Trouble with newly built PC

Thebassm0lester · 01-20-2009, 11:05 AM

I recently bought parts off of tigerdirect.com and newegg.com. Here are the parts,

Intel i7 920 2.66Ghz
WD Caviar Black 640gb 7200 Sata HD
OCZ Gamexstream 700w
Intel DX58SO motherboard
3 (1 gig sticks) gigs of OCZ platinum ddr3 ram
EVGA GTX 280
Ultra M923 ATX case
SAMSUNG 2233bw 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor

I put all the parts together and when I tried to boot it up all of the fans came on including the video card fan and psu fan, but the monitor said it had no signal. The motherboard lights up, including a blue LED that is labeled HDD led. This HDD led on the motherboard comes on but randomly turns off and back on again. I tried assembling the motherboard outside of the case and when it powered up the monitor did get a signal. It said media test failure enter boot disk. I thought this was progress so I tried inserting it back into the case. After trying the boot again, no signal, no BIOS beeps. The board does have an onboard speaker because I tried booting without ram and got the three long low beeps. I reset with just one ram in and unplugged the case fans. This time it booted back up with the media test failure on the screen. I shut it down and tried to see if I could reproduce the results but I cannot. I have the 24 pin into the motherboard along with the 4x2. The monitor sometimes displays a no signal message, while other time the blue power light flashes with a black screen. When I have my keyboard and mouse plugged in the lights come on and off, often along with the HDD blue led light on the motherboard. Could this be a psu problem? Thank you for any help because I would like to return parts before the return policy runs out.

Thebassm0lester · 01-20-2009, 12:11 PM

I would like to send parts back if they are not working, but I would like to find out which ones are defective if I can. I can't just send it all back and get my money back and start over. I can just send back defective parts. Any direction to what part could be bad would be helpful.

mattcart · 01-20-2009, 01:39 PM

Computers are like people, one small problem can affect other areas.
Are you sure that the jumpers are correctly configured? Are the 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors on your video card properly plugged in to the motherboard/power supply?
Is the video card properly seated into it's slot? Is your RAM seated in the 1 2 and 3 ram slots or the 2 3 and 4?
With the whole thing where you'd get the media test failure with 1 stick of ram and not 3, then it could be 1 bad stick of ram.
If the power is flickering it could be a bad motherboard. If the processor was bad you'd know it - would not turn on at all.

What I would do is take everything apart. Start from scratch, because it really, REALLY shouldn't matter whether or not your motherboard is actually inside the case. If it starts outside, then there should be no problems with it starting while inside the case.
Redo the jumpers. Oh, and if you're not doing this in a computer friendly environment(anti-static mat, no carpet, dry, etc) then you could have given it a shock and not known it.

**wrench97** · 01-20-2009, 02:22 PM

Pull it back out of the case it sounds like you are shorting the motherboard to the case either by having a missplaced stand off or one of those cases with little bumps instead of stand offs, anyway out of the case 1 stick of ram no drives, clear the CMOS and boot and enter the BIOS if you can enter the Bios then turn off hook up the DVD drive and see if it will boot to the windows DVD, Then turn off hook up the hard drive and see if it will load windows.

Thebassm0lester · 01-20-2009, 08:02 PM

I just got back from bringing the computer to a family friend who knows a lot about computers. He couldn't find anything wrong with how I had it set up, but he did find that the OCZ Platinum ram i was using was 1.65 volts while the motherboard said it uses 1.5 volt ram. After changing the ram around in different places several of the 3 long tone memory failure beeps were sounded on start up. I am sending the ram back and orded new OCZ ram that is 1.5 volts. I hope this will fix the problem. Thanks for the suggestions, I am learning a lot about how computers work and trouble shooting.

Thebassm0lester · 01-23-2009, 10:22 AM

OK I'm still having trouble. I recently bought new 1.5v volt OCZ 2x3 gig 1333 ram. Now when I boot my computer after a 10 second pause there are three long beeps. If I place the ram in any combination of 2 or 1 in any of the slots I get this. If all three ram are in the board then there are no beeps and the computer keeps attempting to start (keyboard and usb lights turn on then off again and again). I don't know if this is still a memory problem or maybe my board is fried. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

**wrench97** · 01-23-2009, 01:01 PM

Pull it apart and do a bench test> How to Bench Test Your System

Thebassm0lester · 01-23-2009, 11:56 PM

Ok I finally got the computer to start after moving the bois jumper. The computer runs and my windows xp is installed. But when the computer turns on it beeps 15 high short beeps. Everything seems to be running fine though. I can't find anything about these beeps. What do they mean?

