Thread: building pc..

  1. #1
    Unleashed
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    1,765

    building pc..

    Well, from my post that's been buried now, I'm building a pc. Messing around with my super old 486 trying to swap around ram sticks etc. I remembered that you don't _need_ ram. Sure, you can't use the computer because it'll load a message saying something to the point of, "Hey, you don't have any memory!". Well, to get all the hard drives, floppy disk drive and cd roms along with the motherboard hooked up to test for power connections etc. before I received my ram(should be coming shortly) I can't get the system to boot up. With the case open, monkeying with the power supply, and the case's specific power connectors(reset switch, power switch etc.) which plug into the mother board, I can't get anything at all. The cpu fan budges, one little bit, but that's probably from a residual power surge. It doesn't move hardly at all. ...and, I'm lost. According to the manual, following the negative positive etc. wiring schemes, I'm pretty sure I have everything hooked up. The ASUS A78NX (nforce2) motherboard's green "standby" LED light is light. It's green and says it's receiving power. The power switch on the case isn't working for some reason. I inspected it, and it's hooked up fine and dandy(you know, maybe I had to monkey with the buttons on the case and hook them up or something). Everything ready to go, and I get no action.

    I've even tried switching around all of the connections from the case to the motherboard which control the hard drive lights, power and reset switches etc. I've tried moving them around. I...just, I don't know.

    Help would be appreciated.
    The world is waiting. I must leave you now.

  2. #2
    Registered User codingmaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    309
    I dunno
    But I am currently working at my pc stuff: mother, board, ram, hdd

    Maybe some cables are not connected or u have not insert the bios battery or the bios is down

    U should have a look at: www.wimsbios.com

    I'm sure, that u get help in the Forum there

  3. #3
    booyakasha
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    208
    Do you get any "beep"ing noises ( and patterns ) from the motherboard?

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    1,640
    Does it contain daignostic led's?
    they can be a great help!

  5. #5
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    244
    No, you more than likely DO need ram just to do that. The most you can hope for without ram is a spinning CPU fan and diagnostic beeps from the computer speaker. Apparantly your motherboard doesn't even get that far without ram.

    Just wait for your ram : what you're doing is pointless anyways.
    Last edited by Captain Penguin; 12-27-2002 at 04:53 PM.

  6. #6
    Unleashed
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    1,765
    Thanks captain.
    The world is waiting. I must leave you now.

  7. #7
    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    6,331
    Originally posted by codingmaster
    I dunno
    But I am currently working at my pc stuff: mother, board, ram, hdd

    Maybe some cables are not connected or u have not insert the bios battery or the bios is down

    U should have a look at: www.wimsbios.com

    I'm sure, that u get help in the Forum there
    what do you mean by the bios being "down", do you mean like a website down?? Cause uh....yea.....umm......moving on.

    You need the ram.

  8. #8
    Seven years? civix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    605
    I've been building one too.
    And you can prolly fix it in 3 steps

    1. Make Sure you have a video card in there
    2. Make sure your power supply aint dead (mine was and I turned out having to switch motherboards and cases, lol)
    2 1/2: Make sure your power supply and IDE ribbons are going into a floppy drive
    2 3/4: Make your power supply and IDE ribbons are going into a working Hard Drive
    3. Make sure a monitor is plugged into your video card.

    It should boot into the little "detecting the hard drive" screen.

    If i was screwed up on any of this, someone correct me.
    .

  9. #9
    Casual Visitor
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    350

    Re: building pc..

    Originally posted by Shadow
    Well, from my post that's been buried now, I'm building a pc. Messing around with my super old 486 trying to swap around ram sticks etc. I remembered that you don't _need_ ram.
    I've yet to see a board that was reliable under this situation
    Well, to get all the hard drives, floppy disk drive and cd roms along with the motherboard hooked up to test for power connections
    This is usually not a good idea as you can fry good drives. I suggest that you test the board outside of the case with nothing more than your display adapter. It sucks to build a machine and find out that something is not working. Go in small steps.
    I can't get anything at all. The cpu fan budges, one little bit, but that's probably from a residual power surge.
    If this isn't the memory, it is typical of a short between your power supply and one of your devices attached to it. It may be protecting itself from a low resistance.
    I've even tried switching around all of the connections from the case to the motherboard which control the hard drive lights, power and reset switches etc. I've tried moving them around. I...just, I don't know.
    Do you have P8 and P9 inserted correctly? On AT class boards, all grounds are next to each other.... assuming this 486 is an AT class board.

