New system problems

[caLLous]

Right, in reference to the other thread, I've received everything and put it together and... I have absolutely no signal going to the monitor or whatever I plug into the graphics card... I've plugged a variety of monitors into it but to no avail. I turn it on, everything seems to come to life with no real distress (apart from the pc speaker thing, go down two paragraphs)

It's all completely new (the only original items are the case and dvd-r) so I haven't got a clue where to start looking. I can't replace the graphics card because it's PCI-E and my old one is AGP and there's no onboard VGA out. I also thought taking the SATA drives out and putting an IDE in might help, but nay. I think that's all I can think of trying so far.

Another problem is the pc speaker, it's very very staticcy (sp). I hear a muffled beep (the motherboard manual says one short beep is a good sign...) when I turn it on, and then the static just gets louder and louder up until I turn it off. I've tried plugging an alternative case's pc speaker into the motherboard and it did the same thing...

Relevant specs are:
Pentium 4 3.8GHz
Gigabyte GA-8I915P-D Pro i915P
2Gb Value Select DDR2, 533 MHz
256Mb XFX PCI-E 6800Ultra
650W Silverstone ST65ZF-GM

As always, some guidance through this dark and murky world I live in would be welcomed with open arms and possibly even a fiver.

 

[Dr_Weasel]

Is it onboard sound? If so sounds like the mobo may be rather sketchy. Do all the fans power up okay?

 

[caLLous]

Yes, everything appears to power up ok. The hard drive (SATA or IDE) spins up no problem, all the fans that are plugged in work fine, the graphics card has a little green led that is on... And yes, it does have onboard sound (which should have been automatically disabled when the motherboard saw the soundcard..?), but this is the pc speaker that's spewing static rather than the soundcard/onboard itself.

Because I plugged it into the the other case's speaker and had the same problem, I'm thinking it might be a bad connection on the motherboard or a fucked motherboard. :\

thanks

 

[MKJ]

Hi

If you are building a system from scratch and you have hit snags - which you seem to have done - then you need to get back to basics. By this I mean disconnect everything bar for the stuff that is needed to start the computer. Just cpu and cooler, memory and graphics to begin with. Use any onboard graphics connection first if it has one. Connect your monitor and check to see if any life. If you are using a graphics card make sure it is well seated in the grove and has not come loose when you have been connecting other components.

If no life from above then you have a problem with either the motherboard, cpu, memory or graphics. Suspect graphics if you receive a continuous beep. If you have more than one stick of memory remove one at a time and retest.

If you manage to get life into the comp connect one thing at a time after and restart the computer. This will help you by reducing any additional problem you could cause.

Beeps from the speakers are diagnostic warnings. These help technicians by sounding in a particular way. A number of beeps = bust so and so.

One thing at a time until you find the problem.

 

[.Wilier.]

This may be a slightly daft question, but does the card have PCI-E power connectors plugged in?

 

[caLLous]

Yes it does, Phil.

As an aside, you say connectors and the manual said connectors but there is only one connector on the board. I think the manual (I love these 'yeah we can make one manual cover our entire product range, we'll just be suitably vague wherever it's required!' manuals :/) was referring to the AGP model when it said I'd need 2 hard drive power dongles. There is only one PCI-E power socket on the back, so that's all I have plugged in.

And thanks MKJ, I've pretty much done everything you suggested apart from test one stick of memory at a time.

 

[MKJ]

These are always horrible problems to solve. Not so if you work in a shop or somewhere where you have access to tons of stuff. A computer can show signs of life and power up the hard drives, fans etc but still have a knackered cpu in it. If you can't get any life from only having a few components connected then the only other course of action is to swap for others. Bit awkward if you don't even have another graphics card to try. I sympathise.

If this is an upgrade where are the old bits?

 

[Jonty]

Hi caLLous

With regards the power to your graphics card, the PCI-Express version only has one power connector. As you say, the AGP 6800 Ultra has two molex connectors (although really you could get away with just using the top connector if you weren't overclocking). PCI-Express power requirements can be quite demanding, but your PSU should be up to the job.

