So I'm stuck building a computer.....

[Dennis Peacock]

for a friend of mine who only had money to buy some components.

I have it all together, new ASUS motherboard, new AMD AM2+ 2.1 Ghz processor, 4 Gb of memory and the such.

I power it on and I get No Video and No Beeps to say something is wrong.

Ok...it's been over 10 years since I have built a computer from parts.

What could be wrong if I have no video at all....no even with the bios startup.

Does the motherboard need to be isolated from the chassis?

I have double and triple checked all connections and it all looks good.

SATA 1TB drive, and Samsung CD/DVD-RW drive (also SATA)

I pulled the processor tonight and there aren't any bent pins that I could find.

Any advice?

[Bryan Morgan]

Try and remove the battery and clear the CMOS via the jumper on the board. Make sure its not shorting out on anything. Try firing it up with only a single stick of RAM, move between slots if it doesn't work. Do the same thing with another stick in case you grabbed a bad one. Try starting it with only the processor, RAM, and video card installed-no HD's or anything else connected. Make sure you have the power plugged into the video card (a lot of cards nowdays require their own 6 pin power plug...mine actually requires two!). If you have another power supply, try it. Double check the RAM type/speed is correct for that motherboard. Make sure your power supply fan is plugged into the correct plug on the motherboard-if the motherboard doesn't detect speed on the CPU fan sometimes it won't boot as a safety measure.

Try to assemble the whole thing outside the case on a piece of cardboard or something non-conductive. Sometimes cases do weird things.

Also look for puffed capacitors on the motherboard. They should be flat on the top and the bottom. I've sworn off ASUS boards because I've got a few that had puffed caps from the factory.

[Neal Clayton]

does it have a video card or using the on board?

if it has a video card, that's the most likely culprit. if the video card isn't seated just right you get no beeps and no video.

[Dennis Peacock]

Most everything is "onboard". No video card or anything like that. It all was purchased from TigetDirect as one of those 'bare bones' systems on sale.....$219.....so it came with case, power supply, hard drive, CD/DVD, memory, motherboard (M2N68-Plus), cpu, and cooling fan. It all has power...cpu fan, motherboard power indicator works, power switch works, CD/DVD and the hard drive power up. I just don't have any video feed out to my monitor to indicate that stuff is working as it should.

Bryan, I'll have to look it all over again today after church sometime.

Every once in a while, I get myself in trouble like this just because I'm trying to be helpful to those that can't help themselves or just aren't technically inclined enough to even start working on their own computer.

[John Coloccia]

for a friend of mine who only had money to buy some components.

I have it all together, new ASUS motherboard, new AMD AM2+ 2.1 Ghz processor, 4 Gb of memory and the such.

I power it on and I get No Video and No Beeps to say something is wrong.

Ok...it's been over 10 years since I have built a computer from parts.

What could be wrong if I have no video at all....no even with the bios startup.

Does the motherboard need to be isolated from the chassis?

I have double and triple checked all connections and it all looks good.

SATA 1TB drive, and Samsung CD/DVD-RW drive (also SATA)

I pulled the processor tonight and there aren't any bent pins that I could find.

Any advice?

No video. No beeps. Are you sure the motherboard's got power? Any LEDs that are coming on?

[John Coloccia]

I just read your last post. I guess it all does have power. It wouldn't be the first time I've had a dead motherboard delivered. A good place to start is go through every jumper setting and make sure you have something that makes sense. Yanking the battery may help too but it's suspicious to me that the BIOS doesn't appear to even be getting to the POST. That's sort of one of the basic things you just expect to always work unless something is physically configured improperly.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Most everything is "onboard". No video card or anything like that. It all was purchased from TigetDirect as one of those 'bare bones' systems on sale.....$219.....so it came with case, power supply, hard drive, CD/DVD, memory, motherboard (M2N68-Plus), cpu, and cooling fan. It all has power...cpu fan, motherboard power indicator works, power switch works, CD/DVD and the hard drive power up. I just don't have any video feed out to my monitor to indicate that stuff is working as it should.

Bryan, I'll have to look it all over again today after church sometime.

Every once in a while, I get myself in trouble like this just because I'm trying to be helpful to those that can't help themselves or just aren't technically inclined enough to even start working on their own computer.


No video. No beeps. Are you sure the motherboard's got power? Any LEDs that are coming on?

Uh....John......

[Phil Thien]

Could be a DOA part.

Disconnect everything from the motherboard except the power cables and the front panel connectors, but disconnect anything that may be connected to the reset pins on the motherboard.

No hard drives, optical drives, etc., should be connected to the motherboard or power supply while you're trying to diagnose POST (Power On Self Test) issues.

Make sure you have TWO power connectors going from the power supply to the motherboard. There is a 24-pin (2x12) and a 4-pin (2x2). They BOTH need to be connected.

Make sure your RAM isn't bad. If you're using more than one module, drop down to a single module at a time and test each of them.

Make sure the CMOS jumper isn't in the CLEAR position, but is jumpered for NORMAL.

Pull the AC feed from the power supply each time you make a change.

[Curt Harms]

I've built a few PC's but not in the past few years. Don't some of the multi-core processors need memory sticks in pairs?

