Building a PC, can anyone with any knowledge please help?

12 replies
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Graham1982 (archived)
Bronze
Posted September 11, 2008 at 15:42 GMT
#1854023

Hi:

 

Please feel free to move this post if it is in the wrong place. I know it is off topic but I guess someone on here might be able to shed some light on the issues I am experiencing:

 


I assembled a PC so that there is the mainboard, graphics card and RAM all in the case. Heat sink, cradle etc are all in and the power supply is connected. The board is fixed to the case with plastic mounts so as to avoid the risk of any shorts.

The problem is that when I fire the machine up, it all turns on for either a brief period of a couple of mins (or less), or for as long as it is left. There is no picture to the graphics card. There is a floppy drive attached and when I first turned the machine on (without monitor attached) the drive made the normal grinding noise expected on boot up. Since then however, it hasn't done this. The CD ROM attached does have power to it and the tray opens and closes.

In conclusion there is an issue with the display. I am pretty certain that I haven't damaged the processor, when the machine is on I have checked the heat sync and it is barely warm. I haven't over clocked it or anything like that. Is there anything that springs to mind? My friend has suggested that as there is no HD attached that it might be switching itself off as there is nothing for the machine to read/do. However this explanation does not seem to make any sense to me because surely for the PC to know there is an HD there, I would need to instruct it to look through the BIOS? Of course to do that, I would need to access it with a working display.

I have tried two AGP grahics card but still to no avail. Interestingly the graphics card supplied has an onboard fan which does not rotate.

 

Could this be a power supply issue (I recycled it from an old machine - it is connected properly - small connector near processor and large rectangular connector also)?

 I hope I haven't cooked the processor but if I had surely the machine wouldn't switch on at all - no circuit?


Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Graham

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tournedos
Bronze
Posted September 11, 2008 at 15:59 GMT
#1854024

Try clearing the CMOS memory. I've had some factory new motherboards that didn't do anything sensible until this was done. The instructions should be in the manual; typically you move a jumper to another position for a while.

Also, check that the graphics card is properly seated in its slot (the non-functional fan suggests that it might not be). Sometimes the case and other components have physical compatibility problems, and the cards won't fit just right, or lift up when you tighten the attachment screw.

The power supply might be an issue as well, if the new stuff you have is much beefier than what was in the old machine. Some later graphics cards need their own direct power supply connection as well.

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srywrgnbr (archived)
Bronze
Posted September 11, 2008 at 17:10 GMT
#1854025

Is there a speaker connected to the main board?  Most boards offer an audible indicator for startup issues.  I would verify that the RAM is seated properly, and in the proper location.  Some boards require that RAM be "paired" - check the documentation with the mother board.

 You may also want to confirm that the wattage rating of your power supply meets the minimum requirement for the CPU.

  -Rob

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camshaft (archived)
Bronze
Posted September 12, 2008 at 00:13 GMT
#1854026

As Mika said the first thing I would do would be to push in the graphics card to make sure it's seated all the way.  As he said, the fan not spinning suggests it may not be pushed all the way into the socket.  The lack of any display is another symptom of this happening.  When I assembled my first PC I was trying to be very gentle with everything, and didn't realize I hadn't pushed the video card all the way in.  Likewise, when I turned the machine on it powered up but there was no display.  As Rob said though, my motherboard was one of the expensive ones that had a series of audible beeps along with a led blinking in a certain pattern to indicate what the problem was.

If this doesn't work though, it may help to list for us the models of the individual components you used.

Good luck,

Austin

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Puncher (archived)
Bronze
Posted September 12, 2008 at 02:53 GMT
#1854027
Some AGP graphic cards require additional power to the card, normally via a power socket some where on the periphery of the card.
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Graham1982 (archived)
Bronze
Posted September 12, 2008 at 11:11 GMT
#1854028

Hi all:

 

Thanks for the help so far - the board is an Asus atx motherboard P4PE-X/SE with a intel pentium 4  1.8ghz processor.

 

The manual is on this site:

 

http://www.asus.com/search.aspx?searchitem=1&searchkey=P4PE-X%2FSE+

 

When the speaker is attached it emits a loud, long beep for about 3-4 seconds then there is a break of about 7 seconds and the process repeats. The power supply I am using is out of a recycled machine - quite old but still ATX. The date stamp on the graphics card is 2002 so this might date the supply.

 I reckon it could be the power supply, this might be why the machine switches off more often than not and the peripherals not working as they should?

 

The problem I have is that I do not want to buy replacement parts if it isn't necessary - if it isn't the power supply that is at fault then I would have bought one for no-reason. This might seem frugal. However, I wanted to build this as cheaply as possible for a hobby project rather than just buy a new machine.

 

Thanks

 

Graham

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Graham1982 (archived)
Bronze
Posted September 12, 2008 at 11:21 GMT
#1854029

Have taken the power supply out. On the side the highest value in watts is 225. Is this underpowered for the size of processor I am using? I really do not know about what would be a decent power output so any help would be great.

 

Thanks

 

Graham

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Graham1982 (archived)
Bronze
Posted September 12, 2008 at 11:30 GMT
#1854030

Scrap that it is a 450w supply - is that still too low and likely to be causing the problem?

 

Thanks

 

Graham

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srywrgnbr (archived)
Bronze
Posted September 12, 2008 at 13:56 GMT
#1854031

Page 2-7 of the manual has the audio codes.  The closest one to what you describe is:

"Long beeps in an endless loop" = "No DRAM installed or detected"

 450W should be plenty, especially if the HD isn't attached.

 You mentioned that you tried 2 separate video cards, so unless they are both bad, I am guessing that the issue occurs during the 'hardware discovery phase", prior to the video.

Take a look at page 1-12 of the user manual and confirm that you have the proper RAM configuration.  Note, if you're using slots 2 and 3, you must use only single sided RAM.   If you have double sided RAM you can only use slots 1 and 2.  Also verify that none of pins in the DIMM connectors are bent.

 

Post back on your progress.  You should also reset the CMOS (as previously recommended) - the instructions are on page 1-15. 

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Graham1982 (archived)
Bronze
Posted September 12, 2008 at 14:44 GMT
#1854032

Hi:

 

No problem, thanks I will do this - would this account for it switching itself off though?

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