new pc issues

[mephistophyles]

Hey all,
I just built myself a new machine and I think there's an issue with my video card. I put it all together and when I turn it on I hear the sounds I expect to hear (no OS, so no start up sounds yet). But my monitor remains blank, claiming it's not getting a signal.
My machine is as follows;
ASUS P5NE-SLI mobo
ASUS 8800GTS 320MB VGA
Intel E6750 processor
600W psu
2x SATA Seagate 320GB HDDs
2GB Kingston DDR2 PC6400 RAM

the monitor is a sweet new samsung 206bw 20 inch widescreen.

I've done all the 'obvious' stuff, checked if the video card is in the right PCI slot, it is. I checked with a different monitor and got the same problem, whereas both monitors work fine on a different machine. I also checked if it's connected to the right DVI port, that's not it either. My card is plugged in properly, it has the extra power plugged in too, so I'm drawing a blank, the only other thing I can think of is a bad video card. Are there any other options?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[binoj_daniel]

Do you get any beeps when you turn your machine on? Also try to take out the RAM and put it back again. Next thing to check is if the Mother Board is getting power, it might have an LED on the motherboard depending on the model. If it does then one possibility is that the Power supply is not providng enough power to drive your machine on or it could be a faulty mother board.
Right now just go for a linear troubleshooting. My first suspect would be either RAM or Display Card.

[mephistophyles]

I'm gonna change out the video card, that's the most available spare I have atm, I'll keep you posted. I suspect that's the culprit. The mobo has the led on and no beebs on startup.

[binoj_daniel]

ok, let me know.

[fren]

Have you tried to bypass your power switch button or turn it on by momentarily shorting the power switch pin terminal on the motherboard?

Try also to clear the cmos.

[binoj_daniel]

Well! shorting the pins is not a good try, it could damage the mother board. But resetting the CMOS is a good try. But checking the power suppyl for proper voltage is better step. You can invest in a Power Supply tester and its really handy.

[mephistophyles]

So talk about adding insult to injury, I flashed the CMOS and then it worked for a little while, it gave some strange CMOS setting error so I went into the BIOS but didn't find anything wrong so I left, it rebooted and haven't seen anything since. Good thing is it isn't my graphics card, bad thing is it's probably my motherboard... I hope it's just a dead battery. I'm now waiting another 10 minutes before I put the battery back in AGAIN to see if it is willing to start up again.
Any thoughts?

[binoj_daniel]

Try replacing the CMOS battery, Thats the best bet right now.

[binoj_daniel]

I think CMOS should play the trick.

[mephistophyles]

No dice, it's starting to look like the mobo.
I replaced the CMOS battery with a new one and I still get the same problem. Tried different RAM, no difference. Switched the VGA and didn't get results either.
I'm gonna bring back the Mobo tomorrow and get a new one. Unless anyone can think of something I might have missed.

[mephistophyles]

Ok, so I think we've solved the problem. Me and the guy at the shop figured out that the bios version on the mobo was outdated and didn't support my processor. So we updated the bios and now this problem seems solved. Unfortunately I can't install windows on the computer because it keeps loading (both vista as well as xp) the install program and at various points (I keep trying) it freezes and I have to reboot. Sometimes it reboots on its own. Any advice?

[mephistophyles]

gah, now it seems to have gotten past the freezing and I get a blue screen error:
stop: c0000218 {registry file failure}
the registry cannot load the hive (file): \systemroot\system32\config\software
or its log or alternate.
it is corrupt, absent, or not writable

Now what? I'd love to do some work, but I can't get into safe mode or anything cuz I haven't got anything installed and can't access anything, any advice?

[fren]

Run your system with one memory stick attached and do a clean xp install. Delete the partition during xp install.