No Video - followed the guide, no dice.

[dumpyd]

So I recently built a new rig, and used the components from my last rig to build a new computer for my mother. Some of the parts are recycled, some are brand new.
The components are:

(recycled) 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo
(recycled) 550W power supply
(new) MSI micro ATX G41M4-F motherboard
(new) 4GB DDR2 Ram
And my old hard drive and GTX 470 Video Card

Now it was working for a while, long enough for me to load the new operating system on the hard drive and play with it for a bit. Then it suddenly blue screened, and whenever I went to power it back on, it would repeatedly shut down and continuously restart.

I solved the issue, as it appeared to be a short caused by one of the power/reset/hdd led wires weren't installed correctly, but now whenever I turn it back on, no video appears! I reseated everything and remade all of the connections several times. Everything fires up as it should - CPU/case fans, hard drive spins... just no video. I followed the tom's hardware guide for this sort of thing and have come up empty handed.

I know it's not the video card, as I tried my old 8800 as well. I also know it's not the RAM as I tried two different sets. And it's definitely not the monitor, as I'm using it right now. I've also tried resetting the CMOS.

I should also mention that I'm at a disadvantage because my mobo did not come with an internal speaker. I am unaware of any beep codes.

This problem has cursed me for weeks. The only thing I can think of is it could be one of three things:

The brand new Mobo I put in is dead already
The PSU has gone bad (despite everything seemingly powering up)
The CPU cooler. Upon installation, one of the pins that hold it in broke. Technically it's still in there, but it's not locked into place. I don't know if this could cause the problem I've mentioned or not.


Any ideas?

 

[Raiddinn]

CPU cooler - I think if this were the problem it would shut itself off pretty quickly. If the CPU cooler isn't on right then the processor should overheat and shut itself down.

If it is on good enough, it should work.

I am going to assume it isn't that.

How long does it take for the restart to happen?

Is it restarting after 1 second or after 20 seconds?

What is the maker and model of the old PSU?

 

[dumpyd]

The restarting issue is fixed. But ever since that went away, no video appears upon booting up.

The PSU is a Corsair CMPSU-550VX.

 

[Raiddinn]

Do you have another video card laying around?

If not then consider grabbing a cheap one for like $30 from a nearby store.

 

[dumpyd]

I know it's not the video card, as I tried my old 8800 as well.

^^^

 

[Raiddinn]

I guess I forgot that part.

How old is that recucled PSU?

 

[dumpyd]

Two years maybe. I know I had a PSU failure at one point with my last machine and had to replace it, so it can't be that old.

 

[Raiddinn]

What are the specs of your current PC?

 

[dumpyd]

Don't really know what that has to do with it, but here is the general run down (don't remember the specifics):

i5 2500k
2x 570
Asrock mobo
8 Gb Ram
1000W PSU
Couple of hard drives.

 

[Raiddinn]

Can you put that 1000w PSU into the mother's PC to see if hers would be fixed with it?

 

[dumpyd]

Will try. There's no potential for damage using such a large PSU in a PC with smaller requirements is there?

 

[jdenova007]

Can't you try the PSU from your PC to her PC?

I would guess the motherboard fried... you had issues since day one with it. Having it work then suddenly blue screen because a cable being installed the wrong way - Doesn't seem likely(or it fried the board). If the cable caused the problem it would have not worked properly in the first place.... ?

Can you try the video card in another PCI-e slot? Does it have onboard video?

I'm going with Mobo or Processor.... processor may have fried because of the heat sink thing, but unlikely....

 

[Raiddinn]

Not unless the large PSU goes out of spec on the low end of total draw (rare).

Even then probably not.

It would be awfully inefficient, but I haven't ever heard of damage from this sort of situation.

 

[dumpyd]

I tried the other power supply and the problem persists. It's safe to rule that out.

Is it safe to lean toward it being a mobo problem? Unfortunately there is only one PCI-e slot, so I can't test that.

 

[dokk2]

I think that what you need is an old pci video card so you can check the bios and look see what video [on board or discreet] it thinks that you are connected to, I just had a similar problem with a Gigabyte mobo, no video to discreet card because the beast was outputting to the on board,,and if you still get no video consider that the mobo might be at fault..

 

[dumpyd]

I think that what you need is an old pci video card so you can check the bios and look see what video [on board or discreet] it thinks that you are connected to, I just had a similar problem with a Gigabyte mobo, no video to discreet card because the beast was outputting to the on board,,and if you still get no video consider that the mobo might be at fault..

Would removing the video card and plugging into the onboard vga port have the same effect?

 

[Raiddinn]

If you have onboard video, then go ahead and plug the monitor into that, take the video card out, and try to start it.