A sad sad attempt for my first build

[celidee]

Hey all,

As the longest three(not including weekend) days of my life passed on I awaited my new system from new egg which included:

Thermaltake Soprano w/ 430 PSU
Zalman fan
Sata 80 gig
Samsung DVD-RW

Bought ABIT IC7 MB off ebay to go along with my Intel 2.4C (socket 478) which was in my current system in hopes to overclock it. Anyhoo, started and "ended" the intallation but when I press the power button on the soprano nothing happens....I mean nothing.....not a flicker of life nor a flashing led....:banghead:

My power switches are placed in the MB properly as well as the ATX12V and ATXPWR1 cables, I just don't know what the problem is. This is my first build so of course I didn't expect for everything to go smoothly, any one know whats wrong? Or better yet, if there is something that not working how would I be able to determine if its the DOA MB or the DOA PSU/Case, any help would be appreciated.....Im about to shed a tear as I have lost all of my patience.... :cry:

[wazzledoozle]

Try the switch on the back of the PSU :P


You could have also placed the power switch in the wrong position, if you cant get it to boot at all, take a screwdriver and run it across the raised pins that connect the power/reset switches and the power/hdd leds.

[celidee]

yeah its definitely not the switch...:)

power switch has been double checked....

I don't understand the screwdriver thing...what does that do?

[wazzledoozle]

yeah its definitely not the switch...:)

power switch has been double checked....

I don't understand the screwdriver thing...what does that do?
It will trip the power on. If that doesnt work, then you have other issues.

[celidee]

no that didn't work either, judging that its not giving me ANY form of life is it a PSU problem??? Also what is the red switch on the back of the PSU where you can toggle it to 230 and 115?

[wazzledoozle]

no that didn't work either, judging that its not giving me ANY form of life is it a PSU problem??? Also what is the red switch on the back of the PSU where you can toggle it to 230 and 115?
Dont touch that. In europe, their power lines run at ~220 volts, while in north america we use ~120.

[celidee]

oh lol, I was indeed messing around with that a bit... no more suggestions wazzle doozle? I guess I'm not gonna sleep much tonight....gonna do some searhing on these forums and google, :sight:

[OOTay]

if you touch that switch you will get won hell of a fireworks show.

[celidee]

damn really....lol...I'm not messing with it anymore...help!

[Cj_Staal]

only if he lives in europe. Celidee did you add the raisors first? The bronze things so the motherboard doesn't touch the case. Did you add the RAM?

[wazzledoozle]

only if he lives in europe. Celidee did you add the raisors first? The bronze things so the motherboard doesn't touch the case. Did you add the RAM?
Lol. Lack of ram doesnt keep a comp from booting.

[v-zero]

Either the PSU is fu**ed or the mobo is shorting out somehow... Did you install the copper/plastic mounting posts underneath the mobo? (Yes I have seen people not do it...) If not I suggest it is a motherboard or PSU probelm... You have another motherboard from your old pc so test that out...

[rpgbefore...]

if he did forget... i would have to shoot myself because i told zek if one person forgot... i would shoot myself :laugh: lol but something is wrong... if u did put the posts in did u put the pads between the screws and the motherboard? if not it might be shorting out.

[v-zero]

The seporator pads aren't actually necessary, and many manufacturers no longer ship them... The PCB it-self is insulated, it's just the open metal at the bottom that is dodgey really...

[celidee]

hello all, yes I mounted the seperaters in the back, I just woke up, restless night, I'm going to switch out the motherboard with the old one and see if that works, also make some more power checks....

[celidee]

Dead motherboard!!! Her burial will be on friday....::sniff::

Put my old Asus p4sdla in the new case and it worked like a charm, now that the frustration is over I'm in search for a new motherboard but I don't want to wait for one to get here, fu(k ebay!!

With that in mind where can I get a good 875P socket 478 motherboard from a retail place
? Comp USA?? Thanks for all your help guys...

[Alec§taar]

See subject-line/title: These guys, if anyone can, should be able to pull you out of that tailspin there... IF you haven't damaged any of your parts that is (or, if they came to you messed up, this happens too).

That P4 @ 2.4ghz (non H/T type) is supposed to be able to get to 3.2ghz, & was considered the BEST overclocker iirc, from the P4 family...

