Computer hardware geeks - help!

[Reido]

this is my second System i've put together. a rather budget one but still

Intel E5200
2gb DDR2 800 ram (soon to be 4)
ATI 3870 512
320gb HDD
silverstone 500w PSU

anyway, just finished putting it together, pluged it in and turned it on..
LEDs light up, fans start going etc. but nothing on screen
does this for 5-10 seconds then everything goes off
another 3-5 seconds go by and it tries to turn on again.. LEDs fans etc. then turns off.

I've checked all the connections, moved the ram, even taken the GFX card right out. no change.

Any Ideas?

Thanks

Reido

[Stirts]

I has one...

[Teflon]

have you tried clearing CMOS?

[Reido]

have you tried clearing CMOS?

who in the what now?

[Teflon]

Should be some jumpers on you mobo to clear CMOS... or just take the mobo battery out for a min...

[CookMySock]

Unplug EVERYTHING from the motherboard and power it on and see if it beeps. Add RAM, check for beeps. No beeps = DOA motherboard.

Steve
(not a hardware person..)

[Teflon]

or just wait until the geeks finish work......

[Mully]

or just wait until the geeks finish work......

But don't wait too long, cos they will have fired up the Dungeons and Dragons and you wont see them for the rest of the night.

[NDORFN]

Check the heat-sinc on the processor. If it's not attached properly and the processor is overheating then CMOS will be shutting the system down.

[Reido]

Check the heat-sinc on the processor. If it's not attached properly and the processor is overheating then CMOS will be shutting the system down.

yeah i've taken it off and put it back on twice now >_<

but you never know with the stupid intel heat sincs... it seems like you have to break the mobo to get them to on properly

[steve_t]

Sounds like a mobo or PSU problem

[Marmoot]

Check the heat-sinc on the processor. If it's not attached properly and the processor is overheating then CMOS will be shutting the system down.

I would agree with him, having experienced such issues twice in my lifetime. On each we arrived to a busted PSU and/or MoBo conclusion. On each the shop sales took them apart, kindly pressed the heatsink+fan assembly nicer, and the computer went life for 2 years following each incident.

Totally agree, Intel heatsink+fan assembly is a biatch to put in right.
Definitely worth another look. Don't stress it too much, it's normal.

P.S.
Make sure you are using just the right amount (i.e, not too much, not too little) of the heat transfer paste on the CPU yeah?

[Reido]

I would agree with him, having experienced such issues twice in my lifetime. On each we arrived to a busted PSU and/or MoBo conclusion. On each the shop sales took them apart, kindly pressed the heatsink+fan assembly nicer, and the computer went life for 2 years following each incident.

Totally agree, Intel heatsink+fan assembly is a biatch to put in right.
Definitely worth another look. Don't stress it too much, it's normal.

P.S.
Make sure you are using just the right amount (i.e, not too much, not too little) of the heat transfer paste on the CPU yeah?

heatsink had stuff on it already.

i'll take it somewhere tomorrow see if they can spot the problem.

[Metalor]

Make sure ALL the power plugs are plugged into the motherboard... mate of mine failed to do this when he was putting one together, forgot about the little 4pin connector and it did the same thing.

Doesn't sound like it's overheating... maybe the ram isn't in properly?

Does it have on-board video? Try it with just that if you can, cos they can be VERY picky, even sometimes if you don't have a monitor plugged in the refuse to start.

Or you could use the computer you're on at the moment to watch some porn and have a wank, with the non-working pc in the room so it can see, that way it might get jealous and decide to work for you.

[Reido]

Make sure ALL the power plugs are plugged into the motherboard... mate of mine failed to do this when he was putting one together, forgot about the little 4pin connector and it did the same thing.

Doesn't sound like it's overheating... maybe the ram isn't in properly?

Does it have on-board video? Try it with just that if you can, cos they can be VERY picky, even sometimes if you don't have a monitor plugged in the refuse to start.

