I don't have anything to test voltages for the PSU, but my tech support buddy does and he's going to help me some more over the weekend.
If by resetting the BIOS, you mean completely powering down and taking out the CMOS battery (or whatever it is), then yeah, that's been done. If you mean something else that has to do with inputting commands, then no. I haven't touched the BIOS at all, and can't.
I have two sticks of RAM. I'll try using one at a time on Thursday.
Thanks for the help and advice so far, by the way.
While helping a friend to build his computer yesterday, we discovered that his ATI X700 XT is powered through the motherboard, and that we need a 20-to-24-pin converter for the main power cable. I believe you said that you plugged your video card in, but it seems odd to me that some PCIe cards would require a separate power connector, while others wouldn't.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by the_exile [/i]
[B]While helping a friend to build his computer yesterday, we discovered that his ATI X700 XT is powered through the motherboard, and that we need a 20-to-24-pin converter for the main power cable. I believe you said that you plugged your video card in, but it seems odd to me that some PCIe cards would require a separate power connector, while others wouldn't. [/B][/QUOTE]
well some cards use more power than others...and a x700xt isn't really as fast as a GF6800GT. the x700xt is more compareable to the 6600GT
My point was that there should be a standard, but now that I think of it, the problem was that he bought a PSU that didn't work with his mobo.
Also, not sure if the X700 XT and X700 Pro are the same card, but he has the latter.
Random ChaosActually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
24 pin mobo connectors are brand new. Not surprising he bought it wrong. It has nothing to do with the vid card though - those extra 4 pins are for the mobo itself and maybe the CPU.
I tested one stick of RAM at a time, and I tested my PCI Voodoo 3. I even tested my Voodoo 3 with the 6800 GT also plugged in. I tested with and without optical and hard drives plugged in.
So are the possible problems down to just bad RAM or a bad power supply?
I can send back the motherboard and CPU back to monarchcomputer, and/or figure out how to send back the RAM and maybe the PSU back to OCZ or newegg.
If you have brought it down that far and still cant get anything out of it, I would reccomend buying both a new power supply and a fresh stick of RAM.
For clarification, cheap power supplies are biggest pain in the ass Ive ever had to deal with. For my computer, I will settle for nothing less than Antec, PC Power and Cooling and Enermax. Those 3 manufacturers make the best quality realiable power supplies you can find. Currently in my computer the [URL=http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-924&depa=0]Antec NeoPower 480W[/URL]. FYI, that power supply was awarded a Kick Ass award by Maximum PC in the Jan 05 issue (i think). Or the many choices from PC Power and Cooling's [URL=http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/power_supplies/highperformance/turbocools/510/index.htm]510ATX[/URL] .
Both of those power supplies support the 12V rail for advanced motherboards and SATA Hard Drives. Also, in case your wondering, both of those hard drives were in Maximums PC's power supply toture test, and both stood up incredibly well.
As far as RAM goes, there are several companies that make quality RAM including Kingston, Mushkin, Atlas Precision, Corsair and Crucial. Any of those are going to be good out of the box with no issues.
Biggles<font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
MT: I assume it was the same result in each test, and that was the same as before? If it was, then it's not likely to be the RAM.
Do you know anyone who has a PSU suitable to run your computer? If you do, try testing with their PSU. There's no need to put all your stuff in their case to do this; you simply place the two cases side by side with the panels off and pass the cables from one case to the other. You only need the motherboard power (and video card if it needs it). Unplug the drives from the motherboard since they won't be getting power.
Same result after each test. Though, someone at OCZ suggested I plug speakers into the onboard sound. I can't believe I hadn't thought of that. Always just assumed I'd get some weird robotic sounding noise from the built in or case speakers if there was anything worth talking about. None of my tech supoprt guys seemed to catch this, but we were all really tired at the time.
No one has a PSU that can work with my PC. The newest computer I have access to is my mom's, and the ATX connector is 4 pins short.
If it's the Power supply or RAM, I plan on just sending it back and getting them replaced. Both are top notch products from OCZ.
Also, they're very shiny.
