Finally Building a PC

[Versus]

installing games on an SSD is totally worth it

[HeK]

I have two Samsung 830 256gb drives in a RAID 0.

Expensive, but very worth it. No HDDs for me!

[Eightball]

I have two Samsung 830 256gb drives in a RAID 1.

Expensive, but very worth it. No HDDs for me!

I thought you went RAID 0 ಠ_ಠ. Even better though.

[HeK]

[quote author=HeK link=topic=6841.msg263511#msg263511 date=1363361554]
I have two Samsung 830 256gb drives in a RAID 1.

Expensive, but very worth it. No HDDs for me!

I thought you went RAID 0 ಠ_ಠ. Even better though.
[/quote]

Derp. Corrected post.
I also run incremental backups nightly.

[kaese]

So I got all my parts today and I built an external version first to check for problems. The monitor doesn't seem to be turning on though, any ideas as to what is causing this problem?

Everything seems to be powered up as the fans are spinning and such.

[Eightball]

So I got all my parts today and I built an external version first to check for problems. The monitor doesn't seem to be turning on though, any ideas as to what is causing this problem?

Everything seems to be powered up as the fans are spinning and such.

Show us a video, like in my thread! Do you hear a POST beep? You might not, I think ASRock boards don't do that by default. Mine never beeps, except when entering the BIOS. I also assume you checked all of the connections. Are you connecting the video card and plugging the monitor into that? If so, try again without the video card and using the onboard video port.

[FlyingMongoose]

What kind of monitor, and what type of port are you attempting to plug it into? My HDMI capable monitor doesn't turn on at all with my compy unless it's plugged into the card (despite the mobo having an HDMI out).

[HeK]

Check on both ports of your video card, including the onboard.
Make sure your video card is in the #1 PCI-E slot, the top most, closest to the CPU.
You should hear a post beep, if you have a speaker plugged into the mobo. If not, then you may have a hardware issue. Look for other signs of life, such as a flashing HDD activity light.

[kaese]

Show us a video, like in my thread! Do you hear a POST beep? You might not, I think ASRock boards don't do that by default. Mine never beeps, except when entering the BIOS. I also assume you checked all of the connections. Are you connecting the video card and plugging the monitor into that? If so, try again without the video card and using the onboard video port.

I've disassembled everything for the moment. I didn't hear a beep but I do have this ghetto speaker that was plugged into the old computer's motherboard, I could plug it in and see it I hear anything (but maybe it's dead lol).
I've also already tried connecting my VGA cable to both the onboard video port and to the graphics card; no signs of life from the monitor for both.

What kind of monitor, and what type of port are you attempting to plug it into? My HDMI capable monitor doesn't turn on at all with my compy unless it's plugged into the card (despite the mobo having an HDMI out).

I'm testing with an old Hanns-G monitor from my old pc, aside from the fact that it works when I turn it on and off...I don't know much more.
I'm connecting using VGA to the DVI-1-to-VGA adapter that came with my graphics card. The mobo already has a VGA port so I just used that...with no good results.

Check on both ports of your video card, including the onboard.
Make sure your video card is in the #1 PCI-E slot, the top most, closest to the CPU.
You should hear a post beep, if you have a speaker plugged into the mobo. If not, then you may have a hardware issue. Look for other signs of life, such as a flashing HDD activity light.

I didn't connect anything else besides the CPU, GPU, RAM, and PSU but I can try again with the HDD connected if that will give a better indication of what the problem might be.

I think I put the graphics card in the right slot (orange dot):



I am also testing using an old 500W power supply but the graphics card box recommends a minimum of 450W. I could be cutting it close then, but I don't think the mobo onboard video port requires that much power...and it didn't work when I connected to that port.

[CaffeinePowered]

So you're getting no video output at all?

That sounds like either a DOA mobo or not enough watts...

Can you test your new video card in your old box?

[HeK]

500 watts should be enough, unless it's a shit-brand PSU. That is the correct slot.