[Stephen Tashiro]

Dennis,
If you want very specific advice, tell us the motherboard model. People will be probably be able to find the manual online.

[David G Baker]

Dumb question, check the monitor on off switch, is it on? Try another monitor.

[Phil Thien]

I've built a few PC's but not in the past few years. Don't some of the multi-core processors need memory sticks in pairs?

You'll get better performance in pairs, but it isn't required.

[Dennis Peacock]

Dennis,
If you want very specific advice, tell us the motherboard model. People will be probably be able to find the manual online.

Copied out of my previous post:

motherboard (M2N68-Plus)

I'll try some more tomorrow.

[Stephen Tashiro]

The manual that I found for that motherboard doesn't show any onboard video. It shows that the motherboard could use a PCI type of video card. Is there a video card plugged into the motherboad?

[Chuck Wintle]

I have it all together, new ASUS motherboard, new AMD AM2+ 2.1 Ghz processor, 4 Gb of memory and the such.

Any advice?

which AMD processor is it exactly? The Phenom or the athlon?

[Chuck Wintle]

The manual that I found for that motherboard doesn't show any onboard video. It shows that the motherboard could use a PCI type of video card. Is there a video card plugged into the motherboad?

Yes the manual shows no built in video for this board.

[Jason Roehl]

Well, I would ASSUME that Dennis knows enough to attach a video cable from the CPU to the monitor. And you can't plug a video cable into a computer unless it has a video output of some sort, be it onboard or a video card.

[Chuck Wintle]

Well, I would ASSUME that Dennis knows enough to attach a video cable from the CPU to the monitor. And you can't plug a video cable into a computer unless it has a video output of some sort, be it onboard or a video card.

I'll agree with that.

[Dennis Peacock]

LOL..!!!! Ok...not starting a fight here. :p

My book on the motherboard shows:
Video ChipSet: GeForce 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a

CPU is the AMD Phenom 64-bit

[Chuck Wintle]

LOL..!!!! Ok...not starting a fight here. :p

My book on the motherboard shows:
Video ChipSet: GeForce 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a

CPU is the AMD Phenom 64-bit

Sorry I was looking at the wrong motherboard....yours is an ASUS M2N68-AM Plus

[Stephen Tashiro]

Dennis,

So the motherboard is the Asus M2N68-AM Plus, not the plain M2N68-Plus?
(It would also be useful to know the exact model of the CPU that you got.)

One question is whether the 4-pin power connector is installed.

Does the motherboard beep when you turn the power on? (One thing that I can't tell from the manual for the M2N68-AM is whether it has a built-in speaker like most motherboards do nowadays.)

[Dennis Peacock]

Yea Baby..!!!!!!!

You guys are the greatest!!!!

Went through everything.....found the 4-pin power not connected well. I was letting my 2 boys help me with it and I am now installing software.!!!!

Thank You.!!!

[John Coloccia]

Uh....John......


Yea Baby..!!!!!!!

You guys are the greatest!!!!

Went through everything.....found the 4-pin power not connected well. I was letting my 2 boys help me with it and I am now installing software.!!!!

Thank You.!!!

:p

Neener neener neener

:D

[Jerome Hanby]

Make sure you have the speakers hooked up the the on-board sound. Some ASUS (P4C800 comes to mind) motherboards have that creepy talking diagnostic instead of beeps.

[Jerome Hanby]

I've built a few PC's but not in the past few years. Don't some of the multi-core processors need memory sticks in pairs?

Generally speaking, pairing memory chips is only necessary if the system has dual channel memory controllers.

[Bryan Morgan]

Make sure you have the speakers hooked up the the on-board sound. Some ASUS (P4C800 comes to mind) motherboards have that creepy talking diagnostic instead of beeps.


I remember those! I haven't seen one in quite some time though.... They were difficult to understand, sort of like "Error: Keyboard not connected, press F1 to continue" :p

[C Scott McDonald]

Did you confirm on the asus website that the part number of the CPU is compatiable for that motherboard? Same for the ram? Is the Ram in the right slots on the motherboard?

Did you try the monitor on another computer so you are sure it works? Might not be any beeps because it is waiting for you to do an input.

Good Luck!

[Andrew Pitonyak]

You have already received significant good advice. I assume that none of it has worked.

Have you verified that the Monitor is working with the input provided by the new computer?

As already mentioned, remove all connections that are not required.

Verify that there are no shorts against the MB from the case or similar.

You say that things power-up. I assume that means that fans spin (including on the CPU).

So, you have no video (and I assume that you have checked against a second monitor). Do you have a spare video card that you can drop in to see if that works?

If you are able to follow the boot sequence (and if you have something that will boot), do the drives act like it is booting, or trying to boot?

Too bad you do not live near Columbus Ohio. I have built many machines, and I have spare parts. (well, some spare parts, I managed to dump most of them).

Should I see if I can scrounge a computer :-) Not really useful since I am so far away...

[John Coloccia]

Yea Baby..!!!!!!!

You guys are the greatest!!!!

Went through everything.....found the 4-pin power not connected well. I was letting my 2 boys help me with it and I am now installing software.!!!!

Thank You.!!!

Just FYI, i think he got it going.