New Machine

[superred]

Heres a frustrating one for me:

Just built a new Pentium 4 1.8Ghz system with the following components:

Intel P4 chip
Liteon na380 socket478 motherboard
ATI Radeon 64mb 7500 AGP Graphics card
256mb PC2100 DDR (1)
New 400w power supply including extra 12v power connector for p4 support.

The problem is having built the machine I am unable to get through to the graphic display stage.
The machine powers on fine and the lights work, the hard drive ticks over but then the machine stays on without displaying any graphics on the screen.
I have already tried the following:

1)Different IDE cables
2)Reseating the memory in each of the available 3 slots
3)Reseating the CPU
4)Made sure the graphics card is seated flush

If it was either the CPU or the memory surely the machine would beep to let me know?
My graphics card works as it has just come out of another machine.

The manual itself is very vague and does not really suggest any work arounds or FAQ'S

Anyone have any ideas?
Driving me mad

 

[Bozz]

Some motherboards need 4xAGP and won't work with 2xAGP cards.

Have you set the CMOS jumper?

Take out everything you don't need, cards, cables then try. Ian Boys
DTE Systems Ltd

 

[paparazi]

You are on the right lines, take out and refit the graphics card and remove and refit the main power connector (I have had several with similar symptoms to yours where this has rectified a non post)
And of course the most unreliable component is memory.
But it could also be PCI card, CDrom or even the HD preventing post, as is said so often on this site go back to bare bones (graphics, memory, CPU, heatsink/fan, just connect the main power leads and pull off all the front panel header wires) start by momentarily bridging power connector contacts.
If it doesn't post now you have fewer components to diagnose and swop out.
Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[superred]

Quick responses guys...cheers
My Motherboard is 2x / 4x AGP compatible
I have tried clearing CMOS too
I will try the barebones approach and see what happens
I am starting to wonder whether thae DDR ram is not the correct type.
It states that it is PC2100, is this 266Mhz in all cases?

 

[Bozz]

PC2100 should be OK even is it takes the 333 stuff. If you have a good friend you could borrow a konwn working DDR stick. Ian Boys
DTE Systems Ltd

 

[superred]

Tried the barebones approach..no joy.
Tried using a different PC100 DDR from work, still no joy.
I think we can discount the RAM being the problem.
My graphics card works and I have put this into another machine..works fine.
I have tried resetting CMOS again..no joy.
The board is supposed to beep is it not during POST?
My board will beep if I remove the memory.
It will not beep if I remove the graphics card completely.
It always powers on and the CPU fan starts spinning as it should.
Is there any possibility that the processor could be faulty?? I would have thought not as the machine boots up and lights appear and the hard disk ticks over.

 

[ceh4702]

Usually this indicates a bad motherboard or a motherboard that is grounding out to the case.

The grounding issue is a quite common mistake. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[theITman]

Your card may be fine. Have you verified that the monitor still works. Try another monitor.

 

[superred]

How is this grounding issue overcome?

 

[superred]

The monitor works on another machine using the same ATI Radeon 7500 AGP card.
I have just replaced the motherboard with another exactly the same, still the same problem.
The motherboard is AGP 2x /4x compliant and the card is 2x
The DDR Ram is 256 PC2100 266Mhz (brand new)
I have even tried other DDR RAM on the motherboard too.
Could this be processor???? Any possibility at all??
This seems to be the only thing left to check.
I always thought that the memory, CPU, Graphics beep when problems are detected??

 

[Bozz]

I have had a dead CPU in the past, obviously it happens. For me life's easy as I usually have at least an old Duron laying around that I can try but most don't have this luxury. There does not really seem to be any other option but the CPU. As for the bleep, try without the CPU in. Ian Boys
DTE Systems Ltd

 

[nizeguy]

Try putting the memory in another slot. Been through lots of cases where the machine worked just by putting the memory in another slot.

 

[superred]

Tried that too..no joy there either.
Can the machine boot up at all without the CPU?

