Re: Computer Issue

[Unoriginal Name]

Re: Computer Issue

Hmm, and I assume you have it in the top pcie slot? Do you have a 2nd monitor you could try to see if it's the monitor that's bad?

Make sure the thing is fully seated on the mobo, maybe try pulling it out and reinserting it.

I had my laptop plugged in to it yesterday and it was working.

I have it in the top PCIe slot. I have pulled it out and put it back in multiple times.

[mudtiger]

Re: Computer Issue

hmmm, you got the p5k-e motherboard, right? Other than the green light, are there any lights on near the pci cards? A light should come on if a card is installed wrong.

...look in your mobo manual, page 2-22 (if you have the p5k-e) and move the jumper like it says to clear the cmos, then put it back and retry.

Also, do you have both the large power cable and the second smaller 12V cable connected to the mobo? Recheck those connections too. If they aren't fully seated sometimes enough wires get connected for the comp to try and boot but not really work.

[Unoriginal Name]

Re: Computer Issue

hmmm, you got the p5k-e motherboard, right? Other than the green light, are there any lights on near the pci cards? A light should come on if a card is installed wrong.

...look in your mobo manual, page 2-22 (if you have the p5k-e) and move the jumper like it says to clear the cmos, then put it back and retry.

Also, do you have both the large power cable and the second smaller 12V cable connected to the mobo? Recheck those connections too. If they aren't fully seated sometimes enough wires get connected for the comp to try and boot but not really work.

I will unplug them and try again. I reset the CMOS once but maybe I didn't do it quite right. There is only one green light that I see lit.

Incidentally I tried an older video card I had laying around and it doesn't work either so it must be something else.

[mudtiger]

Re: Computer Issue

What was wrong earlier when it wouldn't even boot?

When you hit the switch, does it actually stay on now, just with no video?

Do you have the little speaker attached to the mobo? The little speaker should come with the case or the mobo (can't remember which but I think the case - it should just be a 4 pin connector with a little capacitor looking thing attached by 2 wires). If you aren't hearing any beeps at all, it could just be you don't have the speaker connected. If not, try connecting that and listening for beeps/error codes.

Having a different video card not work suggests to me either the mobo didn't work right out of the box, or whatever the issue was earlier where it wouldn't stay on may be related where maybe it got a static shock and killed it.

Hopefully it's something else.

[Unoriginal Name]

Re: Computer Issue

What was wrong earlier when it wouldn't even boot?

When you hit the switch, does it actually stay on now, just with no video?

Do you have the little speaker attached to the mobo? The little speaker should come with the case or the mobo (can't remember which but I think the case - it should just be a 4 pin connector with a little capacitor looking thing attached by 2 wires). If you aren't hearing any beeps at all, it could just be you don't have the speaker connected. If not, try connecting that and listening for beeps/error codes.

Having a different video card not work suggests to me either the mobo didn't work right out of the box, or whatever the issue was earlier where it wouldn't stay on may be related where maybe it got a static shock and killed it.

Hopefully it's something else.

I have the speaker attached. When I take out the stick of RAM I hear that beeps that I am supposed to hear when no RAM is present.

Earlier the mobo wasn't seat quite right and it was touching the case a little so it kept grounding it. I would turn the power on and everything would spin for a second and then all would go out.

Since re-seating the mobo everything fires up now, fans are spinning, the heat sink is spinning. I can hear the drives start to whirl. Green light is lit. LEDs on the front panel are working. Just nothing shows up on the screen.

[mudtiger]

Re: Computer Issue

Again to make sure because I haven't seen a confirmation, do you have both the 24 pin and 2x4 pin 12V power connected to the mobo? Just wondering cause phantom problems like this are often caused by not connecting the smaller power connector.

Make sure you aren't using extra brass standoffs (the little screws that hold the motherboard in the case). If you have one of those hitting the mobo and not actually going thru a mounting hole, that could cause problems. Also don't over tighten those screws.

Try disconnecting the drives and just have cpu/heatsink, ram, and vid card. No dvd or hard drive and see if you get video.

A different vid card not working would indicate it's the mobo. Either something is still shorting it or it's damaged....or your monitor has some setting that needs to be changed still.

[mgoblue]

Re: Computer Issue

Yeah, you just try ish and if it doesn't work try other stuff...otherwise you send back the mobo as DOA.

