First Build - Need Troubleshooting Help

[j7227]

Hello everyone,

 

I have been lurking for a while and using your collective knowledge to help design my first build.

I need some more direct help now.

 

System:

 

Antec 900

Asus P5E3 Premium

Asus Radeon 3870X2

Corsair Twin 3X2048-1333C9DHX

Intel E8500

PCP&C 860W TurboCool

 

First attempt to power up, I had every connection possible plugged in. Over eager I guess and optimistic. Well none of the fans started up. Not even the PSU fan. I thought this odd as I had tested the PSU before installing and know it works.

A red light on my mobo came on by the graphics card (indication: graphics card not installed properly). A green light on mobo also came on (standby power indication).

 

I turned off the PSU and repositioned the Graphics Card. Still nothing. Well, red LED went off.

 

I disconnected all drives. Case connectors still attached to mobo, Graphics Card power connected, EATX 12V (8 pin) connected. RAM in slots 1 & 3. I disconnected 24 pin power from mobo and jump started PSU. PSU fan came on now. I tested all case fans and they work. Case LEDs also came on. Still no CPU fan or Graphics Card fan. No beeps at any time during this process.

 

I'm not sure what to try next. Since PSU is good but not getting power when 24 pin connected to mobo, is mobo bad? It would seem the mobo is distributing some power because it lights up standby LED and case LEDs. Is some component or connection interfering with power flow?

 

Any input to help me get up and running would be great!

 

Sorry if you've seen a similar post from me on other site. I have not received any responses elsewhere and wish I had just asked you guys in the first place. Thanks again.

[EllisD]

First thing I always do with new hardware, is set it all up outside the case, to make troubleshooting a problem such as this much easier (dont have to work in a cramped case, dont have to worry about shorts from improper installation of MB). If your motherboard doesnt have an onboard power\reset switch, you can position it beside your case, and just use the power button from that.

 

I would try with just motherboard, cpu, 1 stick of ram, graphics, and 1 HDD to see if it will boot.

 

I'm going to google your hardware real quick. Be right back.

 

Edit: This person here ( http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.p...8739&page=2 ) has a Deluxe, not a Premium but it was an old BIOS that was the problem. While some motherboards say they support the new 45nm chips, lots of them needed a new BIOS to actually be able to run them. Do you have another S775 CPU you can pop in to flash to the latest BIOS?

Edited May 9, 2008 by EllisD

[j7227]

Thanks for the quick responses.

 

First:

 

I followed your suggestion. Removed all from case. Placed mobo on antistatic bag it came in. Tried mobo, CPU, 1 RAM module, graphics and 1 HDD. Still nothing besides standby power LED.

 

Unfortunately I don't have another S775 CPU.

 

I like your suggestions though. They are making sense to me. If this is indeed a BIOS issue, any other fixes before I would try an IT shop?

Edited May 9, 2008 by j7227

[j7227]

Update:

 

It was suggested to me to not only try booting outside case but also to short PWR_SW leads on mobo. I did that and voila! I have a functional mobo.

 

Last hurdle - Samsung 2253BW is displaying "check signal cable". Will not let me flash BIOS. Only have DVI ports on my 3870X2. Just plugged in cord that came with monitor. Not sure what else to do. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for all the help so far!

 

Relieved it's not the mobo

 

Update: Didn't want to have to but tried VGA cord with converter to DVI port and that did the trick. Am into BIOS! Thanks for the help! WIll let you know how the build and oc turns out

Edited May 9, 2008 by j7227

[EllisD]

That motherboard has a USB BIOS flash method, but since you cannot even POST, that rules that out.

 

I personally have no further ideas, but i will keep looking around (just got home from work) and maybe someone else will chime in with a suggestion.

 

EDIT: Wow, nice turn of events. Glad its not a DOA motherboard. I assume you've tried both ports on the back of the video card? If that doesnt work, maybe try putting the card in the other PCIe slot?

Edited May 9, 2008 by EllisD

[j7227]

That motherboard has a USB BIOS flash method, but since you cannot even POST, that rules that out.

 

I personally have no further ideas, but i will keep looking around (just got home from work) and maybe someone else will chime in with a suggestion.

 

EDIT: Wow, nice turn of events. Glad its not a DOA motherboard. I assume you've tried both ports on the back of the video card? If that doesnt work, maybe try putting the card in the other PCIe slot?

 

 

Yeah, learn somethin new every day right? Well, as far as DVI, tried both ports but not different slot. Will definitely do that later.

 

Right now am trying to flash BIOS. I got it to configure hard drive and optical drive. try to install Asus drivers etc from cd that came with mobo but always get blue screen. I take out mobo battery to start again but can't seem to get any farther than this. Should I just download BIOS update from Asus website and install through USB like you said?

[EllisD]

Honestly, if you can get it to boot, then i wouldnt worry too much about flashing the BIOS. I would focus on getting your video working now so you can see if everything is setup properly in the BIOS (CPU detected properly, set main RAM timings\voltages, etc). If everything shows up fine, then there shouldnt be a need to flash. It was only a suggestion IF your CPU was not detected.

 

But now I am getting mixed signals. "I got it to configure hard drive and optical drive. try to install Asus drivers etc from cd that came with mobo but always get blue screen" sounds like the video is working more than it was before with the "check signal cable" message. Can you post a quick rundown of exactly where you are right now and what is working\not working?