 

[CitrixEngineer]

No - the machine cannot boot up without the CPU. If the behaviour is identical, then it would appear that the CPU is dead.

If you can borrow a CPU this would make proving this theory easier. If your CPU works in another machine, it may be the motherboard that is not working;

You say the hard drives spin up; that is because they receive power directly from the PSU, which is obviously working. You don't say whether you've double-checked the PSU connections to the motherboard...

Quick troubleshooting (only to prove the rationale of the above statements);

1. Strip the machine down to motherboard, CPU, PSU, graphics card and single RAM stick - connect only important cables, such as power on switch, CPU fan, etc. Ensure all connections are good.

Is there video output?

If the screen remains resolutely blank, then somehow a signal is not getting to the graphics card, which means CPU or motherboard. Since the motherboard cannot operate at all without the CPUs intervention (it needs to check the BIOS and POST), the choice is between these two.

My money's on the CPU

CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[superred]

I turn on the power which gets to the board, no bleeps are heard at all.
The motherboard I have already swapped...same thing
I will bring my CPU into work and try it on a machine here.

Yes you are right when you say that power is going directly to the hard drives from the PSU.
The power connections to the board are solid and pressed right down.

1) I have already done this option too and unfortunately no video output.

I am fairly resigned to the CPU being faulty too...all will be revealed tomorrow though

 

[oldbear]

Some last second thoughts...have you tried making sure the cmos jumper is in the normal position instead of clear cmos...have you tried the basic approach with the motherboard out of the case with just the video card and memory and keyboard plugged up. You will have to momentarily short the power on pins on the motherboard....the ones that connect to the power switch on the front of the case..if this makes you uneasy then see if the little cable will reach the motherboard even though it is out of the case. This basic outfit with just the motherboard, known working video card and known working memory and hopefully a known working cpu will help eliminate a lot of problems...like grounding...make sure you use a non- conducting surface to place the motherboard. I like to go to the basics when I havce a boot problem...lets me see hat may be the problem ...One other [possibility...are you sure you have the FSB set up properly for the CPU? I have had an occasion where I tried using a 266 MHz FSB CPU on a motherboard that was jumper settable to 266 MHz but the board would not come on...When I set the Jumpers to 200 MHz, the board would boot leaving me to think that a bios flash was needed or just live with the inability of the hardware to run at a higher rate. Make sure your settings in the motherboard manual are correct. one little jumper is all you need to prevent you from booting.

 

[Comtech]

This may seem totally stupid, but are you positive you have all 3 ATX connectors connected from the PSU to the motherboard? Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[superred]

To my knowledge there are only 2 connectors going to the board, one large ATX connector and the addtional 12v smaller connection.
The only other one I can see is the optional AT connector.

Oldbear - I have tried connecting just the graphics, memory, processor to the board outside of the case and stretched the power switch from inside the case to thew motherboard lying outside, I did not connect the keyboard at the same time though!!
The CMOS jumper is in normal position.

The CPU is an Intel P4 (skt478) 256 / 400 / 1.75v
The motherboard only has jumpers for:

1)CMOS
2)Audio
3)Protect BIOS

The other configurations I believe are settable once you enter the BIOS.

For reference the board is a "Liteon na-378 skt478 400/533 FSB

 

[oldbear]

one last thought...I remember having a motherboard where the pins of the chips on it touched on the other side causing it to short out and not boot. check to see if you have any cut traces ..a screwdriver can make a board useless with one cut trace ...or a shorting of pins....had another instance where a screw got lodged under it. that didn't help matters ...may be you have a defective board too

 

[moggy44]

I have just had a similar problem with a machine I just upgraded, the unit was a Packard Bell with on-board graphics and wanted better graphics so put PCI card in and when booted nothing on screen ???? just a minute is the on-board graphics still enabled in Bios , the answer was yes, as soon as I disabled a-presto it was OK.
Had to use PCI graphics card as the crappy machine didn't have an AGP slot.

Try that.

Regards John.M