New PC not booting!

Hi,

A while back now (September '05 - yeah long time :x: ) I first started here for building my ‘new’ PC. And for the last week I have the PC fully assembled with all the components. But, I am having a problem..
When I try turning the PC on, my monitor displays “No Signal” from the graphics card (Gainward 7800GT 512MB), which is seated in PCIEX16_1 (Blue socket) on my Asus A8N-SLi Premium motherboard. I have checked and re-checked several times that everything is seated/connected properly.

Here are the specs:
Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLi Premium [Rev. 1.02]
Processor (CPU): AMD Athlon 64 3500+ [OEM]
CPU Cooler: Artic Cooling Silencer 64 Ultra TC
Power Supply (PSU): Antec TruePower 480W
Memory (RAM): 2x512MB (Identical) Corsair XMS3200 CL 2.00 [Seated as Dual Channel]
Graphics Card (GPU): Gainward 7800GT 512MB
Optical Drive: LG DVD-RW Dual Layer
Hard Disk: Western Digital 160GB SATA

I think my problem is around the voltage.. My motherboard has one 24-socket and one 4-socket ATX power connectors - my PSU has one 20-pin connector and one 4-pin connector. Would this be a problem? and would the solution to buy a 20 > 24-pin PSU Adapter?

Im pretty frustrated by this :frowning: So If you could help, I would be very pleased! :stuck_out_tongue:

Oh, When I tested my system with just barebones I got a beep code, this code was one loooooong beep followed by two short beeps. This was indicating a GPU problem. Strangely, I don’t get this beep code anymore :x:

[QUOTE=Chris_]

I think my problem is around the voltage.. My motherboard has one 24-socket and one 4-socket ATX power connectors - my PSU has one 20-pin connector and one 4-pin connector. Would this be a problem? and would the solution to buy a 20 > 24-pin PSU Adapter?
:x:
[/QUOTE]

look on your VGA card for the 4 pin adaptor

Hi,
Is a VGA card another way of saying Video card? I can’t find the PSU Adapter in the PSU, motherboard, or graphics card packaging.. if thats what you mean?

i’ll just look at some websites (your motherboard manufacturer) and yes by saying VGA card i did mean graphics card

right, your PSU has both 20 and 24 pin connectors find then both then use the one that fits your M/B and just move the other one so its out of the way and plug the 4 pin plug into the 4 pin socket near the mouse / keyboard connector

Strange, My PSU has one 20-Pin connector and the 4-pin connector ONLY. But, I have found that I can use the 4-pin and 20-pin together to perfectly fit as the 24-pin. My motherboard manual says that If I don’t use the 4-pin in the 4-pin socket the PC won’t boot (which it isn’t doing anyway).

strange, is this your PSU http://www.antec.com/uk/productDetails.php?ProdID=17481 because in the manual it says it has both 20 and 24 pin connectors

Ooops, your looking at a Antec TruePower 2.0 there :stuck_out_tongue: The following link is the TruePower 480W: http://www.antec.com/uk/productDetails.php?ProdID=20480

Thanks

i don’t know, your right it only has a 20 pin connector, sorry, hopefully BIG B will be abel to help you, cos he’s THE MAN when it comes to PSU’s

Ok mate, thanks for all your help! :smiley:

I searched on the net and come out with this…this solution looks bit weared but still I thought it might help you in someway…

First, you can try an easy approach to troubleshoot this…

Power up everything ( monitor, and the computer, with it’s case
removed..) and wait for the video to stabilze completely.

OK, now first things first, I do this for a living so when I stress
the idea of static damage to the computer, and what to do to avoid it,
I mean it ! I’d hate to give advice that kills someone’s system.

First, touch the bare metal skeleton of the opened computer with both
hands, to get rid of static. Next, while watching the monitor display,
GENTLY tap on your video card once or twice and see if anything
happens to the display.( If video is affected, see NOTE 1) If nothing
happens to the display, touch the skeleton again, (static) and tap
EVER SO GENTLY once or twice on the case of the cooling fan or the
heatsink of your CPU, again, while watching the display. (If video is
affected, see NOTE 2) If nothing happens again, that kind of confirms
the connections are OK, hence, most likely, bad mobo.. You can
contiune to do the “touch the skeleton, tap on something” to your
other installed cards…any one of them acting goofy could easily
affect video performance by causing hissy fits on the data and address
lines of the CPU. ( and if it’s not a critical card, you can always
pull it and power up without it and see if things are OK.)

NOTE 1: Either a) the socket on the mobo has a physical defect causing
short or open circuits, or b) there is a bad solder joint on the
socket ( the point where the legs of the socket are soldered to the
circuit board)

Case A is very difficult to determine without a microscope, so I guess
Case A= new mobo.

Case B can be checked, although not nearly as easily without a
microscope. You will need access to the back side of your mobo, if you
have a fancy case you can probably get it quite easily. Otherwise you
will need to remove it from the case.( Touching the skeleton or
something grounded, every now and then. ) You want to look, using a
very bright light, at the little legs of the video card socket where
they come through the circuit board. Then, move the video card up and
down, or left and right, depending on how it’s oriented, to cause a
little stress on the socket. If you see any of the socket legs move,
you have a bad connection, Either try to resolder it, or give up at
this point if you don’t know how.
( sorry..)

NOTE 2: See CASE A in NOTE 1


If none of this tapping method works, it really seems to me to be a
bad mobo…the symptoms you describe, and how they actually change in
some ways, seems to act like thousands of circuit boards I have worked
on. That is how chips going bad, or connections going bad, tend to
act.
I guess it looks like your best hope is a bad, but re-solderable
connection on the video card socket.

Sorry I was so long winded and not-to-hopeful sounding, but look on
the bright side, mobo’s can be bought pretty cheap, and if you got a
new one at least you’d know all your other hardware seems OK !

Source: [link=http://groups.google.com/group/comp.hardware/browse_thread/thread/55bedaa88e32f3db/5a08b58912767371?lnk=st&q=monitor+displays+No+Signal+from+the+graphics+card&rnum=1&hl=en#5a08b58912767371] Google Groups [/link]