Computer won't post

[rtcpenguin]

I bought some new gear from newegg and Im having problems getting it together. The mainboard is an ECS nforce 570, the cpu the E6300 conroe, and I have 2 1 gb sticks of OCZ 667 DDR2. The motherboard seems to be getting power fine, but it doesn't display anything. I hear no post codes either. I tried swapping in a PCI video card I know works, but that didn't help so I don't think its a video issue. I also swapped in a stick of Kingston DDR2 and that didn't work either. Is there anything else that could be causing this? Is this just a bad mobo? Is it possible the CPU is bad?

I got into the BIOS once, I think after I reset the CMOS jumper. There was a warning about the CPU frequency being set wrong or something, so I selected the option in the BIOS to "Load optimized defaults", but after that it went back to just not displaying anything.

Edit to make this more searchable: ECS NFORCE 570 SLIT-A (V5.1) is the board in question.

 

[dfuze]

I think you need to update your BIOS to see the new Conroe chip.

 

[rtcpenguin]

But how does that explain me getting into the bios once? If the bios needed updating, shouldn't it have never let me in at all?

Also, the box says "Supports latest intel dual-core CPU" and the revision of the board is v5.1, which supports Conroe according to newegg and their site.

Also, if this is a RAM problem, I would hearing beeping from the MB, correct?

 

[dbravo223]

Does the LED screen turn on mobo? If it does check it to see where it hangs. Your motherboard manual should have all the post codes. Maybe you have shortage on the board. Try testing to see if you can get into bios. Unplug all components like CD drive, HD, Floppy, any other PCI cards except your video card. Just have the CPU and video card installed first without RAM but make sure you have power to mobo, start it up to see you get a startup beep. If it does then you can move along, if it doesn't then it can be mobo. After that install one stick of ram and start it up again, you should get a beep again. If it doesn't beep then you have bad ram. Then just install one component at a time and keep starting up again after each one. You should fine the problem.

 

[rtcpenguin]

After installing the HSF/CPU, I connected the three power connectors to the mainboard (4plug-square, molex, and 20-pin power), and laid it on top of the anti-static bag pursuant to your suggestion. I connected only the speaker cable and shorted the power. The mobo turned on (processor fan was spinning), but I heard no beeps of any kind. I reversed the speaker connector, and tried again to no avail.

Is it possible the CPU is defective? I examined it visually and it looks fine. No marks/scratches of any kind on it. The documentation for the board is very poor. It has no troubleshooting guide and makes no mention of any sort of beep code. It does use the award bios, so I assume that code applies. My old board (ASUS A7N8X Dlx) seems to have its own speaker on the board that beeps. I can't find anything like that on the ECS board, and it makes no mention of beep codes or LED indicators on the board.

 

[deathwalker]

You might well have a power issue..I see you are using a 20 pin power supply on you 24 pin power connector..that can often cause problems.

 

[rtcpenguin]

The manual says a 20 pin will work as long as the PSU is >300watts (mine is 420 with 18amps on the +12v rail).

I will try to pick up a ATX12V 2.0 compliant supply from CC today however.

 

[deathwalker]

Originally posted by: rtcpenguin
The manual says a 20 pin will work as long as the PSU is >300watts (mine is 420 with 18amps on the +12v rail).

I will try to pick up a ATX12V 2.0 compliant supply from CC today however.

Yes...many board makers say its ok...but widespreed sucess if very iffy.

 

[rtcpenguin]

I tried everything again with a new 530w, 24-pin connector PSU and it still didn't work. According to someone on another board, however, the 20-pin connector may have actually killed the board.

 

[dbravo223]

Try to reset the CMOS again see if that works.

 

[deathwalker]

Originally posted by: dbravo223
Try to reset the CMOS again see if that works.

This time dont use optimal settings...use default

 

[dbravo223]

If it all fails, then I would say that your mobo is dead.