Building my nw PC not going well

[BangOut]

Hey kidz...

I'm building a new PC by myself for the first time and after hours of work followed by hours of troubleshooting... I'm stuck at the first boot process.

All the devices are plugged in fine and I've taken it down to the bare minimum to get a boot up, but each time I hit the power button, it goes into the boot process and then nothing shows up on screen or it freezes... all of 10-15 seconds into the bootup.

If I leave it alone for a while it lasts longer, but if I try repeated attempts to get it to work it crashes sooner. I figured that must be the CPU superheating (but the heatsink isn't even warm) or a power problem (but everything is getting power fine).

I'm in my 14th hour or trying to fix this problem... none of my R/L friends know diddily about computers so I'm stuck doing this all by myself. Thanks to Kokensu earlier.... too bad I got stuck again a short time later.

 

[BangOut]

Apparently it's going so badly I couldn't spell "new" in the subject

 

[B]

It might be usefull to post this in the Troubleshooting forums.

It also might be usefull to post some specs about your machine

 

[Swedix]

As MEELOBEE says.
Post you hardware specs.
Mobo, chipset, BIOS-version, CPU, RAM, Hard Drive, Power supply and so on.

 

[iolair]

Exactly how far does it get into the boot process ... does it display anything on the screen?

Does it give any beeps on startup? If so, what is the exact pattern of the beeps??? (this is a code containing troubleshooting information!)

 

[Blorgg]

Originally posted by BangOut

(but the heatsink isn't even warm)

I don't know what kind of cpu you have, but if you leave it alone for a while it(the heatsink) should get warm. If it doesn't warm up it means your cpu can't get rid of it's heat. Check and see if it's properly connected, also check if there's cooling paste between cpu and cooler.

 

[Ulukai]

I had this exact same problem when installing a new motherboard recently.

It would get to the "Windows 98" screen then lock or reset itself, and sometimes it wouldn't boot past the POST at all.

Try going into the BIOS and loading the default settings, which should set everything to the most conservative level. If this works, you can gradually turn back on the performance options until you find the one that is causing the problem.

Also.....if you're trying to run a new CPU on an old <200W power supply, it won't be drawing enough power.

If you can't even get into the bios, hold down "delete" whilst you turn on your PC.......on some m/bs this invokes the failsafe BIOS which should at least let you meddle with your settings.

Incidentally, my problem seemed to be caused by having some new fangled AGP setting enabled when it shouldn't have been.

 

[D66]

Do you get a first beep?

 

[purice]

clear the CMOS
either by taking out the battery for a minute or using a jumper (if you have one).
you may need a BIOS update. check your mainboard manufacturer's site for the most recent files and flash utilities.

 

[BangOut]

I thank you all for your replies.... but most of what I mentioned above dictates that I can't change any settings. It's not even making it to BIOS setup... kind of hard to change settings when it stays on for under 10 seconds. It's not on long enough for the chip to get warm, really.

It goes to the first screen where it auto-detects my HD and CR drive as master and slave (took an hour to fix that) and then it goes to

-AMD Athlon 1.4 Ghz
-KT266 Pro2 mobo
-256 MB RAM
-400W power supply
-ATI Radeon vid card
-60 GB Maxtor HD

...other features don't matter yet b/c they haven't come into play

I isloated several of the parts like the vid card and unplugging all unnecessary devices for the boot process, but nothing's happenning.

-If the mobo was ****ed somehow... how do I verify it? My other PC is a P2 chipset so I can't mix and match all of the parts in my possession to check =/

-No, it doesn't make it to the first beep assuming I plugged the buzzer in correctly.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[Stryker8]

from what i can tell, i think its a mobo error, perhaps take it back to the shop. But i don't know if you still have warrenty, since well, lets face it, you'r an amateur at pc building, and if you accidently broke a pin or something, could be anything really, you loze warrenty
let this be a lesson, KNOW YOUR STUFF
i'v seen it dozens of times, pc's wrongly built offcourse my friends call me then
ps; are u using raid?

