[SilusBotwin]

So I already posted a thread a few days ago explaining the components of my build. I was asking if anyone knew of any hardware incompatibilities before I sterted my build. I ordered a used case/mobo/vid card from ebay and the rest of the required hardwar I bought from a microcenter by my house. heres my first post:

***Original message***
"Hi everyone this my very first post in these forums. Nice to meet such a friendly helpful group.

Well let me cut to the chase. I bought a slew of pc components to build my first somewhat hi tech system. I've built numerous P3, P4 and even P2 machines and have had little to no problems with any of my builds. All components are as follows:



Mother Board: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

CPU: E5200 Dual Core 2.50 GHz
Core 45nm
Socket LGA775
2 MB L2 cache

System Memory: OCZ Vista Performance 4GB Kit (2 x2 GB Modules) DDR2-800 (pc-6400) Plan to buy another matching kit to max out at 8 GB DDR2

Hard Disk Drive: Western Digital Caviar 500 GB / SATA / 7200 RPM / 16 MB Cache

Power Supply: Cool Max CU-500B 500 Watt ATX (4) Molex 4-pin Connectors; (1) Floppy 4-pin Connector; (4) Serial ATA Connectors

Primary Optical Drive: Samsung DVD-+RW Double Layer Burner with 2 MB Buffer

Secondary Optical: EIDE DVD-R RW (piece of crap)

Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel (Mid Tower Case)

Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce 7950 GT 512 MB DDR3 pci express x16

Operating System: Im currently on the edge of the fence as to whether I should run Vista Ultimate 64 bit or Windows 7 64 bit Release Candidate.

Ok now to sum it up I'm wanting to make sure all these components are compatible to build a machine with them. Of course I have extra SATA and IDE cables handy.

Any advice I can get about the compatibility of these components would be well appreciated (i.e. will I run into any problems running the secondary IDE optical burner since I already have a SATA optical. Will any of these components cause problems for othe components?) I have absolutely NO plans of overclocking even though I've heard the E5200 is an overclockers dream.

I would also appreciate any advice about which OS to go with. Im not exactly a Vista fan, but I hear the RC of windows 7 runs XP programs as if they were running in Windows 7

Thanks in advance,
Silus Botwin"
***Original message***

Tyree responded telling me I should have went with a better power supply. I think he cursed me.

Today I received the hardware I ordered from ebay needed to get building. After assembling everything I tried to power up the pc and my screen was getting a no signal error and the keyboard lights do nothing. The keyboard lights would flash for a split second when I plug in the power cord but they will not do anything else after I try to turn it on. All fans are working fine, the DVD tray opens and closes but I get no beeps from the case speaker. I tried to strip down to CPU, power supply, ram, vid card, keyboard and still same thing. I eliminated each device one by one, tried clearing CMOS and it still wont help. I've tried everything I can think of. I'm hoping one of you will have some sort of suggestion for me. I'm thinking power supply. If I cant' figure it out by tomorrow night I'm taking it to micro center to have them test everything. fingers crossed it's the power supply.

p.s. Tyree I don't really think you cursed me lol

 

[makinu1der2]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

Hello Silus

Try to bench-test the system to see if it will post outside the case.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f255/how-to-bench-test-your-system-171424.html

 

[SilusBotwin]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

Ok so I just followed your instructions for bench testing. I took the mother board out and had only 1 stick of ram that is tested and working, the cpu/heat sink which is an intel E5200, and the power supply. I also decided to try a pc monitor instead of my LCD tv.

When I hit the power button on my case it did the same as before. First the video card fan turns on. then a couple seconds later the CPU fan turns on. Only this time I noticed every time I hit the power on switch on the case the monitor gets some type of signal. The light turns from yellow to green and the monitor comes on. It doesn't POST though. It just shows screen that is embedded into the monitor's menu system that shows the H and V refresh rates and says "Are your pc display settings correct?" and after a few seconds the monitor goes back to sleep mode.

I'm guessing this boils down to the power supply being bad. I have access to a voltmeter I just dont know how to test a power supply (what settings to use, what connecttions to test, what numbers I should be getting for readings).

So if the mother board IS fried, would the video card and CPU fans kick on or would they not do anything? I was a bit rough around the socket area of the mobo after I installed the heat sink, one of the pegs that hold it in place got stuck. I had to use a bit of force to remove it and was sorta rough on the mobo. I'm wondering if I somehow damaged the mobo during the build.

 

[SilusBotwin]

Also I reset CMOS already and it doesn't help. And I don't think this particular model mother board has any LED lights on it. I didn't see any lit anyway.

 

[Tumbleweed36]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

Testing a power supply with a Multimeter:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f210/test-your-power-supply-with-a-multi-meter-151526.html

Are you CERTAIN that you have the CPU/Heatsink snapped down in there and very tight?

Addendum: I would be remiss in my duty if I didn't mention to you that the power supply you have chosen is really a piece of junk to start with.

 

[dai]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

you were advised throughout the thread about the psu being of low quality and underpowered for the system

 

[SilusBotwin]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

lol I should have followed everyones advice about the PSU. I have a multimeter now and I'm going to test the PSU after this post. The good thing is that I still have the PSU reciept so if it's dead I can take it back, add another 30-40 bucks on top of the refund and buy a quality 60-80 dollar supply Ok Im off to test my PSU with this meter. Ill post the results for you all

 

[SilusBotwin]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

Well the PSU passes all voltage tests fine but the mother board open circuits tests are failing. I don't know if it's because I'm not testing correctly ( it says connect 1 probe to chassis and the other to the atx harness. Does the psu need to be mounted and plugged in for these tests? If not then it's my mobo.

 

[Beeroxin]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

reset ur mobo/bios manually unplug the computer and pull out the lil button cell batter in the mobo let it drain any residual juice before putting the battery back in and plugging the computer in and try to reboot this usually works for me when i cant get a signal or any response whatsoever

 

[SilusBotwin]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

reset ur mobo/bios manually unplug the computer and pull out the lil button cell batter in the mobo let it drain any residual juice before putting the battery back in and plugging the computer in and try to reboot this usually works for me when i cant get a signal or any response whatsoever

I've already done all this. The thing is my mobo came with beta bios. The CPU I'm using isnt supported under this beta bios. I actually need to UPGRADE not restore to default. I need to know how to upgrade my bios to a different version. This is a quote taken from another thread of some advice someone gave me:

"Looks like it needs the F14D Bios to support the E5200 I believe that is a Beta Bios so the board may not have that version on it."

http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Motherboard/CPUSupport_List.aspx?ProductID=2456 is the link to the chart of CPU's supported by my mobo. It says I need F14d bios to be able to support the E5200 dual core CPU.

Is there any way to tell which bios came with my mobo without being able to get into bios?. And also could someone point me in the right direction to some literature I can read to learn how to manually upgrade the bios with just the mobo?

 

[dai]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

you will need to put in a cpu the m/b supports

flash the bios

instructions on how will be in your manual

then change the cpu's over

 

[SilusBotwin]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

i thought so. Thanks dai

 

[SilusBotwin]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

So I did get everything up and running and it's bitchin! Turns out the BIOS issue was right. The mobo had bios F10 on it and the cpu I used needed F14D. Thanks alot for all your help!

 

[dai]

Re: New build won't POST or display anything. Help?

glad you have it sorted