First Time builder Problems

[dosomething]

I bought a case and motherboard so that I could build my own computer.

After putting everything together I tried to boot up. The fans all work, even the one on my video card. The LEDs on the front and the side of the case work fine.

I’m not hearing any beeps when I boot up. There is no video on my monitor. I only get a blank screen and a blinking light on the monitor, not the message I get when the cable isn’t plugged in. I tried the onboard video and my AGP card.

If I have an IDE cable plugged into the DVD drive, the drive will not do anything. However, if I unplug the IDE cable, the light on the drive will light up when I boot and I am able to open and close the drive. The same is true for my other disc drive.

Does this sound like a bad motherboard? Could it be a problem with the processor? Or some of my jumper settings?

This is a link to what I bought
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=2954418&sku=P459-1224%20E

Thanks in advance.

[confusedusr]

It may not be the motherboard. Have you checked the jumper settings on the harddrive? Is the hdd set to master and the CD drive the slave. That may cause a conflict. I had a similar problem to yours but the hdd and the cd were not working at all. Come to find out my processor was dead. But in your case the cd drive is opening and closing so I think that means the processor recognizes it.

[alternate]

What heatsink did you use? Is there a link?

This is a very common problem, at least with LGA775 sockets.

I slightly suspect that problem might be overtightening the heatsink, particularly if you use screws to fasten it. You might try reseating the CPU, as this has worked, purportedly, for someone in the forum.

You might have to securely seat the RAM, supporting the motherboard from the bottom directly underneath the memory slots with the hands and doing so outside of the case.

Theoretically, your assembled hardware should work... I'm still not sure why in instances my past assemblies have worked on and off.

[odannyboy000]

You could reset your CMOS.

[dosomething]

I've tried reseating the video card, processor, and RAM. There are two IDE channels.

The hard drive and DVD drive are both set to master and on separate channels.

I'm using a cooling fan that came with the Pentium 4 processor that I bought.
http://www.amazon.com/Processor-Intel-Pentium-3-2GHZ-Socket/dp/B000CRHNO2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/103-7217021-8594228?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1177734542&sr=8-2

I've also tried resetting the CMOS.

Still no luck.

[Whyzman]

I would suggest a barebones boot (video, RAM, monitor & keyboard) with the motherboard placed outside of the case on a non-conductive surface (cardboard on a table). See if you can make it through POST...

[dosomething]

I tried a barebones boot and I still get no video. I think I'm just going to send it back and go with something more reliable. Thanks for all the advice.

[Whyzman]

Does the motherboard have onboard video? If so, you might want to give it a try and see if you can make it through POST.