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Noob Need Help Building Computer


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#1
kickerkeeper

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I just finished wiring my computer and I am pretty sure I have all the connections hooked up. I fired up the computer and all the fans come on inside and the lights but nothing on the screen. I don't know how I can listen for sounds because the case I have (a Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA) does not have a case speaker. Can anyone help me begin to solve this problem? THANKS!
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#2
The_Shadow_630

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Nothing on the monitor as in black, blank screen or nothing as in no input to the monitor. If there is nothing at all on the monitor, double check to see if the monitor is turned on (silly I know, but it is something easy to miss), make sure the power cable is in good, and make sure that the monitor connector is tightened down on both ends (if you have a seperated cable) or on one end (if you have a built-in cable). If that does not help any, you may have a internal issue with the MB or Video Card. By the way, are you using the integrated video ot a seperate video card? That could make a difference, especially if the card is not all the way down in the slot.
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#3
kickerkeeper

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I have a video card attached through a PCI port but I have plugged the monitor into both the video adapter port and the on board video port. The CPU fan, the video card fan and all other fans and lights in the case are on though. And yes I made sure all connections are tight the screen says no input detected. I am using a 20in LCD widescreen monitor (if that matters at all). Any more advice? Thanks again for all the help
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#4
kickerkeeper

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These are the parts I bought if it helps:

- 2.4 G Intel Core 2 Duo

- PCChips P23G v3.0 http://www.tigerdire...e...&CatId=2218

- Ultra / X2 / 550-Watt / ATX / 120mm Fan / UV Sides / SLI Ready / SATA-Ready / 20/24-Pin / Modular Power Supply (ULT31852)

- ThermalTake Tsunami Series Aluminum ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Top USB, Firewire and Audio Ports - Black (T925-4002)

- Sony DRU810A / 16x8x16x DVD+RW / 16x6x16x DVD-RW / 8x DVD±R DL / Interchangable Bezels White or Black / Internal DVD Writer - Retail (S167-4212)

- Hitachi / 7K160 / 160GB / 7200 / 8MB / SATA-300 / NCQ / RoHS / OEM / Hard Drive (TSD-160H4)

- G.SKILL Extreme Series 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Desktop Memory

- BFG Technologies 3D Fuzion 3DFR55256P GeForce FX5500 256MB 128-bit DDR PCI Video Card
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#5
The_Shadow_630

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All of the parts look fine to me. Try removing the video card and plugging your monitor in to the on-board port. I realize you said you had tried both, but if the video card is still installed, the on-board will not work anyway. If your monitor shows what it should on start-up, then that rules out the possibility of a bad cable or monitor. The only thing that it really leaves is either a bad PCI port or a bad video card. Try installing the video card in a different PCI port to see if it works there. If it does, then the PCI port you originally had it in is probably bad. If it does not, chances are the card may be dead.

Oh, come ot think of it, and I imagine this is a silly question, but did you install the drivers for the video card? I know that if you are using XP most of the drivers are pre-installed, but it is generally still in your best interests to use the ones that come with the card. If your monitor works with the on-board video (the video card removed) try using hte disc that came with the card to see if there are drivers on it or something along those lines. Just another thought is all. Oh, and did you install all of the dirvers for the MB? That is usually not a major problem, but it can be at times.
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#6
kickerkeeper

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Thanks again for all your help shadow I am going to give that a try this afternoon. How can I install drivers though? I just built the computer from scratch and i can't even get it to boot. I was planning on installing Vista once the computer come to life.
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#7
The_Shadow_630

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Oh, I did not realize that the computer was not booting at all. Have you tried booting with the Vista disc in the CD ROM and let it boot that way? It does not have an OS at the moment and thus cannot really boot anything. Turn on the computer, insert the CD for Vista, restart the computer, and let it boot. That may solve the problems. I am sorry about that, I guess I did not read the whole thing clearly. I would suggest though that you remove the video card and boot up with the monitor plugged into the on-board video, then install the video card after the OS is loaded. Boot the computer with as little extra peripherals as possible, then install all the "bells and whistles" after the OS is up and running.

Since you are wanting to run Vista, I would suggest that you get at least another Gig or RAM. 1GB is the suggested minimum requirements, but i would suggest going with nothing less that 2GB running Vista. That is not absolutely necessary to get it up and running, but you will want to do that as soon as you can at least.
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#8
kickerkeeper

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I removed the video card and tried starting the computer by just being connected to the motherboard. The monitor still says "No input detected" and all the wires outside are well secured. Fans are still on and lights are on.

Did I forget something hooking it up, When hooking up the computer I did the following:

Put in CPU
Applied thermal grease
Put on heat sink&fan
plugged it into the board
Put in the RAM
Connected the CD ROM
Connected the hard drive
Connected the power supply to all the devices and the motherboard
Connected the case, switch, leds to the board
Connected the external USBs to the motherboard
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#9
kickerkeeper

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So I removed most of the case cables, removed then reset the CPU, the RAM and all the connections. I hooked everything back up and only hooked up the case Power SW to try and eleminate any extra wires. The same thing happened all the lights and fans went on inside but no input to the monitor and I know the monitor works. Thoughts?
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#10
The_Shadow_630

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It sounds like you connected everything right. I wish you had a case speaker so we would know better if the boot-up was even close to being right (beeps). I am not sure what it would be aside from a bad MB. And it may not be the whole MB, it may be that just the a section is not working right. This just sounds very odd to me. You made sure that everything that you bought was compatible didn't you? I would imagine you would have been catious spending all that money on it. I can't think of anything more that can be done. I can't even really isolate the problem that much because everything sounds right. That is why I say it may be a faulty MB problem. Even without the OS installed, it should do at least something. Did you try booting it with the CD for the OS in? I a mnot sure if that will help any at all, but it is worth a shot. Other than that, you have gone beyond my experience here.

You did make sure you were grounded out the ENTIRE time you were working iwth the computer every time you worked with it didn't you. If you did not, you could have fried some circuits with tiny static charges from your body. Even if you did not feel a shock, you could have still damaged the tiny wiring.

Edited by The_Shadow_630, 07 February 2007 - 03:34 PM.

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