I've tried with everything except the cpu (heatsink) and ram unplugged,
all power cables are plug in properly (first thing i checked) it still shuts down after 5-10 seconds.. so its not a GFX card

[Ronin]

Working on the exact same issue with a clients $700 motherboard. Waiting for a replacement MB as we speak. Unlikely that it is the CPU which is the only other component left plugged in. Tested the power supply and its fine.

The short answer.... its the motherboard. You dont list which brand MB it is.

PS Are you running 64 bit Windows? If not why go to the 4 gig ram?

[Reido]

Working on the exact same issue with a clients $700 motherboard. Waiting for a replacement MB as we speak. Unlikely that it is the CPU which is the only other component left plugged in. Tested the power supply and its fine.

The short answer.... its the motherboard. You dont list which brand MB it is.

PS Are you running 64 bit Windows? If not why go to the 4 gig ram?

its running nothing atm, as i've only just got all the parts today. and so far it hasnt started!
its gonna be running XP pro, and vista 64bit
mostly XP though

i dont like vista

i'll be going to 4gb, (at least) soon, its a get it up and running ASAP thing, cause im poor.

mobo here
Asrock P43DE ATX MB
http://uec.co.nz/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=27&products_id=39105
a cheapy, sadly

[Ronin]

Looks like a not to bad board. Honestly, if all the plugs are in, CPU re seated then best guess is dead MB. Its more common than you think.

Win XP will only address 3.25 gig of ram.

[Reido]

Looks like a not to bad board. Honestly, if all the plugs are in, CPU re seated then best guess is dead MB. Its more common than you think.

Win XP will only address 3.25 gig of ram.

yeah i know, my last system only show 2.8gb (i think)

i liked my old system.. but i had to sell it to get my bike :scooter:

[steve_t]

You'd think Asrock would be OK since they're made by Asus... but I guess even they can have duds.
Thinking about the CPU HSF.... did it come with a thermal 'sticker'? Or thermal paste?

[shingo]

its running nothing atm, as i've only just got all the parts today. and so far it hasnt started!
its gonna be running XP pro, and vista 64bit
mostly XP though

i dont like vista


Get a build of Windows 7, you'll never look back.

Been running it for a couple months now and its the best Windows OS i've used.

[Ronin]

You'd think Asrock would be OK since they're made by Asus... but I guess even they can have duds.
Thinking about the CPU HSF.... did it come with a thermal 'sticker'? Or thermal paste?

They come with the 'sticker'. Even the I7's have it lol

[Reido]

Get a build of Windows 7, you'll never look back.

Been running it for a couple months now and its the best Windows OS i've used.

need to get the thing running first >_<

[NDORFN]

You could always eliminate the heat-sync as a factor by disabling the CMOS setting which kills the power at a certain temperature. Although, if it IS the problem you may also fry the CPU in the process.

[MarkH]

It doesn't sound like RAM or Video card. If the heatsink is on fine then I don't think it is the CPU - I don't come across faulty CPUs very often.

PSU is possible - there are a lot of different voltages (1.8V, 3.3V, 5V, 12V, -5V, -12V) and a faulty component in the PSU can cause one of them to be wrong, the motherboard wont be having any of that shit and will shut down.

Motherboard is also possible - sometimes you get a dud.

Easiest solution is to connect another PSU and see what happens, no fix means that it is probably a dud m/board.

[MarkH]

mobo here
Asrock P43DE ATX MB
http://uec.co.nz/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=27&products_id=39105
a cheapy, sadly

It doesn't look too bad:
Only a P43, a P45 would be better - but the performance from the P43 Northbridge chip isn't all that far off, probably faster than your previous system.
ICH10 is pretty good, dearer boards often have ICH10R but that is the same performance just with RAID support, most people don't bother using RAID so no real meaningful difference there.

A higher model board would often be twice the price with nothing like twice the performance.

Any performance issues you have with your system wont be m/board related - it'll be the video card that will be you main limiting factor.

[Reido]

It doesn't look too bad:
Only a P43, a P45 would be better - but the performance from the P43 Northbridge chip isn't all that far off, probably faster than your previous system.
ICH10 is pretty good, dearer boards often have ICH10R but that is the same performance just with RAID support, most people don't bother using RAID so no real meaningful difference there.

