System won't start - no beeps
Put together a system (ASUS p4c800-e delux, twinx Corsair memory 1Gbyte, Sony dvd/cd, floppy, Western Digital 160G SATA drive, 3.2GHz Prescot CPU, thermaltake box with 420W PSU, Radeon 9800 pro 256MB) and it booted right off and I formated the hard drive but I didn't have time to complete the install of the OS. Shut down the system and the next day the system wouldn't do anything - no beeps or disk activity. Tried re-booting with a boot floppy and no luck. I then removed the graphics card, and the system started booting off of the floppy. Put back the graphics card and nothing. I'm suspecting the graphics card, but does anyone have any other suggestions or hints? Thanks for any help.
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Just booted blind. You can tell that the floppy was active and that the system was booting. With the graphics card in I get nothing. I don't have another card. I'll have to ask some friends if they have one.
Can you measure voltage's to see if the PSU is the problem? If so, where would you measure and what should expect?
Try putting your card in his system.
Tex
Mandro, you need a VOM (digital) or a multimeter.
12 Volt can be measured at a SPARE HD power line connector, so can 5.
Red line on a VOM is hot, black is return.
HD power line is a line like this:
Yellow is 12 V, Red is 5 V, the two black lines between are returns.
So, to check 12, red from VOM goes to BACK of connector, and the probe is wedged in against the yellow wire connector. BLACK from VOM goes to either black wire you can get it to connect to starting from BACK (wire side) of connector. 12 V line, on perfect PSU, will be between 11.4 V and 12.6 V all the time (5% var +\- range), but acceptable is 11.1 V to 12.85 (about 7% var +\- range). I would say get a bigger capacity PSU if the voltage on 12 gets lower than 11.1 V or higher than 12.9 volts when computer is trying to start up and you have the 9800 in it, or if 5 Volts is out of range on that connector-- see next paragraph.
For 5 volt, red from VOM goes to red on HD connector(pushed in from back, where wires go out of connector). Black goes to a black wire on same connector, again from back. 5 volt perfect range is 4.75 V to 5.25 V, and acceptable range is about 4.6 to 5.4.
Why did I say this test while computer is starting up??? Becasue all the components are drawing power sometime during startup and Post, many times all at once. Second, cheaper PSUs often combine 3 and 5 volt output, so if box is drawing high 3.3 versus PSU's capacity for that (overdemanding 3.3) then 5 or 12 aill get tossed low sometime during post. BAD PSU will show a lack of voltage, or large drop, or no voltage here typically. By testing at a spare connector, with all other things plugged in, I am showing you how to use voltage CHANGES to rough-test residual capacity(whether it has enough uuumph or not, this will not tell how much more stuff it can handle unless you connect more stuff and retest and know how much more juice the stuff adds to demand) of PSU given actual things in box at time of test.
We are determining whether PSU can handle the 9800 also, this way, and you could swap your friend's video card back in and compare readings to see if PSU capacity or a bad card is issue. To check card itself, do as Tex said, though. That is right on, though I would do the voltage test first and if 5 drops to below 3-3.5 volts with the 9800 in but NOT with the other video card in get the card RMA'd if possible instead of putting in another box. At that point I will almost bet the video card has a bad return circuit somewhere in card and that it is drawing way too much juice in order to be active, or that the PSU is going bad (fact that it boots with ohter video card in says probbaly not bad in and of itself, probably under wattage for the 9800, but a huge voltage drop will tell you if you got a bum card quickly).
IF you have a VOM that is digital and does not have a 20 VDC test range, then take .15 off low and add .15 to high for acceptable ranges for 12 V and .05 V gets applied to 5 as a correction (take off .05 V from my acceptable range, add .05 V to high end), and use 40 VDC range. If not sure, ask about this and post lowest and highest voltages for both during POST (watch the meter, post twice, once for 5 V test and once for 12 V test, write down lowest and highest voltages measured). Also, look on PSU label and tell us what wattage PSU is supposed to be, and the wattages avilable at 3.3, 5, and 12 volts and I can tell you if it is PSU capacity issue
SAFETY things-- when you start with learning this, plug in VOM test lines with power off, and unplug same way-- with power off. I hot test, myself, have done it hundreds of times, but I taught myself how not to short the probes against each other, EVER, and I use special probe lines also.