No POST, no display

jaguarp80jaguarp80
edited March 2008 in Hardware
Recently I tried building my own (cheap) computer for the first time. Started from scratch and I'm still learning, so please excuse any ignorance.

Upon the first try, everything seemed to work well. I got to the point where I was ready to install my OS, upon which I discovered that my keyboard was unresponsive. I rebooted and the monitor was suddenly unresponsive as well. I asked my brother about it and he told me about POST, which I was totally unaware existed in my ignorance. It was concluded that the motherboard was just busted, so I sent it back and bought a somewhat more expensive one.

I got to the BIOS screen with the new motherboard and found that, again, my keyboard was unresponsive. Rebooted and... the monitor doesn't respond. Again. At this point I noticed that it was also not POSTing - it never had. The exact same problem with nearly the exact same circumstances.

I've tried running the bare minimum by disconnecting my drives one by one, one stick of RAM, etc. I've tried using both onboard video and a (cheap) video card, neither work. I tried resetting the CMOS and that did nothing. I'm completely out of ideas. Any help is greatly appreciated.

The part that really bothers me is that the monitor responded at first. It's messing with me. :sad2:
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Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    No POST - the monitor is completely black? No text, nothing? Do the fans come on? Can you hear the hard drive spinning up?

    Have you reset the CMOS? Reset the BIOS (CMOS chip) by moving a jumper laterally from two of the three pins to the adjacent two pins. Your motherboard manual will show you how to do this. Follow the instructions on how to reset the BIOS, and see if you can get into the BIOS.

    Do you know how to enter the BIOS and for settings?
  • jaguarp80jaguarp80
    edited March 2008
    Leonardo wrote:
    No POST - the monitor is completely black? No text, nothing? Do the fans come on? Can you hear the hard drive spinning up?

    The HDD and fans spin and the LEDs even come on. The monitor is completely black and the light is orangeish - like it was in sleep mode. When completely disconnected, the monitor displays a "not connected" error image.
    Leonardo wrote:
    Have you reset the CMOS? Reset the BIOS (CMOS chip) by moving a jumper laterally from two of the three pins to the adjacent two pins. Your motherboard manual will show you how to do this. Follow the instructions on how to reset the BIOS, and see if you can get into the BIOS.

    Do you know how to enter the BIOS and for settings?

    I reset the CMOS to no avail. I don't know how I can enter the BIOS without a responding monitor or keyboard. The CMOS jumper has only two pins.

    Also, the optical drive will open without any problems.
  • jaguarp80jaguarp80
    edited March 2008
    After reading some other threads on this forum, it seems like the PSU could be the culprit?

    But I don't understand how that could be if the fans and lights are coming on and the VGA responded at one point.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited March 2008
    If this is a seperate video card remove the video card and then put it back in. They sometimes become slightly unseated. Network cards also have a tendency to have this happen to them at times.

    Basically any card that has an external cable can become a little skewed over time and needs to be reseated.
  • jaguarp80jaguarp80
    edited March 2008
    kryyst wrote:
    If this is a seperate video card remove the video card and then put it back in. They sometimes become slightly unseated. Network cards also have a tendency to have this happen to them at times.

    Basically any card that has an external cable can become a little skewed over time and needs to be reseated.

    Well, I've tried using both the onboard video and the graphics card and neither work.

    I really don't see what it could possibly be besides a busted PSU, or a massive coincidence with a second busted motherboard or CPU. I'll try another PSU and, if that doesn't work, RMA the mobo and processor I guess.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited March 2008
    When you tried running the bare min was it in or outside of the case?

    Did you completely remove the video card when trying the onboard video?

    POST makes a beep. Are there any beeps or mulitple beeps?
  • jaguarp80jaguarp80
    edited March 2008
    mmonnin wrote:
    When you tried running the bare min was it in or outside of the case?

    Did you completely remove the video card when trying the onboard video?

    POST makes a beep. Are there any beeps or mulitple beeps?

    I ran the bare minimum inside the case. It doesn't seem to be touching the case more than it should.

    Yes, completely removed the video card.

    It doesn't beep at all.
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited March 2008
    What parts are you using, and what's the power supply's rated amperage for 12v and watt output?
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    YAD's questions are good, and I have another question as well.
    I ran the bare minimum inside the case. It doesn't seem to be touching the case more than it should.
    Maybe I'm not understanding your post, but the motherboard should not touch the case at all. Did you use motherboard stand-offs, those little hexagonal spacers, which fit between the motherboard back plate and the motherboard?
  • jaguarp80jaguarp80
    edited March 2008
    Leonardo wrote:
    YAD's questions are good, and I have another question as well. Maybe I'm not understanding your post, but the motherboard should not touch the case at all. Did you use motherboard stand-offs, those little hexagonal spacers, which fit between the motherboard back plate and the motherboard?

    yes, I used spacers. I'm not really sure what I meant by "more than it should", but no, the motherboard is not touching the case.

    At this point I'm fairly confident that the PSU is the problem and I'll be switching it out pretty soon.

    Edit: Whoops, missed this post
    Your Amish Daddy wrote:
    What parts are you using, and what's the power supply's rated amperage for 12v and watt output?