Remove all the components, HDDs, etc including the video card. Leave only the CPU and RAM in there.
Try POSTing with just CPU and RAM. The onboard video should work without the presence of an additional video card.
If that doesn't work, try to boot with no ram at all, just a CPU. You should get continuous error beeping.

[kaese]

So you're getting no video output at all?

That sounds like either a DOA mobo or not enough watts...

Can you test your new video card in your old box?

Yea, nothing at all. I was thinking it would probably be one of the two problems you've listed.
The old desktop I have is *very* old, all the ports are different and I don't think the graphics card can even go on the fossil mobo. The idea of testing it has crossed my mind though.

500 watts should be enough, unless it's a shit-brand PSU. That is the correct slot.

Remove all the components, HDDs, etc including the video card. Leave only the CPU and RAM in there.
Try POSTing with just CPU and RAM. The onboard video should work without the presence of an additional video card.
If that doesn't work, try to boot with no ram at all, just a CPU. You should get continuous error beeping.

The brand of PSU is Cooler Master, not sure if shitty or not.

I'll try what you've suggested once the little speaker I ordered gets here (Wednesday) so that I can hear the beeping or lack thereof.


Also general question, after I POST, how should I turn off everything? I've been just switching the power supply off since I didn't know any other way lol

[Eightball]

The brand of PSU is Cooler Master, not sure if shitty or not.

I'll try what you've suggested once the little speaker I ordered gets here (Wednesday) so that I can hear the beeping or lack thereof.

Also general question, after I POST, how should I turn off everything? I've been just switching the power supply off since I didn't know any other way lol

Cooler Master's pretty good for PSUs. You said fans were turning on, so it's not the PSU (PSU failure = nothing happens at all). Also, I'm surprised the motherboard didn't come with a little speaker, mine did and they're similar models. And yes, you can just turn it off whenever.

Try what HeK suggested. And if you want a second set of hands for diagnosing, I'll be in Madison next week (if you can wait that long).

[StolenToast]

My go-to response for any build related troubles is try to reseat your RAM.  Push down harder than you would expect, it should click twice.

If the graphics card is pulling too much power (which it really shouldn't just on startup) you can try simply removing the card and using your CPU's graphics by plugging into the mobo VGA.  Unless the mobo has onboard video then the mobo video ports will not work when a graphics adapter is plugged in, whether it's working or not.  Happened to a friend of mine.  The GTX 550 was plugged in but whoever assembled the rig forgot to give power to the card, so none of the video ports responded.

Take a picture of your test build and post it. 

[HeK]

Also general question, after I POST, how should I turn off everything? I've been just switching the power supply off since I didn't know any other way lol

That's fine. That or hold power for three seconds. Unless you have an OS up and running, there is no loss when you kill the power.

[kaese]

Oh I've figured out what my problem was, I neglected to give power to the ATX12V port. After sticking a 4 pin port in it (manual said it would be fine but I think I'll get a 4pin to 8 pin converter) the monitor turned on. woot! Thanks for all the help and suggestions, I'm going to attach the video card and see if it will work as well.

edit: gpu works! hooray! and I just noticed Amazon randomly charged me $80, not so excited about that!

[k0ala]

Good thoughts! Hope to see you back at the highlander practices.

[kaese]

Good thoughts! Hope to see you back at the highlander practices.

Ugh yea, I'm still waiting for my case to get here along with windows 7. I have my laptop with me now but whenever it overheats (which is quite often now during Minecraft and occasionally during TF2) it will just turn off. This was the catalyst that got me off my butt and actually build a computer that can handle games.

[HeK]

(manual said it would be fine but I think I'll get a 4pin to 8 pin converter)

The 8 pins allow for more current for the PCI-E slots, but if you are using video cards with their own power, it's unnecessary.
The 4 pins are all ready 'split' on the motherboard. You can even see it if you flip the board over and look at the traces on the bottom.

[Eightball]

Congrats on the fix. My offer of help still stands for when you do the main build!