So, I’m building a computer and have everything in place. But…
The main board has no built in video card, which isn’t a problem (I thought), because I’m hooking up an Asus PCI-express videocard. Only thing is - I can’t get a picture to the monitor, and I think I have to install the drivers that came with the video card. But since I can’t see anything on the screen…
I’m really stumped.
Is the power-on indicator light on the monitor green? If it’s amber (or any not-green color), it’s not getting any video signal at all. Check your connections. Look at the video cable connector carefully and see if any pins are bent or broken. Some pins may be missing, but that’s normal; you can usually tell the difference between an intentionally-left-out pin and one that’s been broken off. Be sure the card is fully seated in the motherboard socket. Regardless of any drivers you may or may not have installed, you should at least be able to get the POST screen when you start up. The BIOS supplies basic VGA functionality. Are you getting any beeps at startup? If so, report back with the sequence. Ifs you get one short beep, that indicates a normal startup with no errors detected. If you get NO beeps at all, that might indicate a more fundamental problem.
Are there two places to plug in your monitor? I know that I have made the mistake of plugging it into the motherboard instead of the video card.
I don’t assemble computers professionally, but I’ve done this around 10 times in my life and I’m fairly confident everything is working properly. But the screen is just black, which makes it difficult to start configuring everything.
QED is correct - it sounds like the machine may not be getting to POST, which doesn’t necessarily mean it is the video card or monitor.
Give us a rundown of each component that you have installed in the motherboard, including what type of CPU and number/amount of RAM. Also, what are you using for a power supply?
Yes, a few seconds after you turn the machine on, you should get one short beep from the speaker. Of course, if the case speaker isn’t connected, you won’t. Open it up and make sure it’s connected to the right header–your motherboard’s documentation should tell you where that is. If the speker is connected properly and you’re still not hearing the OK beep, there’s a more fundamental issue than the video card. Check to be sure the CPU is firmly and properly seated in its slot/socket. Be sure your RAM sticks are also properly and firmly seated and the banks are filled in the right order–again, consult your motherboard documentation. Those are the two major causes of POST failure when assembling a new motherboard.
This is an upgrade from an existing system: new board, new CPU, new RAM, same old HD, videocard, casing, DVD-drive. Prior to the upgrade everything was working.
Bought today and assembled:
Asrock 775DUAL-880 PRO Intel S775 PT800 AGP/ PCI-Express 2XDDR400 2XDDR2
Intel Pentium 4 630 3,0GHz Socket 775 FSB800 2MB Cache EMT64
Kingmax DDR2 PC4200/533MHz CL4 1GB
The videocard:
Asus nVidia EN6200TC512/TD/256M DDR2 256/512MB PCI Express DVI TV out
Thanks for your help so far guys. It’s getting a wee bit late here, so I’ll double check according to your suggestions, Q.E.D. and get back tomorrow.
Just had a similar problem. I opened up the computer, carefully cleared the dust, reseated all the memory modules and everything boots up fine again. So make sure your memory modules are in the right spots and are firmly seated. That’s assuming that the RAM is compatible with the new board.
Incidentally, while you’re in there checking things, be sure the HDD and CD/DVD drive cables are all installed correctly. Many times the IDE connector (assuming you’re using IDE or EIDE and not SATA) will be keyed so you can’t install it backwards, but sometimes, it isn’t. The red stripe should like up with Pin 1 on all drives and also on the motherboard connector. Sometimes, that can cause POST weirdness, too. The drives will still spin up, the little lights on from will come on and the trays will pop out when you push the button, so you might be tempted to believe it’s properly installed. I’ve been burned by that more than once. :smack:
Pentium 4 motherboards have a small square power connector for the CPU core that previous motherboards don’t have. It’s pretty common when upgrading or building a system to forget about this connector, especially if this is the first time you’ve dealt with a P4 motherboard.
You don’t need a driver to get an image on the screen. Without a driver, the video card should work in DOS mode (text) and should be able to act like a VGA compatible display. The only thing you need the driver for is to get better screen resolutions than 640x480. You should be getting the POST screen, etc. since the BIOS starts out in text mode.
I second this simple troubleshooting tip if you didn’t catch it the first time. I have fixed many, many video problems because of this mix-up and at least two on these boards when others were talking about low-level tests already. Check all the connectors and completely rethink them like you cannot assume any of them are right and reinvestigate.
Replying to a couple of suggestions:
I’m off to stick my head in the case and double and triple check that everything is connected properly.
Thanks.
**OK, problem solved. ** The documentation that came with the board is really crappy and the picture of the layout sucks. I had put the RAM in the slot DDRII instead of DDR and it’s working now.
Thanks for the thought and energy you guys put into this.
Always a joy when you dilligently RTFM and end up losing hours (or days) only to discover it is because the FM is a FPOS. One of my pet peeves. Glad to hear you wrangled it into submission in the end.
Ha! I actually had the same problem the last time I assembled a computer. Gigabyte’s manual was wrong and had the memory slots laid out backwards. Couldn’t for the life of me figure out why the damn thing wasn’t booting. 