new pc, built by hand.. no image output

ello, and thnx for your help in advance.

i recently bought built my own computer, and have been trying to figure out why it wont output an image.

ill guess u need the machines specs..

amd athlon 64 4000+
nvidia geforce 6800 256 mb
2 gigs ram
74 gig 10,000 rpm rapto
chaintech vnf4 (nvidia nforce4 chipset)
cd rw drive
dvd rw drive
540 wat psu

i talked to a couple of friends

1 said that the pci express slot was not set up in the bios, and to use a pci card to set the slot up..

another said that the machine was running faster then the mobo was set to accept and to spam the f2 button when u turned the machine on..

i havnt tried the first persons advice yet.. but.. are there even any video cards made for just the pci slot? and the second thing didnt provide me with any outcome.

i have also made sure everything was connected correctly, and tried several monitors to make sure it wasnt the monitor.

um.. i think thats it, so ya if u guys can give me some advice as to what the problem is and some possible fixes i, i would greatly appreciate it. and if u need any more info, just ask and you shall recieve

 

i guess theres more for me to learn with computer.. where would that specific jumper be?

 

Check your motherboard documentation. There's a little plastic jumper that can be put in two positions. One way is a "short" that will clear your bios, and the other position is the normal position. Whenever you build a system you should always clear the BIOS with the jumper just as a routine. It isn't always necessary, but it doesn't hurt anything and it can help.

 

Geforce 6800 would imply that he is using a pci-e video card, I think. I looked up that mobo and couldn't find that it has onboard video...but if it does, and you have a separate pci-e card hooked up, check where your monitor is hooked up. Your monitor needs to be hooked up to the graphics card, not the onboard video, or you won't have any video at all.

Edit: I'm obviously confused, MA. I don't see where he said it was an Emachine. I apologize if I'm giving bad advice, I've not worked with a non plug and play board and the advice I was given by two different techs was to always reset the bios when you first build the system. He said he just built it so I was passing that advice along.

 

im trying to boot with the pci e video card (geforce 6800)

the mobo doesnt have on board video..

Ayanla give me a sec and ill look at the documentation

 

im going to try Ayanla's jumper thing real quik, ill ask around tomorrow to see if i can find some one willing to part with the pci e card for a day or two..

 

heh srry Ayanla, but major was correct ill have to see what video cards i can get from friends

thnx for the help though

 

Which is why I'm a bigger fan of Gigabyte mobos. Now without seeing your computer, it's hard to diagnose the problem, but I had something similar to this. Are you certain that when you reset the BIOS jumper, it reset and then was in the normal position? I had a mobo that came with the jumper in the reset position.

 

The thing that slays me about the cmos reset jumper is this:

The machine won't even power up with it in the reset position. The fans won't turn over, nothing will spin up. It will do, absolutely, nothing.

So...can we all stop suggesting this as a culprit?

To the original poster:

Do you get a beep when you turn it on? Multiple beeps?

Things I have seen that have prevented video intialization, and BIOS POST:

Poorly seated ram.

Poorly seated CPU.

Poorly seated PCI. PCIe, or AGP cards.

In other words, make sure everything is seated properly.

 

ok guys im the original poster, and heres an update along with some info that ididnt know was pertinent utnill today.

as i said i would do i asked around for a pci e video card i could borrow, and when it came to asking my teacher that speciallizes with compputers, he asked the same question as Adrynalyne.

and the answer to that question is no, there are no beeps or sounds other then the fans powering up.

now that we cleared that up, whats some new advice.. besides getting another mobo to test to see if its not just the mobo crapping out.

o and Adrynalyne, ill look into making sure everything is seated correctly in several minutes

 

i just made sure everything was completly seated. and powered the machine up. same thing

no beeps.

so ya advice, and any advice is usable, as there is no need to argue with each other over the different possible fixes.

 

its cool

and to answer ur first question. i am a begginer when it comes to building computer and etc, so i dont really have any spare parts just lying around. and i was unable to get a spare video card, and probbaly wont be able to get too much else, for cheep...

it makes life really hard when trying to troubleshoot

ill work on finding some spare parts, or see if any one i know over the net can send me something.. and if all else fails just buy some cheeper parts off of newegg, to see if anything changes.

so ya.. im still willing to listen to anything that you guys have to say so, keep posting unless we exhaust all possibilies

 

You may want to check and see if maybe a misplaced motherboard standoff is shorting the board, If you remove the board count the standoffs and make sure the same amount of screws are put in.

 

explain what a "standoff" would be?

 

It is a little metal or plastic spacer that goes on the back of the mobo so it doesn't touch the case and short circuit.

 

Did you buy a new case? If so usually there is a package of screws and normally brass standoffs but like the poster before me said they could be plastic as well . If you used a case with the standoffs already screwed in make sure they line up with all of the holes in the motherboard, if some don't remove them and put them in the appropriate spot. good luck keep us up to date.

 

o.. ok ya, i set the standoffs up pretty much right when everything got here.

 

your using 2 gigs of ram, so is that two sticks of 1gig or 4 512? I'm grabbing a straws now but try booting with one stick, then try the other.

 

2 sticks of 1 gig

gimme a sec and ill try that

 

thats a negative, no changes

 

did you plug the 4 pin power cable in at the back of the motherboard near the end of the ram slots. just double check everything you have done, have you correctly connected the power switch and reset switch,correctly to the motherboard pins. read the manual as it has a wealth of information

 

Afew suggestions from a complete noob, try taking everything out of the computer, and try rebuilding it on either a piece or cardboard or anything else that does not conduct electricty (the anti-static bag your mobo came in would be ideal) Connect the PC case speaker to the Mobo and try turning it on, if you dont hear any beeps it could very possibly be your CPU, from what i have read online the lack of ANY beeps usually indicates a bad CPU. My friend fried his CPU a while back, and the symptons were the same, fans would spin up, but nothing would be displayed on the monitor. If you have any other friends with a 939 socket board you could always try your CPU in their board to rule that out! Good luck!

 

Which is the next thing I was going to suggest. I had a similar difficulty when I replaced my power supply not long ago. I replaced it, and there was no video. When the power supply died, it killed the processor as well, leaving me with a good Mobo, and no processor. I had to bum one off a relative with lots of spare parts and put it in temporarily until I got a new one. Is the processor brought forward from another computer system?

And I disagree with not resetting the BIOS on initial startup, unless the processor and mobo were bought as a combo. Otherwise it's easier to set everything manually.

In any case this is now sounding like the Processor is dead, or the mobo is. Test your power supply as well.

 

the entire machine is brand new.. which i will kill myself for spending 300 on a dead processor..

im going to send the machine to a friend to look at so i wont have it for a couple of days. ill give an update when i can, untill then ill monitor the posts to see if any workable.