On Sep 23, 2008, at 12:27 AM, Peter Kolbus wrote:
Erik,Thought I'd jump in here - the symptoms you describe really sound like the graphics card isn't getting all its power. I've built several computers in the last few years, and I have not seen a graphics card manufactured recently that didn't have a separate power connector. On ATI cards, power connectors are typically on the edge facing the front of the computer, and the connector is at or toward the top.Here's a pic showing the PCI-e connector on a card similar to yours. If your power supply doesn't have a plug for this, I'd recommend exchanging it, although you can probably find an adapter from the 4-pin Molex connector (yellow-black-black-red wires)
Peter, Thanks for the advice. Here is the video card. I can't find any power connector on it, so I assume the power comes through the base of the card. Is there another possibility?
http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-129-092-06.jpg Peter Kolbus Erik A. Lilleskov wrote:Dan, Thanks for answering. See my replies below. On Sep 22, 2008, at 1:13 AM, Daniel Brinks wrote:I connected a cable from the front panel audio header to the front audio connector but did not plug in the speakers to either front or back panel jacks. I assumed the alarms worked independent of the speakers. Will the alarms work in those two seconds, and how would I interpret them?Erik-I agree with everything Neal said, although I have a motherboard tray in one of my machines that doesn't use spacers to mount, only raised nubs. Still make sure nothing is shorted -- the symptoms you describe would fit exactly with a shorted out power supply.Do you have a PC speaker (or one of those little piezoelectric buzzers) connected to the proper header pins on your motherboard? As long as the motherboard is getting good power and the board itself is not completely fried, it should beep out an error for just about anything you can do to it.It sounds like you followed all the directions in the manuals (good thinking!) so it seems unlikely that you missed a power connection. Check again I suppose -- sometimes motherboards have multiple connections for power.I went through the instructions several times. There is a separate power supply for the CPU fan, and one for the board. I connected both.One thing that was a little unnerving in the manual for the motherboard was that I discovered a mistake in a diagram. The labels on the diagram for the PWR1 Motherboard Connector were reversed, so the label for pin 1 actually pointed to pin 24. Not that that is likely to affect the outcome as there is only one correct way to connect it to the motherboard, it just lowered my confidence in the manufacturer, NVIDIA.Graphics cards these days normally have additional power connectors too. If you didn't connect that (probably a 6 pin PCIe connector) it could possibly prevent your machine from starting.I couldn't find a separate power connector on our graphics card. The instructions for the card are no help as they are general, for graphics cards both with and without separate power connectors. But looking at the diagrams of the graphics card with separate power connectors ours did not have any open power connectors that match the description in the manual.Maybe try clearing the CMOS/resetting the BIOS just for fun?I did that after nothing else worked. No effect unfortunately.If you have no luck after all of that I'd be looking for another PSU to test with. Good luck!Thanks.-Dan Neal Ylitalo wrote:You can find a "few" notes of mine after the relevant sections below. Hope this helps, and good luck. Also, a bit of un-solicited advice: Ihighly recommend newegg.com for your son's future computer part purchases. I've rarely (never, really) found better deals anywhere,and their customer service is second to none. I mean that, really. NealOn Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:45:13 -0400, "Erik A. Lilleskov" <elillesk@xxxxxxx> wrote:We have an antistatic wristband. My son says that he didn't use it correctly at the beginning, so it is possible there was some static discharge.I've built dozens of computers, serviced hundreds, and have never used an anti-static wristband, and never experienced any negative side-effects. Unless you have reason to believe that there was somesort of static discharge, I think it's safe to say that static didn'tcause the problem.We checked the motherboard for shorting-- motherboard is mounted on raised dimples integral to the case, screws seem to be mounted OK. The case instructions mention spacers but there were none supplied-- I think they are outdated instructions.The spacers are usually an essential part of mounting the motherboard, AFAIK. I've never seen a machine without one. It's possible that they came with the motherboard, but they usually come with the case. My guess here is that StarTech just doesn't include them with their cases. It is also possible that this is the cause of the problem.Motherboard-to-case contact is A Very Bad Thing (tm), and without thespacers, it's possible that something on the back of the mobo is in contact with the case, shorting it out.Given the above, it seems like it's narrowed down to bad RAM, CPU or motherboard, unless we missed something.I don't suspect the RAM. If everything but the RAM worked, you'd get alot more behavior than the two seconds of fan-spinning you're reporting. It's possible that it's the CPU, but I also think that in that case you'd get a bit more behavior than the two seconds' worth.My favorites in this situation are the PSU or the motherboard. As fortesting/diagnosing, there's really only one way that I know of -replace the suspect equipment with a part that is known to work. The PSU is easy - you just unplug everything, and plug in a known working PSU. The motherboard, on the other hand, is not so easy. You have totake everything out, put everything in a working motherboard (whichhas to work with your CPU and memory), and that can be a lot of work.