    You can also test the output voltage of power supply alone by attaching a bad drive (good spindle motor :P) or something not worth keeping in the event something is bad in the power supply, and then read the output voltage in each wire. You should have output reasonably close to the stated ratings of the supply. You can measure the current draw with an ammeter in series with the load; it too should be within a specified tolerance.
    I haven't used a compiler in ages, so please be gentle as I try to reacclimate myself. :P

  10. #10
    Unleashed
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    1,765
    Do you have P8 and P9 inserted correctly? On AT class boards, all grounds are next to each other.... assuming this 486 is an AT class board.
    My pentium 75mhz DOS box that I'm building has that, but I don't have the 486 anymore, I just took things out and switched crap around alot. THAT is why I mentioned the 486. What I'm actually working on, which deals with this thread, is all name-brand stuff. I got a case and power supply from tiger direct...everything is brand damn new. XP 2000+ CPU, Asus nForce 2 motherboard, etc. etc. I press the power button, and nothing goes.


    Someone dropped off new hardware for me..
    The pentium 75, I can get action out of that one. When I was inspecting the CPU, RAM, and motherboard, I forgot to put the RAM and CPU back in before I pressed the power button...a few things turned on, and got some action. Monkeyed around and got it to boot to a keyboard error(wrong keyboard or something). My brand new everything, up-to-date machine doesn't do ANY of this and the only thing I'm missing at all is jut ram. Absolutely dead box when I press power.
    The world is waiting. I must leave you now.

  11. #11
    eats only heads
    Guest
    I belive that most mother boards do actually have alittle ram on board but that doesn't mean much. My first motherboard was bad so I sent it back to new egg and they sent me a replacement. Tiger direct isn't quite as nice about this sort of thing, however you should be able to convince them to give you a replacment.

  12. #12
    Casual Visitor
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    350
    An ATX case then? If so, have you installed the power button switch from the case to the motherboard? That little pos can be bad. I seen that a few times in building machines.

    You can try removing the power switch jumper block of the case to the motherboard and then "toggle" the pins with a small screw driver. Just make certain your dealing with the power switch pins.

    I too had an old ATX p class board that I thought was dead, but it turned out that I didn't have the blasted power switch jumper on the board. The little screw driver sprung the board into life. A bad thing now that I look back on it as it was just a p-75 on an old Intel bios. btw, ATX supplies are little beasts.

    Also, most power supplies have built in protection for things like CPUs inserted wrong and such. Like I stated before, I'd try the board with the bare minimum for testing whether it works or not.

  13. #13
    Unleashed
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    1,765
    Ok, I got the ram for the machine.

    It won't turn on.

    It's the ASUS A78NX. I have only the ram, CPU, power supply and power switch hooked up. I have tried getting it to boot up with no ram, and with ram. I have the ram in the correct slots. I have all the jumper caps in the default positions. I have the correcy power supply, it IS ON, the motherboard has a green LED light saying that it's receiving power, and it IS in the 115v position(The PSU).

    I've taken the CPU out and inspected it by myself, and went through powering it up without the cpu, among other troubleshooting ideas with a skilled friend. The CPU has no bent pins and I noticed from my 2 machines that there is only one way to put a cpu in, in which, it should slide in with ultra-ease. The cpu is fine and installed properly. The fan for it is plugged in too.

    Anyhow, I've trouble shot the raw hardware itself to no end and I can't get anything.

    What happens is, the power supply fan spins for a quick second(not long enough to make noise) then immediately shuts off(winds down fast, super fast). The CPU fan does this also, but since it probably has a tighter resistence, it appears as if it's just budging.

    I don't know what to try or what to test. I only have the power switch and power supply hooked up, properly. The cpu and the ram, all properly hooked up. Straight bare bones..and nothin'

    The motherboard recommends a 300 watt power supply and the best I can do for hardware swapping to help troubleshooting is a 250 watt power supply. Otherwise I have "Abadonware" hardware, and my brother has a P4 machine, in which, mine, is AMD. I have very little hardware swapping resources right now(lots of hardware, just different styles and time frames!)

    Any suggestions?
    The world is waiting. I must leave you now.

  14. #14
    Unleashed
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    1,765
    I got it solved.
    The world is waiting. I must leave you now.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. building a new pc, post issues
    By Shadow in forum Tech Board
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 10-06-2008, 03:31 PM
  2. Replies: 1
    Last Post: 10-27-2006, 01:21 PM
  3. Building my own PC - Suggestions?
    By 747ken in forum Tech Board
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 10-22-2003, 01:40 AM
  4. Building a game pc, questions
    By RoD in forum Tech Board
    Replies: 18
    Last Post: 01-13-2003, 06:38 PM
  5. Building a pc...water cooling/tons of cooling?
    By Shadow in forum Tech Board
    Replies: 22
    Last Post: 12-20-2002, 05:03 AM