Gaming PC Build Problem

[Lanlan]

My roommate ordered his PC from Amazon and it arrived today. We put it all together and tried to start it up, with the monitor plugged into the card's HDMI slot.. All the LEDs and fans come on, but there's no video on the monitor. Could it be that the card needs drivers to access the HDMI? What else could be causing this? We flashed CMOS or whatever. 99.9% sure everything's plugged in.

For the CPU power we used two 4 pin connectors, is that good enough? The PSU also has connectors with 6 and 2 pins, right next to each other but the 6 pin says PCI-E so we just used the two 4 pin ones.

 

[Originality]

HDMI is plug and play. It will automatically detect and configure itself for your display. If its not showing anything, there are a few possibilities.

First is the monitor. Check that it's on. Check that it's on the right channel (e.g. HDMI 1, HDMI 2). Check that it works.
Second, check the cable. Any damage? Any dirt? Is it plugged in properly? Both ends?
Third, check the graphics card (or motherboard, if you're using integrated graphics). Is it plugged in properly? Are the power cables plugged in properly? Are all the fans spinning and any lights blinking?
Finally, check the rest of the system. Make sure all cables are plugged in properly and there are no shortcuts or damaged parts. Make sure the motherboard works. Make sure the power supply is sufficient for the system.

FYI, CPU power should use either a 4-pin or 4+4-pin connector. PCI power is always 6, 6+2 or 8-pin connectors. ATX is always 20+4 IIRC.

 

[Lanlan]

Okay so more info. It's an EVGA board, not sure which model but has socket 1155 and supports sli. It has a debug led on it, says "55", which according to the manual means the memory is failing or something. Also it beeps 4 times, I'm not sure of the BIOS but apparently that beep code means a system timer failure, whatever the hell that means. So...anyone have any ideas?

 

[Originality]

I can't remember beep codes specifically, but I think it either means RAM error or GPU error. If the debug LED tells you RAM, then that's probably it. Take The RAM out, check the contacts to mke sure they're clean, run them down with an eraser to remove static, then put them back in one at a time.

 

[Lanlan]

So the board is incompatible with the cpu! Ivy Bridge needs a BIOS update apparently. Well darn.

 

[Originality]

So it's not an Intel 7 series chipset then. The plot thickens...

 

[Pong20302000]

So the board is incompatible with the cpu! Ivy Bridge needs a BIOS update apparently. Well darn.

where did you get CPU incompatible from
he said GPU (Graphical Processing Unit, aka graphics card) or RAM

id most likely say its the RAM
probally bought the wrong type or the power needed for it isnt compatible

much easyier if you listed all the products you bought

 

[gifi4]

So the board is incompatible with the cpu! Ivy Bridge needs a BIOS update apparently. Well darn.

where did you get CPU incompatible from
he said GPU (Graphical Processing Unit, aka graphics card) or RAM

id most likely say its the RAM
probally bought the wrong type or the power needed for it isnt compatible

much easyier if you listed all the products you bought

I'd just assume he researched his own board and found out that it is incompatible with ivybridge until the BIOS is updated... Or he may have confused GPU with CPU, like you said but in that case, he wouldn't have brought up the Ivy Bride part...

 

[Lanlan]

He bought these:
EVGA Z68 SLI
Intel Core i5 3550 (i think, i know it's ivy bridge)
2 4GB corsair vengeance ramming sticks 2133 mhz
EVGA 560 ti 448 Classified Ultra mega expensive edition
750w Corsair power supply
that's all the relevant parts i'd assume.

 

[Pong20302000]

He bought these:
EVGA Z68 SLI
Intel Core i5 3550 (i think, i know it's ivy bridge)
2 4GB corsair vengeance ramming sticks 2133 mhz
EVGA 560 ti 448 Classified Ultra mega expensive edition
750w Corsair power supply
that's all the relevant parts i'd assume.

well its all sounds good
just looking intro graphics cards

everything else should be fine tho

take out graphics card and see if it just turns on
ammount of beeps etc

 

[chains_of_androm]

Maybe try a BIOS update, I remember seeing a lot of Z68 mobos not functioning properly until BIOS was updated.

 

[Lanlan]

Gonna put in a friend's Sandy Bridge tonight, that should fix 'er right up.

 

[Seyiji]

For the CPU power we used two 4 pin connectors, is that good enough? The PSU also has connectors with 6 and 2 pins, right next to each other but the 6 pin says PCI-E so we just used the two 4 pin ones.

Did you put the psu connectors in the right places like Originality suggested?

If not then unplug the two 4 pin connectors you plugged into the graphics card and plug both of them into the two 4 pin motherboard power connectors on the top left by the first two usb inputs where they belong. Next plug both the PCIe 6+2 pin connector and the 6 pin connector into the graphics card. Push the power button and hope that plugging the power leads into the wrong places didn't fry something.

 

[Originality]

IIRC, the shape (houses and squares) of the pins for CPU and PCI power does not allow you to plug one into the wrong place. However they could be only half plugged in, which will cause problems. Checking these things throughout the system fixes a lot of DoA issues.

 

[gifi4]

IIRC, the shape (houses and squares) of the pins for CPU and PCI power does not allow you to plug one into the wrong place. However they could be only half plugged in, which will cause problems. Checking these things throughout the system fixes a lot of DoA issues.

Yeah, the pins are not the same, as you said though, they may not be in properly. I had noticed with my build, taking out the power to the GPU and putting back in fixed a few things (Not what I sent it in for xD)

 

[Anon10W1z]

You can find an LGA1155 pentium processor to do the BIOS update, for $40 on Amazon.

 

[RchUncleSkeleton]

I had an odd problem a while back after my custom pc sat in storage for a while. When I went to use it again it would not boot, which was odd to me because other than sitting in storage and possibly the cmos battery going dead there should have been nothing wrong with it.

To make a long story short I ended up having to adjust the ram voltage in the bios as the default wasn't providing enough voltage for the amount and type of ram I had(again this was odd as I never had to adjust it before and nothing had changed from when I first built it). I was able to get the system to fire up and get into to bios by removing 1 stick of ram. After I set the voltage to correct specs based on my ram it worked fine afterwards.

I have a feeling the cmos battery getting drained caused some really odd behavior with the bios.

 

[Lanlan]

There's not an update yet for the motherboard so he just ordered Sandy Bridge i5.