DOA?

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 22:34

Hi All,

Recieved all the parts for a system i'm building for my parents.

Consists of an Asus M4A79T AM3 board, AMD Phenom II 720 Black, 4gb OCZ DDR3 AM3 memory, ATI HD 4670 512mb Graphics, OCZ Stealth 600w PSU, 1tb Samsung F1 SATA drive etc.

Assembled the components into the Antec 300 case and switched on. Fans power up, but no beeps (not sure if the board has a built in buzzer, and the case doesn't have one) and there was nothing displayed on screen.

Turned off, checked the obvious connections. Reseated the CPU, moved the RAM into different slots.

Tried again - same problem.

Took the parts out, and set up all essential components on an antistatic bag to confirm that it wasnt shorting.

Same problem.

Removed graphics card, replaced with an 8800GTX from my computer.

Same problem.

Came to the conclusion that the motherboard was DOA - would everyone agree?

Secondly, I need this machine up and running fast - I am taking it to my parents when I visit them which is soon.

Am I able to drive over from Cambridge to the OCUK shop and swap it there and then? Presumably I can - given I only ordered the stuff on Thursday of last week - this shouldn't be a problem, right? It's quite a trek, but will save waiting in all day for DPD and sending the broken one back.

Thanks

Chris

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 22:41

Yep - plugged in both the 24 pin ATX connector and the 8 pin connector up the top.

Shouldn't be a short - I set up the system on an anti-static bag and it still didn't do anything

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 22:45

Yep - 4 power connections to the motherboard in total - the main 20 pin ATX plug + the 4 pin ATX2 that joins on, then CPU1 and CPU2 (4 pins each) that plug up top.

Reset the CMOS - ensuring the jumper was set to the correct pins.

No facility for testing the RAM - the only other system here is DDR2 in my LGA775 machine. I moved both sticks of RAM to the other sockets on the board, thats all I could do in that respect. Presumably if one stick was faulty, it would boot off the other - and the likelyhood of both sticks being faulty is far slimmer than the board, I guess!

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 22:51

I need to know whether I can blast up to OCUK tomorrow first thing and swap the motherboad - time is of the essence and I don't really have time to post it, wait for it to be recieved and then a new one sent back. I'd rather spend 6 hours of tomorrow just sorting it out!

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 22:58

PSU Seems to function correctly - could PSU failure exhibit the same symptoms?

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:00

I will take the PSU out of my machine and give that quick test.

PSU is from another retailer so couldn't take that for test. Will give mine ago real quick...

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:03

Will check now - I dont want to drive from Cambs to Stoke tomorrow for it not to turn out to be the mobo when I get home.

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:08

If I do go up, OCUK should swap no probs - right?

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:16

so they do test whilst you wait then

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:26

Yeah - I was going to do that anyway - not least to check they have a replacement in stock!

My main worry is them turning me away!

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:27

kerrgreg said:
Try it with one stick of ram

Assume nothing if one thing fails it will/ could take the whole pc down! make sure you cover everything in different situations

it looks like you have got it all covered but just be sure before you drive over and start demanding things.

Checked with one stick - still no joy.

Monitor says "No DVI cable", no beep... nothing. Will try the other stick. And my 8800GTX again

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:32

no joy.

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:35

Yep - tried a Corsair 620w Modular from my system - same symptoms.

Was a complete arse - had to completely disassemble my main machine!

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:39

Yeah - the RAM is from OCUK too - is it worth taking that with me so they can rule it out - or do they charge for that?

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:46

Yeah - i'll bung it in the car too.

chrispostill · 31 May 2009 at 23:47

Yeah - i'll bung it in the car too.

Thanks for your help - i'll certainly report back.

Just trying the GFX in my machine to double make sure.

chrispostill · 1 Jun 2009 at 00:52

JACKPOT

Ok - so just as I was packing up, It occurred to me that I should try plugging something into the VGA port instead of the DVI-D port of the graphics card.

Low and behold, board was POSTing fine and was hanging on press DEL to enter setup!

Bizarre though that there was no video output through DVI?!

Edit: also bizarre that I plugged my 8800GTX in which ONLY has DVI ports - and there was no output there.

Windows 7 installing now.

chrispostill · 1 Jun 2009 at 02:08

Got it - in my hurry to get everything tested, I accidentally pulled the DVI cable from the monitor! D'OH

Thanks for all your help over here - appreciate it. Without your suggestions, i'd probably be very embarassed in Stoke on Trent tomorrow!

chrispostill · 1 Jun 2009 at 14:46

I dont think the graphics card was outputting to DVI first - becuse i plugged my machine back in and didn't check the back of the monitor then, so I assumed that wasnt the problem. Whatever made it work, I dont know... But it would have been quite embarassing. understatment. Also, never assume!