[W-Unit]

Hey guys,
So I just assembled my first PC today! Woohoo!

But, now I'm turning it on, and nothing shows up on the screen. All the LEDs and fans are working fine and from the inside it appears to be running normally. There is no system speaker which is frustrating so I can't tell you if it beeps. I've tried two different screens, neither has been used in a long time (only used laptops lately) but both were working fine when last used and are nice monitors.
Two possible reasons I can come up with for this, both of which seem to me very unlikely:
1: The monitor plugs are not making full contact with the adapter on the video card. The reason this might be happening is because the card does not fit my case very well and part of the metal bar that separates one faceplate from the next is almost making contact with the adapter part of the card. It's a paper-thin piece of metal, though, and I'm still able to almost fully tighten the screws in the monitor plugs over it, so I don't think this is it.
2: The CPU is installed incorrectly or not compatible. I may be a first time PC builder, but I'm fairly certain I installed the CPU correctly. I was extremely careful placing it in, and although it did take me two tries because of a weird "cap" that was covering the CPU pins that confused me, I never dropped nor applied ANY force to the CPU. I am also 100% certain that the motherboard is compatible with the CPU so I don't know why I even mention that.

So, as careful as I was, is there really still a significant chance I messed up installing the CPU? Is it worth the time and energy to trim off that tiny metal strip to make sure that's not it, even though the screws will fully tighten despite it? Or is there some other more probable reason for this? Static, perhaps? I grounded myself before working with any components and was on a hard-wood floor, but I didn't wear a static band... I believe that's enough though as I've never really heard of anyone frying their components with static electricity even when they're not careful - seems like you'd need to be rubbing your feet on carpet while working with your computer for that to have any chance of happening - but maybe I'm wrong?

Hardware:
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 Motherboard
Intel Core i7 920 Processor
HIS HighTech Radeon 4870 Graphics Card
Corsair 1000W PSU
Corsair XMS3 6GB DDR3 1600 Memory
Western Digital Caviar 640GB SATA HDD
LightScribe Something-Or-Other IDE Optical Drive


Thanks for any help or suggestions you can provide!

==EDIT==
Oh yeah, could the CPU be defective/DOA? Seems like this never happens but...

Edited by W-Unit, 19 June 2009 - 09:06 PM.

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Hey there,

No need to fret - I'm sure you'll get this fixed. Almost everyone has a problem their first build. I surely did

What kind of thermal compound was applied between the heatsink and the CPU chip?

You have power to the video card? It can't just be plugged into the mobo, it has to be plugged in as well.

-Jason

Edited by OpenOutcome, 19 June 2009 - 09:16 PM.

[OpenOutcome]

Hey there,

No need to fret - I'm sure you'll get this fixed. Almost everyone has a problem their first build. I surely did

What kind of thermal compound was applied between the heatsink and the CPU chip?

You have power to the video card? It can't just be plugged into the mobo, it has to be plugged in as well.

-Jason

Edited by OpenOutcome, 19 June 2009 - 09:16 PM.

[OpenOutcome]

Also: If it's the PSU that's faulty, it can still light up lights and things. Check to make sure the hard drive is spinning.. If it is then rule out PSU.

[W-Unit]

The HDD isn't spinning afaik.... not completely sure what a spinning HDD looks/sounds like but I guess I'd know it if I saw it?
Isn't it just as likely that that's the HDD's fault as the PSU's though?

And yes, I've got my video card hooked up to the power supply as well. The card has a fan on it, which is spinning.

Oh, and as for the thermal compound... I bought some with my computer, but ended up not using it as the heatsink that came with the CPU already had some applied. It was a dark grayish color and felt a bit like that putty-like substance you use to hold stuff up on the wall in grade school before they trust you with a stapler (was it "sticky tack?"). The thermal grease I purchased is Arctic Silver.

Edited by W-Unit, 20 June 2009 - 09:02 AM.

[W-Unit]

Bump for attention.
Any alternate explanations? Or ways to test if the PSU is faulty?

[W-Unit]

Uploaded a video to youtube showing the inside of my PC and stuff so hopefully someone can help.

[Ferrari]

Hi W-Unit,

Not quite sure what your problem is so far, but one thing that would really help eliminate some things is to do a bench test. However, do you have a keyboard hooked up? Preferably a PS/2? Assuming that you have not forgotten that, then the first thing you do (always) before you take all that time to install everything into the case is hook up all the "bare necessities" outside of the case. "A Bench Test"
1. Set your motherboard on a piece of cardboard, hook up the power supply, video card, the monitor of course, 1 stick of RAM only(in the appropriate single channel slot), keyboard, and of course the cpu along with its heatsink and fan. Do not hook up the hard drive, optical drive, lights, or fans except the cpu heatsink and fan of course.
2. Since you don't have a lot of supplies, you may have to set your case close so you can have the power switch wires connected to the motherboard for your power button, or your mobo may have an on board power button that you can press. Some do, some don't. If you so happen to have an old power switch from an old build/computer laying around, use that.
3. Press the power button hopefully seeing some action on your monitor. You want to be repeatedly be pressing the appropriate key on your keyboard that allows you to access the BIOS. Check your mobo's manual to find out which key it is. Mine is the Delete Key.
4. Did you get into the BIOS?
DO NOT DO THIS ON CARPET

Here is a video of an experienced computer builder on youtube doing a Bench Test.
TJHARLOW Bench Test He has the hard drives and optical hooked up, since you are having problems, don't do that yet.
TJHARLOW, What I do immediately after post

Let me know how things go. We can go from there.

Edited by Ferrari, 22 June 2009 - 12:05 AM.

[Troy]

Also: If it's the PSU that's faulty, it can still light up lights and things. Check to make sure the hard drive is spinning.. If it is then rule out PSU.

