No video from motherboard

Hello,

I have this motherboard http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P4i945GC&s=

it has an onboard video but I can't get anything shown on my monitor ( I tried 2 monitors). It seems there just isn't any video signal as the monitor goes to sleep.

I also tried changing from the PSU's 20 pin ATX cable to another PSU's 24pin ATX cable but it didn't make the video come out of the motherboard.

I also tried clearing CMOS- no change.

The computer is 'freshly' assembled with this motherboard.


Does anyone know where could be the problem?

Do you get a post beep?

Trap05 said:

Do you get a post beep?

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what is a post beep?

algram said:

what is a post beep?

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did you install a speaker on the board? Are the fans or anything else coming on when you try to power up? A post beep is the internal speaker beeping when the machine posts.

hinderpits said:

did you install a speaker on the board? Are the fans or anything else coming on when you try to power up? A post beep is the internal speaker beeping when the machine posts.

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yes, the case speaker is connected to the motherboard. It does work as I've tried booting without any RAM installed(I got 3 beeps).

the cpu fan is coming on when I turn on the computer. (There are no other fans, except fot one in the PSU)

It seems I don't get a (single?) post beep when I turn the compuer on.

OK then maybe one of your sticks of ram is bad...try one at a time. What other hardware are you trying to use with it?

Trap05 said:

OK then maybe one of your sticks of ram is bad...try one at a time. What other hardware are you trying to use with it?

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I don't think the ram sticks are bad as I've only bought them yesterday.
they are 2 x 1GB OCZ2G8001G http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_6400_gold_gx_xtc


the cpu is intel pentium 4 1.8A northwood, stock speed & stock cooler.

the HDD is WD Caviar 80 gb, connected via IDE, but it must be good as I was able to connect it to another computer and transfer data between it and other computer's drives.

the cd-rw is also connected but it's fine.

I have no windows installed.( well, it should be on the HDD but I know I need to reinstall it as I newly collected the computer( another MB, another RAM))

tried to reassemble everything once again- no change.


In another forum, another man was dealing with the same problem he was replied that only 24 pin ATX connector is able to bring in onboard video. Is it true? (I tried connecting another PSU w/ 24pin ATX connector- no change)

Yes you should be using a 24 pin power supply and also the 4-pin connector as well obviously. Did you try the sticks one at a time just because they are new doesn't mean they actually work properly.

Trap05 said:

Yes you should be using a 24 pin power supply and also the 4-pin connector as well obviously. Did you try the sticks one at a time just because they are new doesn't mean they actually work properly.

Click to expand...

I tried adding one stick to one slot- no change, then to another slot- and it worked!

now I get a Post beep.

and yet another problem- there is windows xp installed on the HDD, and I'm not able to reinstall it- I put the windows cd into a cd-rom when a computer starts, it reads it but somehow it then gives me the choice between 'start windows normally', 'safe mode', 'safe mode with command prompt'. any choice brings the computer to a restart ant it would continue to do so.

the 1st boot device is set to CD in the bios.


I also tried live linux cd- it seemed it loaded - many lines of text running through the screen (initialising, serching for devices etc.) and it hangs on the HDD- saying an unknown problem (or similarly)- please press ctrl+alt+del to restart.

Maybe your drive or cable is bad if there's nothing important on it format the drive in another PC and then run a chkdsk on it

Trap05 said:

Maybe your drive or cable is bad if there's nothing important on it format the drive in another PC and then run a chkdsk on it

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it's all OK now

I got another windows xp setup cd, inserted it into a cdrom and the setup worked.

so the last thing for me to find out is to know whether I need a new PSU w/ 24pin ATX connector( I tried later using a 20 pin connector- no boot, no post beep).

What if I used a 20pin to 24 pin converter? I know it won't help much, as I read here http://www.smps.us/20-to-24pin-atx.html , the converter cable just lowers the voltage as impendance increases.

You won't need an expensive power supply but you really should have one with the proper connections for your board.