RESOLVED Computer not booting

SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
edited September 2004 in Hardware
Hey guys

I have a new computer that I'm building - Abit NF7-S motherboard, Athlon 3200+ Barton, 1 gig Mushkin Level 1 Black memory (2x512), 250 gig Hitachi Deskstar hard drive, Radeon 9800 Pro, 420W power supply, like 5 fans and a Thermalright heatsink. I even disconnected all of my extra drives to try to just get it to boot up, but nothing happens. The only thing that even tells me it's on is that the motherboard power LED lights up. No fans spin, no drives spin up, no BIOS beeps, nothing. Can anybody help? Do I need to replace my processor? I have no other machine that I can test any of the hardware in, this is my first Athlon machine. Thanks for any help.

Comments

  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited July 2004
    I had a similar thing with mine. I ended up taking everything out and starting again then it worked. Maybe a short or something, I never did find out.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    Try to take everything apart and rebuild it. Start trying to boot with one piece at a time once you get it partially together. You may have accidentally grounded the motherboard to the case. Also, make sure that the 4-square block power connector is connected to the hard drive. Check the Clear CMOS jumper to make sure it's not in the 'clear' position, too, otherwise the PC won't boot.

    Put in the motherboard, CPU, HSF, RAM (just one stick at first), and video card (make sure the external power connector is connected on that) and try to boot. If it works, then add one component at a time and try to boot then.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited July 2004
    Are you positive that you have the power switch on the right pins on the mobo? Also, it's possible that one of the wires coming off of the switch broke off the switch itself; I recently had this happen to me. An easy way to double check to see if the switch or wires are bad is to take off the power switch connector off the mobo and momentarily connect the 2 pins together with a screwdriver or piece of wire, taking the place of the power switch.

    EDIT: Wow, 3 replies in a minute! :eek2::D
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    muddocktor wrote:
    EDIT: Wow, 3 replies in a minute! :eek2::D

    It's 'emergency help'! ;)
  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited July 2004
    i told him this was the right place to come - great suggestions guys
    if you have, in fact, accidently grounded the mobo to the case it would boot if you tried placing all the components on your desk
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    GHoosdum wrote:
    You may have accidentally grounded the motherboard to the case. Also, make sure that the 4-square block power connector is connected to the hard drive. Check the Clear CMOS jumper to make sure it's not in the 'clear' position, too, otherwise the PC won't boot.

    How do I know if I grounded it to the motherboard? How do I fix it if I have?

    How does the 4-square block power connector go to the hard drive? I have the square one connected to the motherboard and the rectangular one connected to the hard drive. There isn't an extra plug in the same chain as the 4-square one, either.

    I switched the CMOS jumper to clear and then reset it to normal again.


    Thanks everybody.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    I never really *know* if the mobo is grounded out. The only way I ever fix it is a complete rebuild of the PC, then I can guess that's what the problem was.

    From your descriptions, it sounds like you've got the right 4-square power connection.

    And I forgot to say already, welcome to the forum!
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    I usually make a minimal build (cpu, hsf, one mem, vid card) on the bench and make sure that it boots. Then I put it in the case and make sure that it boots. Then I finish the build. Saves time that way.
    Sometimes an extra standoff or a stray washer will really mess your day up.
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited July 2004
    its really hard to ground your motherboard when you are using brass stand offs. Just check all your mounting screws to make sure they are not touching and traces.

    A floppy cable backwards can cause a system to not boot.

    I do things in this order..

    1. Clear the cmos and try to reboot.
    2. remove the floppy cable and try to reboot.
    3. remove the cd rom/dvd rom cables and reboot
    4. remove hard drive cables and reboot
    5. remove any pci cards and reboot. I would remove them 1 at a time.
    still nothing
    6. remove the video card and try another
    7. remove the hsf, reseat processor, reinstall hsf and try again.
    8. try another stick of ram.
    9. remove motherboard and test on bench.

    This way you eliminate any possible bad parts. If it fails on the bench then your processor or psu may be fubar.

    I do all this of course after a carefull cable inspection and verifying everything is seated correctly. A fan power lead with a slight nick in it can cause this behavoir.

    Aint building machines fun...

    Or you can just skip all that and yank out the mobo and bench test it...

    Gobbles
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    Good advice, Gobbles. You definitely put the process in a more logical frame than it was in my mind.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    Hey guys - I think I've found it. I unplugged absolutely everything and restarted and just put in the mobo, graphics card, processor, one stick of memory, and the hard drive, and I got bios beeps and the fans and stuff whirred up. Plugging in more stuff led me to conclude that the USB jumpers to the top of the case seem to be causing the problem. I'll check the manual again, but I just wanted to say thanks again. You guys are awesome.


    Edit: It works! Windows is installing now. The USB ports actually had to go in reverse of how everything else went in, text-down. All four or five of them were connected in one jumper, so that's what screwed it up. Anyway, thanks a lot guys. You're the best. I hope I can contribute some to these forums someday.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited July 2004
    I'm glad to hear you got it sorted out, MJancaitis. :thumbsup:

    Now that you have the problem fixed, keep coming around. There are a lot of fine folks from all over the world here at Short Media and you can learn a heck of a lot from them; I know that I have also. :)

    A project that these forums participate in is called Folding@Home and we have our own team and Folding forum here on the project. If you would like to help Stanford University out with primary research on the folding and misfolding of proteins, come join us and run the project with us. It's a little app that you install on your computer(s) and runs in the background, not getting in the way as you use your computer like you normally do. Drop by in the folding forum here and read up on it if you are interested. :)
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    The USB ports actually had to go in reverse of how everything else went in
    I've built more than one motherboard where the motherboard manual's instructions for motherboard pins was exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to be. I thinks it's a Chinese problem when reverting to English reading and writing - right to left.
  • bondangobondango
    edited August 2004
    I had a TI5VG+ motherboard that had a bad CPU fan. So I replaced the fan. Turned it back on...nothing...black screen with no BIOS...no output, period. The floppy would get noticed, the CD-ROMs would get noticed, the HD would spin up but not access. Then total quiet except for the spinning fan. I tried reseting the BIOS RAM by moving tjumper-5 over to the reset position, but that did'nt work. What the manual failed to say and that I had to find out for myself after many hours of frustration, was simply to remove this jumper completely, and reboot. Wala! Everything was fine. I shut it down to put the jumper back in the "Normal" position, rebooted and no problems thereafter.

    That's my two cents.
  • kal_mkal_m
    edited September 2004
    I was trying to add another hard drive(Maxtor diamondmax 9 160 gb)as a secondary master additional storage drive.The original settings on the existing hard drive were...the ATA cables gray connector was to the original hard drive and the black connector was free.I plugged in the new hard drive to the black connector and the jumper settings on the new hard was was set as master.When I tried to restart the system it didn't boot.the LED's are glowing the fans are running...the CD/DVD LED's are glowing but the floppy drives LED didn't glow.That was the problem.After that I put the original connections...but still had the same problem.The computer wouldn't boot.

    Also one more thing I did was to dust off the mother board and fans with a paint brush.Could that have screwed up my mother board??I need immediate help. :bawling:
    Thanks in advance.
  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited September 2004
    start a new thread, you'll get more attention that way. you had me thinking my friend was having another problem with his computer! (speaking of, i need to go oc that for him)
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