Newly built system appears not to post

[cmysta]

Hi all!

I recently purchased the parts to build me first computer (that I built, not literally my first computer). I've assembled it correctly to the best of my knowledge. I turn it on and all fans spin, including cpu and graphics fan, my cd drive lights up and spins, and my hard drive appears to be running. I went through the troubleshooting guide posted here and everything appears in order. I have an 8pin power supply connected to my cpu, the main power connector inserted correctly, all LEDs correctly aligned, and all drives connected. I tried running with no memory or drives and it made no difference, other than my drives were clearly not running. I do not believe I have a dead mobo (though I could be wrong) because I can plus in my external usb harddrive and it powers up, and I plug in a usb keyboard and the backlight flickers (which I take to mean that usb keyboard use is disabled by default in the BIOS). I am wondering if this is the problem and is sad as it would be if this is the case I'd be thrilled if this was it. I have tried connecting via both HDMI and VGA into my tv to use as a monitor. Might this be the problem or something else? Heres my specs:

Gigabyte-P55-USB3 (rev 2.0)
Intel Core i5-760
Corsair DDR3 1600 (2x2gb)
Sapphire ATI Radeon 4670
Samsung Spinpoint 7200 RPM 500gb
Pioneer 118L DVD drive
Antec 900 case
Antec Earthwatts 650 power supply

Thanks in advance for any help! I'm really at a loss now and would really like to turn my overly expensive nightlight into something more useful.

 

[banthracis]

I this simply a case of no display then? Or do you actually see something on the screen when you boot.

Do you have a case speaker? Any beep codes?

 

[cmysta]

I see nothing on the screen when I boot. I hear no beeps, but there is no mobo speaker and no case speaker unless I missed something but I've triple checked everything so I dont think I would have missed that.

 

[banthracis]

If you're using a TV as monitor, are you sure the TV is set to accepting the right input? 4670 outputs as DVI or HDMI is I think in all (may vary a bit on OEM company). Not all TV's will accept a DVI signal.

I'd swap a known good GPU and use a DVI monitor as the first check.

 

[cmysta]

I haven't dealt with DVI before. I don't have another GPU at the moment unless I ask my roomate to disassemble his desktop (I only have a laptop) which I'd like to avoid. I can ask him to plug in to his monitor though I'm not sure if its DVI VGA or HDMI..

 

[nsquid]

i had this problem a few months ago. read the motherboard manual carefully, find the first memory slot, and put only one piece of memory in that slot. try booting.

 

[cmysta]

Tried that as well. Tried no memory, memory slot 1 only, and memory slot 2 only (thats the slot gigabyte support told me to try. Their whole response was largely unhelpful, hence why I came here 🙁

 

[nsquid]

hrm. i remember i had to borrow memory from another machine. the voltage wasn't right. might be hard to borrow DDR3 memory, i got lucky. i borrowed another stick, booted, changed the voltage settings in BIOS and then put the original memory back in.

then i went home and kissed my DDR2 towers, for never having given me this problem. it sounds pretty common.

what happened when you tried no memory? any beeps? try no memory and no GPU. try no cpu. find out when you get a beep.

 

[nsquid]

oh i see. no speaker. that's going to make things difficult.

 

[cmysta]

aye I wish I had one. I may have to consider getting one

 

[pcworm]

a funny problem in new builds is motherboard actually touching the surface of the mounting base on the case, try a table setup, with a rubberband or the mobos box under your mobo,you can turn the setup on by shorting the power on pins on your mobo using a normal screw driver

 

[rwpritchett]

You really need to get a speaker. Otherwise it's just guesswork.

Speaking of guesses, have you double-checked that you don't have any extra motherboard standoffs grounding out? Have you tried breadboarding the system yet?

 

[cmysta]

I have not breadboarded yet, that's the one thing I have left to try. I'll give that a go tonight.

In regards to the speaker does anybody know where I can get one in store rather than online? Radioshack BestBuy or Target maybe?

 

[pcworm]

look at this, i know it must be silly but your mobo speaker looks like this
http://www.google.com/search?q=motherboard+speaker&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US😱fficial&client=firefox-a
the picture in the firs result

 

[cmysta]

yeah my mobo definitely did not come with one 🙁 I can see the spot where one can go but I didn't receive one with my motherboard. back to e-shopping I suppose

 

[pcworm]

well actually, it is usually packaged with your case..
anyhow, try the table setup.. it usually helps

 

[cmysta]

yeah that's what i thought but Google has told me that the Antec 900 case does not come with one. go figure.

Sorry for rapid responses without results but I'm still at work haha

 

[cmysta]

Ok I tried breadboarding the system tonight. Same result. Powers on leds light up (on motherboard) fans spin but no display on my tv. I guess I will try and hijack my roommates monitor and see if that helps anything, and if not buy a system speaker online tomorrow unless anyone has any other suggestions? Thanks for the feedback thus far.

 

[nsquid]

listen to the fans. do they change speeds at all after a second or two? if they stay the same full speed and don't slow down after a second, then changing the monitor isn't going to do anything. if the system isn't posting then nothing is monitoring the fans.

 

[cmysta]

I listened to the fans, they seem to be constantly changing speeds over the course of about 40 seconds. I also tried hooking up to another tv via HDMI which yielded the same results.

 

[cmysta]

Just had another thought..Could it be that my video card is in the wrong slot? If I look top down theres 2 slots that fit my card, I went with the one closest to the bottom because it fit best with my case that way, but would trying the other slot help? I would feel stupid if that's the case but relieved anyway.

Note, still waiting for speaker to come, hoping its in mailbox when I get off of work.

 

[nsquid]

yes. yes it could. on that board, the bottom pie slot is a pciex4, the top is a pciex16. put it in the top slot and let us know what happens

 

[cmysta]

Ok I switched the slot of the video card, unfortunately it didn't solve anything. I put in a system speaker and am getting continuous short beeps, indicating power error. My 24-pin and 8-pin power supplies are both in correctly. Any suggestions? :x

 

[nsquid]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/291067-31-power-error-gigabyte-usb3

good news: you're not alone

if you can get in touch with gigabyte and tell them your problem and that you've seen this problem listed other places online with the same board, they should at least replace your board for you.

 

[cmysta]

So funny story...except not really. But I'm hoping it becomes one. I RMAd with superbiiz, got my replacement motherboard. I'm still getting the power error beep codes. All my fans run and the phase leds light up just like before. I'm at a complete loss. Haven't straight up breadboarded yet (really getting quite flustered) But tried without ram and fans to see if that makes a difference. Is it worth buying a psu tester or should I just try and get another RMA. Between Shipping and a psu tester (if I get one) it will almost have been more worth my time to just buy a new motherboard from newegg