:)

* It's "doable" & if anyone can help you out here? It's the folks here... they are WAY "into it"...

APK

P.S.=> WHOOPS! "Edit Part" - didn't catch your last post, w/ you stating your mobo is d e a d... damn, that sux!

I have an Abit IC7-Max 3 in my 2nd system, they're great mobos, one of the highest rated from the year 2003 in fact & iirc... why I bought it! Very feature laden... apk

[drade]

Dead motherboard!!! Her burial will be on friday....::sniff::

Put my old Asus p4sdla in the new case and it worked like a charm, now that the frustration is over I'm in search for a new motherboard but I don't want to wait for one to get here, fu(k ebay!!

With that in mind where can I get a good 875P socket 478 motherboard from a retail place
? Comp USA?? Thanks for all your help guys...


See if you fidget around and try stuff (problems) there is always a way to fix them.. .Im really glad this is your first build, I love seeing people building new pc's for the first time, Mine was hella hard LMAO....... I hope it works out well for you man.

[celidee]

LOL, there is still hope for my system yet!! BTW, I have the 2.4 HT so I'm hoping to make this puppy overclock.

looking at the comp USA MB and I'm not happy, no 875PE yet....

[rpgbefore...]

howabout u just move to socket 775? i no a good mobo if u move to diff mobo and socket... the ECS C-19 SLI hehehe... i got 4.7ghz on my p-4 3ghz so ya... it overclocks well

[drade]

howabout u just move to socket 775? i no a good mobo if u move to diff mobo and socket... the ECS C-19 SLI hehehe... i got 4.7ghz on my p-4 3ghz so ya... it overclocks well

people dont have alot of money to do that.....

Anyways, I got a 3.0E p4, I like it, not best OCING proc, but the mobo, aibt ic7-g is killer man... But im glad im upgrading since Im making this thing stress with high high temps even on a big typhoon.

[rpgbefore...]

the ECS C-19 SLI XE IS BETTER!!! i have it... i no... u can set the fsb to 314mhz= about 1254 fsb

[celidee]

howabout u just move to socket 775? i no a good mobo if u move to diff mobo and socket... the ECS C-19 SLI hehehe... i got 4.7ghz on my p-4 3ghz so ya... it overclocks well


Thanks for the advice, I'm new to building systems so I want to overclock this current processor as much as possible. Its not about the money drade, I just want to wait before I move on to a 64 bit processor because I know that I'm going to want to run Vista when it officially comes out....but thats another discussion...hehe:p

Anybody want to donate a MB! Preferably an IC7-G....LMAO!!!!

[rpgbefore...]

lol sure!!! jk but u COULD buy 1 couldnt u? also, vista is overrated... get win xp pro x64... its much better and actualy has games built around it...(farcry) and anyways... if u get that u can brag and say "OMG I HAVE WINXP 64 ^.^" lol

[demonbrawn]

I have WIN XP x64. I formatted it off my hard drive as soon as I installed it. Hardly any software I wanted to install was compatible with it... :shadedshu
Everything said something like must be installed on Windows XP 32-bit version with SP2 or something like that. It got really annoying so I just went back to 32.

[celidee]

OK new problem....I'm trying out the new parts just in case I have to return them those too, installed the Zalman 9500 CPU fan and at starup I get a constant beep, all the case and zalman fans turn on but no boot up. Did I install the fan properly? Or did I mess something else up? LOL

[celidee]

I read this and almost passed out:

3.General POST (initial system boot) BEEP Codes
General Beep codes:

• 1 Long and 1 Short Beep ?Bad Motherboard
• 1 Short Beep and nothing else happens ?Disk Drive/Video Related Problems
• 1 Long and 2 Short Beeps ?Bad Video Card
• 1 Continuous Beep or Non-stop short Beeps ?Bad Power Supply
• 3 Short Beeps - Bad Memory

Actual problem.....didn't plug in the power connector for the video card...LOL...thank god nothing serious!!LOL

[drade]

I read this and almost passed out:

3.General POST (initial system boot) BEEP Codes
General Beep codes:

