Comp won't boot

Hello,
I just built a new computer:

Windows XP
Core 2 Quad
4gb DDR2 1066
EVGA 123-YW-E175-A1 mobo
GeForce 8800 GT
500gb hdd

I installed Windows XP (the install disc includes SP2) and turned on Auto Updates, and the latest nVidia drivers, Firefox, Zone Alarm, and AVG. Also the mobo drivers from the cd.
(Quick note: I also have an X-Fi sound card from my old computer which I haven't installed yet, so I didn't install the mobo sound drivers.)
After all that, I tried to install the Adobe CS3 Production Premium programs. I walked away for a few minutes and when I came back, it was in the middle of restarting! Not good. And it didn't finish booting- I got a flash of the BSOD. I tried powering down and booting again, but no good. No BSOD- just black. No signal from the video card.

So, not having a clue what to do, I reformatted and reinstalled Windows et al, except this time, I didn't try installing Adobe. I figured I just try to get all the other programs up and running and see if anything bad happened again. After running for about an hour with no problems, I shut it down (it installed some updates before turning off). Then I started it up again to make sure... and it's the black screen again!

Windows update seemed to kill it.
There's nothing coming out of the video card.
The harddrive activity light is blinking randomly, as if the computer is doing something... but what??? Been blinking for about 30 minutes now. My mobo has an LED on it with a POST code: FF, which means: Boot. According to the manual, which has no troubleshooting section.
Any ideas?
Thank you in advance!!!

 

When does the black screen happen? Do you get any video at all during POST, or is it black all the way?

If you can, try to get into safe mode and see exactly which updates Microsoft installed. It could be some sort of silly conflict? Stranger things have happened.

 

Hi,

" Windows XP
Core 2 Quad
4gb DDR2 1066
EVGA 123-YW-E175-A1 mobo
GeForce 8800 GT
500gb hdd "

You forget the power supply.
Brand, power ?
Your computer need, at least 450W, real power.

 

I built a similar machine only on a gigabyte board. I could not get windows XP to run properly on it at all. I installed all drivers before I let it have access to the internet. During that period it seemed to run fine. My disk had service Pack 2 on it, I had a copy of the same (Orriginal Disk ) slipstreamed with SP3 and had installed that first, only to find that most of my drivers would not install. I reinstalled with the SP2 disk and I had no problems installing my drivers.

Now I Installed Office 2007, and a installed sp1 to that, after all that I plugged in my internet and let it do all the updates including Sp3 even though I had it on one of my hard drives. I have I 1Tb and 2 500gb sata drives. After that I could not get the computer stable, every fer seconds Windows Explorer would give me an error and said it was closing down, This despite the fact I did not have it open. I tried numerous installs, and ended up with the same problem. So I borrowed a Vista Home disk from my son in law who had it with his laptop, and the computer started to behave as it should. No I went on Ebay and bought a new Version of Vista Premium 32bit and a 64 bit disk in the package. Put on 64bit first and the computer just flies with that, But there are some progs that I use that did not run properly with that O/S so I went ahead and installed the 32bit on the partition that I had Vista home, It would not let me upgrade, eventhough it is an upgrade package, but told be to boot from it and install from there, I done that and anded up with this windows old on the drive that I can't seem to get rid of.
If you have the access to windows Vista disk why not give it a try, I worked for me. I had been sorta warned about XP and the Core 2 Quad. To add to what Mos_Ilie said he is correct, I have a 600watt P.S.

I know it's not the answer to your problem but it may help.
Just one more point, I t was not after sp3 I started to get the trouble, it was after one of the security patches installations that I started to get the trouble, I can't say which one cause it downloaded a bunch of them.

 

Thanks for your help so far. Yes, it's black all the way- no POST. I have a 600 watt OCZ Stealth Stream psu.
Okay, here's a new log of my troubleshooting. After each step, I tried booting (and unless I mention otherwise, it fails to POST). The mobo beeps- one long, two short beeps. I'm completely stumped.

-clear CMOS
-unplug all non-mobo power connections
-swap DVI outputs
-swap 8600GT for 6800 GT (from older computer. i thought the 6800 had died, but it worked! i got it to boot up!) at this point i noticed there were no windows updates under Add/Remove programs. hmmm.
-turn off, plug in PCI power into 6800.
-boot, uninstall/install nvideo drivers for 6800.
-turn off. install X-Fi
-boot, install X-Fi drivers. while this was installing, the video went all buggy and went black. (i thought that 6800 had been fried. guess it had just enough juice to run for half an hour or so.)
-i put the 8600 back in my old computer, and it works fine!
-8600 back in NEW computer. boots! reinstall windows and SP3, TURN OFF AUTO UPDATES
-install slightly older video drivers- 178.13, and restart
-install X-Fi drivers, firefox, avg, zone alarm, evga mobo ethernet driver, adobe CS3 programs, update AVG
-turn off, readjust power cables in case, add 2 hdd's
-tranfer about 200gb
-turn off. adjust fans and wiring. turn on- failure! black screen again!
-turn off, check all power connections
-unplug all non-mobo parts (hdd's and dvd rom)
-swap 8600 to second pci position (meant for SLI)
-unplug/replug 8600 fan
-unplug/replug cpu fan
-unplug/replug chipset fan
-unplug chipset fan
-replug chipset fan... SUCCESS!!! POST! (WTF?)
-turn off. replug all hdd's and dvd-rom. FAIL.
-unplug all but system hdd- FAIL
-unplug sys hdd- FAIL

At this point I have absolutely no idea what the problem is.
There are some constants - when the mobo doesn't POST, it beeps three times- one long, two short.
Sometimes the last digits on the mobo lcd are FF (boot), sometimes 7F (POST error check. "Check POST error and display them and ask for user intervention.")
Also, the computer has never crashed. This problem only occurs when I attempt to turn the computer on.
Thank you again for your help!

 

Hi,

May be it's a problem with Video Card.
Unplug the video card, start without.
Beeps are the same ?
May be yes.
Plug back video card, and try again.

For more help, follow the link : http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/547 .
Take a close look to pages 3,4,5.

 

Mos, yes, the beeps are the same w/ and w/o the video card.
I read the whole hardware secrets guide too.
My friend brought his video card over (a Radeon, not sure what model), and we ran some tests. It worked fine! No problems at all. My old 8600 GT is back in my old computer and working fine too. WEIRD! I guess there must be some buggy incompatibility issue here.
I went ahead and ordered a 9800 GT from newegg. Keeping fingers crossed... I'll let you know if it works.
Thanks everyone!