Biggles<font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
Yeah, plug the speakers in and see if it's saying anything. I think that voice error message stuff is quite common now. Even my 2-year-old board has it. It's actually rather annoying because it plays really, really loudly, and mine insisted on telling me that the computer was starting to boot the operating system until I disabled it.
Random ChaosActually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
His is an ASUS - all their boards (unless disabled) have voice Post errors.
(I disabled mine becuase it drove me nuts!) purple
At least you guys were right about it being easy to put together...
Plugging in the speakers gave me nothing.
However, after much more testing, I finally got the thing to show me somethign on the screen by doing something with the CMOS battery and jumpers to reset something, and then only plugging in one stick of RAM in the B1 slot.
Plugging everything else in with just RAM in the B1 slot worked. Plugging the other stick of RAM into the A1 slot, where it should be, again caused the computer to beep endlessly. I guess that BIOS beep code was accurate.
Well, it turns out the motherboard is the problem. I replaced the stick of RAM that worked in B1 with the other stick I took out of A1, and it still worked. So both sticks of RAM will work, just not together. Hence, my blame on the motherboard.
Finally turning on the computer also let me in on another problem I had: the optical drive doesn't work at all. I tried other power (both the right way and the wrong way) and IDE cables, cables known to work with other components, and it didn't work. The computer wouldn't recognize it, probably because it wouldn't even turn on. Messing with the jumpers obviously didn't work, either.
I plugged in another CD drive I had lying around, and it worked just fine.
I guess I'll be sending my motherboard back to Monarchcomputer (sent them a request for an RA number yesterday) and my optical drive back to Newegg, once I figure out how to go about doing that. Unless this is somehow the wrong thing to do.
There are jumpers for master, slave, and cable select. I tried them all. The drive doesn't light up, or open when I push the button. It's dead. Newegg sent me something dead through the mail. But they'll take it back. Yay.
Random ChaosActually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
Good news then: At least now you know where the problems lie. purple
Meanwhile, I have managed to stumble upon a problem of my own.
A friend of mine got a new computer... 64-bit Athlon... and unfortunately, with an NForce3 chipset. Mandrake installation starts fine... only to conclude "found no devices on which to create filesystems".
There's a function somewhere among kernel modules... dealing with the ATA reset command for SATA drives. I need to install the system on a PATA drive, compile kernel modules with this command commented out, put the relevant kernel module on a floppy, and then reinstall the stuff onto a SATA drive.
Im getting EXTREEMLY concerned about the following statement.
[QUOTE]both the right way and the wrong way[/QUOTE]
You keep telling us your turning things around like the RAM and cables and connectors, please stop, your giving me nightmares about smooshed molex connectors being forced into drives, RAM thats broken pins being crushed into slots backwards. for goodness sakes stop!
Biggles<font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
Trying things around the wrong way is not generally the best way to make them work.
Yeah I'm really starting to scratch my head on some of the problems hes got. I thought things were supposed to get easier with each new generation of components.
Random ChaosActually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
I wonder if he has somehow damaged something else with all his "try it backwards" approaches.
By "the wrong way," I meant putting RAM in slots other than the ones they're supposed to be in. So, instead of A1 and B1, I put them in A2 and B1, or A2 and B2.
The only molex I've put in the wrong way is the one that goes into the optical drive. But that one fits in either way without damaging the connectors.
The reason I try things the wrong way is because what I think is the right way might instead be the wrong way, and the wrong way might be the right way.
Is it possible for RAM to be defective working in dual channel mode but then work fine alone, in single channel mode? Because that's what seems to be the case now.
I sent back the CPU/Motherboard combo and according to the tech looking at it, it works fine with two sticks of Corsair 512MB 3200. He said that it's most likely the RAM, and noted that lower latency memory has a higher failure rate.
In case you're interested, this is what the tech sent me:
"I have your motherboard/cpu combo. I was unable to duplicate the problem it came back for - won't run in dual channel. The combo is passing our memory diagnostics tests using two sticks of Corsair 512MB 3200, set in 128bit dual channel mode. According to my notes, it seems like you did everything correctly. It seems very likely that the OCZ dual pack memory is defective. Lower latency memory has a higher failure rate. I am not finding anything wrong with the combo, please advise."
