New PC in the works

This is my first PC build, and I'm a little worried I'm forgetting something, before I start up the first time...


Alright, got all my parts now except my fancy PSU that will be here tomorrow, but I have the 400W PowMax that came with the case that I can use for now...

Ok,

ASUS A8V-Deluxe K8T800Pro - Installed
Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester Core - Installed
ThermalRight XP-90 /w Artic Silver thermal paste and Fan - Installed
SeaGate 200GB 7200.7 SATA - Installed
Lite-On 16x DL Burner - Installed
XFX GForce 6600GT - Installed
1.5GB Corsair PC3200 - Installed
2 Chassis Fans - Installed
No Rear Fans just yet...

Connected LED's, PowerSW, ResetSW, Front Panel USB and Front Panel Audio devices.
Ziplined all the cords. (I'm anal about wiring and AirFlow... )


Have I forgotten anything??? (aside from a monitor)

Nice one m8.......know any guides on building as i am lookin to build one in the summer?

BTW how much did that set up costya if you dont mind cos i could do with that set up......... plus any component sites too lol.

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Originally Posted by goucho

Nice one m8.......know any guides on building as i am lookin to build one in the summer?

BTW how much did that set up costya if you dont mind cos i could do with that set up......... plus any component sites too lol.

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um... Tom's Hardware has some really good graphical step by step guides. Here's one I read a while back. Link As for component sites, I use NewEgg. Whole setup was like $900 simply because I didn't want to share components with my other computers, so I got everything new...

I figured I'd just fire it up and see what happens, but I hit a bit of a snag...

My LCD monitor came with a VGA connector, but the monitor has DVI ports, so I bought a DVI connector. The DVI port is on an unistalled graphics card, so it won't detect the signal.

Now is the weirdest thing, the mobo's integrated VGA port is a female end, and the VGA connector is female on both ends... Aren't the ports on the mobo normally male???

Is there such a thing as a male to male VGA adapter I can go buy to use until I get the graphics card installed? Or maybe a cord with a male and female end?

Edit: Just noticed... This Mobo doesn't even have a VGA port... It's got a 9 pin serial port, and the cord is a 15 pin VGA plug...
So I suppose the new question is, "is there such a thing as a 15pin male to 9pin male adapter??? "

When I try to boot there is no signal to the monitor (DVI cable ), could there be another reason for this, or is the video card like I'm assuming?

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Originally Posted by Damnatory

My LCD monitor came with a VGA connector, but the monitor has DVI ports, so I bought a DVI connector. The DVI port is on an unistalled graphics card, so it won't detect the signal.

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:blink:
What's got what? This doesn't even begin to make sense.

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Originally Posted by Damnatory

Edit: Just noticed... This Mobo doesn't even have a VGA port... It's got a 9 pin serial port, and the cord is a 15 pin VGA plug...
So I suppose the new question is, "is there such a thing as a 15pin male to 9pin male adapter??? "

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Even if you find some sort of adapter like this, don't even THINK of connecting your monitor to it. Like you said, it is a serial port not a VGA port. Your mobo doesn't have an onboard graphics chip, so how could it have a graphics port?

You need to use the DVI to VGA adapter.

It should be supplied with the XFX card. Check it box it came in.

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Monitor support


- Dual DVI-Out digital output (for attaching LCD Monitors)
- DVI to VGA adapters included (for attaching analog CRT monitors)

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Source: http://www.xfxforce.com/product_view.php?sku=PVT43AND

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Originally Posted by Lynx

What's got what? This doesn't even begin to make sense.

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Sorry Lynx, it was late and I was getting rather frustrated, as well as desperate.

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Originally Posted by Virtualbody1234

You need to use the DVI to VGA adapter.

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Yeah I have 2 of them... but they don't fit anything. Both the VGA and DVI cord are female on both ends, and the DVI to VGA adapers are famale on both ends.

I'm thinking that there must some reason other than the card isn't installed that I can't receive a signal to the monitor. If there is no onboard graphics card, than it should detect the installed card...?

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Originally Posted by Damnatory

Sorry Lynx, it was late and I was getting rather frustrated, as well as desperate.



Yeah I have 2 of them... but they don't fit anything. Both the VGA and DVI cord are female on both ends, and the DVI to VGA adapers are famale on both ends.

I'm thinking that there must some reason other than the card isn't installed that I can't receive a signal to the monitor. If there is no onboard graphics card, than it should detect the installed card...?

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You don't make sense.

On one hand you say that you cannot connect the monitor because the adaptor doesn't fit. On the other hand you say that you don't understand why the monitor doesn't receive a signal.

So what is it? Is the monitor connected or not?

