Booting problems

[ebeneezer GB]

Hi there can anyone please help? I am currently building my own desktop pc.
The problem is when my pc boots up nothing seems to appear on my moniter.I
have tried it on my vga port on my motherboard and my graphics card.The fans
are spinning and power is going into it but no display on my moniter.I have
even trid it on seperate moniters can anyone please help?

 

[PD]

Hi there can anyone please help? I am currently building my own desktop pc..
The problem is when my pc boots up nothing seems to appear on my moniter.I
have tried it on my vga port on my motherboard and my graphics card.The fans
are spinning and power is going into it but no display on my moniter.I have
even trid it on seperate moniters can anyone please help?

You mention both an onboard VGA port and a graphics card. Does your
mobo have built-in graphics?

If som - this is just a WAG - if you want to use a graphics CARD, you
will probably have to disable the onboard graphics.

 

[Anna]

Hi there can anyone please help? I am currently building my own desktop
pc.
The problem is when my pc boots up nothing seems to appear on my moniter.I
have tried it on my vga port on my motherboard and my graphics card.The
fans
are spinning and power is going into it but no display on my moniter.I
have
even trid it on seperate moniters can anyone please help?

ebeneezer:
First, a suggestion...

The next time you post a problem to this or a similar type of newsgroup it
would be really helpful if you provided some detailed information about the
components of your system and what you've done with it so far.

In any event, do this for starters...

I'm going to assume that you get a "black screen" when the *only* components
that are installed are your power supply, motherboard, processor & heatsink,
RAM modules, and graphics card. Nothing else. No sound card, no HDD, no
optical drive(s), no external devices - nothing else but those basic
components. Is that so?

Assuming it is...

You just have to review the installation & connections of those components.
1. Are you certain the motherboard has been properly installed? Any chance
that it may be shorting out against the case because of improper
installation?
2. As far as you can determine, the processor is properly seated? Ditto the
heatsink? And you're sure the CPU fan is turning?
3. The video card is likewise properly installed and correctly seated in its
slot? You've checked to ensure that should the video card require auxiliary
power that connection has been properly made to the card?
4. Any jumper settings on the motherboard to contend with?
5. You've checked the connections to the system panel connector on the
motherboard?
6. Do you have a power supply tester that you can use?

Proceed slowly & in a methodical way.

If still no go and you conclude (after a thorough review) that as best as
you can determine all components have been properly installed and connected,
then the only realistic course of action is to substitute components on a
one-by-one basis with the goal of determining if one is defective and if so,
which one. I realize this is not usually possible for the casual builder but
there's really no other practical course of action in this type of
situation.

Now, assuming that you *do* get a screen display with only those basic
components installed and you can access the motherboard's BIOS, can you
review the BIOS settings to ensure all have been properly selected per your
motherboard's User Guide/Manual?

No problem accessing the BIOS/CMOS settings while the computer is powered on
for an hour or so?

Does your system have built-in graphics support? If so, enable onboard
graphics (if there's a BIOS setting for this) and remove your video/graphics
card from its slot (after powering down, of course).

Does your system contain a floppy disk drive? If so, have you tried a boot
with a DOS boot floppy? If so, what happens?

Now install your HDD. Is this a "virgin" HDD? Are you certain you've
correctly installed & configured that disk? Has the XP OS previously been
installed on that HDD? By you? How?
Anna

 

[M.I.5¾]

Hi there can anyone please help? I am currently building my own desktop
pc.
The problem is when my pc boots up nothing seems to appear on my moniter.I
have tried it on my vga port on my motherboard and my graphics card.The
fans
are spinning and power is going into it but no display on my moniter.I
have
even trid it on seperate moniters can anyone please help?

The most likely reason is that the graphics display options are set to
values that are not valid for your monitor.

To check proceed as follows:

1. Boot the PC, pressing the F8 key as it boots (press it several times).
Once the menu appears select VGA mode without networking. (Note F8 will
take you intot BIOS setup screen of some BIOSes, just exit and then press F8
again). This will start the PC in VGA mode, a mode that all graphic cards
and monitors support.

If you now have a display:

2. Right click on the desktop and select 'Properties'. Click the
'Appearance' tab and then click the 'Apply' button (it will not be greyed
out in spite of the fact you haven't changed anything).

3. Reboot your system. It should now start normally but in VGA mode. Once
booted, follow the steps in (2.) above to select a display mode compatible
with your monitor (you may not be able to to where you want without a reboot
on the way).

If you have 2 active display adaptors, windows may place the display across
both monitors so you may find it easier to connect 2 monitors.