Getting a little off-topic from how the thread's turned out so far, but no... You can't rule out the PSU just because the hard drive is spinning.

[W-Unit]

Well thanks for the help guys!
While I was too lazy to fully remove all the components from my case, I decided to break it down to the bare necessities for a bench test, only this would just be a bench test inside a case.
During the process, as instructed, I removed all but one RAM card, and was reading my motherboard manual for which slot to put it in, when I discovered that I had put all 3 RAM cards in the wrong set of slots (I used the black slots when I should have used orange)! After changing the slots, I am now able to be writing this message from my new PC.

Thanks again!

[cbarnard]

Congratulations:

I'm glad you were able to get the new build working...

I was looking at your post and just wanted to say something quickly

While I was too lazy to fully remove all the components from my case, I decided to break it down to the bare necessities for a bench test, only this would just be a bench test inside a case.

While you were able to get this fixed

Ferrari asked you to remove all the components from the case because there was a chance there was a short from the MOBO to the Case... This helps eliminate many problems right off the bat... Again I'm glad you were able to fix the issue... But if you had continued to have problems we would have asked you to complete the "Troubleshooting" as stated by Ferrari.

I just wanted to explain that to you... FYI only...

You are new to this type of stuff, and all info is good to have...

Good luck

Cbarnard

[Ferrari]

After changing the slots, I am now able to be writing this message from my new PC

Woot! Woot!

I couldn't tell in your video which slots you had used, and after thinking about your problem while I was at work yesterday, I started to get the feeling that you may have used the wrong slots. I'm glad you figured it out!

Have you checked the BIOS to make sure your RAM is running at the correct speed it is supposed to? Anyways, Congrats!

[W-Unit]

Have you checked the BIOS to make sure your RAM is running at the correct speed it is supposed to?

Well just about every setting in the BIOS is on Auto right now, so idk if it's running at the right speed or not. I'm also not entirely sure what the right speed of my RAM is; does "DDR3 1600" mean that the speed is 1600?
Also I'm a bit afraid to tweak anything as I tried changing the RAM speed manually and when I did that it automatically changed the voltage from Auto (which should be 1.65V since that is what my RAM runs at) to 1.66V and had a little warning that voltages over 1.65V can cause permanent damage to the CPU. So I reverted that change; while I'd like to do some introductory-level overclocking, I'm not interested in anything with a significant chance of causing permanent damage.
Again I'll take a closer look and update with more specific info.

Edited by W-Unit, 23 June 2009 - 02:21 PM.

[Ferrari]

I'm also not entirely sure what the right speed of my RAM is; does "DDR3 1600" mean that the speed is 1600?

Yes, that means your RAM was made to run at 1600Mhz

In my BIOS, I was able to change the "profile" I believe it was, to XMP or XMS which brought the speed to 1600. I may have to double check that for you. If you paid for 1600, then you really should want it to run at 1600. I believe most of the X58 Motherboards require you to change the RAM's profile to XMP or XMS to have it run at the correct speed. If you read up on your RAM, you may notice it mention something like that. Especially on Newegg, if that is where you purchased it.

Again I'll take a closer look and update with more specific info.

You should, why pay for 1600 and only get 1066 or 1333, ya know? Of course with that said, was your RAM made for the X58 chipset? Or did you just buy single modules that were DDR3?

Look at the info about my RAM. Corsair Dominator

Here is a great Example of what I'm talking about with OCZ RAM Triple Channel Kit, look at the info on the OVERVIEW TAB about the different profiles. Also, if you find this RAM in the list of DDR3 Memory Kits, it tells you what speed each profile runs at in the brief descriptions on THIS PAGE It is the 8th one down, OCZ XMP Ready Series

[W-Unit]

Alright, here's the better information as promised.
Default settings of interest were:

Ai Overclock Tuner: [Auto]
DRAM Frequency: [Auto]
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage: [Auto]
DRAM Bus Voltage: [Auto]

...Changing Ai Overclock Tuner to X.M.P. resulted in the following changes (among others):

DRAM Frequency: [DDR3-1600MHz]
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage: [1.35]
DRAM Bus Voltage: [1.66]

Above where it said DRAM Bus Voltage was the little notice about how voltages over 1.65V can permanently damage the CPU. So I changed Ai Overclock Tuner back to Auto, and went down and changed DRAM Frequency to DDR3-1600MHz, leaving everything else on Auto. At first, I attempted to manually key in 1.65 for the DRAM Bus Voltage, however for some reason it seems you can only use even numbers in the hundredths place (i.e. 1.66 or 1.64 but NOT 1.65 or 1.63), and when I tried to enter 1.65 it rounded it to 1.66, so I reverted it back to Auto.
Are these appropriate settings?

Oh, and if I want to use the X.M.P profile for overclocking, how much risk is associated with leaving the DRAM bus voltage at 1.66V? Since it's just one one-hundredth of a volt we're talking about, would my CPU still be safe? Should I invest in an aftermarket heatsink before doing this?

Edited by W-Unit, 23 June 2009 - 06:06 PM.

[Ferrari]

Is this your motherboard? ASUS V2

If so, that board is made to run RAM at 1333 or 1066, but you bought RAM to run at 1600. I guess it doesn't hurt to just run it at the slower speed of 1333 or 1066. Or you can RMA the RAM and buy RAM that is rated for 1333, and save a few bucks probably.

That boards specs indicate that it can run RAM at 1600 but it would have to be overclocked, not standard. I will PM a couple other Tech Staff that know more about overclocking and voltages, frequencies, etc... so they will be here if you need them. I do not know much about that sort of thing. I'm a non-overclocker I guess you could say.

Anyway, let me know what you want to do.