So I just put together my first PC and...

... it wouldn't start. Yes, yes, all enjoy a good chuckle for a moment and then maybe some of you can point me in the right direction.

So I bought a case with a 400 power supply some motherboard by the name of pt800ce-a, P4 processor, and I am stealing all the other components from my old pc.

I installed the board, cpu, fan, pluged everything in to the best of my ability, and went to turn it on and nothing. Not a whir or a spin or any thing, it was as if the case was not plugged in but yet it was.

I think one of my problems may be that the power switch button from the front of the PC may not be connected properly.

Is there any highrez pictures of what cables from the from of your case and how they get plugged in to those little pins available anywhere?

If I didn't change one jumper on my mother board would that affect anything?

What are the most common reasons for a freshly built pc not to power up?

Is there a way to check to see if the case is even transfering power? Shouldn't the fan on the powersupply come on automaticly regardless if your pc is functional or not?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

check the clear CMOS jumper on the motherboard. On some of the systems that i have built the jumper has been set to clear instead of normal

Quote:

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Originally Posted by healimonster

I think one of my problems may be that the power switch button from the front of the PC may not be connected properly.

Is there any highrez pictures of what cables from the from of your case and how they get plugged in to those little pins available anywhere?

If I didn't change one jumper on my mother board would that affect anything?

What are the most common reasons for a freshly built pc not to power up?

Is there a way to check to see if the case is even transfering power? Shouldn't the fan on the powersupply come on automaticly regardless if your pc is functional or not?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

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Go HERE to download the manual. See page 11 for front panel connections.

The pins are laid out like this:
2 4 6 8 x
1 3 5 7 9
The x indicates there is no pin. Pin 9 is not used for anything.
The power switch should be connected between pins 6 & 8.
If this is where you have connected your switch (be sure you haven't inadvertantly connected the power LED there!) then you can check whether the switch is actually working by disconnecting it and CAREFULLY touching pins 6 & 8 together with a screwdriver or similar metal object. If the fans come on & the machine boots you need to check/replace the switch but if nothing happens the problem lies elsewhere.

Another small, sometimes overlooked item: Turn on the power switch on the back of the power supply.

yes, the fans and powersupply fan should be working even if the pc is not functional.

"yes, the fans and powersupply fan should be working even if the pc is not functional."

Well thats not good news because nothing spun or did anything.

However pin lay out diagram was quite helpfull. I never would have tried those two pins for the powerswitch in 100 attemps.
I try these suggestions tonight.

The power supply will not turn on without a signal from the motherboard.

Check here to test power supply without the motherboard. http://www.duxcw.com/faq/ps/ps4.htm

Great, that pin thing did it.

Well it got me past my first problem.

So the computer powers up and detects the CPU, the memory, the hard drives and the CR-rom drive, but it stops on a "bios like" screen stating "
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Warning! CPU has been changed or CPU Ratio changed fail.
Please re-enter CPU settings in the CMOS setup and remember to save before quit!
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what is that message usually in reference to?

I can hit f1 to continue and it will enssentialy end up on the same very screen after it trys to boot up,

Or I can hit Del and go into the bios and make changes (non of which I know what I should be done)


Any suggestions?

Yes. Hit [Del] and go into the BIOS and set the CPU speed to the speed of your CPU. Save changes and reboot.

Update I went into the bios, and looked around, made no changes and saved and exited.

It offered me to launch windows normaly, or in a few different safe modes. I have done both and both produce similar results. It loads something for a few seconds, and flashes a bluescreen for 1 frame, and then reboots and does the whole thing over again.

Suggestions

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Virtualbody1234

Yes. Hit [Del] and go into the BIOS and set the CPU speed to the speed of your CPU. Save changes and reboot.

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I have gone through a few different screens in the Bios and cant seem to find any place that has to do with my CPU clock speed.

The standard CMOS feature has date and times and which drives are slaves and masters.
The Advanced BIOS screen has a lot to do with booting priorites, and features being enabled and such but no speeds.

I was only able to find a place to change the speed of the Ram, but nothing for the CPU.

It should be noted the when you first turn the computer on it shows that the CPU speed is 3.2ghz and the memory is 1gig (both correct).

New boards sometimes give the message that the cpu has changed, as does putting a new cpu on a used board. If the board is set to autodetect the cpu then simply going into the bios and saving will cure that problem, as it seems to have done.

I assume that you are now trying to boot into your old version of windows and that's where you are getting a failure. This is hardly surprising, it is trying to use the drivers for the old motherboard. You almost always have to do some sort of installation unless the old and new mobo's are virtually identical. You probably will need to do a repair installation as a minimum.

Update:

I was able to boot to the CD after I hit ANY key at the right time. I reformatted the drive and after a few attempts (seem to have problems coping files from the disc) I was able to boot into the XP screen installation process.

That all went well and good for about 90% of the way then I would get some blue screen of death stating that the computer has halted activity to protect my computer from damage, and to reboot and try again.

I did that and the same thing happened again. One would think it was overheating but every time i have checked the CPU temp it was a steady 40degrees . So I thought it might be memory I purchased 2 Muskin DDR 512 pc3200 sticks. So today I thought I would try it with just one, and that worked.

Kinda.

It got me to the windows XP tour that and began asking me questions about the settings and Internet and such, at which time it froze during the obtain IP address section.

So I rebooted and it seems to be working, until the next crash?

In a foot note the audio doesn't work.

I will keep you posted.

Should I update the bios?

Update

I ran the install disc that came with the MoBo and that corrected the audio problems.

It crashed and rebooted while running the install disc and I had to do it over again.

I started acting like it had no problems and installing my programs I use and it would simple reboot mid-doing something. Happened several times.

Three or four time is doesn't reboot and stops on this screen.
http://premium1.uploadit.org/healimonster/IMG_0309.JPG

Ever seen that?

Any suggestions why it is sporadically rebooting or freezing?

Troubleshooting a Stop 0x0000000A error in Windows XP

yeah... you shoulda seen what i did when i set up my mboard
i put the powerbutton plugs on the usb pins
http://img152.exs.cx/img152/9012/r03000759pw.jpg

I am all but certain the problem was the memory.
Sent it back and hope for better results from the next pair of sticks.