New Pc Will Not Post Or Boot, $1,800 Nightlight.

**Tattooed4Ever** · 05-24-08, 10:57 AM

It takes me roughly 4 to 5 hours, start to finish, to assemble a new PC and load the OS. I lost count of how many systems I've built over the years, but this one has me stumped, I've never seen anything like it!! I hope there's someone out there that can shed some light into what's going on....
I started out with:
Intel LGA775 ATX Motherboard BLKDP965LTCK (D41694),
Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 LGA 775 Processor,
Zalman Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler,
Mushkin 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 Memory,
Logisys All Clear 550W ATX Power Supply (With UV Cable Management sleeves),
eVGA GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512MB GDDR3 PCIe 2.0 Video Card,
Two Seagate Barracuda ES.2 500GB SATA Hard Drives,
One Sony 20X SATA DVD Burner,
and I added an AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180 PCI ATSC HDTV Card,
HP w2207h Monitor,
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy SE 5.1 Channel PCI Sound Card.
I packed it all into an Blue Apevia Aspire X-Plorer ATX Mid Tower Case with enough mods to light up the whole house with a bright blue glow.
For the initial setup I was using my old 19" Viewsonic VGA Monitor, and I had done a full assembly on the case. Once assembled, I hit the power switch, the case lit up, all fans came on, the monitor came on for 15 seconds, then went to Power-Save Mode. Okay, I decided to strip it down to bare-bones to set it up, but it still did the same thing.
I ran to Fry's Electronics to buy washers for the Motherboard Stand-Offs, on the off chance it was grounding out. That wasn't it.
I figured the 550W PSU may not be enough, so I bought an Apevia 750W PSU. It still did the same thing.
I then replaced the video card. Nope, not it.
I replaced the Mushkin RAM with Corsair XMS2 DHX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 Dual Channel Memory.
I swapped the Motherboard out for an Intel DQ965GFEKR (D41676) LGA775 MicroATX Motherboard, with on-board video. I removed the PCIe Video Card, and reset the BIOS, but the on-board video didn't even kick on the monitor!
Methodically I replaced every piece of hardware, each time with the assumption that I had finally found the bad piece of hardware. Each time I was wrong!
To make a very long, dreadfully painful, and ghastly expensive story shorter, I have replaced EVERY SINGLE piece of hardware for the new system at least once. I even replaced the Apevia case with a Tagan A-plus El Diablo Gaming Case, to eliminate the possibility of some faulty wiring grounding out the system!!
The NEW-new system now has:
Intel DQ965GFEKR (D41676) LGA775 MicroATX Motherboard,
Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 LGA 775 Conroe Dual-Core CPU,
Zalman Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler,
Mushkin 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 Memory,
Logisys All Clear 550W ATX Power Supply (With UV Cable Management sleeves),
eVGA GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512MB GDDR3 PCIe 2.0 Video Card,
Two Seagate Barracuda ES.2 500GB SATA Hard Drives,
One Sony 20X SATA DVD Burner,
AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180 PCI ATSC HDTV Card,
HP w2207h Monitor,
and a Creative SoundBlaster Audigy SE 5.1 Channel PCI Sound Card,
all packed into a Tagan A-plus El Diablo Case.
I have gone by the book during assembly:
static-free environment,
seating and reseating everything,
strictly bare-bones while trying to POST.
I have disassembled and reassembled the system a total of 7 times, I am grasping at straws now.
Please tell me there is someone out there that has gone through something similar, does anyone have any ideas? What am I missing????
Thanks in advance,
Tattooed4Ever.

**Philip** · 06-02-08, 03:13 PM

When the monitor lights up for a few seconds... Do you see anything on it ?
Any beeps ? (do you get the initial one beep, or any BIOS error codes ?).

First, I'd strip it down again (no IDE/SATA/PCI devices).
Then, try booting without RAM, with only a single RAM module, and/or wihtout Video Card to see if you're getting any BIOS error codes (one long two short usually).

**SLK** · 01-06-09, 01:06 PM

Take CMOS battery out and leave CMOS on clear for a few hours. Needs to recognize an entirely new hardware configuration.

**Shinobi** · 01-06-09, 09:34 PM

You say that "all fans came on" so we know there is voltage going into the board.. Have you tried another power outlet? As strange as that might seem..

**knightmare** · 02-18-09, 03:10 PM

I once had some seagate drives that would not post with a Intel board, have you tried swapping out the Hard Drive, ( different brand) just to see?

**TinyTim** · 02-19-09, 10:08 AM

A few suggestions / Questions that would be helpful with troubleshooting-----

- Can you get into the BIOS
- Settings in BIOS are correct, does the BIOS recognize installed memory/drives?
- What is the temp reading on the processor - I fried a processor once and it acted as you are describing...unlikely the cause, but a suggestion to look at.
- all power connectors connected to the motherboard (4-pin CPU power connector).
- Does the RED LED located by the memory come on during startup
- Any of the connectors on backwards (power switch, reset, audio, USB, etc) , some are keyed, others are not...may not be the cause, but stranger things have happened
- Do you have another system you can swap the RAM/HDD/processor into to verify they work?
- Is the CPU sitting flat on the motherboard? Same for the HeatSink/Fan on the CPU
- Any loose screws or metal hanging around the case (maybe one fell under it during installation causing a ground?)?
- Power supply set to 110V and not 220?
- Any bent bins on the video card/monitor end?

**Ken** · 02-19-09, 10:10 AM

Hey guys, the person resolved this issue about 6 months ago in a different thread. (He had posted threads in multiple forums...)
Thanks for the help though!