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Originally Posted by Virtualbody1234

So what is it? Is the monitor connected or not?

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See I tried to explain it in that long confusing post but it was late and it doensn't make alot of sense... Sorry... :(

I can connect the monitor to the card with a DVI cord, but it doesn't receive a signal. Thats why I went looking for another way.

Btw. The adaptor should look like this:

http://www.buyxg.com/i7.jpg

The wide DVI connector connects to the graphics card and the narrow VGA is where your monitor plugs in.

Ahh, they don't.. Both sides have pins.

Will it just not read DVI at this point, because I have this:

http://img244.echo.cx/img244/4738/dvicable0lz.jpg

Your Graphics card did not come with the required adapter? :huh:

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Originally Posted by RPerry

Your Graphics card did not come with the required adapter? :huh:

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I guess not, but I'll go get one like VB is talking about in a bit...

Ok I went to this lil computer surplus dive up the street and got one, but to no avail. Still no signal...

Upon researching potential solutions, this card has had a whole SLEW of problems with other users... The biggest problem i have seen so far is, not enough power...

I'm running a 400watt Powmax, until my antec 480watt neopower arrives, you think maybe the system just doesn't have enough power to boot with this card??

Edit: I put it in another computer to test it's functionality, and it worked fine in my gf's emachine...

Do you have another graphics card you could try? Just to see if the rest of the system is working.

This is soooo confusing.
I have no idea what is going on here.

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Originally Posted by clocker

This is soooo confusing.
I have no idea what is going on here.

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Yeah I know. :wacko:

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Originally Posted by Virtualbody1234

Do you have another graphics card you could try? Just to see if the rest of the system is working.

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Yeah I just got back from CompUSA, I got a crappy little 8mb card that I can use.

Still no signal, so, some other problem then?

Did you clear the CMOS?

No.

Your talking switching the jumper?

I have the same motherboard that you have and it was problematic at first too.
Here's a good site to help fix your future problems
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=332591

Does the computer beep or does the "voice" speak to you when you try to boot it up. Sometimes it needs to be booted using one memory module and then flash to the latest bios in order to use, i assume you have 3 sticks of ram.

p.s this motherboard doesn't have onboard video so you need the gfx card.

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Originally Posted by spirex

I have the same motherboard that you have and it was problematic at first too.
Here's a good site to help fix your future problems
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=332591

Does the computer beep or does the "voice" speak to you when you try to boot it up. Sometimes it needs to be booted using one memory module and then flash to the latest bios in order to use, i assume you have 3 sticks of ram.

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Thanks for the link, I'll be sure to use it!

What do you mean by booting with one memory module, 1 stick of RAM?

No, it doesn't beep or speak at all. I just wish I could get a display so I knew what the hell was going on with it...

In order to run the memory in dual channel the have to be identical and have to be using the two blue slots or all four.
Just look at page 2-12 of the mobo manual>

Holy crap!
I was googling "a8v deluxe blank screen" and some guy with 1 post on techsupportforum.com gave the answer in one single statement.

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Originally Posted by 1 post guy

I had the same probleme with my mod and 3000+ 64 I played with the ram changed to slot B1 (second blue) and it works thanks

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So now the display works, and I assumed this meant the BIOS version is out of date, but it says "BIOS not installed". It was shipped without a BIOS?

Anyway, don't have a floppy drive installed so I put the BIOS upgrade on a CD for ASUS's EZ flash to read. Flash was successful.

I noticed after I flashed, I had a "CMOS Checksum bad" error, and in BIOS the CPU speed fell from 2200mhz to 1400mhz, but after a restart the speed was back to normal...

After another restart, the checksum error was gone as well. :blink:

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Originally Posted by Damnatory

I noticed after I flashed, I had a "CMOS Checksum bad" error, and in BIOS the CPU speed fell from 2200mhz to 1400mhz, but after a restart the speed was back to normal...

After another restart, the checksum error was gone as well. :blink:

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That is nornal for after a BIOS flash. Good to see that you got it working.

There's also software, AsusUpdate, that will update the bios from within Windows.
The latest bios version is 1011 which has support for the new chips(san diego).

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Originally Posted by spirex

There's also software, AsusUpdate, that will update the bios from within Windows.
The latest bios version is 1011 which has support for the new chips(san diego).

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Yeah, installing Windows now, but I'm a bit worried, I already flashed to the newest BIOS version (1011) but not all the memory was detected. The BIOS is only detecting 512MB of the 1.5GB that is installed.

LMAO, this is so weird, after I got my motherboard back from abit from its rma trip the same thing happened to me, I was sitting on the floor staring at the thing going wtf, work, work damnit. And I just fucked around with the memory after testing different graphics cards monitors etc and it worked.