• 1 Long and 1 Short Beep ?Bad Motherboard
• 1 Short Beep and nothing else happens ?Disk Drive/Video Related Problems
• 1 Long and 2 Short Beeps ?Bad Video Card
• 1 Continuous Beep or Non-stop short Beeps ?Bad Power Supply
• 3 Short Beeps - Bad Memory

Actual problem.....didn't plug in the power connector for the video card...LOL...thank god nothing serious!!LOL

Before your first bootup on a computer, always remember to recheck everything plugged in :ohwell:

[rpgbefore...]

i just got my new mobo and forgot to plug the main power connector!!! DAM IT! i was using the ECS C-19 WARRENTY FOR A NEW ONE... blew it again...

[celidee]

i just got my new mobo and forgot to plug the main power connector!!! DAM IT! i was using the ECS C-19 WARRENTY FOR A NEW ONE... blew it again...

Did you damage the mobo by not pluggin in the main power??:o just curious...

[rpgbefore...]

No way! :rolleyes: that might be how i burned it :rolleyes:

[Azn Tr14dZ]

Only been reading until now.

So...how's the new system working celidee?

[celidee]

Only been reading until now.

So...how's the new system working celidee?

Its not really that new....lol....my old crappy motherboard is in...my IC7 was DOA, I think its gonna take a loooong time to get a replacement since the person I got it from(mobo_outlets) off ebay sais he takes up to 5 days to reply to emails! So I have been calling comp shops around here trying to find a decent mobo, but nobody has any 875P chipsets...except comp USA that had an Intel mobo....

Question:
Can you overclock an intel MOBO?? I had heard some time back that you can't

[rpgbefore...]

yes u can its not very hard to overclock a intel supported mobo, just go into the bios and set the fsb higher and volia!!! overclock!!!ZTG
:)

ZTG

[celidee]

Hmmm sounds good.....I'm gonna try to get an RMA from abit and not the ebay people....maybe they could help me better, if not I might try the intel since its the only one around here

[rpgbefore...]

how long of a warranty do u have left?

[drade]

Its not really that new....lol....my old crappy motherboard is in...my IC7 was DOA, I think its gonna take a loooong time to get a replacement since the person I got it from(mobo_outlets) off ebay sais he takes up to 5 days to reply to emails! So I have been calling comp shops around here trying to find a decent mobo, but nobody has any 875P chipsets...except comp USA that had an Intel mobo....

Question:
Can you overclock an intel MOBO?? I had heard some time back that you can't


Overclocking is vey easy, Look at guides, there is one on tpu a mod made, I forgot who..

[celidee]

Overclocking is vey easy, Look at guides, there is one on tpu a mod made, I forgot who..


I'm a noob so I wouldn't know how easy it is...lol....but yea I still need a new Mobo because I can't overclock with this prefab HP mobo because its locked...they suck!!

They should let the overclockers free! Or at least the wannabes like me...hehe:D

[drade]

Do you have any money that your looking to put into a new mobo?

[Azn Tr14dZ]

Get motherboard from newegg instead of a local store since you wouldn't have many choices, specially at CompUSA. What are you looking for in a motherboard?

[rpgbefore...]

and also can u plz edit ur sys specs? they make no sence... to celidee that was

[celidee]

Get motherboard from newegg instead of a local store since you wouldn't have many choices, specially at CompUSA. What are you looking for in a motherboard?

Speaking of I just came back from comp USA.....they had 2(two) .....yes 2 freaking mobos!! And they were both for an AMD, just my luck....and I don't even mean 2 types 2 in the whole store! They officially suck!!

Anyhoo, I'm basically looking for the higher end mobos for my Pentium 4, Abit IC7-G, Asus P4c800(kind rare and expensive though) basically anything with the 875P chipset....



and also can u plz edit ur sys specs? they make no sence... to celidee that was

Dude I just got this stuff yesterday!! Give me some time, lol :p

[15th Warlock]

Question:
Can you overclock an intel MOBO?? I had heard some time back that you can't

Most Intel mobos don't have overclocking options in their BIOS, so you cannot change the FSB that easily.
There are some other ways to overclock an intel mobo though, use programs like CPUFSB to change the FSB within WinXP.

