New Build Issue

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 00:35

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

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 00:42

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.

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 00:54

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".

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 01:02

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.

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 01:12

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.

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 01:27

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.

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 01:50

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.

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 02:50

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.

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 11:04

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.

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 12:07

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.

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 13:08

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.

Ross L · 21 May 2011 at 18:42

Thanks for all the help everyone, I am a step closer to having everything running as it should.

The graphics card doesn't seem to be faulty. For some reason it is displaying the apparent 'warning lights' (that's what they were listed as on the AMD forums) when it is running fine now (so I am assuming they are not warning lights). I disconnected all the HDD's thinking I may have put too much on the PSU and just left the OS SSD in place and it worked. I then connected the HDD's and it switched on again fine.

So I just need to RMA the single RAM module and 1 Samsung F3