the mounting screws in with those litle fiber washers that came in the kit.
Since those fiber washers were in the bag with the screws I assumed they should be in the computer somewhere. Could it be that the fiber washers are not letting something ground to the case where it should? They are currently on top of the MB, under the screws.
Tomorrow I may take the various parts to a computer shop and see if they can plug them into an existing system and tell me if it works or not.
Same card as Sally put in her new computer. Worked without a problem and it runs XP Home. I'm no expert, but can confirm from personal experience it should work as soon as it is put into the appropriate graphics slot.
Take it out of the case. Unplug and disconnect everything. Even remove the cpu.
Install CPU, HSF, one stick of mem, vid card and HDD. Clear cmos by jumper an dpulling battery for a few hours. Boot and call us in the morning.
I hate being mean...
at least you came to the right place!
Make sure all the jumpers are set correctly on the motherboard.
Check your manual for the beep codes to see what the problem is.
~ Greg
www4.ncsu.edu/~gcstader/
Jengo, I've been around computers for a long time and know some stuff about them. This is not a hard thing for me to do, I just have a bad part and need to track it down.
I did what other people suggested. Cleared the CMOS, pulled the battery for a few hours, took out the fiber washers and CPU and memory, replaced CPU and memory, left the CD drive unhooked, etc.
No changes yet. Nothing at all comes up on the screen. If I leave the monitor cable plugged in with the computer on, the monitor light turns orange. If I unplug the monitor from the computer, it goes green.
I hear and feel the hard drive running but not accessing anything, It's definitely not the hard disk, and I hope its not the CPU, which cost me $130 for an unlocked 2500+ Barton on eBay..
I think the video card is bad. I'll take it and the CPU to some computer stores tomorrow for testing. It better not be the motherboard.
The manual hasn't been very helpful at all in figuring out the the beeping error codes were.
The video beepcode is 2 short, one long. (Or one long, two short... I'ts either of the two for sure) so this prolly isn't the problem. You could always try booting the system w/o the vid card and see if it changes, but if it checks for the RAM first, it may not.
Either way, you could rule it out by just booting w/o it, and see what happens. If you get the vid-card error above, then you know the vid card is fine. If you still get the RAM beepcode, than you'll know the vid card itself has no effect. If you get an entirely diffrent code, than it could very well be the vid card.
Well, it's not a hardware problem anymore, now we're down to software, I think.
I played around with it some more this morning, with no good results. I took it to a computer shop and told them what was up. They couldn't figure out anything either. Then the guy tried putting only 1 memory stick in the computer, in slot 1. It worked! We went into the BIOS and set the date and time.
Then he put the other memory stick in #2, and the computer saw that also.
But it would not start Windows. We kept getting the black screen that says Windows didn't start normally, and gives you choices (safe mode, command prompt, networking, normal, etc).
Trying to start in safe mode makes a big list of files on the screen, and nothing else happens.
They didn't charge me any money.
I brought it home and ran 1 and 2 memory sticks in every possible combination, and it always worked.
But I couldn't get it to boot up Windows.
When I start the computer, it will give 1 short beep, and just as the Windows logo screen comes on, it'll snap to the black "Windows did not start successfully" screen.
I'm using the same 20 GB hard drive that has been in my Dell 2100 for 2+ years. It came with XP Home on it from Dell.
The guy at the computer shop says it won't work to boot up this computer. I see no reason why not. It works fine in the 2100, why would it not work with the new Abit system?
CPU temps were around 49-53 Celsius with all 3 fans spinning 3000 rpm. I guess that white thermal paste stuff that comes already applied to a new heat sink is not very effective. I'll go to Radio Shack tomorrow and get something else.
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1136/
But it sounds like bad memory to me.
Download Memtest and make a test floppy disk.
Link:
http://www.memtest86.com/memt30.zip
More info on the mainpage
http://www.memtest86.com/
Before you do this do the memtest thing MJO linked to above. It only takes a minute to download and make the floppy and 5-10 minutes to run the test.
I can't do the Memtest, the new computer has no floppy drive.
If I repair install my 20 GB hard drive to make it work with the new computer, will it then not work in my Dell 2100? I don't plan to use this 2100 much longer, but I don't want a compatibility problem if I do have to go back to it for some reason.
I'll check in the Abit computers' BIOS to make sure it is set to boot off the C: drive.
If you are a risk-taker (and you could lose your data doing this!) you could:
1) stick the drive back in the Dell
2) boot up in safe mode
3) delete everything in device manager
4) stick the drive in the new computer and let it find everything again
Don't try this if you have critical data you can't afford to lose!
How about this - I find another small hard drive and use that as my operating system drive? Then I have my 20 GB and 80 GB drives for everything but the operating system.
I have a lot of valuable information on the 20 GB drive, and the 80 GB drive has about 20 GB worth of data on it also. It'd take a lot of CD burning to move things around.
Well, I suppose I could transfer EVERYTHING over to the 80 GB drive, and get the 20 GB drive reformatted to work in the new system.
If another drive was providing the operating system, could the 20 GB drive be used as is without interference? Everything on it works good, I don't want to mess with it, because if there's a way to screw it up, I'll find it.
Why bother? Get a drive big enough to work in the new computer permanently, or do the CD burning. My advice is to do the CD burning no matter what else you do; that way if things go horribly wrong you have lost only time, not your <strike>bible music</strike> data. I've never met anyone who regretted having too many backups.
I think the best thing is to get a clear idea of what you want to end up with when you're all done. It will then be easy to put the steps you need to take in a logical order.
I do have most of the stuff on the 80 GB drive backed up on CDs already. I suppose I could take the other stuff, cram it onto the 20 GB drive, and clear out the 80. Then install XP Home on the 80 and put all the other files back on it from the 20 and / or from the CDs.
Now that I have this situation, I'm thinking I should make backups of some of the stuff on it. Either buy a lot of CDs or borrow a DVD burner and burn a few DVDs.