building a new pc, post issues

Gigabyte (x38?) motherboard(for the 45nm core 2s, like $220)
2gb 1066 DDR2
320gb SATA Western Digital
GeForce 8800GTS 512mb/256bit
E8500 Core 2 Duo, 3.16ghz, 6mb cache

This is the first modern SLI/PCI Express/Core 2 duo machine I've built and might I say the mounting procedure for the core2s is a pain in the butt!

I've got all the fans running, but I noted that the labeled CPU FAN pin connector does not make the fan run. It starts up for a little bit, like 3-5 seconds, then coasts down. If I use an auxilary fan pin connector on the motherboard, I'm able to get all the fans in the tower working. All the new modern lights and fans work -- exhaust case fan, cpu fan, video card fan and PSU fan. Lights where applicable, light up as well. Why my cpu fan does not run full duty on the cpu fan pin connector I'm not sure.

I can tell my motherboard even works, or so it seems, because if I turn the computer on with the video card in the PCI slot with the power supply TO the video card unplugged, I get a nice and loudly annoying motherboard warning tone. When I plug the power source back in for the video card however, the audible warning tone does not sound.

When I plug and unplug the monitor from the video card, wether or not the computer is running or off, the monitor trips on for a second, then turns right back off. Also, all the power switch and lights for the case, which run off from the motherboard, work fine. The case I bought came with the elevating pins installed already so that when I screwed my motherboard into the case, it wouldn't short out(kind of handy actually not having to install the elevating plugs).

My only thing is DOA video card. The fan works on the video card but I can't get the video card to display an image and unfortunately since I'm upgrading from a 5 year old none dual cpu/AGP video card era computer, I have no other PCI video cards to test out to trouble shoot. I tried the VGA - DVI adapter plug, then also hooking it up to my current monitor setup -- 42" plasma with DVI -> HDMI adapter cable; this is what I'm on now and even displays post information on this particular computer.

I live in WI so I'm thinking about just taking it to Milwaukee PC in Madison to save me time to have them look at it to gather whether or not I have a DOA somewhere or I goofed on something. I'd rather find out the DOA thing asap as this current computer I'm selling to a friend so he can diablo2/3 like mad.

Any ideas?

How do you know that it is the video card and not the CPU/memory/motherboard that is not working. Do the lights come on and go off again on the keyboard when you switch the machine on? Does the hard-disk make sounds like it's trying to boot?

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Mats

The lights on the keyboard do not light up at all when you power the machine on. And the hard drive isn't even plugged in(but I had everything hooked up during the first attempt). I can't remember for DAMN sure, but I think that I can unplug everything except the CPU, memory and video card from this computer I'm using now and get it to post. It'll give me a buttload of errors, but my bios will at least display _something_ on my screen. I don't see how I'm getting bios warnings from no video card power, but no warnings with video card power, yet no image. Not to mention if you unplug the power supply from your motherboard, you can't even turn your computer on. All your fans are ran by your power supply, but won't budge unless your power supply is wired into your motherboard to complete the circuit.

I had a problem once on another computer with a motherboard shorting out because it wasn't elevated off the chasis, nothing would move at all until i fixed it.

No flasing of the keyboard tends to indicate that it's the CPU that isn't working. Have you tried just reseating the CPU, as I have had LGA (pinless) socketed processors not work the first time I plugged[1] them in, but work fine next time around. I've always used the keyboard lights to indicate that the CPU is working, because that happens well before the VGA is initialized - if the LED's flash on then off, you know the CPU is awake - even if it can't do anything useful further than that for some reason (such as the memory or video card isn't working, etc).

Another trick would be to check if the CPU gets warm - run the system for a minute or so, then turn the power off and quickly take the heatsink off, check if the CPU itself is warm (it probably won't get hot if you have a decent heatsink, but it should get a little bit wam). If it's not, then it's probably something wrong that causes the CPU to not run - which could be many things, unfortunately. [And the fact that it gets warm doesn't preclude the CPU being "braindead", it just shows that the heart is beating, if you see what I mean].

[1] "plugged in" doesn't seem quite right on a device without pins, but I can't think of a better term.

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Mats

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shadow

I can tell my motherboard even works, or so it seems, because if I turn the computer on with the video card in the PCI slot with the power supply TO the video card unplugged, I get a nice and loudly annoying motherboard warning tone. When I plug the power source back in for the video card however, the audible warning tone does not sound.

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Did you look up the POST beep codes for your motherboard? That should give you a clue about what's wrong.
Here's the beep codes for Award BIOS: http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm
If your motherboard uses a different BIOS, then just look for that one instead.

Well I installed a known working memory module and with my finger on the cpu directly, the back side of my finger, the sensative side, it was as cold as ice when i powered the computer on. I only left it on for literally like a minute or two. I know old school pentium 4s could last a few minutes without a heatsink or cpu fan at all before becoming bad, so I would literally turn it on, then touch it, and then hold the power button in for the 4 second reset and i noticed no change.

