New build advice please, newbie!

Allotmentman · 25 Jul 2014 at 09:29

Ok I've no signal on my monitor yet I'm pretty sure it's all been connected in the right way. No doubt I've made a newboy error. What's the most common reason for this?

Idleman · 25 Jul 2014 at 10:01

Allotmentman said:
Ok I just learned that I don't have an IDE port! Pants.

You could get an IDE-SATA adaptor, but for the price, be just as cheap to buy another DVD RW.

Allotmentman said:
Ok I've no signal on my monitor yet I'm pretty sure it's all been connected in the right way. No doubt I've made a newboy error. What's the most common reason for this?

Is your monitor connected to the Gpu or mobo.
If connected to the Gpu, check that you have the relevant PCIE connectors from your Psu plugged in.

Allotmentman · 25 Jul 2014 at 10:32

Idleman said:
You could get an IDE-SATA adaptor, but for the price, be just as cheap to buy another DVD RW.

Is your monitor connected to the Gpu or mobo.
If connected to the Gpu, check that you have the relevant PCIE connectors from your Psu plugged in.

Good morning Idleman. My monitor is connected to the mbo. I've double checked inside and I can't see anything I have missed. I was careful on the build and had an anti static wrist band on at all times and I built the mbo outside with ram, graphics and chips/fans so as to be as gentle as possible. I'll go out in a while and buy a new CD-ROM drive and get a new dvi cable and if it's not the cable I'll run through a process of elimination.

Idleman · 25 Jul 2014 at 10:49

Allotmentman said:
Good morning Idleman. My monitor is connected to the mbo. I've double checked inside and I can't see anything I have missed. I was careful on the build and had an anti static wrist band on at all times and I built the mbo outside with ram, graphics and chips/fans so as to be as gentle as possible. I'll go out in a while and buy a new CD-ROM drive and get a new dvi cable and if it's not the cable I'll run through a process of elimination.

Try connecting the monitor to the Gpu.

Does your monitor have a menu to select display input. It should pick up automatically, but worth checking anyway.

Is this your mobo GA-Z97P-D3, if so, according to the specs, it only has a HDMI port, unless you are using an adapter, you can't connect a DVI cable.

Allotmentman · 25 Jul 2014 at 10:56

The one I was going to order did but I got the same models with extra ports so it has a dvi and VGA as well as hdmi. I've tried the VGA and that's not working either and I have selected between the two channels my Viewsonic screen has. The screen works fine but there is no input to it. It's the socket 1150 version.

Allotmentman · 26 Jul 2014 at 00:06

Ok guys I really need help. So I connected up the computer to a screen via hdmi via the graphics card but still no signal. I have full power, fans coming on including on the graphics card and I have double checked everything. I can't tell if it's all firing up as I don't have a speaker to hear the all important beep. Any advice right now will be greatly appreciated.

Idleman · 26 Jul 2014 at 13:49

Sorry to hear you're still having problems.

Are there any red led's showing on your mobo. Not familiar with your board, so not sure what led lights it has, check manual.
Try removing everything apart from 1 stick of ram. So, no Gpu or ssd/hdd. Attach HDMI cable to mobo and see if that works. Try the stick in every slot, if still no go, try the same with the other stick.
I assume your Cpu(4 or 6pin) and motherboard(24 pin) connectors are properly seated.
Are you using an aftermarket cooler, if so, try loosening it off a bit.

Let us know how you get on.

Allotmentman · 26 Jul 2014 at 21:58

Idleman said:
Sorry to hear you're still having problems.

Are there any red led's showing on your mobo. Not familiar with your board, so not sure what led lights it has, check manual.
Try removing everything apart from 1 stick of ram. So, no Gpu or ssd/hdd. Attach HDMI cable to mobo and see if that works. Try the stick in every slot, if still no go, try the same with the other stick.
I assume your Cpu(4 or 6pin) and motherboard(24 pin) connectors are properly seated.
Are you using an aftermarket cooler, if so, try loosening it off a bit.

