Problem Building A Computer (Technical Stuffs)- Solved!

[Syka]

Boyfriend is a lot more adventurous than I and is actually building his gaming/editing rig. He has all the bits and pieces, and he got them all in...and it's not working.

It turns on, fans whirr (very quietly...I'm in awe of the case), LED's are on, etc. But no beep letting you know it's booting up, and nothing showing up on the screen. He's double checked the connections and such, and as far as we can tell, all's well for that.

Now, we have a friend who should be coming over tomorrow to check it out but I was wondering if you all had any tips for what to check. We're realllly hoping nothing is broken that needs to be returned, 'cause we already have to return his first case (that was broken in the mail, prompting us to buy one locally).

Ideas?

[valadil]

Most motherboards will tell you how far along they're able to get in the boot process. How they do so depends on the mobo. I've seen them flash keyboard lights, case lights, beep, or play audio descriptions of the problem. To figure out how your motherboard is communicating with you, read the manual.

Other than that, disconnect all the things and reattach them one at a time. Try motherboard/power/cpu. Then add memory. Then add video card. Then add hard drives. Then whatever PCI cards you have. Hell, I've even seen some combos of USB devices prevent a machine from booting.

[Syka]

Thanks, valadil. MB looks like it's doing OK, surprisingly (it's what conked out on his last computer).

He took a look again and narrowed it down to the video card. Apparently the LED VGA light is on and according to the manual, it means there is a problem and it won't turn off until the problem is solved.

Still no clue what is wrong with the video card, but tomorrow we're going to take a crack at it.

[Syka]

Bahahaha, in his words "Your boyfriend is an idiot..."

He missed a power plug on the video card. XD Plugged it in, and it booted up perfectly. :smallbiggrin:

[factotum]

I'm surprised it didn't boot at all without that extra power plug in--most of the ones I've seen will boot, but will display a POST warning saying you won't be able to use the card properly because it doesn't have enough power!