New custom PC won't boot - Help :P

[ColdfireTrilogy]

Hey sorry this has to be my first post, definitely not going to be my last here hehe as I plan on overclocking my comp.

Okay first I will state my problem then the parts my comp is running on.

I am pretty sure I have stuff hooked up correctly but I may be wrong, hopefully theres an easier answer to my problem. When I start up my PC after everything is hooked up all my LEDs, on my water block, my fans,and the main power LED all power on but have a constant blink to them and my GPU (8800 Ultra) the fan ticks along with the LEDs blinking but never really starts up (the fans are blowing and the pump is doing its job but I'm pretty sure they are all doing the pulsing but since its not visual like the LEDs I cant really tell). My computer fails to boot at all and just sits there blinking until I hold down the power button until it turns of. I'm thinking about resetting my CMOS but I'm not sure if that will work. Also I'm wondering if its the fact that my board says it supports 1.8v DDR2 ram but my Crucial Ballistix sticks (4x1024megs) are rated at 2.2v 1066mhz. From what I know (a bit) it should auto clock down to DDR2 800 and run fine at 1.8v as all the reviews I have read about the mother board are using 2.2v ram. Other than that I really am out of ideas and I don't want to take it to some "supposedly expert" PC technician just to break/tell me something is broken when its probably not. Basically my comp doesn't Post or Boot.

Also I can upload a video somewhere for stream or post it on filefront if anyone wants to see exactly what it is doing. Just let me know.

Case: ThermalTake Kandalf LCS
Mobo: GA-N680SLI-DQ6
-----http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...spx?ProductID=2460&ProductName=GA-N680SLI-DQ6
Processor: Intel QX6700
GPU: 1x PNY 8800 ultra OC
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower
Ram: 4x Crucial Ballistix 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM 1066 PC2 8500
-----http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148069&Tpk=N82E16820148069
Optical Drives: 2x LITE-ON 20x DVD+-RW Sata
-----http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106057&Tpk=n82e16827106057
HDD: WD raptor 150gig 10k rpm Sata

Cooling:
Waterblock for the CPU comes with the kandalf case (should be enough i dont plan on OCing right away) radiator has 3x14cm fans for cooling
25cm sidepanel fan
2x 14cm rear fans

Thanks for your help and if someone knew what the blinking/pulsing meant omg i would be elated ... but once again the PC has never booted once so hmm ...

on a side note i have it plugged into a wall socket that runs my other computer fine so :S

 

[ColdfireTrilogy]

bump :S

 

[sp33dball]

A few things you can try and do.

Simple Steps:
Easiest at the moment is reset cmos (just pull the little battery out) but I doubt this will fix it since you have yet to get into bios.

Make sure the motherboard is properly seated in the case, if it's touching any part it won't properly boot and perhaps cause other problems.

Make sure EVERYTHING that requires power is plugged in fully, i.e. Video Card, ATX power connector, fans, etc etc... be thorough and check all.

If everything else looks good, move onto the next step.

Not so fun steps:
**Note** If you are unsure if the case is causing the problem, pull the motherboard out and put it on a block of wood or inside the box it came in and do these tests
This part sucks, but can really narrow it down. Pull everything out of the PC except for one stick of ram, and the CPU (make sure the PC speaker is plugged in so you can hear it beep) and boot up. Also make sure you have a fan on the CPU (or watercool if you have no case issues).
No beep equals no post (if you get a series of beeps check the mobo manual and see what it means).

If you get a beep, put the video card in and boot up. No beeps, perhaps you got a conflict with the video card. (unlikely)

Moving on, if it doesn't beep, keep swaping out memory and also changing the slot it is in. If none of this gets you beeping or any kind of post, you got a bad motherboard, or a bad PSU.

 

[ColdfireTrilogy]

ya i was thinking of trying that ive tried it with one stick of ram in already and still the same issue, i read somewhere else i think it was on this forum that it might be my PSU keeping the board from fully powering up if a connection is not right ... not sure if that makes sense but someone wrote that if a connection is backwards or something on like the PC_FAN connection or something like that some more pricey PSUs auto regulate themselves to keep from damaging the board ... :S

 

[dudleycpa]

I was just going to suggest something similar.

Some boards won't power up without the cpu_fan being connected. I see that you are water cooling.

Do you have a fan of some sort that you can plug in?

 

[ColdfireTrilogy]

ya the one that came with my CPU, could i just try plugging that in on the side to see if that boots it ... omg would that be irritating if that was the case which it shouldn't be. Right now the waterblock has an LED in it that is supposed to be hooked up to the CPU_FAN connection.
I've read that the 680i is very picky in its ram .... if that is the case what other mobos could i use that woul run dual 8800 ultras and my cpu that come with sata 3.0 connections ? :S just as a failsafe.

 

[dudleycpa]

ya the one that came with my CPU, could i just try plugging that in on the side to see if that boots it ... omg would that be irritating if that was the case which it shouldn't be. Right now the waterblock has an LED in it that is supposed to be hooked up to the CPU_FAN connection.
I've read that the 680i is very picky in its ram .... if that is the case what other mobos could i use that woul run dual 8800 ultras and my cpu that come with sata 3.0 connections ? :S just as a failsafe.

The only game in town is the 680i since you're using SLI.

I heard about the ram being picky but I think you should be ok.

Just plug the fan into the CPU_FAN connector and keep us posted.

 

[ColdfireTrilogy]

ok will do later tonight :S so frustrating ....

 

[sp33dball]

Now I know if one doesn't own a case you can just connect power button pins and a computer will start up, if the mobo requires a fan plugged in perhaps but I'm not sure if you just connected the pins (via aluminum or something) it would beleive to have a fan? Might not want to try that... all it is looking for is a connection, so maybe just the wires so you no longer have a fan, but got the 3-pin connector? This could be a horrible idea so you may want to ask around before you start shorting out your pc. I'm no electrician.

EDIT: Just kidding don't take this advice as it's a bad idea

 

[Peepaw]

Now I know if one doesn't own a case you can just connect power button pins and a computer will start up, if the mobo requires a fan plugged in perhaps but I'm not sure if you just connected the pins (via aluminum or something) it would beleive to have a fan? Might not want to try that... all it is looking for is a connection, so maybe just the wires so you no longer have a fan, but got the 3-pin connector? This could be a horrible idea so you may want to ask around before you start shorting out your pc. I'm no electrician.

NO, you wouldn't want to just connect the fan header pins together.
It will not have enough resistance (load) and will most likely burn the fan header out.

 

[sp33dball]

NO, you wouldn't want to just connect the fan header pins together.
It will not have enough resistance (load) and will most likely burn the fan header out.

Yeah, I had a feeling it would be a bad idea, so there you have it As Peepaw said DON'T connect them.

 

[Peepaw]

I have never used the fan headers on any of my builds and I have never had a problem posting. They usually beep and complain with an error message, but they boot up just fine.
I'm not familiar with his board, so it may be different.

 

[Peepaw]

Coldfire do you have a link to the specs on the psu?

 

[sp33dball]

any news on the build? any beeping?

 

[loz99]

did you manage to sort this problem out as i have the exact same one and cannot find any information on how to cure it i am assuming its a dead motherboard i have tried it with just the board and chip and cpu fan and it still does it, the strange thing is sometimes it does run and when it runs it runs perfectly for as long as you need it too
if i do need another one it will be my third one (first had bent cpu pins!!) are there any more reliable 680 boards out there

 

[BioTuned]

coldfire, what are you water cooling? I ask because, if you are cooling the northbridge, there is a chance you couldn't have damaged it. I've had that happen before, and i was going through the same thing.