Boot Failure ?

[Highlander2004]

Hey Everybody, Im new to this forum and couldn't find a specific area to post my question in and think this is the closest. First i should describe my system. I have a :-

Tower Case fitted with a MLC 006 ATX - 350 Watt P4 PSU
Asus P4P800 Deluxe MotherBoard
Intel P4 3.0 Ghz 800 FSB CPU
XFX Geforce 6800 GT agp GPU
2x Crucial 1 Gb DDR 400 CL3 Ram Sticks ie 2 Gb total
Maxtor Diamond MAx Plus 9 160 GB SATA HDD (1.5Gb/s)
NEC 3500 Dual Layer DVD Rom Drive
Sony 1.44 Mb FDD

Sounds Good huh Well it would be I think if I could get the bloody thing to work. Its a new build you see and this is my first time. Im a PC Build Virgin I guess. Im competent enough to mess around in the bios ( a little) and install drivers and OS and hardware upgrades but I've never built a system from scratch.

My Problem is the system dosen't boot. Ive not even installed the OS yet which will be XP Pro. I can tell you I do have power on the MotherBoard but it isnt powering the CPU Fan or the HD. The machine stays still and silent. No beeps nothing. Just a little green LED on the motherboard. Nothing else. All the components are new and as far as I can tell connected corectly. Ive basically put this new tower beside my old and pluged the mouse, keyboard, monitor and power cord from the old PC, which works fine, into the new one and nothing, squat, nadda. Ive cheched the position for the memory in the slots so it is running in dual mode. Ive tryed having only 1 stick installed in single mode. Im not sure where the problem can be as it all seems ok and I can only assume that the components, as they were all bought new, are in good working order.

Can anyone here give me advice relating to my problem or directions to a site which can ? All advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[silverwizard]

First 2 thoughts:
Do you have both power plugs firmly seated on the mobo?
350W psu seems a bit weak for that setup but it should still boot anyway.
Oh yeah, does the system go through the POST (power on self test, you know...where it checks memory etc)?

 

[Highlander2004]

Yea The MoBo LED is lit! So the MoBO Is obviously getting Power. When i push the power on button NOTHING happens. I hold it in for 10 secs, i click it and wait , ive even used the reset switch as the power switch just in case the switch was broken but still nothing.

 

[silverwizard]

OK, next question:
Is the video card completely seated in it's slot? I have seen computers act like this and turned out that the video card was maybe 1-2mm out of the slot. Also, make sure that all of your drive cables are in tight and are aligned correctly, especially the hard drive. I've seen the same symptoms from those connections as well.
I would also suggest checking all of the jumper settings against the manual again.

 

[Highlander2004]

Yea, Everything is in ok. Everything plugged in. Not sure about jumbers. Put the Moterhboard in the case as it came out of the retail box! Dosent seem to be any jumper configuration required reading the MB manual ! The Sata drive is a concern for me. First time installing a SATA. have a 4 pin power block connector and the slimline data plugged in. Is that all thats required as there are two more sockets available on the drive!

 

[khha4113]

You mobo might be short to ground (touching case' chassis). Take you mainboard out of the case, and put it on cardboard or something similar. Start it up with minimal components (mainboard, CPU, RAM and video card) to see if it can boot.

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

 

[silverwizard]

Haven't installed a SATA drive yet, will be in about 6 mos. when I build my new system.
According to what I see here> http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=98835&redir=1 < it looks to be pretty much the same as an IDE install, cables look different but I imagine that they are keyed so you can't put 'em in backwards and thaere's only 2 that I see in the photos. There's some good photos on that page that show how they go. Just click to enlarge.
Did you install the processor yourself?

 

[Crashman]

Disconnect all the drives from the board, if you still don't get any response the board is probably shorted to a spare standoff on the back side.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[silverwizard]

Please... explain what a "spare standoff" is and where, exactly, is the "backside".

 

[silverwizard]

Never mind Crashie! Just broke the code. A "spare standoff" = a misplaced standoff that doesn't line up with a mounting hole and in that context, "backside" can only mean the "underside" of the motherboard! I'd dope slap myself except that Sadie is already laughing at me (damn Border Collies, think they are SO smart!)
Yes, this could explain the problem. Can also be very, very bad news. At best, removing the errant standoff will fix the problem. At worst, the mobo is history.
How about it highlander? Did you smell ozone when you first tried to fire up the new system? I hope not.
At any rate, this is a very good guess from crashman. Check all of your standoffs and mounting holes. Make sure that they all match up and that there are no left over "spare" standoffs.
Good luck!

There are only two things which are infinite, the universe and the stupidity of people; and I am not all that certain about the universe.

 

[sparky853]

khha4113 and Crash both have good suggestions.

Take the motherboard out of the case, put it on cardboard, install RAM, Video Card, CPU, Keyboard, and try booting it up.

Also, you may want to try re-seating the CPU and HSF, just in case there is a problem with either. If the HSF is not working, the CPU will burn up very quickly.

XP2800+, Abit NF7, 1GB Dual-Channel DDR333, ATI R9800PRO 128MB, TT PurePower 420W, LG DVD+-R/RW
:redface: <font color=red>My wife says I suffer from premature ejaculation...I don't remember suffering<font color=red>