What's Wrong... not booting

[Altar]

As of now the following has been assembled

A7N8X
amd 2400
radeon 9500 pro
corsair 3200 512mb

When turned on, the green lcd on the front of the case (There is one red, one green) turns on *sometimes, and is followed by a brief ticking, maybe 2-3 seconds worth. All of this happens maybe 1/4 of the time it is turned on. The fans are working properly. I'm not sure of the source of the ticking, and ive been told its not normal for the motherboard, and that the board CANT produce a ticking. Also, no success on the monitor. I dont know if its of significance, but when not plugged into anything the monitor reads "No signal," but is blank when plugged into the radeon, suggesting it is aware of something.

I've been told that perhaps i should try putting in the harddrive? any suggestions appreciated. thx.

 

[Foxie3a]

a ticking?

the only ticking I can think of would be from a drive, like a floppy, CDrom, or HD. Hd ticking means failure of the drive.

is the speaker on the case plugged into the motherboard? maybe that could be making the ticking?

please try to figure out where the ticking is comming from, that can help a lot.

 

[greenman100]

Did you install your HSF right, with thermal pad/paste?

Is the videocard fully seated?

Did you try installing it outside of a case?

 

[Foxie3a]

the ticking is what bothers me...

 

[Supchaka]

I have personally heard motherboards click/tick... so I know its possible! Do you have the PC speaker connected? thats usually what ur hearing tick... is the speaker wanting to beep, possibly some post errors at you!

 

[stool]

First thing to do is take everything back out, and reseat the CPU, RAM and video card. If you still don't fire up, I'd guess you have a problem with one of the above.

 

[Foxie3a]

The speaker might just be out, but not effecting your major problem.

I would take out the ram, and put it back in first. then if that doesn't do it, try other things..

but make sure that you have ONLY what you NEED to make it post.

 

[kagee108]

Sounds like you are not posting. This is usually a sign that something is up with the bios. Make sure bios jumper is set on "normal" position. If not, put it there and that should solve your problem.

If it is set to normal then the best procedure I can recommend is to do this:
Set bios jumper to "clear"
Unplug the AC cord
Unplug the PSU
Pull the Memory battery
Pull all pci / add on cards (except video)
Disconnect the FDD and IDE ribbon cables
Let sit for a couple of hours, preferably overnight

Reset bios jumper to "normal"
Replace the battery
Reconnect the PSU and AC power
Make sure the only periphrials connected are the monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Power up and see what happens. If nothing, then the board or possibly the PSU is most likely dead. You can swap the PSU to be sure.

Otherwise, you should get a beep code and a screen on the crt that says something like "bios checksum error, press * key to continue, or * key to enter setup". If you get this screen, great! Go on and reconnect the FDD and IDEs and complete your installation.

Good luck

 

[Supchaka]

I was meaning he's getting a post memory or video error in which case you see nothing... and if his speaker isnt hooked up hes not hearing the error beeps

 

[Foxie3a]

he said there is a light, that means there is PSU power, and mobo power. so something else is wrong..

but why overnight? unplug computer, take out CMOS battary..15 seconds later..put it back in..and try

 

[jazztrumpet216]

The mobo light being on doesn't mean that there isn't a problem with the mobo, particularly the BIOS. I had a mobo that wouldn't boot right but the light came on just fine. It's usually a good indicator of a good PSU though.

I would definitely follow kagee108's advice for now. Though an hour would be more than plenty of time to wait, overnight would perhaps be best.

 

[Jognt]

he said there is a light, that means there is PSU power, and mobo power. so something else is wrong..

but why overnight? unplug computer, take out CMOS battary..15 seconds later..put it back in..and try

it takes a bout 30-60 seconds for all the power to disappear from the battery and cables... so id just clear CMOS for like.. 2 minutes (get a drink or something)

as all ppl said, try it with only the necesairry things... what can your PSu handle? how many fans have you got connected?

when i built my PC it did the same, found out it was because i had too many fans hooked up so it would tick, and turn of after four seconds...

 

[kagee108]

he said there is a light, that means there is PSU power, and mobo power. so something else is wrong..

but why overnight? unplug computer, take out CMOS battary..15 seconds later..put it back in..and try

The red light does not mean the PSU is functioning properly. Furthermore, NForce boards are very particular about the PSU.
See .THIS for more details.

When a bios gets screwed up and won't post, I have found in my experience that it sometimes takes more than a few seconds for all the capacitors to drain their charge. For the bios to flush clean all voltage must disappear. This procedure has worked when clearing with the jumper has failed. After this procedure if the board still will not post and there are no other beep codes, I believe one can safely assume the board is history.

But you are free to do as you like.

 

[Jognt]

What's Wrong... not booting

plug in the AC power cord ^_^

neh, seriously...

try it with the least possible things...