New Build Issue

Ross L

Ross L

Ross L

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Joined
17 May 2011
Posts
51
Hi,

I've just done my first full build in about 6 years and I have come up against an issue where I cannot even get the bios up on screen.

My config is:

Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
MSI ATI Radeon HD 6870 OC HAWK 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Asus P67 Sabertooth Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge) ** B3 REVISION **
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G)
Fractal Design Define XL Full Tower Case - Black Pearl £70.82
Corsair TX 750W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXUK)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) x 4
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) x 2

I've taken the side off of the case and the graphics card (ATI HD 6870) is showing a red light at the end and the motherboard is showing a red light in the top right hand corner.

Any ideas on what could be causing this, so I know where to start trouble shooting?

Thanks in advance.

Ross
 
Hi there,

Have you plugged the two 6pin PCIE power connections into the graphics card from the PSU?

Also, have you plugged in the 8pin 12V(p4) power connection into the motherboard from the PSU, as well as the 24pin plug?

Finally, have you installed the motherboard onto stand-offs or directly on the case side, and if you used stand-offs are there any unused ones sitting behind the motherboard?
 
Hi,

Thanks for the swift response.

I have the 8 pin plugged into the top of the mobo and the 24 to the right. Also have the two 6 pins plugged into the graphics card. I don't think there is any spare standoffs, but I'll remove the mobo just to be 100% sure.
 
Good plan, also are the memory modules installed in banks A2 and B2?

If so you might want to try installing just one module at a time (in bank A2) and see if one of the modules is faulty (with on allowing the system to boot, but the other not).

Is the CPU cooler definitely securely mounted and the CPU fan plugged into the CPU_FAN header?
 
Last edited:
Removing all bar one of the ram modules has got rid of the red light next to the "Mem OK" button (top right hand corner) but the graphics card is still displaying a red light and a little red light has appeared behind the text "Boot_Device_LED".
 
Is the graphics card installed in the top-most PCIE x16 slot and is the SSD installed into one of the brown SATA ports and is the SSD plugged into the PSU?
 
The graphics card was plugged into the top slot and the SSD is in the brown sata port. I removed the graphics card and tried an old ati 3650 (requires no power connections) that I had in another machine and it now boots to bios.
 
You should charge for your advice. It really is top class. Not really much to add to what you are already being advised to check and do. I'm sure you will get to the bottom of the issue in no time at all. :)
 
Ross L said:
The graphics card was plugged into the top slot and the SSD is in the brown sata port. I removed the graphics card and tried an old ati 3650 (requires no power connections) that I had in another machine and it now boots to bios.
Click to expand...

Ah, that is good to hear. So possibly a DOA graphics card. If you can I would suggest testing it in another PC quickly to see if it shows any signs of life. If it doesn't then it's RMA time.

Buchanan0204 said:
You should charge for your advice. It really is top class.
Click to expand...

:) Cheers, hopefully my advice is of some use, but I don't reckon there is much money in it :( Though I think I may apply for a summer job at a local PC repair shop, minimum wage ain't to bad for getting to mess with computers all day.
 
I've now placed all 4 ram modules back in the computer and left the ATI 3650 in and it started through the Windows 7 install (just got past loading the files) and then BSOD. "Stop: c0000221 Unknown Hard Error

\Systemroot\System32\ntdll.dll".

Edit-- Ah missed yor response. I don't have another PC capable of running it unfortunately, I stuck with Dell until this week and it wouldn't even fit in the case.
 
That error looks like it can be caused by quite a few things - but I would suggest just installing one RAM stick, going into the BIOS and ensuring it is running at the correct settings (also make sure the storage controller is set to AHCI or RAID mode - for the SSD), clean the Win 7 disk and then try installing the OS again.
 
Well I pulled all bar one module as you recommended and it has now started installing Win 7. Looks like I'll have to return some of the ram and the graphics card.

Thanks very much for all your help, it's very much appreciated.
 
you can try swaping the memory in and out and running some memtests, you might weed out the dodgy stick that way. Also you might try another go with the GFX card. It might just have not been seated correctly in the socket worth trying it again imho. You didnt get to BIOS but perhaps you got a series of beeps from the POST test? these beeps will be explained in your motherboard manual and might direct you to the problem.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I tried putting the new graphics card back in and it's still got the red light on it and no signal is being sent to my monitor. I'm just going through the process of checking the ram modules now. I also got no beeps at all.
 
Just an update.

There was definitely a faulty ram module (typically the last module I tested), so I have contacted OC with regards to that and the graphics card issue.

Thanks for everyones help.
 
I haven't had chance to test it in memtest yet, but I did try it on it's own in every slot and the computer didn't even make it to the BIOS with it installed.
 
An update on the situation:

It would seem that one of the Samsung 1TB HDD's I brought is also faulty. The BIOS can detect the hard drive and so can windows setup, but it doesn't show up. I went to Control Panel > Admin Tools > Computer Management > Storage and it is not detected there, so I cannot format it to use. I have tried the hard drive in another setup and it detected in BIOS but not in Control Panel > Admin Tools > Computer Management > Storage.
 
Tried that unfortunately and also moved it to my old dell desktop and it does exactly the same.

Thanks very much for everyones help pin pointing the issues. I've contacted OC about returning the GFX Card, HDD and the ram module.
 
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