**wrench97** · 01-24-2009, 01:49 AM

What brand bios is on it?
http://bioscentral.com/

dai · 01-24-2009, 01:52 AM

you don't have enough power to run a 280gtx

itendo · 02-04-2009, 11:31 AM

as an aside, the Memory Voltage has a variance from 1.5-2.5V ( per the mobo OC review ). the RAM you bought initially shouldn't have had any impact

01-20-2009, 11:05 AM	#1 (permalink)
Thebassm0lester Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Xp	Trouble with newly built PC I recently bought parts off of tigerdirect.com and newegg.com. Here are the parts, Intel i7 920 2.66Ghz WD Caviar Black 640gb 7200 Sata HD OCZ Gamexstream 700w Intel DX58SO motherboard 3 (1 gig sticks) gigs of OCZ platinum ddr3 ram EVGA GTX 280 Ultra M923 ATX case SAMSUNG 2233bw 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor I put all the parts together and when I tried to boot it up all of the fans came on including the video card fan and psu fan, but the monitor said it had no signal. The motherboard lights up, including a blue LED that is labeled HDD led. This HDD led on the motherboard comes on but randomly turns off and back on again. I tried assembling the motherboard outside of the case and when it powered up the monitor did get a signal. It said media test failure enter boot disk. I thought this was progress so I tried inserting it back into the case. After trying the boot again, no signal, no BIOS beeps. The board does have an onboard speaker because I tried booting without ram and got the three long low beeps. I reset with just one ram in and unplugged the case fans. This time it booted back up with the media test failure on the screen. I shut it down and tried to see if I could reproduce the results but I cannot. I have the 24 pin into the motherboard along with the 4x2. The monitor sometimes displays a no signal message, while other time the blue power light flashes with a black screen. When I have my keyboard and mouse plugged in the lights come on and off, often along with the HDD blue led light on the motherboard. Could this be a psu problem? Thank you for any help because I would like to return parts before the return policy runs out.

01-20-2009, 12:11 PM	#2 (permalink)
Thebassm0lester Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Xp	Re: Trouble with newly built PC I would like to send parts back if they are not working, but I would like to find out which ones are defective if I can. I can't just send it all back and get my money back and start over. I can just send back defective parts. Any direction to what part could be bad would be helpful.

01-20-2009, 01:39 PM	#3 (permalink)
mattcart Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Indiana Posts: 31 OS: xp sp3	Re: Trouble with newly built PC Computers are like people, one small problem can affect other areas. Are you sure that the jumpers are correctly configured? Are the 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors on your video card properly plugged in to the motherboard/power supply? Is the video card properly seated into it's slot? Is your RAM seated in the 1 2 and 3 ram slots or the 2 3 and 4? With the whole thing where you'd get the media test failure with 1 stick of ram and not 3, then it could be 1 bad stick of ram. If the power is flickering it could be a bad motherboard. If the processor was bad you'd know it - would not turn on at all. What I would do is take everything apart. Start from scratch, because it really, REALLY shouldn't matter whether or not your motherboard is actually inside the case. If it starts outside, then there should be no problems with it starting while inside the case. Redo the jumpers. Oh, and if you're not doing this in a computer friendly environment(anti-static mat, no carpet, dry, etc) then you could have given it a shock and not known it. Last edited by mattcart; 01-20-2009 at 01:43 PM.

01-20-2009, 02:22 PM	#4 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,578 OS: Win7	Re: Trouble with newly built PC Pull it back out of the case it sounds like you are shorting the motherboard to the case either by having a missplaced stand off or one of those cases with little bumps instead of stand offs, anyway out of the case 1 stick of ram no drives, clear the CMOS and boot and enter the BIOS if you can enter the Bios then turn off hook up the DVD drive and see if it will boot to the windows DVD, Then turn off hook up the hard drive and see if it will load windows. __________________ Power Supply and Selection

01-20-2009, 08:02 PM	#5 (permalink)
Thebassm0lester Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Xp	Re: Trouble with newly built PC I just got back from bringing the computer to a family friend who knows a lot about computers. He couldn't find anything wrong with how I had it set up, but he did find that the OCZ Platinum ram i was using was 1.65 volts while the motherboard said it uses 1.5 volt ram. After changing the ram around in different places several of the 3 long tone memory failure beeps were sounded on start up. I am sending the ram back and orded new OCZ ram that is 1.5 volts. I hope this will fix the problem. Thanks for the suggestions, I am learning a lot about how computers work and trouble shooting.

01-23-2009, 10:22 AM	#6 (permalink)
Thebassm0lester Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Xp	Re: Trouble with newly built PC OK I'm still having trouble. I recently bought new 1.5v volt OCZ 2x3 gig 1333 ram. Now when I boot my computer after a 10 second pause there are three long beeps. If I place the ram in any combination of 2 or 1 in any of the slots I get this. If all three ram are in the board then there are no beeps and the computer keeps attempting to start (keyboard and usb lights turn on then off again and again). I don't know if this is still a memory problem or maybe my board is fried. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

01-23-2009, 01:01 PM	#7 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,578 OS: Win7	Re: Trouble with newly built PC Pull it apart and do a bench test> How to Bench Test Your System __________________ Power Supply and Selection

01-23-2009, 11:56 PM	#8 (permalink)
Thebassm0lester Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Xp	Re: Trouble with newly built PC Ok I finally got the computer to start after moving the bois jumper. The computer runs and my windows xp is installed. But when the computer turns on it beeps 15 high short beeps. Everything seems to be running fine though. I can't find anything about these beeps. What do they mean?

01-24-2009, 01:49 AM	#9 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,578 OS: Win7	Re: Trouble with newly built PC What brand bios is on it? http://bioscentral.com/ __________________ Power Supply and Selection

01-24-2009, 01:52 AM	#10 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,609 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Trouble with newly built PC you don't have enough power to run a 280gtx __________________

02-04-2009, 11:31 AM	#11 (permalink)
itendo Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: columbus ohio Posts: 49 OS: vista 64 sp1 My System	Re: Trouble with newly built PC as an aside, the Memory Voltage has a variance from 1.5-2.5V ( per the mobo OC review ). the RAM you bought initially shouldn't have had any impact