    This is the Newegg wishlist of everything I bought

    http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=8062246

    except for the second motherboard, which is this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128056

    The PSU I'm using (also on the wishlist page) is 400W. I'm not sure how to check the amperage, but I'm assuming this info has something to do with it:

    Output +3.3V@28A,+5V@40A,+12V@17A,
    -12V@0.8A,+5VSB@2.0A
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited March 2008
    Well, I'm not convinced. I want you to pull anything off the power chain you're not using. Optical devices are not required, as are spare hard drives and uneeded PCI devices. I want you to do a Guts only build and see if it posts nine times.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    see if it posts nine times.
    Are you sure eight wouldn't work? :p
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited March 2008
    Nine's my lucky number.
  • t17t17
    edited March 2008
    Hi, i had same/similar problem.

    -Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2
    -ASUS P5KC AiLifestyle Series iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio> ATX Motherboard
    -OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15> PLATINUM XTC with LIFETIME WARRANTY
    -ATI HD 3850 Pro 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics> Card
    -OCZ StealthXStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm LED Fan

    I have since returned my motherboard and am awaiting the results, just wanted to know if youve solved your problem with a new PSU?

    heres hoping we both can sort it out :sad2:
  • jaguarp80jaguarp80
    edited March 2008
    Your Amish Daddy wrote:
    Well, I'm not convinced. I want you to pull anything off the power chain you're not using. Optical devices are not required, as are spare hard drives and uneeded PCI devices. I want you to do a Guts only build and see if it posts nine times.

    I've already done this, the problem persisted.
  • DJ_EvergreenDJ_Evergreen MB, Canada Member
    edited March 2008
    Seeing you haven't stated you've taken the board out of the case, I would highly recommend doing so. This solved quite a few of my customer's issues they were having with POST.
  • jaguarp80jaguarp80
    edited March 2008
    DJ_Evergreen wrote:
    Seeing you haven't stated you've taken the board out of the case, I would highly recommend doing so. This solved quite a few of my customer's issues they were having with POST.

    run the motherboard out of the case entirely, like on the desk beside it?

    I'll try it.
  • DJ_EvergreenDJ_Evergreen MB, Canada Member
    edited March 2008
    Yes. Also hook up the bare minimum components. Just board, memory, video card, and chip. See if u get a display. If good then it's either the case or another component that's the culprit.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    and chip

    AND THE HEATSINK THAT GOES WITH THE PROCESSOR!!
  • the_technocratthe_technocrat IC-MotY1 Indy Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    using the additional 4-pin connector on the PSU?
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited March 2008
    Ok. 12V@17A, is barely enough to run my Wii. You're taxing your 12V. You need a new PSU.

    Your 8400 is using 6 of that believe it or not, and I'm pretty sure your motherboard is nipping away the rest of it. Aim for about ~34A for a system like that.
  • Mikail-CritchkiMikail-Critchki Here
    edited March 2008
    Same problem occurred to me, I switched the CPU and it was up and running.
    Turned out that my CPU died and I had to replace it.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    Mikail, did you mean to write PSU?
  • Mikail-CritchkiMikail-Critchki Here
    edited March 2008
    Leonardo wrote:
    Mikail, did you mean to write PSU?

    No, I did not.
  • jaguarp80jaguarp80
    edited March 2008
    Your Amish Daddy wrote:
    Ok. 12V@17A, is barely enough to run my Wii. You're taxing your 12V. You need a new PSU.

    Your 8400 is using 6 of that believe it or not, and I'm pretty sure your motherboard is nipping away the rest of it. Aim for about ~34A for a system like that.

    then, I don't understand the technical aspects here. I was under the impression that wattage was what mattered when trying to determine if a PSU is powerful enough.

    Bah, whatever. I'll RMA the PSU ASAP. TTYL.

    edit: It's too late for a refund, anyway.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    You are correct, partially. Total wattage is important, but amperage for 12 "rails' is important also. A crude analogy would be a water pipe. You could have a 12-inch (Watts) water pipe serving your home, but if the pressure (amperage) is only 1 lb/ft2 (1 PSI), you definitely won't be able to take a shower.
  • DJ_EvergreenDJ_Evergreen MB, Canada Member
    edited March 2008
    Leonardo wrote:
    AND THE HEATSINK THAT GOES WITH THE PROCESSOR!!
    Well.... yeah. I kinda assumed that they would already know that. There's no one dumb enough to turn on a board without the CPU cooler.... is there??? :tongue:
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    There's no one dumb enough to turn on a board without the CPU cooler.... is there???
    This is not disparaging our new forum member jaguar~, but I don't know his experience level. There are a lot of people who will build a computer for the first time and prepare essentially only by reading specifications on parts. When it doesn't run, then that's the first time they even look at the motherboard manual.

    Again, I am not claiming that ignorance for Mr. Jaguar, but it happens frequently.
  • jaguarp80jaguarp80
    edited March 2008
    well, posting this from my computer. After trying another power supply that didn't work, turns out there WAS a short in the case and the computer now runs perfectly. Outside of the case, on my floor... but perfectly. The only place I found it was touching was the metal box around the speaker ports, I don't know if that's significant or not. I suppose I'll buy a new case since this one was pretty cheap(ly made), anyway.

    thanks for all of your help, I learned a lot if nothing else. And thanks for putting up with my ignorance. :)
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    I learned a lot if nothing else
    That's the main purpose of the Icrontic community! Stick around, learn more, teach others with less knowledge. :)
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