Hi guys..



I've put together a computer with the follow components...



AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Socket AM2 2.6GHz Energy Efficient L2 1 MB (2 x512 KB) Retail Boxed Processor

ASRock AM2NF3-VSTA nForce3 250 Skt AM2 SATA 8 channel audio ATX

Extra Value 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 533MHz PC2-4200 240pin Extra Value Ram

Extra Value Black 500W PSU - With 12cm Blue LED Fan 20+4pin 1x SATA 1xPCI

(Both the Extra Value products are sold by a UK company called ebuyer - www.ebuyer.com and are generic, sorry I can't be of more help than that).

1 x Western Digital Caviar 500gig SATA drive

1 x Western Digital Caviar 500gig IDE drive

All the above products are new and have been mixed with the following old products..

1 x Sony DVD drive

1 x Pioneer DVD dual layer burner

1 ATI AIW9800 Pro video card (AGP)



I put everything together, and after a LOT of messing around trying to get the front panel connectors working I managed to get the machine powered up, the CPU fan is turning, the video card fan is turning, but I'm not getting a signal to the monitor... I've tried taking everything out and reseating it to make sure it's in fine, both power connectors are attached to the board too.. I'm all out of ideas.. Listening to the machine, and looking at it, something doesn't SOUND right, both the DVD drive lights are flashing etc.. So I don't know if the video card is dead or the machine isn't even booting as far as letting me have a picture.. Any help or advice anyone has would be VERY much appriciated..



Thanks in advance..

What I generally recommend in these situations is to take everything out of the case and set the motherboard on a hard, flat, non-conductive surface and with 1 stick of RAM, CPU/HSF assembly, PSU, the graphics card (if no on board graphics) and the monitor only connected - that is NO drives or any other devices, plug the PSU in to the wall and momentarily short the two power connectors on the motherboard's front I/O header. If those components work, the system will start to boot and you should see on the monitor the video's splash screen and the beginning of the boot process - it will hang when it looks for and cannot find a boot drive. But at that point, you will know if your motherboard/CPU/RAM and basic graphics works. Be sure to follow safe ESD precautions to prevent static discharge damage.

If it boots and you see something on the monitor, you can remount the motherboard in the case. HOWEVER - VERY IMPORTANT - because cases are designed to support 1000s of motherboards, there WILL be more mounting holes in the case than there are in the motherboard. Therefore, you MUST ENSURE you have not added an extra standoff under the motherboard that may be shorting out the motherboard.

At that point, I would add the boot drive only, and in your case, the graphics card. Do not add the other drives or more RAM until you determine other devices are working - then add the rest one at a time.

Good luck.