[j7227]

Honestly, if you can get it to boot, then i wouldnt worry too much about flashing the BIOS. I would focus on getting your video working now so you can see if everything is setup properly in the BIOS (CPU detected properly, set main RAM timings\voltages, etc). If everything shows up fine, then there shouldnt be a need to flash. It was only a suggestion IF your CPU was not detected.

 

But now I am getting mixed signals. "I got it to configure hard drive and optical drive. try to install Asus drivers etc from cd that came with mobo but always get blue screen" sounds like the video is working more than it was before with the "check signal cable" message. Can you post a quick rundown of exactly where you are right now and what is working\not working?

 

Oh okay. You didn't see my update. I decided to use the VGA cable and adapter so I have the video now. I will try to figure out why DVI isn't working later.

 

Now, I am able to get in BIOS. What is happening is that I set drive priority so it will scan optical first, I save and exit and it reboots. At this point my screen goes blue and I can't get into BIOS. If I shut down and power up again, screen is still blue and can't get into BIOS.

 

So I take out mobo battery to reset and then power up, now I can get in BIOS again, but then my BIOS changes aren't saved. If I start from power down with disk in drive same thing happens - blue screen.

 

First time setting up a system so not sure what I'm doing wrong.

 

Edit: forgot to mention, still have to short PWR_SW leads to power up every time. I assume this is because I haven't been able to install updates from disk.

Edited May 9, 2008 by j7227

[EllisD]

Wow, I totally missed your update. Sorry, a little slow today, lol

 

Are you using an IDE or SATA DVDrom? If SATA, you may have to enable the ports in your BIOS, but even if they are not enabled, I dont think it would produce your problem. Something to look at anyways.

 

When you say the screen is "Blue" is it just a solid color blue? Or is it a BSOD with an error message?

 

Instead of shorting the PWR_SW pins to start the machine, it might be a plan to set up the system next to the empty case for the time being, hook up the front panel power switch to the mainboard, and use that to power on\off the machine. While I dont think that shorting it will be a problem, it may become one if you accidentally slip and short other pins also.

 

I really dont know what to say now. I dont recall ever personally having your problem with any system I have put together. I will try to find screenshots of your BIOS and see if anything obvious sticks out.

 

Also, is your HDD IDE or SATA?

 

And 1 more thing for the sake of completeness. Gotta check the basics.

- Both the 24pin and 8pin power cables are plugged into the motherboard?

- Both the 6pin PCIe and 8pin PCIe power cables are plugged into the 3870x2?

Edited May 9, 2008 by EllisD

[j7227]

Am using SATA DVDROM: Asus DRW-2014L1T.

Am using SATA HDD: WD740 Raptor

Also have SATA HDD (not connected): Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.0Gb/s

 

Can't remember if SATA ports are enabled but will check.

 

screen is a solid blue / black with a vertical line 3 inches in from right edge. No error message. Screen will not refresh no matter how long I wait. This looks strange, lets me know something is wrong and need to reboot.

 

Good point about PWR_SW. Will do that. Would hate to be the cause of any more misery with this board <_<

 

Basics: Graphics 6 pin and 8 pin - check

EATX 12V 8 pin - check

24 pin power - check

 

have tried configuring drives as IDE and as RAID in BIOS. Heard somewhere that this could be a problem. Hasn't seemed to make a difference.

 

Feel so close yet so far. But pretty confident there's an answer for this. It'll probably end up being operator error

 

Thanks for all your help so far, really

[EllisD]

The last thing that i can think of for now...have you tried plugging the DVDrom into the other SATA ports? There are 6 (not counting the 2 eSATA ports) and it is definitely possible, though hopefully not likely, that one may be bad.

[j7227]

The last thing that i can think of for now...have you tried plugging the DVDrom into the other SATA ports? There are 6 (not counting the 2 eSATA ports) and it is definitely possible, though hopefully not likely, that one may be bad.

 

 

Well, I have made some progress but am out of ideas again. First, to answer your question. I hadn't tried that yet so I took your advice and started swapping cables. I tried a different SATA port and I moved the Graphics to the other PCIe slot.

 

None of this worked until I added a second RAM module. I have a Twin set and for some reason they like to be together.

 

Anyway, after saving BIOS settings the system rebooted. Note I had inserted driver support disk prior to reboot. A screen appeared (will add pics later, don't have patchcord here now) saying "Welcome to Asus Motherboard Make Disk for DOS Menu." It gave 5 options and promted to select one.

 

I chose JMicron 64-bit AHCI/RAID Driver. The other options were: a JMicron 32-bit..., an Intel ICH9R 64-bit AHCI/RAID Driver Disk, an Intel 32-bit..., and FreeDOS command prompt.

 

After selecting an option, I am prompted to insert my formated floppy to drive A:\

 

I am not sure what to insert here. I thought it was asking for the driver support disk but this only leads to an error. If I insert OS this leads to an error. I also cannot back out of this screen.

 

I had heard that my SATA drives should be configured in RAID in BIOS even though they do not have to be set up in RAID. Since the prompts only mentioned AHCI/RAID Driver not IDE, I rebooted and set BIOS to RAID for JMicron controller and SATA drive configuration.

 

Same results though. Not sure what to do now, nut am encouraged

 

Going to work now, will try again later