No display when attempting first boot of Asus motherboard on new build.

[adyj]

Power button and reset buttons work, lights and fans (including CPU air cooler fan) come on. But no display on monitor. So assume not booting.

Suspecting rear panel port misalignment. Had trouble fitting this board due to blocked view of rear shield openings and getting all those grounding straps / tabs to clear connectors. Holes not now perfectly aligned, most noticeable looking at audio connectors which seem too far to left looking from rear. Seems board would need to be brought forward (or up if case laid on its side) to centre connectors with openings. DVI connector touches this rear panel! Can this cause a 'no-boot'? Or could this be CPU?

I have tried using both the on-board graphics and graphics card, no display from either. DVI cable still works on old PC.

M/b is the Asus Prime A370-A m/b with Intel i7 8700K cpu in a Corsair Obsidian case. Nine standoffs were already pre-installed, one being a centre placement pin or bolt for centre hole of motherboard which I haven't seen before, so could only use 8 of the 9 screws supplied by Asus.

Corsair PSU 750W / 2x 16GB sticks of Corsair memory correctly installed along with Samsung 960 EVO M.2 SSD. No other SSD, HDD or optical drive yet installed. Cooler is the Coolmaster 212 Evo. Currenly only two (3-pin) case fans connected up to board. All cabling checked and properly installed.

This is only my second build in 8 years so by no means an enthusiast.

Any pointers most appreciated.

 

[alexoiu]

Try testing the board outside the case, only CPU, CPU cooler and single RAM installed. Test each RAM slot.

 

[adyj]

Thanks, though advice I was dreading! How do I do this, more to the point what should I lay it on? Box, anti-staic bag, wooden desk top?

 

[electro_neanderthal]

Lay it on any non-conductive surface like wood, non-glossy paper or cardboard (anti-static bags are only anti-static on the inside, they do this by conducting static on the outside... so it's not good to lay the motherboard on it).

Also, the rear shield should match the motherboard if the case supports its format. In any case, you should never install standoffs that don't line up with the mounting holes on the motherboard. Also, what do you mean by "grounding straps/tabs"? I've never heard of needing to install "straps/tabs" of any kind in any case. Just use the screws and standoffs that came with the case, removing any that don't line up with the motherboard mounting holes.

Did you get the wrong I/O shield? Check to make sure it matches what's supposed to come with the motherboard.

 

[alexoiu]

Thanks, though advice I was dreading! How do I do this, more to the point what should I lay it on? Box, anti-staic bag, wooden desk top?

No problem. At hand would be the board's box.

 

[adyj]

Lay it on any non-conductive surface like wood, non-glossy paper or cardboard (anti-static bags are only anti-static on the inside, they do this by conducting static on the outside... so it's not good to lay the motherboard on it).

Also, the rear shield should match the motherboard if the case supports its format. In any case, you should never install standoffs that don't line up with the mounting holes on the motherboard. Also, what do you mean by "grounding straps/tabs"? I've never heard of needing to install "straps/tabs" of any kind in any case. Just use the screws and standoffs that came with the case, removing any that don't line up with the motherboard mounting holes.

Did you get the wrong I/O shield? Check to make sure it matches what's supposed to come with the motherboard.

Thanks for the advice on surface to use.

The I/O shield is the one that came with Asus Prime Z370-A. The standoffs, though already fitted in the case, matched precisely the motherboard holes. No standoff wasn't used but one board screw wasn't needed because of Corsair's mounting or 'placeholder' occupying the centre board standoff hole.

The 'grounding straps' or 'tabs' (heard them referred to as either) are the bendy metal peices that stick out from the I/O shield. You can bend these in as need be but they are apparently supposed to touch the outer casing of the relevant ports. Only the DVI, HDMI and Display ports had these on mine (presumably acting to reduce noise/inteferance) but the HDMI and display port ones kept catching on the connectors as I slipped the board into place the first couple of attempts.

Thanks agian.

 

[adyj]

Thanks, though advice I was dreading! How do I do this, more to the point what should I lay it on? Box, anti-staic bag, wooden desk top?

No problem. At hand would be the board's box.

Seems best choice. Thank you.

So...

Connected m/b outside case, resting on it's box. Plugged into monitor using the DVD cable. My monitor doesn't have HDMI. Switched on PSU, m/b's LEDs displayed. Hit power and CPU fan started. Still no display though. Gave it a minute but nothing.

 

[electro_neanderthal]

Lay it on any non-conductive surface like wood, non-glossy paper or cardboard (anti-static bags are only anti-static on the inside, they do this by conducting static on the outside... so it's not good to lay the motherboard on it).

Also, the rear shield should match the motherboard if the case supports its format. In any case, you should never install standoffs that don't line up with the mounting holes on the motherboard. Also, what do you mean by "grounding straps/tabs"? I've never heard of needing to install "straps/tabs" of any kind in any case. Just use the screws and standoffs that came with the case, removing any that don't line up with the motherboard mounting holes.

