Nothing Works!!!

Flamez

Hi there, i just bought parts for a new pc, and i put in everything, it turns on and eveything starts but the monitor doesnt,it just stays at a standby and i cannot setup my bios. i've tried everything i can think of. The fans are all spinning so there's power to everything. Here are the specs.

AMD Opteron 64 2.0ghz
IWill DX8N Motherboard
2 Gig of Ram
Antec File Server case
Four case fans
G Force FX5200 128mb PCI and AGP (Tried Both, One at a time)
250gig Maxtor hard drive

If you need any more information please post, i really need help with this i've done everything myself and a few friends can think of and nothing has worked.

Tex

what opteron and what memory are you using? Just give the model not the speed of the opteron please.

What configuration is the ram? How many sticks and what slots?

Got another cheap pci or agp card? Put it in for now.

UNPLUG EVERY THING INTO THE MB ! all drives and fans etc,.. NOTHING IN IT AT ALL ! but video card. NO DRIVES NO NOTTA !

Unplug all the psu connectors to the board and pull the battery for 30 minutes. Go drink a beer...

Replace battery and try again with psu connected. NOTHING ELSE !

Tex

Flamez

the Ram im using is Corsair, and im not sure what opteron model is, it says AMD 64 Opteron, is that what your talking about, if not, lemme know and i'll take another look, i'll try what you said

Tex

Can you link to your board?

I find a DK8N and a DK8X

but no DX8N?

Those are dual cpu boards. Is that right? And you are running one cpu or ?

Those also require Registered ECC ddr. Are you certain thats what you have as thats differamt then what runs in normal boards.

What MODEL opteron is it? Should be like a model 246 or something?

Tex

Tex

Abd when you go to try to start it again when you put the battery and psu back on do not plug anything else in.

Just cpu, memory, video card aand power supply connected. No disks or anything else.

When you turn it on leave it to try to boot for at least a minute. If it doesnt turn it off and repeat the process slowly three or four times.

Tex

Flamez

Hrmm, i think i got the wrong kind of ram =\, can the computer start without ram or will it not work at all if it is wrong because as i said before the screen doesnt turn on. The opterons are 146 and the board i mispelled it is the DK8N board, and im running 2 opterons on it, i am plugging it back in now. Will post back what it does

Thanks

Edit: Tried what you said, nothing, screen is still on like a standby mode, will the compute run if i dont stick any ram on any of the processors?

Thrax

No.

Flamez

Well im pretty sure the rams wrong, so it wont work without the ram, should i just try put in the ram anyway?

Tex

Have you got one or two cpu's in? 146 opterons will only work witrh ONE cpu. Those are not dual cpu processors.

You must run ONE and it has to be in the right socket for single cpu operation as it does not work in both !

Can you give us the exact link or whatever ... part number etc... for the ram you have?

Tex

Flamez

hrmm, that means im gonna have to return that too, can you give me a model number of one that will work with a dual, yes i have 2 of them in there.

Ram link http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-505&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=0

Tex

If your going to run two processors you will be better off with four sticks of ram

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-309&depa=1

If you intend to run dual cpu's you need a matching pair in the 200 range.

This is the 2.0 that matchs the 146 that you have now and is called a 246. Slower pairs like the 244's or 242's are obviosly cheaper

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-411&depa=1

Tex

Flamez

Would these work?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-397&depa=1

GrayFox

about 50% of the time the Opteron boards need ecc ram

my buddy has the same problem with his tyan board he ended up getting 512mb of kingston ram with ecc then it worked

i still recomend corsair over kingston

Tex

Yes ANYTHING IN THE 200 range should work. But when you go below the 246's you get one other possible gotcha and thats that some will not support ddr faster then pc2700. Newer ones should but if they have been sitting on the shelf a while who knows. The early ones in the 240 to 244 range capped at pc2700. I have a pair of 240's in a dual rig right now that did not support pc3200 for example.

Tex

Tex

GrayFox wrote:

about 50% of the time the Opteron boards need ecc ram

my buddy has the same problem with his tyan board he ended up getting 512mb of kingston ram with ecc then it worked

i still recomend corsair over kingston

Bullsh*t. ALL (as in 100 percent) opterons need REGISTERED ddr. Not just ecc. Please don't comment and confuse him when you really have nothing to add of value here. As you obviously do not understand the differance. And it's important he get the right memory or it won't work.

They make ECC memory in both buffered (registered) and non bufferred ddr and they ARE NOT THE SAME and no opteron (as in ZERO, NOTTA, NONE) works with non registered memory. The memory controller is on the chip not the motherboard and it all has to be registered.

Tex

Flamez

Hrmm, so how will i know if it will work, the motherboard takes 3200 ram, and the processor you showed me is the 246, as apposed to the one i said which was a 244, how would i know if the processor can handle the ram because this is taking alot of money

Tex

Flamez wrote:

Hrmm, so how will i know if it will work, the motherboard takes 3200 ram, and the processor you showed me is the 246, as apposed to the one i said which was a 244, how would i know if the processor can handle the ram because this is taking alot of money

The motherboard has NOTHING to do with this. The memory controller is on the chip and the MB has no say in the matter at all.

IF its a newer 244 it will work. If you do not want to take chances then just get pc2700 as it works 100 percent of the time OR get a 246 and then pc3200 will work 100 percent of the time.

I only brought it up as you seem to not be aware of the potential pitfalls in this arena and if you end up with another stack of parts that do not work you are gonna be p.O.'d

Tex

Flamez

Alright, i guess im getting PC2700 instead of 3200, i have to send the processors and ram back tommorow, so after thats done i'll find the money for the new processors and more ram, so your saying i should get 4 sticks of 512 instead of 2 gig sticks with 1 on each. Thanks for the help, i'll post later on or send you a message when i get the new parts whether they work or not. By the way, what is the difference between the PC2700 and 3200? And is it significant

Tex

It's dual channel so each cpu wants two sticks and your memory benchmarks are basicaly double with four as opposed to two sticks.

You want it faster right?

Tex

Flamez

Well the faster the better, but i mean if you are not sure that the processors are going to support the 3200 ram then i dont want to take the risk of getting it and having to send it back again, since newegg charges a 15% restocking fee.

Tex

When I asked if you wanted faster I meant FOUR sticks not two.

For example four sticks of pc2700 is much faster then two sticks of pc3200.

Make sense now? You want each of the cpu's to have a PAIR of memory sticks to itself as each cpu has a onboard memory controller. That can't happen with only two sticks

Tex

Flamez

OHHHHH ok =D im ordering 4 sticks of the 2700 corsair that you showed me, and the processors that i showed you, that is all that isnt compatible with the computer, so that should fix it getting the new ram and processors, im gonna have to call up newegg tommorow to find out if i can send an RMA from 2 different invoices in the same box to them, and ontop of that its gonna be another 130 dollars for restocking fee, but i can assure you that next time i wont make the same mistake . I'll let you know what happens with it. Thanks for all your help