Just got a bunch of computer parts

[ken_cinder]

Some rundown on EXACTLY what happens when you turn the power on would be of great help.

 

# of beeps (No beep at all can be a problem just as much as multiple beeps)

Does hard drive activity light stay solid? (On a properly working system, it should light up and go right off until it's actually in use)

Anything else noticeable...

 

Please post hardware specs too (Don't need to know about drives) including the power supply and it's ratings.

[Lucandrake]

Specs

Mobo: Asus M3A78

Vid Card: Visiontek Radeon HD 4650

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 955

PSU: ULTRA Lsp 750 Pro

RAM: OCZ Fatality High Performance DDR2 Memory (2X2 1066)

HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 250 GB 3.0 Sata

 

PSU Link - http://www.ultraproducts.com/applications/...7&CatId=106

 

What happens on boot

 

Note* The hard drive atm isn't connected, I was told to worry about that last. Shouldn't I be able to get into BIOS without one anyways?

 

The LED Mobo light turns green as soon as I hook up the power cord.

On boot there are no beeps. All the fans (PSU, CPU, and Vid Card) turn on without a problem.

I hook up the monitor cable, my monitor auto-detects an analog connection but then instantly goes into sleep mode.

I tried to hook up a USB keyboard to it, to see if I could spam the F1-F12 buttons trying to get a reaction, the NUM-LOCK lights won't turn on and the buttons don't do anything.

 

That's as far as I get in terms of visual action.

 

For the beeps

I disconnected all the RAM earlier to hear how the mobo error beeps, and the thing sounded off like a gun giving me 1 Long and 2 short beeps indicating faulty or missing ram. I hooked it back up, and the error code went away. The PSU also has 2 different volt settings, both seem to work with the PC (both settings show the same results so far).

I tried the vid card on this PC as well, it works just fine.

 

The last thing I haven't "completely" tested was the RAM, which I can't, although I'm afraid that this may have something to do with it since the manual said that 1 1066 is supported per channel. But I'm running 2X2 sticks, one for each channel (A1, B1, A2 and B2 are empty) so now I don't think that's the problem after thinking it over.

[ken_cinder]

No beeps from my experience, are indicative of hardware that isn't quit seated properly...usually RAM. The board picks it up as being present, but it doesn't function how it should.

That often shows with that HD activity light staying solid...no beeps and nothing on screen. System pretty much hangs before the bios even fully loads.

 

Try one stick of RAM at a time, make sure it's in there solid.

 

Your PSU should be set to 115v setting btw

[Lucandrake]

Thanks for the PSU info, I would've flickered with that till the day I die if you hadn't told me.

 

O that's what I forgot to mention. I tried both sticks of RAM seperately earlier. Same results as well.

 

I called Asus (They pronounce it Asoos not Asas? Wtf?). Anyways, the tech lady (again wtf? a Tech LADY?) told me that the current BIO's version of the Mobo wouldn't support my processor. So they sent out a new Bio's chip with the upgraded version that would allow me to run with the processor. Now all I want to do is take out this processor, put it on that mobo, upgrade the bio's manually, and then put everything back to together.

 

Except I don't have cooling gel, and I'm pushing my luck without any proper grounding equipment, I'm just going to sit tight and hopefully that BIO's upgrade is really all my machine needs.

 

My new keyboard rocks btw .

[ken_cinder]

That sucks, I hate when something is advertised as supporting hardware....but the bios it's loaded with doesn't. Where did you buy it from?

[Lucandrake]

Local Tigerdirect store. I asked a dude over there to look over all the parts before anything, he said I was good. O well, what game shall I play on my PS3 till then o.o ?

 

Edit: Thanks for all the help, it was much appreciated.

[Shibathedog]

you really should get some thermal paste if you don't have any. Arctic Silver is a classic, although I prefer MX-2. Shin-Etsu X23 is really good too if you can find it. Also I wouldn't trust the auto BIOS settings. They are usually just what will work but not even close to what is best. Too much volts/slow RAM speed/etc.

[Lucandrake]

Thanks for the advice Shiba, for now I'll just stick to the paste AMD supplied with by default however, I'm starting to run short on spending $$$.

 

I got the Bio's upgrade today. Applied it and it booted it up just fine without a hitch ! Now the configuration part, I've never fooled with a Bio's before, and I'm scared I'll over burn some shit because of that. Already however I feel that I'm spotting problems, the ram I purchased was DDR2 1066. In the menu I spot both sticks running at 400 Mhz under something titled "Memory CLK", my intuition says that this is a problem, I am however unsure. I tried messing around with the settings and ran into JumperFree Configuration. In it I can change Memory Clock Mode, but it'll only go as high as 533 MHz. Then there are a ton of other options that make me feel like I just my first vagina ever.

 

If anybody here is willing to walk me through some of these options, my IM's are posted in the bottom. If you guys have a link with the basics to all this alien language with a walkthrough, it would be appreciated as well.

 

Thank you guys so much , it's been awesome doing this, I want to be able to do it again and again .

 

Skype - drake00991

Msn - MegamanX44303@hotmail.com

Aim - Lucandrake

[ken_cinder]

1066 is 533x2...dual channel dude, where it should be.

400mhz is probably just a default "safe" setting, most bios' come set to those safe settings, and you need to set things where they should be.

 

It's just so you don't wind up with your system not booting because of something finicky. For instance an older system I have, won't run with the DDR400 at 400...it crashes like a SOB. It's not the RAM, been tested in another system, but that board may not like THAT RAM. Safe setting would clock it at 266 or 333. I run it at 333, and it's fine.

[Lucandrake]

Thanks Cindr, I swapped to 533. The computer prompted to shut down 10 minutes after it's first XP boot.

 

I'm on my second XP boot, swapped it back to 400. I'm watching AMD OverDrive (No I don't plan to overclock on standard cooling), but the temp is 46-49 C on idle. That shit is hot in my book, so I'm freaking out. Is this normal for this processor? Or should I invest in more cooling gear? Or is it fixable by simple tweaking?

 

Did I mention that my PC now sounds like an airplane in constant lift off?

 

Update: Did a Stability test, in under a minute the temp rose to 56-58, then I went all pussy mode and cut it off so it could go back to 46-49.

[Shibathedog]

Oh I thought you didn't have ANY thermal paste, that stuff is good enough if your just running at stock unless your one of those people that are anal about temps. It does sound like your running a little hot though. Maybe you used too much paste? I have never even tried the stock cooler though so I don't really know how it is supposed to perform.

 

If you want take pictures of every screen on your BIOS and ill tell you what you set everything to, We will see if we can get it stable and maybe work from there on a small overclock if even possible.