New PC Build

[daffy654]

I attempted to build my new PC yesterday but have hit a major problem that I hope someone here may be able to help with.
The build went fine and everything seems to work apart from the PC fails to display on any monitor. Obviously this means I can't install an OS or anything else. The PC speaker also seems to not work so I can't try and diagnose with any beeps. Everything i've read after googling seems to say I have a faulty motherboard but surely if that were the case then nothing would work. All fans spin, hard drive and optical drive light all come on etc. I have tried two different monitors and all I get is the "No Signal" message on the screen (both monitors work on my son's PC).
I hope someone can come up with some suggestons for me here otherwise I have a very expensive piece of electrical junk sitting on my desk :(


TIA

[beso]

Check that you have all the little connectors to the indicators, power switch, speaker etc in the right places. It can be tricky to follow where they are supposed to be.

[daffy654]

They are all in the right place Beso, all the right lights come on when the corresponding buttons are pressed etc. It is just the case speaker that doen't work and no display to the monitor. I followed the motherboard manual diagram to the letter for them. My oh is just wanting to take it to a techie to get it sorted now but I wanted to try and find a solution myself if possible. I have saved for months to buy all the parts for this build and it has cost me £800, I am just so gutted it won't work!

[VHG]

Has the motherboard got onboard graphics, or have you installed a graphics card?

If your PC has onboard graphics AND a graphics card make sure you are plugged into the right one.

If it has onboard graphics AND a graphics card then take out the graphics card, plug the monitor into the slot for the onboard graphics and see if that works.

[daffy654]

It won't work in either the graphics card (Sapphire HD 5770 1GB) or the onboard graphics ports with the card removed. That was one of the first things I tried in case the graphics card was faulty.

[rojash]

It's always a good idea to start your diagnostics at the lowest level and work up.
Disconnect all peripheral devices - hard disks, optical drives etc.
Ensure that the case speaker is connected correctly.
Connect monitor to onboard video.
The machine should boot as far as the BIOS screen and (with error messages, of course).
If it doesn't get that far, there should be beep codes.
If there are no beep codes, then it's failing to boot entirely - which would indicate one of the following:
Badly seated RAM
Badly Seated CPU
Failed CPU, or Motherboard, or incorrectly powered motherboard. A common mistake is failure to connect the additional 12 V line, if there is one.

[daffy654]

Thanks for the answers folks. I will be dismantling the PC tomorrow and sending the mobo bundle (board,CPU,RAM) back to Maplins I think.

Rojash.... I had removed and reseated the CPU, RAM and had made sure both power connectors for the mobo were correctly and securely in place. No beep codes at all at any stage of the build were heard as the case speaker/mobo connector for case speaker were not working at all.
This will be the first and last time I build my own PC!

[Andyvon]

I hope you don't think I'm being unhelpful Daffy but I was about to go down the same route in August when my old PC died. My brother works for a well-known computer company and he builds his own computers so I asked him to build one for me in August. He was happy to do that but he asked me why I didn't just buy a new PC from the shops. I gave the usual layman's answer that building one is cheaper etc, especially as he gets all the parts for peanuts. He then told me that building a PC is no longer cheaper or more reliable than buying a mass-produced PC and it's usually fraught with silly problems that need ironing out. It sounds like that's what you're finding. He then found this 1 Tb desktop PC with Windows 7 from PC World on-line for me for £250. It's very fast and has done everything a layman like me can wish.

I would ask the same question my brother asked me. Unless it's a hobby or just something you want to do, then why don't you just buy a new PC? At least you then have warranties and can just take it back if something goes wrong.

[daffy654]

Andyvon... I really wish I had just bought the PC ready built now! My old one had a catastrophic hard drive failure a week or so ago and had been on it's way out for some time.
I had wanted to build my own because everyone told me it was really easy to do and for my needs it would be cheaper to build my own (gaming PC). I now have to continue with this build despite the problems as I just can't afford to write off the cost of the parts I have sitting here now. I am getting a techie in to look at it this week as we aren't 100% sure it is the motherboard at fault and i'd hate to send it back only to find out it was something else at fault!

[daffy654]

Just in case anyone is remotely interested...............
The system was examined by a technician today and he confrmed that the motherboard has a fault (RAM slot) so the mobo package has been removed from the system and is on it's way back to the retailer.

[whiskeryron]

daffy654, so sorry to hear about your self build pc probs,my grandson ordered all the parts & helped me to build my own pc & it was a great success. Please keep us posted when the motherboard is replaced & your project is finally working. Ron.

[daffy654]

Thank you Ron :) I have a new motherboard RAM and processor arriving in the morning so hopefully my new PC will be built and fully functioning by the afternoon.... my other half can have access to his laptop again then.