New Build Troubleshooting

[Chris_Strain]

Hi guys. This has been my first build from scratch and so far has also been a total headache. I don't have much in the way of local computer shops short of bestbuy so getting a diagnosis has been a rather fruitless effort thus far.

When I turn the rig on I get nothing to the monitor and I'm not sure if it's POSTing since I can't seem to get my hands on something as simple as an internal speaker to listen for beeps. (externals hooked to the speaker jack do nothing of course) I tried with and without hard drives attached trying to simply get to the bios but nothing would bring up anything to the monitor. The rig stays on and looks as if it's 'running' i.e. the power and drive lights stay on but nothing ever gets to the monitor.

The only guess BB had was that the mobo was bad but after sending it back to Asus and getting a replacement I still get nothing. Any clue or glaring hardware mismatches?

**SPECS**
(I copied the info from my invoices so I didn't leave out any specs that might help)

Motherboard - Asus M2A-VM-HDMI Motherboard - AMD 690G, Socket AM2

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Processor ADO3800IAA5CZ - 2.0GHz, 2 x 512KB Cache, 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) FSB, Windsor, Dual Core, OEM, Socket AM2, Processor

Ram - OCZ Dual Channel 1024MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Platinum Memory (2 x 512MB)

Power Supply - ThermalTake / PurePower W0100RU / 500-Watt / ATX 2.0 / 120mm Fan / 20/24-Pin / SATA-Ready / PCI-E Ready / Power Supply

(Fans and other hardware are of course present but I'm assuming they wouldn't be the cause so I've omitted them for now.)

Thanks for any and all help guys.

 

[Lexluethar]

Ensure you have all power cables connected. You could purchase an internal speaker from newegg - that would be your best bet IMO to see what component is the issue.

Just a few easy things to try:
Replug in all power cables (ensuring to connect the CPU's 4-pin power).
Replug in all SATA/IDE data cables.
Reseat the CPU.
Could be a RAM issue, since you have two sticks try to only use one to boot, if that doesn't work try that same one in a different slot. Try that on all motherboard slots with switching out the RAM sticks.

 

[Luke]

This would happen if the cpu power cable is not plugged in, check to make sure it is. (would be either a 4 or 8 pin cabled) Make sure to try everything that lex said although the ide or sata cables would not effect at least some activity)

Also, are you sure the monitor is fine? As it could possibly be why there is nothing on it, because the monitor does not work lol. Do you have another monitor you could try? Because without an os installed it would just sit at a screen with "insert boot disk" or the something of the like.

 

[Chris_Strain]

Thanks for the fast replies guys. I've unplugged and replugged everything numerous times as well a checking the other connections (cpu and ram seating ect) Once I get back home I'll try using a single stick of ram and hope that works out... if not then I'll order a speaker. As far as the monitor being bad.. it's the one I'm using now (although I did try both onboard graphics and installing a gfx card and neither made a difference)

Is it possible, albeit highly unlikely, that the cpu was a dud? There's no physical damage to it.. no bent pins or anything.. but maybe?

 

[Luke]

^it is possible i guess.