New Mobo and cpu, now no go.

[Red Lightning]

Hi all,

just bought a new mo/bo and cpu today, threw it all in and now it has some real issues.

When I press the power button, the case LED's and lights come on for about 5 seconds and I hear my video card's fan going, then it all goes dead. I press again and it all comes back to life, but no sign of activity for my drives or for the cpu fan. I press a third time and the cpu fan tries spinning for about 60 seconds, but still no signal going to the monitor. I can't even tell if it's POSTing.

The videocard used to work fine on the old motherboard. In thinking it may have been too much for my 500W PSU, I tried disconnecting all unnecessary drives etc. No change.

I tried an old video card, but it does exactly the same thing.

The new gear I bought today was:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 w/ G0 Stepping
Gigabit GA-P35C-DS3R motherboard.

the video card is an MSI Geforce 8600 GTS.

anybody got any ideas as to what I should try to get this lot working for me?

Cheers

[jbennet]

How powerful is the PSU?

Have you attatched the small power connectors?

[Red Lightning]

the PSU is 500W, and if you mean the small 4 pin connector, then yep it's in.

Also, previously the system was running an Athlon 64 so this is the first time that 4pin connector has been used. I checked to make sure it was in properly and not filled with dust. seemed fine.

[Red Lightning]

Also, I've checked its not the new ram I bought, I tried it by itself, with the old ram and also the old ram by itself... no difference. In fact, I doubt at this point if there'd be any difference if I tried with no ram.

Also stranger still, its not a 2nd press of the power button, I was just coincedentally pressing the button the same time it was booting itself again.

[Red Lightning]

ok. just performed another check, i tore apart an old computer from way back, grabbed out the 400W p4-compatible ATX PSU from it and threw it at the new rig. It didnt cut out on first boot, but didnt do anything new.

[jbennet]

dead motherboard?

can you return it?

[caperjack]

Also, I've checked its not the new ram I bought, I tried it by itself, with the old ram and also the old ram by itself... no difference. In fact, I doubt at this point if there'd be any difference if I tried with no ram.

Ok,so you have new ddr2 ram ,and old ddr2 ram and you tried all together ,just checking here ,you do know that the green ram slots are for ddr3 ram ,and that you cant run ddr2 and ddr3 rame together .
when you install 2 ddr2 ram chips do you put 1 in each of the yellow slots ,as this is,i think so anyway , the proper way to install 2 sticks of ddr2 ram ,of course if you have 4 sticks of ddr2 ram you would install them in both the red and yellow slots .

!!!My2 Cents as that may be all its worth !!!

[Red Lightning]

I'm going to try return the mobo today and see how i go.

with the ram, yep all the new in yellow and old in red.

[Red Lightning]

ok, took it back, they tested it, said it was fine, must be my power supply. $80 aus later, I have a new power supply. It still wont let the vidcard (which i know to work perfectly fine) send any signal to the monitor.

the power supply's manual mentions a PCI Express power plug, but I cant figure out for the life of me which one it is, or where on earth it's meant to go? anyone got a description or picture?

[jbennet]

I think a PCI express plug looks a bit like the one that the P4 needs? maybe im wrong?

[jbennet]

does the motherboard have onboard vga?

Maybe you need to specifically tell it to use the addin card and not the onboard one

[Red Lightning]

nope no onboard video. but you should see the amount of audio connections O.O

and apparently my 8600gts has no want or ability for any other power other than the main power from the mother board and the 4 pin molex which i already have connected.

[fren]

Have you tried to turn it on directly through the power switch pin terminal from the motherboard?

[Red Lightning]

ok, it seems my missus's idea fixed it. I removed the mobo from the case, put it on some cardboard and fired it up. perfection instantly.

[jbennet]

Something must have been shorting it..

Did you use the standoffs?

[Red Lightning]

sure did, and there's no risen part of the case, and for what i can tell no sagging part in the mobo.

heh, now my next challenge begins - installing vista. oh save me jebus!

btw, cheers for all the help on this one, i was really about to lose the plot.