Help Troubleshooting New Home Build PC? (Computer 1)

I am about to pull my hair out. Bought the boys DIY PCs for Christmas. #1 has worked on his own PCs for years, as have I. Figured we should be able to put together one from scratch.

PC #2 was working. PC #1 was not. So while troubleshooting PC#1, he swapped the video cards. Now PC#2 does not work either.

I figure thats the one to start with, as we know it used to work. Right now, when we turn it on, we get beeps. 1 long, 2 short. I don't even know what BIOS we have, but assuming it's Award, because that's the only one that has a long/short pattern set. Provided I got that right, it means "video/display error."

That happens if either card is in, or if no card is in. What does that tell me - somehow the MB went bad?

Here's what we are working with:

MB: MSI 970A-G46
Video: Geoforce GTX 650
Processor - AMD FX 8350 8-core Black Edition
Power Supply: Corsair CX500M

I don't have the DVD Drive or the hard drive installed now.

 

Re: Help Troubleshooting New Home Build PC?

All computers have at least VGA graphics built in or on-board. You then upgrade the graphics with your video card of choosing. This is indicating the on-board VGA graphics has failed since it happens with either of your graphics cards installed. It looks like you're going to have to replace the mobo. If it's still under warranty, get an RMA from MSI..

 

Re: Help Troubleshooting New Home Build PC?

Thank you so much!

That makes perfect sense now that you explain it!

 

Re: Help Troubleshooting New Home Build PC?

That's not always true - in this instance, the FX-series don't have an inbuilt GPU and there is no display output on the I/O panel of the motherboard either.

Unless used as a 'headless' machine, like some servers, for instance, you need to fit a graphics card to connect it to a display.

 

Re: Help Troubleshooting New Home Build PC?

@mdonah - satrow is right. Did you mean to say, "All computers have at least VGA graphics integrated with the motherboard or via an add-in card."? That is most likely true. While there are many computers sold with motherboards without integrated graphics, I don't know of any that don't come with a graphics card - even "barebones" computer kits typically include some graphics solution.

It is also true that all graphics devices (integrated, cards and monitors) support basic VGA resolutions. All operating systems do too. They have to to allow and support initial communications between the device during the early boot stages (or while in the BIOS Setup Menu) before specific drivers are installed. Without that basic VGA support, you could not see what you are doing to even install Windows.

Not disagreeing (because I don't know for a fact) but even the "headless" machines that I have seen have graphics solutions so technicians can connect a monitor for "local" troubleshooting, OS setup, network setup, and initial production/operation setup - after which, monitor, keyboard and mouse are often disconnected.

 

Re: Help Troubleshooting New Home Build PC?

Thanks so much for the help, guys! I really appreciate it!

Hmmm.. read all this, then went over and looked at the machine again with fresh eyes. Looking at my mobo connectors, there is an old DE-9 VGA connector on the board. No reason for that to be there if there isn't a built-in VGA capability of some sort - right?

But just for kicks, I went ahead and put the graphics card back in, and hooked the monitor up to it, and it's working just fine. I am thinking that maybe installing the software and all that may have set the system to look for a monitor?

So, now machine #2 is working again. Son #2 is now less than thrilled with the idea of allowing me to dismantle it piecemeal again, too.

But I am still having different problems with machine #1, but am going to start a new thread.

 

Re: Help Troubleshooting New Home Build PC?

Serial (RS232) port, also used as a mouse port historically. VGA is female, 15 pins in 3 rows and usually blue.

 

Re: Help Troubleshooting New Home Build PC?

The 15 pin is the new-fangled version of the 9-pin. The extra pins only carry data, not video. That still travels on 9 pins. (Yes, I just learned that.)

The 9-pin connector is labeled com1 on the board. The symbol looks kind of ike this: IOIOI - in a box.

 

com1 = serial port.