I'm thinking of just advising him to send it back. But if anyone has any other suggestions, I'm ready to hear them.
6800 GTs and Athlon 64 4000+ CPUs have gone down in price so much. That's expected, obviously. But in that time period, I didn't have a functioning computer.
Biggles<font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
I can now bring some new experience to this discussion. A friend recently upgraded a computer on the cheap. The very cheap. $60 motherboard (that's $NZ), cheapest ram, cheap Intel CPU. Guess what we learned? RAM quality really matters these days, unlike even just 2 years ago where it didn't mean shit unless you were overclocking. His cheap RAM just outright refused to work. Someone else's RAM worked fine, so he took the cheap stuff back and got some expensive stuff. Worked first time.
However, in MT's case, isn't OCZ supposed to be good quality? I would say try another good quality brand.
Well, I can say that I actually buy mostly the cheapest components I find. Like I got a ASRock motherboard and twinMOS ram. But I guess it is different with 64-bit processors and all that stuff.
So wait MT you still haven't got a working machine yet? Its been well over a month since you started this sucker I think at this point your better off just getting a prebuilt computer from one of the vendors. Now your losing time too.
Comments
If by resetting the BIOS, you mean completely powering down and taking out the CMOS battery (or whatever it is), then yeah, that's been done. If you mean something else that has to do with inputting commands, then no. I haven't touched the BIOS at all, and can't.
I have two sticks of RAM. I'll try using one at a time on Thursday.
Thanks for the help and advice so far, by the way.
My good ol' Guillimot Prophet 3D is dying...
:(
Stupid fan stopped and overheated the chip, now I have horizontal ghosting...
Probably not much life left, since even though I lubed the fan up and it's turning again, the chip is damaged...
*sniff*
It was a good card (First of the nVidia Geforce series - GF 256)...
Now I'll be down to a Permedia 2 PCI when it goes completely.
gag...
EDIT: Wait a minute! The girls have a PNY TNT2 PCI card.... heh heh... oh girls! Uncle Jack has a *cough* new video card for you....
heh heh
Still wish I had an AGP card to replace it though. THe GF3 stays in the Athlon...
[B]While helping a friend to build his computer yesterday, we discovered that his ATI X700 XT is powered through the motherboard, and that we need a 20-to-24-pin converter for the main power cable. I believe you said that you plugged your video card in, but it seems odd to me that some PCIe cards would require a separate power connector, while others wouldn't. [/B][/QUOTE]
well some cards use more power than others...and a x700xt isn't really as fast as a GF6800GT. the x700xt is more compareable to the 6600GT
Also, not sure if the X700 XT and X700 Pro are the same card, but he has the latter.
Those 2 manufacturers make some damn fine power supplies.
It was an Antec 550W.
I tested one stick of RAM at a time, and I tested my PCI Voodoo 3. I even tested my Voodoo 3 with the 6800 GT also plugged in. I tested with and without optical and hard drives plugged in.
So are the possible problems down to just bad RAM or a bad power supply?
I can send back the motherboard and CPU back to monarchcomputer, and/or figure out how to send back the RAM and maybe the PSU back to OCZ or newegg.
For clarification, cheap power supplies are biggest pain in the ass Ive ever had to deal with. For my computer, I will settle for nothing less than Antec, PC Power and Cooling and Enermax. Those 3 manufacturers make the best quality realiable power supplies you can find. Currently in my computer the [URL=http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-924&depa=0]Antec NeoPower 480W[/URL]. FYI, that power supply was awarded a Kick Ass award by Maximum PC in the Jan 05 issue (i think). Or the many choices from PC Power and Cooling's [URL=http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/power_supplies/highperformance/turbocools/510/index.htm]510ATX[/URL] .
Both of those power supplies support the 12V rail for advanced motherboards and SATA Hard Drives. Also, in case your wondering, both of those hard drives were in Maximums PC's power supply toture test, and both stood up incredibly well.
As far as RAM goes, there are several companies that make quality RAM including Kingston, Mushkin, Atlas Precision, Corsair and Crucial. Any of those are going to be good out of the box with no issues.
