Two new systems - Both without video.

[THRiLL KiLL]

lol.

the jumper for the bios.. what postion is it in?

try changing it.

 

[Jayce]

I changed all the jumpers that were on the board, which were only 2 sets of jumpers. Nothing worked.

Overall, we have established the following:

HP PSU works in HP computer and spare computer.
Antec PSU works in HP computer and spare computer.
Coolmax PSU #1 works in HP computer and spare computer.
Coolmax PSU #2 works in HP computer and spare computer.

All four PSU's power on the 2 rigs I just built, meaning the fans spin, LEDs turn on, etc, but the system never beeps a single time from a POST and never gives me any video output.

I've swapped the processors between the systems.
I've swapped the power supplies between the systems.
I've swapped out RAM between both systems, using 1 stick at a time individually.

I just don't know what to do.

Someone in an IRC chat was really sure that my PSUs had something to do with it, since they're not top quality. But even still, they're not complete ****, and should at least... work...

Should I RMA the boards? Or what?

 

[Hefemeister]

strange to have 2 DOA boards. But it could happen.

Did you try to boot without ram to see if it beeps like crazy at you? Did you try a single stick of ram in all four slots?

 

[TheKaras]

Was the board ever flashed with a newer bios?

 

[Jayce]

Was the board ever flashed with a newer bios?

How can I flash the BIOS when I can't even post or get any video output whatsoever on either board?

strange to have 2 DOA boards. But it could happen.

Did you try to boot without ram to see if it beeps like crazy at you? Did you try a single stick of ram in all four slots?

These are Micro ATX boards, 2 slots per board. I tried all 4 sticks of ram individually with each system to try and boot it.

Yes - it beeps like crazy with no RAM. That's the only time I ever hear the motherboard make a sound.

 

[Hefemeister]

Well beeping like crazy is somewhat of a good sign. Have any other ddr2 memory to try? Perhaps there is some incompatibility issue even though the rep said it should work.

did you try with the am2+ proc you were bringing home from work?

 

[Jayce]

Well beeping like crazy is somewhat of a good sign. Have any other ddr2 memory to try? Perhaps there is some incompatibility issue even though the rep said it should work.

did you try with the am2+ proc you were bringing home from work?

I don't have an AM2+ proc, it's an AM2 proc, and it doesn't fit in the slot.

The RAM is also DDR3 - I don't have any other DDR3 ram. DDR2 yes, DDR3 no.

I posted my situation on the UbuntuForums, which has a lot of hardware custom building fanatics. So far the general concensus is blaming the board, pending a memtest. If memtest reveals no errors, they would blame the motherboard. But I can't memtest RAM when I can't even boot up, ya know? Not a single one of the sticks works *shrug*.

 

[Hefemeister]

Statistically it does not make sense to have 4 bad sticks of ram or 2 bad boards.

Not that I trust new egg reviews but one buyer complained that your ram did not work with his MSI board even though a rep told him it would. Once he changed brands it worked just fine.

I am leaning towards a ram incompatibility especially since the board beeps with no ram installed. It is just almost statistically impossible to receive 2 bad boards or 4 bad sticks of ram. It could happen but the probabilities are astronomical.

 

[patonb]

Yha, does sound like it might be that too. I had the exact issue like this before too.

 

[Kharn]

I would go to the nearest computer shop buy a stick of cheep ddr3 and test it out.