Something strange (and it don't look good!) [b]With Video[/b]

I've just put together mums new comp (gigabyte s3, x1300 128mb, 2gb XM2 5400, enermax liberty 500w psu and E6400).

When I power it up i get something I have never seen before. It kinda starts for a little bit, the speaker goes off like your alarm clock, then it turns off and tries to start again, no posting, nothing, the case fans don't even spin up but the led's inside the rear most fan pulse and go out whilst the rest of the system does a little bit of werrrring away

What do you guys reckon? I am stumped, confused and a bit worried

 

Check everything is compatible, seated properly and perhaps clear the BIOS?

You've got all of the appropriate power cables plugged in I take it?

 

Hum... I've seen this before, albeit with an ASUS board.

Make sure you've got everything plugged in straight, especially USB/Firewire headers. If they're upside down, the system could be detecting a short and powering down. (I've made that mistake... Repeatedly)

Also, check your cards and cables plugging into the motherboard. If one of them's loose, it could be that.

If those don't work, remove and replace the CPU and RAM, they might not have seated properly.

If those don't work, try a BIOS reset.

 

Forgot to say its not posting either. I'll have me a looky at the USB headers, and i'll do the ram one stick at a time. Btw my sata hdd has power slots of the sata power or molex, doesn't matter which i use does it?

EDIT: Short Video of what is going on.

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jrS5__L-O2Y"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jrS5__L-O2Y" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600" height="350"></embed></object>

Video

EDIT 2: I unplugged all the USB headers etc, got nothing, its almost like there is not enough power going in because now the cpu fan isnt spinning up either :S I will try unplugging all the cables and repositioning them tomorrow or later today as i am going out now.

 

I have an Asus board that didn't turn on but a few LEDs flickered. Something connected to the USB bus was affecting it.

 

strip to bare essentials again... retry

 

I think im going to have to do that but I want to do it outside of the case. I know you guys at bit-tech test it outside of the cases most of the time. What do I do for that, litterally do you just rest the mobo on the foam in the box or on the anti static bag and just rest everything else on the boxes (im guessing they aint static) cheers in advance

p.s. what did you think about using a youtube vid to illustrate the problem?

 

^ Yikes! Never run a mobo on an anti static bag.

Nice post count BTW.

 

hehe cheers, 1234 is pretty cool

oc not anti static bag, what about the fp connectors, just route them from the case? i coudl just put it right next to ti for ease.

 

FP connectors? Do you mean buttons?

That way I do it is to rest the system on the box itself, but not plug the mains into the PSU untill I'm ready to turn it on, use a screwdriver to short the Power Button connection, as the switch it just a momentary push to make. I.e. it quickly shorts the pins. To turn it off, short the connections for 4secs. On is just a quick short.

 

Cheers doug.

Has anyone got any idea what specific piece of hardware could cause a problem like this or is it total random?

 

Reading up on BIOS beep codes (AMI BIOS) - it sounds as though you're getting more than 11 beeps, so some sites reckon that it's a video or memory problem.

Other sites have suggested (for Award BIOS) that it's a CPU problem.

I tend to install the CPU and h/sink outside of the case too - up until P4 you generally got away with it, but the h/sinks are so big nowadays that I don't take the chance.

 

hmmmmm i'll have me a looksy and then and work out what I have (I hadn't thought of googeling bios beeps). It is a pain in the arse that nothing is posting on the screen......which actually leads me to think its a gfx problem, the bugger there is that I don't have another PCI-e card. I will test it all again later tonight and if I still get the problems I will get an RMA sorted for the GFX....or the should I just RMA everything?

 

Remove ram and see what sorta beep you get, then remove GFX and see what sort of beep you get. Should be able to narrow down what the cause is (ie if it IS the graphics card causing the problem)

 

with no gfx in the slot it will beep anyway right?

 

Same with ram, want to see what beep you're getting though and if its the same as with them in. Probs barking up the wrong tree though lol!

You've got the ATX 12v connector plugged etc right? Can you get a meter and check the rails of the supply too?

 

^ You don't actually have to get hold of a replacement for everything to troubleshoot - unless the mobo is borked of course.

Find out what BIOS the board is running so you can work out the beep codes.

As Spaceraver suggested - strip down to the bare essentials; CPU, GFX card and a single stick of RAM, and make sure that these are all seated okay.

If it's still beeping, try removing the GFX card and booting without it - you should get a series of BIOS beeps informing you of a video problem, or you could try booting with no RAM installed.

Troubleshooting a new build can be a real pain in the a*se I know, but stick with it as it could be something very simple.

[Edit]Doh! too slow[/edit]

 

Haven't got a volt meter around i'm afraid. I just did a bit of googeling (who wants to do work at ..work?) and according to Cnet this mobo is uses award bios. Endless repeating beeps seem to point to an mem error (although the restarting isn't mentioned). I haven't got more DDR2 laying around as this is the first C2D build I have done which is a bugger. I will try it one stick at a time in all the slots just to make sure.

When I've had mem errors before it has managed to post but that was with a different bios and a NF7-s. I'll reseat the CPU as well, I never knew C2D didn't have pins lol that was a revelation.

 

TESTED, found a/the problem

Ok I just took one stick of ram out and booted it, and it works, posts n everything, gets a cmos checksum error but I assume thats because there is no-os installed?

I then did the same thing with the other stick, thats fine too. The problem is when I put two sticks of ram in it will not post and the problem displayed in the video occurs.

I tried the ram in every slot and the problem still occurs. To me sounds like a buggered mobo/bios but I do not know enough to be sure. Thats pretty much all the information I have so gentlemen, suggestions please

 

The CMOS Checksum error will have happened because you reset the BIOS, that blanks the stored checksum to remind you to set up the BIOS again.

If you can get your hands on another two sticks of DDR2 memory (temporarily, borrowing from another computer is good), try those. If the problem still happens, it's a bad motherboard. If it doesn't, it's bad RAM. (I'm guessing motherboard, but that's just a guess)