Newly built computer, having monitor/ram/no bios? etc problems

[jaeh]

Hello all,
I'm new to building computers and new to this forum..
I had bought all my parts in a day, and had a friend of mine install/built the computer for me, but I've been having quite alot of problems with the computer itself.

On bootup, it writes that it doesn't have any BIOS installed, so I was wondering if I just install the flash bios thing automatically? or do I have to read the guidelines carefully?

The monitor dies out randomly everytime I boot up my computer, the monitor goes black and the power light blinks. It's weird, but when I try getting into geocities to signup (to upload a picture on my wattage thing, I'll be writing up more details later about the wattage) it shuts off, or when I screw around in World of Warcraft it dies out after awhile(3+ mins). When it dies while in WoW, there's a message on screen showing "Sync. Out of Range".
(I have already set my Power options>power scheme(always on) and turned off hibernation)

I have installed some MSI programs, and one of them showed something strange. PC Alert 4 showed that my wattage (3.3v) was .58(in red numbers). and some of the fan numbers were 0. So I believe it might be something wrong with the wattage/voltage settings?

My ram the 512 corsair doesn't show up as 512 on my computer, but 256. Is it some type of defect? or do I have to do something in BIOS? (because I've looked all over my bios, and couldn't figure it out)

The Power Supply that I'm using currently is a Silverstone 400watt Low Acoustic. Not sure, but maybe this has somehing to do with my current problems.
The rest of my computer specs are in my profile, hoping this may help.

At the end of the road, I'll be giving the retailers a try in fixing my computer before my return/exchange time ends, hopefully it won't cost too much...

Thanks to who ever posts productive information,
Jaeh.

 

[antjscott]

fan problems

dude, i think you have problems with your fan, if the system info said that your fan speeds were at 0, then they werent working, or they were running below the required fan thresh hold. which would explain that when you go and play WoW it uses up a lot of ur cpu power, which heats it up, and above the thresh hold which cuts out your computer. so what you need to do is reposition your fan/fans. ie turn them clockwise or anticlockwise, until they work properly. also if your screen is going blank at a different time, with blinking power lights.(not at the same time as cutting out in Wow) then it may be a bios problem... try the fan/fans first, and then get back to us...

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Your powersupply is not very strong, only 18Amp on the +12v and only ONE +12v rails!
That is underpowered for an AMD64. The further fact that the PSU only has 4 Molex connectors does not bode well either. That PSU is NOT made for a high-spec PC.

Get your buddy back, to check all connections, cards, memory etc. Check in the manual where to put the memory-sticks if you use dual channel.
Check that all fans work on PSU, CPU, graphics card (if any), chassis-fans etc.
Sounds like a sloppy job of assembling that PC.
Go to www.memtest86.org or (.com if you can't get in) and d/l and run memtest86 for at least 5 cycles.
Check the temperature of CPU and mobo, using either a util that came perhaps with the mobo, or get Everest Home Edition from www.lavalys.com

 

[jaeh]

should I exchange the PSU for something stronger? like a Enermax 420W EG425P-VE SFMA Dual Fan or something even stronger like Enermax 450W EG465P-VE (FC) w/ Fan Control?

The fans seem to be working fine(graphics card fan works but not powerful, the PSU fan works but not powerful, and CPU fan is running) the temps look fine too (I assume after asking a friend).

I'll see what happens if he comes today/tomorrow if everythings connected properly. Though, It was sort of sloppy that day, because I was busy and we were running out of time.

the memtest thing, I'll need to try when I find a diskette lying around.

On bootup the BIOS is supposively "not installed" I don't really understand what it means, because everything seems fine. I tried update/flashing it this morning, but it had an error and had to use the default things again (I didn't use a diskette, not really sure what I was doing either).

Again, about the Powersupply, shouldn't 400watts be enough for my rig? I don't really understand the wattages, and the amp/volt things. Is there a guide or something that gives you a step by step faq on watts/amps/voltage needs?

If I need to post my rig on this thread, I'll gladly post/edit this message with whatever I have installed onto this computer.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

You should fill in your User Profile anyway (Top left on any forum-page).
A 400w PSU is powerful enough, provided it is from a renowned PSU maker, such as Enermax (one of the best) or Antec.
On a similar rig at home I run a Hiper Type-R Series 480w PSU, it is dead-quiet with its 120mm fan.

Have a look at this thread also. In the last post there by Olefarte is a link where you can calculate your PSU-needs.
https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic21341.html