[celidee]

I will keep this in mind if I end up getting an intel Mobo thanks...

[15th Warlock]

I will keep this in mind if I end up getting an intel Mobo thanks...

If you end up getting an Intel mobo like mine, just tell me, I can tell you how to OC it, even when the PLL is "OC locked" ;)

[mikelopez]

Hey, celidee. Miami, huh? I got an idea; go to Tigerdirect! :)

BTW, where in Miami are you?

[celidee]

Hey, celidee. Miami, huh? I got an idea; go to Tigerdirect! :)

BTW, where in Miami are you?

OMG! Why didnt this even cross my mind?!?! I'm so going tomorrow dude!!

I stay in miami lakes, you?

[mikelopez]

OMG! Why didnt this even cross my mind?!?! I'm so going tomorrow dude!!

I stay in miami lakes, you?

LOL!!! I figured that you might not have thought about it. I live in Tampa but I am from Hialeah!!!

[celidee]

Tiger Direct and Mikelopez you are my new friends :p

OK so i got a decent MB from tiger direct, the Asus P4S800D-X....

It couldn't recognize SATA drive so I had to install windows in my ATA drive for the mean time, while I installing windows I had a power interuption! Boy did this give me trouble!!! At the boot screen the bios stated that the overclocking went wrong or something, but I wasn't it even close to trying to overclock yet, just installing windows!!! So anyhoo, I call tech support and they told me i had to clear my CMOS, so did that and it still wasn't working!! Called them again to see what the problem was, one guy told me to take the video card, ram and battery, out and then clear my CMOS and it still didn't work. Another tech support guy told me I had to take the Video Card, RAM, battery and CPU out!! So I did all that I still didn't work! :banghead:

So finally I said screw this let me do some googling...and after a couple of more tries I finally cleared it, what worked for me is taking the video card/ram out/ battery out, clearing CMOS for a good 5 minutes(they told me 20 secs at tech support), powering on the system with no ram or video card installed, then boot up normally....:rolleyes:

Ok now with some other issues, I took the liberty of getting another stick of RAM to equal 2 gigs but when I installed the second stick the bios was telling me that I had the same overclocking issue as before the CMOS was clear..."here we go again" I said...called tech support and the guy told me that since I have 2 different brands of RAM (Crucial and OCZ) the system will not boot up properly...I was sickend to my stomach to hear this....and then went on to explain that the CAS Latency might be different, so I checked and indeed they were:

OCZ - 2.5-4-4-8
Crucial- 3.0-4-4-8

So my question is can I change the CAS Latency to match? The tech support guy said you couldn't but I thought there was a way, or should I go return the stick to match the Latency? Once again I'm in need of you guys' mastery, lol!:respect:

[Cj_Staal]

depends... the OCZ should have automatically set it's latency to 3... But you may be able to change it, I forgot how to activate changing timings...

[error_f0rce]

depends... the OCZ should have automatically set it's latency to 3... But you may be able to change it, I forgot how to activate changing timings...
check your bios. if you can't change the latencies from there, you might try SysTool (in the TPU download section) and if you have a motherboard compatible with SysTool you can adjust your memory timings from there. Like anything though, it's best if you are able to do it through the bios.

If SysTool doesn't have your mobo, try google to find similar software. Good luck!

[celidee]

Great!

Now I guess I will look it up...

Edit:

I definitely got the ram to work together, I just changed the CAS Latency in the BIOS like you said error_force(systool wasn't compatible with my board), I'm going to put some pics up once I get all the cables in.....and once and for all I would like to thank everyone for helping with this first build I couldn't had done it without you guys! :D


P.S. I'm sure more questions are to come though...hehe

[celidee]

I believe remember BELIEVE that compusa is way overpriced. There is an online store with excellent prices (although not always the lowest) they give ou excellent service too. I am telling you this because when I was doing MY first build the website helped me alot. Plus they are great with RMA's so if anything else craps out on you you will be able to return it. Newegg.com

By the way, good luck.

LOL, yeah they are!!! Way overpriced! I went to tiger direct and got a temp motherboard(Asus P4S800D-X) while the Abit IC7 RMA comesback....I hope it comes back soon because I can't overclock crap with this board The chipset sucks,lol!