A higher model board would often be twice the price with nothing like twice the performance.

Any performance issues you have with your system wont be m/board related - it'll be the video card that will be you main limiting factor.

i just wanted a cheap system that could run most games, even if not at the highest settings.

getting beeps when started up with no ram in, and it stays on. whats that mean?

[Blackshear]

i just wanted a cheap system that could run most games, even if not at the highest settings.

getting beeps when started up with no ram in, and it stays on. whats that mean?

Check what your motherbaord says, silly.

And +1 on what someone else said, I missed a 4pin plug with 6 pins coming from the PSU, I think i have the same PSU, shit's got too many fucking cables.

Check the mobo, and double-triple check EVERYTHING before someone tells you 'dead mobo' or 'you missed a plug'. costs lotsa dorrah to get a genuine guy to look at it.

THen afterwards we can turn this into a spec thread!


EDIT!!!!!! ---------------------- TAKE PICS, AND POST THEM!
You never know what us unREGISTERED™ people can spot.

[sosman]

Is it new or old ram? I've had issue's of my pc not posting a pic(because of ram) all thou my machine wasn't restarting every 5-10secs

[rphenix]

Asrock isnt the best manufacturer (next time get ASUS) so potentially DOA however its rarely motherboards that are the problem but the other components when everything is new.

I would suspect either RAM itself is faulty or incompatible try borrowing some ram from another PC if you can temporarily to test otherwise if the RAM you do have is in multiple sticks try only one stick in the first memory slot next to the CPU (then if that doesn't work try another stick by itself in the same slot).

Like others have said check you have plugged not just the main ATX power plug from the psu to the motherboard but also check the P4-12v (4-pin) (http://images.maplin.co.uk/300/a46ak.jpg) sometimes its an EPS12v (8pin instead of 4 so double the size) is also plugged directly onto the motherboard without that the system wont boot properly.

[steve_t]

Asrock is a subsidiary of Asus

Hmmm... stays on without RAM.
Have you got the RAM inserted correctly? All the way in hard until the clips pop over the top.
The manual has a RAM config table on page 17 for dual channel... do you have 2 identical sticks of RAM?

[Reido]

ok well its working now
i think one of my ram sticks is/was DOA (dead on arrival)


yes all the power cables etc were connected properly.
yes everything is compatible

yes i thought about trying other parts but the only other comp i have is like 5 years old. DDR ram etc

Yes 2 identical 1gb sticks (from the same pack) one of which gave me problems, the other worked.

so i'll see once i've installed the OS etc.


Any way thanks guys =] :2thumbsup

[rphenix]

Asrock is a subsidiary of Asus


Yes a low quality subsidary :)

[rphenix]

ok well its working now

Yes 2 identical 1gb sticks (from the same pack) one of which gave me problems, the other worked.


Glad to hear you got it working I thought it would be the ram :yes: Make sure your return the faulty stick in a anti-static bag don't give them any reason to wiggle out of the warranty!

[phaedrus]

put the ram in the higher address space see if it boots and run memtest86+ over it. any extra evidence that it's poked would be handy when you are returning it

[Gremlin]

getting beeps when started up with no ram in, and it stays on. whats that mean?
The manual should state what each of the beep types mean. Each model/manufacturer has different codes, ie, different sequences of beeps, and it corresponds to an issue.

As said, if you do think its the ram, try to get it into memtest, and run a couple of cycles. I never have issues returning ram when simply stating, failed memtest. Do be aware that ram can pass memtest, but still have issues, but I have seen that occur very rarely.

Recently I did have a machine that wouldn't boot successfully on two sticks of high performance ram in dual channel (would start, all the fans would run, beep, then restart, and stay in the loop), and was ok with one stick or two sticks in single channel. Either an issue with the mobo, or the mobo just can't cut it (but your specs don't seem too dramatic).

[Reido]

definitely the ram, one stick works. put the other in where the working one was. and cant even get to memtest.

so 1 stick of my ram was DOA

[Supermac Jr]

roman, latin... it's all greek to me