Do you know anyone who has a PSU suitable to run your computer? If you do, try testing with their PSU. There's no need to put all your stuff in their case to do this; you simply place the two cases side by side with the panels off and pass the cables from one case to the other. You only need the motherboard power (and video card if it needs it). Unplug the drives from the motherboard since they won't be getting power.
No one has a PSU that can work with my PC. The newest computer I have access to is my mom's, and the ATX connector is 4 pins short.
If it's the Power supply or RAM, I plan on just sending it back and getting them replaced. Both are top notch products from OCZ.
Also, they're very shiny.
(I disabled mine becuase it drove me nuts!) purple
Plugging in the speakers gave me nothing.
However, after much more testing, I finally got the thing to show me somethign on the screen by doing something with the CMOS battery and jumpers to reset something, and then only plugging in one stick of RAM in the B1 slot.
Plugging everything else in with just RAM in the B1 slot worked. Plugging the other stick of RAM into the A1 slot, where it should be, again caused the computer to beep endlessly. I guess that BIOS beep code was accurate.
Well, it turns out the motherboard is the problem. I replaced the stick of RAM that worked in B1 with the other stick I took out of A1, and it still worked. So both sticks of RAM will work, just not together. Hence, my blame on the motherboard.
Finally turning on the computer also let me in on another problem I had: the optical drive doesn't work at all. I tried other power (both the right way and the wrong way) and IDE cables, cables known to work with other components, and it didn't work. The computer wouldn't recognize it, probably because it wouldn't even turn on. Messing with the jumpers obviously didn't work, either.
I plugged in another CD drive I had lying around, and it worked just fine.
I guess I'll be sending my motherboard back to Monarchcomputer (sent them a request for an RA number yesterday) and my optical drive back to Newegg, once I figure out how to go about doing that. Unless this is somehow the wrong thing to do.
This sucks.
just curious before you send it back.
;)
A friend of mine got a new computer... 64-bit Athlon... and unfortunately, with an NForce3 chipset. Mandrake installation starts fine... only to conclude "found no devices on which to create filesystems".
There's a function somewhere among kernel modules... dealing with the ATA reset command for SATA drives. I need to install the system on a PATA drive, compile kernel modules with this command commented out, put the relevant kernel module on a floppy, and then reinstall the stuff onto a SATA drive.
[QUOTE]both the right way and the wrong way[/QUOTE]
You keep telling us your turning things around like the RAM and cables and connectors, please stop, your giving me nightmares about smooshed molex connectors being forced into drives, RAM thats broken pins being crushed into slots backwards. for goodness sakes stop!
Uh you know we love you in that platonic sort of "one of us!" kinda way? right?
but for god sakes put down the computer components and walk the hell away and get a real geek in there! :D
Your starting to terrify all of us! :D
The only molex I've put in the wrong way is the one that goes into the optical drive. But that one fits in either way without damaging the connectors.
The reason I try things the wrong way is because what I think is the right way might instead be the wrong way, and the wrong way might be the right way.
Is it possible for RAM to be defective working in dual channel mode but then work fine alone, in single channel mode? Because that's what seems to be the case now.
I sent back the CPU/Motherboard combo and according to the tech looking at it, it works fine with two sticks of Corsair 512MB 3200. He said that it's most likely the RAM, and noted that lower latency memory has a higher failure rate.
In case you're interested, this is what the tech sent me:
"I have your motherboard/cpu combo. I was unable to duplicate the problem it came back for - won't run in dual channel. The combo is passing our memory diagnostics tests using two sticks of Corsair 512MB 3200, set in 128bit dual channel mode. According to my notes, it seems like you did everything correctly. It seems very likely that the OCZ dual pack memory is defective. Lower latency memory has a higher failure rate. I am not finding anything wrong with the combo, please advise."
I'm thinking of just advising him to send it back. But if anyone has any other suggestions, I'm ready to hear them.
6800 GTs and Athlon 64 4000+ CPUs have gone down in price so much. That's expected, obviously. But in that time period, I didn't have a functioning computer.
However, in MT's case, isn't OCZ supposed to be good quality? I would say try another good quality brand.