help me troubleshoot my PC build?

mountainman · Post by **mountainman** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:19 pm

http://forums.speedguide.net/showthread.php?t=250365

Thanks!!

Humboldt · Post by **Humboldt** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:25 pm

Good to see you took your sale items down and are giving it another try

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:51 pm

Humboldt wrote:Good to see you took your sale items down and are giving it another try

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:31 pm

CableDude wrote:

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:00 pm

Dan wrote:

You don't know, do ya!

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:10 pm

CableDude wrote:You don't know, do ya!

LOL this time I do !

mountainman · Post by **mountainman** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:09 pm

Haha...I just bought a Dell this afternoon and have all that crap ready to ship back. Restocking fees won't be nice.

mountainman · Post by **mountainman** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:49 pm

OK... because I trust you guys, I pulled all the stuff out again and tried the Kingston stick from WalMart. No luck.

Here's a pic of the latest try. (For the record, I tried the plug in both DVI ports and tried the RAM in all the slots.)

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:54 pm

mountainman wrote:OK... because I trust you guys, I pulled all the stuff out again and tried the Kingston stick from WalMart. No luck.

Here's a pic of the latest try. (For the record, I tried the plug in both DVI ports and tried the RAM in all the slots.)

you say you tried both dvi ports,but did you try exactly what I said?

and that was using a dvi-vga dongle(one probably came with the vc) with a vga cable to a vga port on any monitor?

does your monitor have vga in on it ?

and did you try it with a mouse and KB plugged into it? because there isn't any in that pic

mountainman · Post by **mountainman** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:03 pm

Yes on all accounts (DVI and VGA on monitor and keyboard/mouse - USB and PS/2).

It did the same exact thing as last time. It starts up, stays on for about ten seconds, shuts down and then starts up and stays on for another thirty seconds or so and repeats.

I used the VGA to DVI converter that came with the video card and also the DVI cable you see in the pic.

My best guess is that something is incompatible or something is defective.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:06 pm

mountainman wrote:Yes on all accounts (DVI and VGA on monitor and keyboard/mouse - USB and PS/2).

It did the same exact thing as last time. It starts up, stays on for about ten seconds, shuts down and then starts up and stays on for another thirty seconds or so and repeats.

I used the VGA to DVI converter that came with the video card and also the DVI cable you see in the pic.

My best guess is that something is incompatible or something is defective.

mmm,ya ok,I always try yo look at the basics.
oh well,we tried

BMED · Post by **BMED** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:19 pm

mountainman wrote:Haha...I just bought a Dell this afternoon and have all that crap ready to ship back. Restocking fees won't be nice.

Dude!

I build my last system 4 years ago, it's still running strong but I decided to go with Dell ($600) last year for my Vista Ultimate experience. I have since added two 500GB ($120) for the RAID backup along with 4GB of RAM ($60)...PSU is next. I wasted little time with these upgrades and saved cash in the end, building from scratch just isn't the same these days.

I guess I just don't have the time to **** around & play games, I don't even do my own oil changes anymore...life's too short!

Well enjoy your new PNP system, life is good!

BMED

mountainman · Post by **mountainman** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:48 pm

And I appreciate it, Dan! Heck, I said 'screw it, where's the beer?' after the first try. I was out of ideas in no time. I really feel that I tried everything at this point, short of buying more and more parts to troubleshoot what's causing the issue.

BMED - After all this, I just want to get something that I don't have to mess with much. And honestly, I have a small Ikea desk, so the all-in-one XPS One 24 will be nice and compact.

TinyTim · Post by **TinyTim** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:17 am

mountainman wrote:And I appreciate it, Dan! Heck, I said 'screw it, where's the beer?' after the first try. I was out of ideas in no time. I really feel that I tried everything at this point, short of buying more and more parts to troubleshoot what's causing the issue.

BMED - After all this, I just want to get something that I don't have to mess with much. And honestly, I have a small Ikea desk, so the all-in-one XPS One 24 will be nice and compact.

It's all in what you want and are after - the All-in-one from Dell sounds like a good fit - good luck building a system like that on your own....

Those "unknown" issues with pc's drive me up a wall and, like many here I am sure, I can not rest until the issue is solved.

I went through a lot of "pain and suffering" (the amounts of which I thought only marriage could provide...

just kidding honey if you are reading

) building two pc's late last year - I ended up purchasing a more expensive MOBO with RAID and new RAM for one of them, and replaced the other with a Dell XPS 630 for my wife to work on (wanted Precision...could not afford the $$$).

I inherited the PC replaced by the XPS (which is what I am posting on now) - I am wholely convinced the issues were with the compatibility of the hardware components. On the bright side, after you build a few of your own PC's you usually have enough components laying around to assist with the troubleshooting.

Sorry to hijack your thread...and to make a long story short - it does take a lot of time and, at times, $$$ to T-Shoot these issues, which can be tough with everything else going on in life - like worrying about the next Happy Hour or SG meet (speaking of which.....) Best of luck with the new rig

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:22 am

Future reference, don't stick stuff on top of the antistatic bags. They are only anti static on the inside.

Hope the dell boots up

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:41 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:Future reference, don't stick stuff on top of the antistatic bags. They are only anti static on the inside.

Yuppers! I see so many people do this...including techs in service centers. Those faraday cages pull static from the inside and store it on the outside. Placing the bag on a surface..and placing your RAM/CPU/vid card/whatever on top of the bag...you just placed that component where the MOST static is.

Might as well throw it out right now.

You were better of just plopping it down on your wooden desk surface.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:39 am

To be honest that Quad core inspiron I got is very fast..added a nice strong video card in and a different PSU along with 3 other gigs of ram and its almost par with my gaming rig. The prebuilts by Dell seem to be very nice and fast with a little added modifications..but yes sounds like something isn't going to work with something else you had.

The Dude · Post by **The Dude** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:57 pm

In your other thread at one point you stated it didn't have a clear CMOS jumper. I take that to mean the little jumper you put on to short the pins was missing. Does the clear CMOS jumper on that motherboard have two or three pins? The reason I ask is because my current motherboard has three pins. The jumper is normally on pins 1 and 2, you move it to 2 and 3 momentarily to reset the BIOS. I'm not sure what would happen if I didn't put the jumper back on, but maybe it wouldn't post. Wouldn't hurt to check your manual to see if the jumper is required, that is if you have the tree pins. If you only have the two pins disregard all of the above.

mountainman · Post by **mountainman** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:56 pm

It's already being UPS'ed back to CA/NewEgg, but mine had two pins but didn't come with a jumper. I found one on an old HDD.

The Dude · Post by **The Dude** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:59 pm

OK. I wasn't sure if you had finally given up or not.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:43 pm

knightmare · Post by **knightmare** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:26 pm

mountainman wrote:And I appreciate it, Dan! Heck, I said 'screw it, where's the beer?' after the first try. I was out of ideas in no time. I really feel that I tried everything at this point, short of buying more and more parts to troubleshoot what's causing the issue.

BMED - After all this, I just want to get something that I don't have to mess with much. And honestly, I have a small Ikea desk, so the all-in-one XPS One 24 will be nice and compact.

Really computer prices have fallen so much, unless you have alot of spare time for situations just like you went thru, then buying a prebuilt is the way.
Seems like everyone on here had their own custom rig at one time, you saved alot 4-5 years ago by doing so..

Good choice & good luck with the new one....