Anyone for a little trouble-shooting?

wussboy · Post by **wussboy** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:00 am

Okay, I just bought a new system and I'm having a problem.

NSK2400 case
Abit nf2-mView motherboard
AMD 3200 X2
x1950 Pro radeon card.

I installed everything, and it seemed to go well. But when I turned it on, my monitor (which I thought might be the problem but works with my laptop) showed "No Signal". I tried the monitor out of the on-board video, and out of the Radeon card, but same thing both times. I hear the DVD drive spin up and the hard drive, and I've reseated the ram several times. The CPU seems well seated as well.

I have plugged in both the 24 pin power connector and the 4 pin connector.

I'm fresh out of ideas. Anyone have any suggestions?

Bobfantastic · Post by **Bobfantastic** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:57 am

Try firing it up without the GPU, with the monitor connected to the motherboard in case you have a duff card. There's also a slim chance that your monitor doesn't like the ~VGA resolution of your motherboard bios (not likely, but possible on some lower-end LCDs), but in that case it's more likely to read "Out of Range".

Also, have you tried re-connecting the power leads for your graphics card and making sure your PSU can handle it?
Your GPU is likely to have more than one output, have you tried them all?

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:22 am

Seems a lot of people have had trouble with this particular combo, have you checked out the NF-M2 thread?

Abit NF-M2 thread

Might need to up the volts on the memory?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:27 am

Hello,

Can you get into the BIOS? If not, try w/o the HD, the video card, and the optical drive(s) -- just onboard video, the RAM, and the CPU. If that doesn't work, use just one stick of RAM, and if that doesn't work, try just the other stick(s) of RAM.

You could try booting with the Ultimate Boot CD and run the Prime test, to verify the RAM and the CPU are working well.

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:50 am

Do a "hard" reset:

1. Unplug the PSU from the wall
2. Press the power button and hold it down for 20 seconds or hit it repeatedly many times

Then...

3. Clear the CMOS
4. Unplug all the peripherals (ie, any drives) and remove everything unnecessary from the PCI slots
5. Use only one stick of memory

Now...

6. Plug the system back to AC, and try rebooting.

If the video output comes live, check all settings in the BIOS. Then power down & unplug from AC, and put your peripherals back -- except for the x1950. Then do another hard reset (basically completely clearing the PSU) before restarting. If it boots up ok, then repeat -- this time with the x1950. Make sure your BIOS settings are correct for the vidcard, and that the additional 12V power connector to the ATI card is in place.

I presume you're using the stock PSU from the NSK2400?

wussboy · Post by **wussboy** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:04 am

Thanks for the help everyone.

I disconnected everything except for the CPU and memory. I tried both sticks in banks 2, 3, and 4 (I can't try bank 1, as the Arctic cooler doesn't allow it). Nothing.

It doesn't go in to post. As far as I can tell, it's doing nothing. I tried the monitor into both the DVI and the analog video out. Nothing. The fans come on, and the light is on in the motherboard, but that's it. When the DVD drive and HD were connected, I could hear them spin up.

Thought I'd better clearly identify the Ram.

It's Corsair DDR2 TWINX PC5400 XMS2

Could one of the case leads be hooked up wrong? The reset switch? The power LED?

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:12 am

wussboy wrote:Could one of the case leads be hooked up wrong? The reset switch? The power LED?

None of these would lead to your problem. Did you try the hard reset I mentioned?

wussboy · Post by **wussboy** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:54 am

Sorry, MikeC. I missed your post while typing mine.

The hard reset did the trick. Thanks so much for your help. Until this day, I thought I knew a lot about hardware. I stand corrected.

Everything seems to be ticking along nicely now.

I appreciate everyone's help. There's a reason I like SPCR so much! It's the highest quality site I've ever had the priviledge of hanging out at. Cheers to all.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:33 am

The hard reset did the trick.

I wonder why the hard reset cleared the issue? Mike, can you shed some light on what caused this SNAFU?

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:40 am

jaganath wrote:
The hard reset did the trick.
I wonder why the hard reset cleared the issue? Mike, can you shed some light on what caused this SNAFU?

To be honest, I don't know. I just know that with many hardware problems, this trick works. I think it may have to do with completely removing power from all the chips on the board.

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:44 am

that is the most interesting thing I've heard in ages... gotta remember that trick.

Arvo · Post by **Arvo** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:12 am

Some motherboard manufacturers even recommend clearing CMOS before powering new PC on first time.

Nobody knows, what exactly bits and bytes are initially written into CMOS, especially after motherboards long travelling from Taiwan to USA or EU

One unhappy incorrectly set DRAM timing bit may render entire system unbootable (what it usually does).

Similar story with disconnecting all components (but CPU) - BIOS has least components to detect and can reset itself (partially), new components sometimes love reseating them - because connectors contacts can be slightly oxidized, greasy or just not wanting to conduct electricity

wussboy · Post by **wussboy** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:09 am

The NF-nView states right in the manual that you should clear the CMOS before installing...

...which I thought that I did. But I must not have had the right arrangement of unplugging and pressing power switch and resetting jumpers. Frustrating. But it's humming along now.

Again, thanks all!