[Unoriginal Name]

Re: Computer Issue

Again to make sure because I haven't seen a confirmation, do you have both the 24 pin and 2x4 pin 12V power connected to the mobo? Just wondering cause phantom problems like this are often caused by not connecting the smaller power connector.

Make sure you aren't using extra brass standoffs (the little screws that hold the motherboard in the case). If you have one of those hitting the mobo and not actually going thru a mounting hole, that could cause problems. Also don't over tighten those screws.

Try disconnecting the drives and just have cpu/heatsink, ram, and vid card. No dvd or hard drive and see if you get video.

A different vid card not working would indicate it's the mobo. Either something is still shorting it or it's damaged....or your monitor has some setting that needs to be changed still.

I had tried both the 2x4 and 2x8. Right now I have the 2x4 in there. I unplugged the hard drive and dvd-writer. I loosened a few screws a bit. I turned on the computer and nothing. I remember reading somewhere about cycling it fast so I cycled it and now I do get a display but it tells me the CMOS checksum is bad.

[mudtiger]

Re: Computer Issue

and you removed the little tab insert on the 12V first?

Can you get it boot like that again and hit the delete key as it's starting to get into the bios screen? Or did it say bad cmos checksum/hit F1 to run setup?

Bad checksum could be your cmos battery is bad, the bios got screwed, or it could just be complaining after resetting the cmos and it's no big deal.

[Unoriginal Name]

Re: Computer Issue

and you removed the little tab insert on the 12V first?

Can you get it boot like that again and hit the delete key as it's starting to get into the bios screen? Or did it say bad cmos checksum/hit F1 to run setup?

Bad checksum could be your cmos battery is bad, the bios got screwed, or it could just be complaining after resetting the cmos and it's no big deal.

I didn't see any tab on the 12v. Things seem to be working now. BIOS sees all my drives now. Thanks for the help!

Lastly do I want to be doing RAID? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

[mudtiger]

Re: Computer Issue

I didn't see any tab on the 12v. Things seem to be working now. BIOS sees all my drives now. Thanks for the help!

Lastly do I want to be doing RAID? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

Ok, sounds good Ghosts in the machine.

Do you have more than one hard drive? Are you very very worried about losing data? If no, then no, don't worry about RAID.

RAID is for either mirroring your hard disk with a 2nd hard disk so if one fails, you have a backup, or you stripe the data across both hard drives but the computer sees it as one drive, or a combination of the 2. Advantage is you have backup and some speed although I personally don't see the speed increase as huge (I personally find RAIDs for home computers a pain unless you have or are interested in huge amounts of storage).

[Unoriginal Name]

Re: Computer Issue

Ok, sounds good Ghosts in the machine.

Do you have more than one hard drive? Are you very very worried about losing data? If no, then no, don't worry about RAID.

RAID is for either mirroring your hard disk with a 2nd hard disk so if one fails, you have a backup, or you stripe the data across both hard drives but the computer sees it as one drive, or a combination of the 2. Advantage is you have backup and some speed although I personally don't see the speed increase as huge (I personally find RAIDs for home computers a pain unless you have or are interested in huge amounts of storage).

Great. Thanks for the information and all the help! I'm off to install Vista.

[mudtiger]

Re: Computer Issue

Good luck, hopefully it goes much better than the hardware did

[Unoriginal Name]

Re: Computer Issue

Something curious happened last night. Everything seemed to be going alright until I started doing Windows Updates. I would update and it would ask to restart the compputer so I did but on restart I got a "USB Overcurrent detected shutdown in 15 seconds" message. So I unplugged the computer and checked all connections and everything seemed to be fine. I turned the computer back on and got no message. I went to Windows Update and did some more updates. Restarted the computer and bam same USB Overcurrent" message. I tried to restart via the reset button and same message. I turned off the main power and then turned it back on and turned on the computer and no more message.

I have only one USB device plugged in, that being the hub for my cordless keyboard and mouse. What could be causing this message?

[ODogg]

Re: Computer Issue

I recently purchased parts to put together my own system. I finally got all the components yesterday and assembled them. I go to push the power button and for a split second the heat sink spins for the processor chip and then nothing.

Where do I start with trying to figure out what component is causing the problem?

haha, exact same problem i have.. i never have been able to fix it. good luck!