Did you get the wrong I/O shield? Check to make sure it matches what's supposed to come with the motherboard.

Thanks for the advice on surface to use.

The I/O shield is the one that came with Asus Prime Z370-A. The standoffs, though already fitted in the case, matched precisely the motherboard holes. No standoff wasn't used but one board screw wasn't needed because of Corsair's mounting or 'placeholder' occupying the centre board standoff hole.

The 'grounding straps' or 'tabs' (heard them referred to as either) are the bendy metal peices that stick out from the I/O shield. You can bend these in as need be but they are apparently supposed to touch the outer casing of the relevant ports. Only the DVI, HDMI and Display ports had these on mine (presumably acting to reduce noise/inteferance) but the HDMI and display port ones kept catching on the connectors as I slipped the board into place the first couple of attempts.

Thanks agian.

Oh, so that's what you meant (I thought you were installing some sort of extra grounding on the motherboard mounts, silly me)! Yeah, that's perfectly normal then. The I/O tabs' purpose is to ground the ports directly to the case, to further protect them from electrical damage.

Fun story: my "full ATX" motherboard was shaved down to save on production cost and as a result the I/O tabs had to be bent in a lot, not to mention the mounting holes on the very right don't actually match any standard, so I just don't use them (had to use my hand to support the board when I installed the extra RAM). No issues with it after almost 5 years, so I guess the extra grounding for my board is redundant

 

[adyj]

Lay it on any non-conductive surface like wood, non-glossy paper or cardboard (anti-static bags are only anti-static on the inside, they do this by conducting static on the outside... so it's not good to lay the motherboard on it).

Also, the rear shield should match the motherboard if the case supports its format. In any case, you should never install standoffs that don't line up with the mounting holes on the motherboard. Also, what do you mean by "grounding straps/tabs"? I've never heard of needing to install "straps/tabs" of any kind in any case. Just use the screws and standoffs that came with the case, removing any that don't line up with the motherboard mounting holes.

Did you get the wrong I/O shield? Check to make sure it matches what's supposed to come with the motherboard.

Thanks for the advice on surface to use.

The I/O shield is the one that came with Asus Prime Z370-A. The standoffs, though already fitted in the case, matched precisely the motherboard holes. No standoff wasn't used but one board screw wasn't needed because of Corsair's mounting or 'placeholder' occupying the centre board standoff hole.

The 'grounding straps' or 'tabs' (heard them referred to as either) are the bendy metal peices that stick out from the I/O shield. You can bend these in as need be but they are apparently supposed to touch the outer casing of the relevant ports. Only the DVI, HDMI and Display ports had these on mine (presumably acting to reduce noise/inteferance) but the HDMI and display port ones kept catching on the connectors as I slipped the board into place the first couple of attempts.

Thanks agian.

Oh, so that's what you meant (I thought you were installing some sort of extra grounding on the motherboard mounts, silly me)! Yeah, that's perfectly normal then. The I/O tabs' purpose is to ground the ports directly to the case, to further protect them from electrical damage.

Fun story: my "full ATX" motherboard was shaved down to save on production cost and as a result the I/O tabs had to be bent in a lot, not to mention the mounting holes on the very right don't actually match any standard, so I just don't use them (had to use my hand to support the board when I installed the extra RAM). No issues with it after almost 5 years, so I guess the extra grounding for my board is redundant

You're braver than me! I guess these things may be more durable/resistent than we expect. Though in my case, board still not booting out of case so not sure what to try next :/

 

[Chicano]

You're braver than me! I guess these things may be more durable/resistent than we expect. Though in my case, board still not booting out of case so not sure what to try next :/

Try next resetting the BIOS on non-booting new builds it's the first thing to try... from so many such cases that I've answered to, seems that more recent BIOS software has become more vulnerable to corruption... especially if you start the computer before finishing the build but not necessarily. So resetting the BIOS should be next if every component is new and apparently working.

 

[adyj]

Solved! Only by having board out of case could I see ...

... that a memory module was not seated properly on one side.

These memory sticks used to have clips both ends, this board only has one clip so - since I installed memory after fitting board in case - couldn't tell one end was not quite in, though from above both looked fine and felt tight. Okay, no excuse really. Was so sure they were good to go so didn't re-check.

Thanks for help guys. Wouldn't have tried board out of case without alexoiu suggesting this. Cheers

 

[alexoiu]

All the best!

 

[JCMLuquet]

The same thing happened to me, and this post saved me two years later, thanks.

Solved! Only by having board out of case could I see ...

... that a memory module was not seated properly on one side.

These memory sticks used to have clips both ends, this board only has one clip so - since I installed memory after fitting board in case - couldn't tell one end was not quite in, though from above both looked fine and felt tight. Okay, no excuse really. Was so sure they were good to go so didn't re-check.

Thanks for help guys. Wouldn't have tried board out of case without alexoiu suggesting this. Cheers