 

[BangOut]

Well, I have no one to call. I'm quite literally on my own with this.

Hmm, Legend is nearby... I should go bother them.

It's RAID enabled... two extra IDE slots for it.

 

[Stryker8]

did you happen to found the mobo perhaps?
you must have bought it someplace?
did the placing of the heatsink went ok? no probs with that?
and are you actually using the raid?
you didn't switched sides of the ide cables have you?

 

[D66]

Actualy, Legend is nearby? Then maby I am to... PM me.

 

[purice]

i checked your manual and found the clear cmos jumper. it's called JBAT1. to clear, put the jumper on pins 2-3 and power up the board for a second. nothing will happen. then move it back to pins 1-2. this is on page 2-27 in the manual, read it first.

this fixes 90% of the "dead" boards people bring to me.

to flash the BIOS look here for instructions for AMI bioses:
http://www.msi.com.tw/support/bios/note.htm

and here is the bios file for your board:
http://www.msi.com.tw/support/bios/bios.php?model=MS-6380+V2.0

flashing isn't hard to do, but you won't get a second chance if you **** it up.

as far as overclocking goes..
your 1400 should be set to 14X100 or 10.5x133. if you are setting dip switches or jumpers on the board for your bus and cpu speeds (i didn't check if this was available) set them back to jumper free mode(always the default) and make your settings in the BIOS. sometimes jumper free mode has a jumper associated with it. this would also need to be set to jumper free mode.

good luck.

 

[DeaJae]

check the CPU for cracks on the glass top if there is, that may be a cause. if there isn't, cut a bit of copper sheet to cover it and make sure you put a thin layer of compound on.

ive seen a few cracked CPUs and AMD don't care whatever versions you brought.

 

[Clayeth]

If you ordered the parts online you can usually get a replacement no questions asked.

If you're sure everything's hooked up right, if clearing the CMOS doesn't fix anything it has to be a hardware problem. I would ask if you put heatsink compound on your CPU when you put it all together, but even if you didn't it should work longer than that. Try the CPU in another machine somwhere. If it works, it's a safe bet that you need to exchange your mobo.

 

[L_S]

Just off the wall, the first comp I built wouldn't boot because I had the floppy drive cable on backwards.

 

[Lizard Of Oz]

Lizard's "Time Tested Post Computer Build And The Damn Thing Won't Boot" cure:

Jiggle stuff.

 

[Diving Mullah]

Originally posted by BangOut
Well, I have no one to call. I'm quite literally on my own with this.

Hmm, Legend is nearby... I should go bother them.

It's RAID enabled... two extra IDE slots for it.

Ok here is what I did!

I have been building systems for sometime now and this kind of things happens to me all the time.


1) Connect your sound card and hook it to the speakers (if your motherboard has built in sound card even better connect that). If you hear a loud noise/tone. Most likely is your memory (they can go bad very easily).

2) if your hear no tone. Something wrong with your CPU or stuff on the board. Remove the memory and boot your computer. You ought to hear the tone, if yes, then that is good, if no, then CPU or Motherboard are definately defective.

3) I would go to a store and see If I can buy a new CPU (but check their return policy) and make sure you can return it.

4) if with the new CPU your motherboard works then the old one is bad and do what you will.

5) if not, check the memory the same way, buy and return

6) if all of this fails, reset the bios and try again

7) IF no result by now then your motherboard is defective and need to be replace. Also check with their customer service.

8)I DID ALL OF THIS AND STILL COULD not BOOT THE BOARD, THEN i STARED YANKING PCI BOARDS out AND TESTING EACH TIME, UNTILL i REALIZED MY VIDEO DAZZEL CARD IS MAKING THE MOTHERBOARD CHOCKE, REMOVE THAT PCI CARD AND EVERYTHIGN WORKED JUST FINE AFTER THAT!


best of luck

Mullah