As for your problems, it's quite hard to determine whether it's the motherboard or graphics card, or a combination of the two. Graphics cards have been known to ship with faulty BIOS or corrupt components making them unstable. Sadly, some suppliers charge you for sending back goods which, when tested, then work okay. I'd get in touch with whoever supplied your kit and see what they say. If you can return the motherboard and graphics with some guarantee you won't be ripped off, then mores the better (as inconvenient as that is).

As for the sound issue, again it could be faulty hardware. There was a thing a while back with some Intel boards which caused the onboard Realtec audio to produce lots of static. Apparently it was something to do with the RAID support, and updating the RAID drivers sometimes fixed the issue (very bizarre fix, but it worked for some). However, most people ended up retuning their motherboards.

Anyway, none of this is really helping you. Your best bet is probably to return the motherboard and/or graphics card

Kind Regards

Jonty

P.S. Just out of interest, does your monitor support DVI and were you using DVI before?

 

[caLLous]

It is an upgrade. I went from:

old > new
abit kr7a-raid > gigabyte ga-8i915p-d pro
athlon xp 2000 > p4 lga775 3.8ghz
geforce 4 ti4600 [agp] > geforce 6800 ultra [pci-e]

There is absolutely no compatibity or swapping potential between the old components and the new which, with hindsight, is really shit. I really am at a loss.

I can still put the old one together if it comes to it.

 

[Doomy]

Sounds exactly like the problem I had when i went from AMD to P4 - Longshot here, you sure you have both the sockets from PSU plugged into board?

 

[caLLous]

Hi Jonty.

It all came from Scan so there shouldn't be a problem regarding returns (they've been good to me in the past).

No, I have a 19" LG TFT that doesn't support DVI - the geforce 6800 has 2 dvi inputs on the back and it came with a couple of adapters. I've tried a grand total of 4 monitors and 2 tv's out of the s-video.

Incidentally, the motherboard has a Realtek ALC880 audio chip.

Thanks

 

[Escape]

You should be able to disable onboard sound in the BIOS, also do you have a mic plugged in?

When I first setup my PCI-E grahics card, there was no signal to the monitor either. The trouble is with the distance between the PC Case's card slot, to the motherboard, the gap is too wide for the graphics card. I loosened the screws on the back of the motherboard, to bring it forward to the graphics card. You might want to try something similar, to be sure your graphics card is well and truly slotted in!

 

[caLLous]

you sure you have both the sockets from PSU plugged into board?

Yeah, I didn't at first though. I didn't see the 4 pin ATX 12V connector on the board but it was connected before I turned it on. The PSU has one 24 pin plug and one 4 pin ATX 12V (I had to use a supplied adapter - there was an 8-pin plug on the PSU and an 8/4 pin adapter...)

 

[caLLous]

You should be able to disable onboard sound in the BIOS, also do you have a mic plugged in?

Is there some cunning way of doing that without actually being able to see anything? (I'm not taking the piss)

And no, I don't have a mic plugged in, I don't even have speakers plugged in at the moment.

When I first setup my PCI-E grahics card, there was no signal to the monitor either. The trouble is with the distance between the PC Case's card slot, to the motherboard, the gap is too wide for the graphics card. I loosened the screws on the back of the motherboard, to bring it forward to the graphics card. You might want to try something similar.

It looks pretty snug, I've reseated it a couple of times. The little white catch at the end of the PCI-E slot springs across ok when I put the card in - but I'll give it a go, thanks for the help.

 

[Jonty]

Have you tried resetting the BIOS, caLLous? Most motherboards have a jumper of some description which allows you to reset the BIOS, which has the added bonus of not having to see anything on screen to do it (the motherboard manual should detail what to do). I doubt it will do anything, but you never know.

Kind Regards

 

[caLLous]

Right, I'm going home to try all of the above! I've spoken to Scan and they started talking about returning the whole lot so they could properly test it and make sure it all works together, which is quite nice.

 

[Jonty]

Hope it all works out, and at least Scan are playing ball about returning and testing things. Computers, eh, who'd have 'em?

Kind Regards

 

[caLLous]

Well, I've been quite lucky up til now with regards to buying stuff and it working. I was bound to have a bad order at least once.

