New rig will not run anything

Jon G

Posts: 9   +0
Hi, I recently bought a new mobo, cpu, display, ram, and a case. I am using an old psu and HDD along with trying to install windows 7 on it. I got all the parts in and assembled everything just fine, plugged it in and it ran bios with no issue. I put the driver disc for the mobo in and it attempted to boot off of it. The version on win 7 is digital so I couldnt get it to read it on my external drive. I attempted to boot from the drive out of my old PC and it used the recovery partition to install windows vista. It failed during the install twice. Then it wouldnt send a signal to the monitor. I cant get any signal to the monitor still. when I power up it does post but then nothing else. I tried to reset the CMOS, hold the power button for 30 seconds without it being plugged in, and removed the button battery. I also double checked that everything was seated well, removed everything and put it back thinking it was shorted by something on the back of the mobo. I do not know what else to try.

Here is a list of what is new:
ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 motherboard
ASUS HD7770-2GD5
AMD 6-core FX-6300 3.5G
Crucial RAM 2x8G BLS2K8G3D169DS3 R

Here is what I had that was used:
350W PSU
500GB WD HDD
 
That PSU is cutting it a bit fine, is it not?

Does the mobo have a VGA port? If yes, take out the graphics card and try this.
 
I wasnt sure how many watts It needed. The case draws some wattage as well. 3 led fans, and a rear fan. This is also my first time building from scratch.

The mobo does not have an onboard vga port. I just tried to boot once again with a smaller/ older graphics card. Still nothing but the case fans and lights. the keyboard doesnt even get the startup lights.

If that PSU isnt enough how many watts should I get? I am planning to purchase an additional graphics card identical to the one I have and use the crossfire, upgrade to 32GB RAM, and eventually have 6 hybrid HDD's 4TB each. That is what is on my list at least.
 
Ok, so could that be the root of the problem? What if I run 2 PSU's of around 350W each. one for the mobo and drives then the other for the graphics card? Is that even safe? Would the current from one PSU be fighting the other one?
 
You can run dual PSUs, yes. But a quality 600-700W one is like <$80, it's a worthwhile investment. After all, it runs the rest of your system!

But, I'm still not certain what the cause of your current issue is. Try pulling out the RAM sticks and using only one at a time. You need to get the machine on the BIOS
 
It is safe, but not sure I would do it when there are single PSU options available. I feel the same way about SLI and Crossfire.
 
I just tried the each stick of ram, one at a time. still nothing. Then I tried two PSU's (I plan to get one that handles the rig just had these laying around). It did post but had a code saying no vga detected.but it was plugged into the second PSU all by itself. Could it be the other PSU didnt know to turn on the 6x2 pin? I have tried everything I can think of and can not get to the BIOS. Any other ideas?
 
You need to either connect the secondary PSU to the first (so it picks up the 'turn on' signal), or use paperclips to turn the secondary one on.
 
So someone else suggested I find another gpu to try in there and I did find one in the garage in an old tower. I installed that and removed my other one. It started up and went to BIOS. but when Started toing stuff that required the card to work harder my monitor couldnt read the input cause the card was from the early 17th century. So I had to dig out an old crt monitor and plug it up. I am having a slight issue installing windows but I can get around that. I will be buying a big PSU tomorrow morning and getting rid of the crt monitor as it reeks of cat urine. Thank you for all the help :)
 
No problem, glad you're making some headway.

Make sure to buy a PSU from a reputable brand: Corsair, etc.
 
Well I went and got a Corsair 750W PSU. I am back to square 1. I can not get the new graphics card to work at all. I am not sure what the next step should be.
 
Put the cat urine CRT back in use, how far can you get with that? I'm a little confused now on where the booting process is failing.
 
Ok here is what happens now. I can use the ancient graphiics card and it will boot and eveything. That allowed me to install windows and now I can use my regular flat screen monitor. With that card in place, I do not see any problems. When I plug in the new card and the 6 pin power, the pc starts with the fans and all but thats it. No signals to the monitor or tv. no response with anything. The cards go in different slots and it will not start with both plugged in.

I want to try plugging the card in after windows is booted up but scared I might fr something.
 
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Boot with the old card and remove the video drivers. Windows booting with drivers for the old card could be your issue.
 
Ok I uninstalled the video driver and shut down put the new card in and it wouldnt boot. I put the old one back in and it started right up, installed the driver automatically when windows started
 
Well I assumed it was good because it was brand new. It does make sense though because thats the only thing not working now. Time for a return I guess.

I will attempt taking it to a PC store before I return it.
 
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