Let us know how you get on.

So I removed the graphics and one stick of ram and it's working so what now? I put the ram in and it still worked so now that's 8 gb (2 x4gb) installed and then the graphics and that's when it went back to not giving me any screen input. I left the hdd out for now so how should I best proceed?

Idleman · 26 Jul 2014 at 23:24

Do you still have the same problem if the monitor is connected to the mobo?

As I don't know what motherboard you have, I don't know how many PCIE slots you have. But I would suggest trying another slot, in case your top slot is faulty. I would also try with another monitor or TV.
I had a similar experience a few years ago, turned out my monitor picked that time to pack up.

Allotmentman · 27 Jul 2014 at 00:01

Idleman said:
Do you still have the same problem if the monitor is connected to the mobo?

As I don't know what motherboard you have, I don't know how many PCIE slots you have. But I would suggest trying another slot, in case your top slot is faulty. I would also try with another monitor or TV.
I had a similar experience a few years ago, turned out my monitor picked that time to pack up.

It was connected to the mbo via a VGA cable. The motherboard I have is a Gigabyte Z97 hd3 1050 slot. The monitor worked fine before when I left the graphics card out so it can't be that. I'll have a tinker.

Idleman · 27 Jul 2014 at 00:15

Allotmentman said:
It was connected to the mbo via a VGA cable. The motherboard I have is a Gigabyte Z97 hd3 1050 slot. The monitor worked fine before when I left the graphics card out so it can't be that. I'll have a tinker.

So, everything is working fine, until you put the Gpu in. Have you checked the bios for display settings, make sure it is on Auto or PEG 1 and not the onboard graphics.
Just going to look up your mobo details now.

Idleman · 31 Jul 2014 at 15:30

Any update on this?

Allotmentman · 31 Jul 2014 at 19:17

Idleman said:
Any update on this?

Hello Idleman, my DVD rom drive turned up today and dvi cable so I'm on it as we speak. Just set the pcie config to gen 1 (I have 1-3) and I am the rebooting.tried it all in and I again had everything running but no screen.

Idleman · 31 Jul 2014 at 19:49

Ok, just a quick recap: you get a display on the monitor if it is connected to the mobo, but not when connected to the Gpu.

Have you tried with the Gpu in another slot?
Do you have a spare Gpu or know someone who could lend you their's, for test purposes.
We need to rule out what is at fault, mobo PCIE slots or the Gpu.

Allotmentman · 31 Jul 2014 at 21:01

Idleman said:
Ok, just a quick recap: you get a display on the monitor if it is connected to the mobo, but not when connected to the Gpu.

Have you tried with the Gpu in another slot?
Do you have a spare Gpu or know someone who could lend you their's, for test purposes.
We need to rule out what is at fault, mobo PCIE slots or the Gpu.

Ok so I will try the other dvi slot first on the gpu. There is only one main slot for it on that board. I selected Gen 1 but I had gen 2 and 3 available also.

Sorry about this, I'm a little confused at present.

Idleman · 31 Jul 2014 at 21:14

Gen 2 is set by default, you can try with Auto or gen 3. If you still don't get any display, then put the Gpu in the other PCIE(x4) slot and see if that works.

Allotmentman · 31 Jul 2014 at 22:56

Ok so gen2 worked and everything is connected and working but now I'm trying to run windows 8.1 upload and I'm being told that I can't because it already has some windows installer installed. I'm again lost!

Allotmentman · 31 Jul 2014 at 23:06

Ok so it's working. I just had to run windows custom install, not auto which is what I am used to. I'll keep you up to date with my progress......or not lol

Idleman · 31 Jul 2014 at 23:17

Looks like you have cracked it.

Allotmentman · 31 Jul 2014 at 23:21

Idleman said:
Looks like you have cracked it.

I hope so and if so I owe you a huge thank you for your support and help!