I've thrown the old system back together - it currently looks like this (~2mb pic, forgot to resize and am at work). Yes, that is a pizza box underneath it - it was the largest non-conductive surface I had available at the time.

 

[MKJ]

Hehe. Fine looking system if you ask me. Nice and orderly. Plenty of air circulating.

Keep up the good work.

I got 2 comps connected through a switch box. Can just press a button and the monitor shows whichever base unit. Just one mouse, keyboard and monitor for both base units. Absolutely perfect setup for DAOC. Monster 22" illyama monitor. I can control 2 DAOC alts so quickly that no-one is able to realize it is just one person controlling both. But! I never delve into the innards unless forced to. Backups of both systems on DVD so that I can reinstall either in minutes. After a while pissing about with expensive gear just gets you down. The stuff is better off left well alone and you spend your time keeping the systems nice and clean and bug free.

Why am I writing this stuff? God knows. Tired and hadda few drinks. But it sure is wonderful to have stable systems!

 

[caLLous]

This email is to confirm that RMA x has been issued for the following items.

P4 570J LGA775 3.8 800FSB/1MB
Cors VS 1GB DDR2 240PIN CL4
Cors VS 1GB DDR2 240PIN CL4
Gigabyte 8I915PD Pro
256Mb XFX PCI-E 6800Ultra DDR3

*twiddles thumbs*

 

[Chilly]

Scan are pretty quick, you should know either way fairly soon callous.

 

[caLLous]

Well, I rang them at about 11:30 this morning to arrange for CityLink to come in tomorrow and pick stuff up. CityLink turned up about half an hour later to deliver a couple of work-related packages and then asked for the 4 parcels to be returned to Scan! I've never known such speediness on the part of a delivery company.

I told them I didn't have the stuff with me and they're coming back tomorrow.

 

[Chilly]

hah! the one time they do it uber fast is the one time you aint ready for em

 

[caLLous]

With regards to RMA x, we can confirm that the motherboard cannot be serviced/replaced by Scan International.

The item was received by our Returns department in a 'physically damaged state'. The individual reason for the rejection is as follows:

"No display - damage to the socket - one of the pins doesn't look right , it has been bent so warranty void."

We are very sorry we cannot assist any further in this matter. With regards to your other items (the memories & the graphic card) I can confirm that they have tested and confirmed to contain no fault. The cpu is faulty.

We will return the items back to you:

1x -Gigabyte 8I915PD Pro -warranty void- 1x P4 570J LGA775 3.8 800FSB/1MB -replacement- 2x Cors VS 1GB DDR2 240PIN CL4-nff- 1x 256Mb XFX PCI-E 6800Ultra DDR3 -nff-

Wankers.

 

[caLLous]

OK I finally got everything back and it works (sort of)! There's no red output on the monitor... I know the monitor works (it's plugged into a kvm switch and it's fine - i've tried plugging the monitor directly into the graphics card and that didn't change anything).

I cannot deal with having to return something else from this order, especially since they just returned the items after having 'tested' them all (see above post).

Somebody tell me the graphics card isn't fried please. And mean it.

 

[Jonty]

Could it be something simple like:

• Incorrect colour settings on the monitor
• Dodgy colour palette used in the display settings (Control Panel > Display > (Last Tab) > Advanced)

It could be a faulty card or cable running between the card and monitor, but I've never known that cause one colour to go and not the others (not that I profess to know much about this).

Kind Regards

 

[Ch3tan]

Well, if one of the pins is damaged, then couldn't that be the pin that carried the red signal?

 

[caLLous]

None of the pins are (visibly) damaged. It's an LG L1930S and it's running through a 15pin/dvi adapter because the Geforce only has 2 DVI outputs on it. Could this be causing any problems?

Everything has a slightly blueish tinge to it, which I noticed the second the post screen came up when I turned it on.

The problem looks like this and this. The first is the nvidia test screen with no trace of red whatsoever...

(Ch3t, if you were referring to my post where I quote their email, it was the motherboard that had a bent pin on it, not the graphics card. The card was returned with -nff- = no fault found.)

 

[SawTooTH]

Id be checking the cable that connects to the monitor.