So I got bold and tried 30 seconds, no difference. Removing the heatsink as suggested was a feable attempt. So I cleaned the surface of the cpu with purifier and cleaner and ran it briefly for like 30-60 seconds before shutting it off and it's as cold as ice.

As far as the warning tone, i got it with no power to the video card then when power was reapplied to the video card it went away.

So cold ICE cold raw cpu and absolutely no keyboard lights.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shadow

Well I installed a known working memory module and with my finger on the cpu directly, the back side of my finger, the sensative side, it was as cold as ice when i powered the computer on. I only left it on for literally like a minute or two. I know old school pentium 4s could last a few minutes without a heatsink or cpu fan at all before becoming bad, so I would literally turn it on, then touch it, and then hold the power button in for the 4 second reset and i noticed no change.

So I got bold and tried 30 seconds, no difference. Removing the heatsink as suggested was a feable attempt. So I cleaned the surface of the cpu with purifier and cleaner and ran it briefly for like 30-60 seconds before shutting it off and it's as cold as ice.

As far as the warning tone, i got it with no power to the video card then when power was reapplied to the video card it went away.

So cold ICE cold raw cpu and absolutely no keyboard lights.

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So, the CPU is not getting power from the powered up.

Even 45nm device will use some power, and without heatsink, you should feel it go warm at least [and modern CPUs from both Intel and AMD have automatic power-shut-off for overheating protection, but that happens when it's so hot you can't possibly hold your finger there, and may well burn yourself if you actually do hold it there for a few seconds].

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Mats

Not getting power from the powered up? Meaning bad CPU or bad motherboard CPU socket? It could be either one. I've had blown caps on a mobo that would make the mobo unstable -- it wouldn't post at all but everything would run and power up, then after fiddling with it, it would run the latest and greatest games for weeks.

Likewise, when upping your bus and memory frequencies too high it will eventually refuse to post, but i could get a computer to post by installing a much smaller and different memory module. It would get the pc to post, but also lower all the bus and frequencies so far that an amd3000+ would register as 1600mhz instead of 2.2ghz. So, I would have to up the bus and frequencies to the correct setting then put the prefered 1-2gb ram back in to return to normal.

So independant portions of the mobo can cause headache confusing conditions, but unless you beat the absolutely bloody hell out of a cpu, or simply get a dead unit, it's unlikely it's your cpu when it's brand new. But simply installing the core 2 style of cpus with their messed up cooling mounting designs might just mess your hold mounting area of the motherboard.

Kind of makes me wish there was a handy way to tell if it was a bad cpu socket or a bad cpu. The cpu i just got yesterday, the board i've had for probably 3-4 months waiting for this damn cpu to come out sine feb. when it was announced to be out in march or there abouts.

Unfortunately, without a spare CPU or spare motherboard, it's impossible to say which component it is that doesn't work. If you got your parts locally you can probably take the CPU back.

I agree that CPU's usually don't go bang very easily. I have read that LGA (or as you put it, "their messed up cooling mounting designs") is more sensitive than the pins design, but with the 10 or so processors I've used that use LGA, I've only had one insance of a single processor not working (in a quad socket motherboard). [When I worked at AMD, I had in my possession, for a short while, 8 dual core Opteron 8000-series processors (IIRC, the second fastest model at the time), at that time with a retailer price of something like $2000+ each - but I was given them to install at a third party site that we were working with].

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Mats

So, I see where I'm sitting then! (newegg.com, mobo out of return date, cpu still in return date) Thanks for your help.

Yeah, I do not like the way you have to install the cpu cooler for these new core 2s. Compared to socket a, these are asnine.

Got it figured out, the motherboard was dead. New one works great(E-VGA 780i Premium 3-way SLI). I have the 8500 OC'ed to 4ghz stable. I can run Mortal Kombat 4 through MAME(which will require probably a 6ghz single core when fully emulated; 5ghz core now, probably), at 90% frame rate during the tough parts, 100% frame rate during the less hectic parts.

Everything else is a gravy train, albeit the 512mb video card. Few months from now I'm buying a 1gb card, and in a few days I'll install my ASUS Silent Knight CPU cooler with fresh thermal paste to hit 4.5ghz and report back.

As of now, I'm pushing the "increase bus and see what happens" limit without installing the better cooler and increasing the voltage ever so slightly. But for now raising the BUS has given VISUAL confirmation with a REAL-TIME emulation being speed based.

The 45nm chips are awesome!

I guess I am here a bit late but... it is normal for the CPU fan on gigabyte boards to slow down (and I heard sometimes even to a halt). The motherboard detects CPU temperature and sets the fan speed accordingly (at boot the CPU can be sufficiently cooled just by the heatsink). It will speed up when the CPU gets warm. And I am guessing it's not booting because it doesn't detect a CPU fan.

Yes, it's normal for it to do that.
You can change this setting from BIOS, if you think it's the source of the problem.

Turn it off, my last computer's temp guage died -- so it started to overheat. My current one sounds like a Boeing 747, but I'm cool with it.

That's all fine and dandy guys, but I fried one of the boards for sure with 3 stand-offs installed into the tower's chasis that I didn't need.