Pentium 4 processor 524, 3.06 ghz,
Asus P5VDC-X
512 MB DDR Ram
ATI Raidon AGP Card
420W PSU

I connect everything as should and power the computer and I get nothing. It wont post, beeps, no gignal to monitor. I tried removing the memory and still nothing, I tried booting outside of case and still nothing, no beeps, video just NOTHING. All that happens is the the fans spins and nothing. When I have the HDD,CDROMS connect everything gets power but the computer wont do anything.

I really don't know what else to do. with no memory, no video card the computer still does not post or beeps. I had another cpu/motherboard that I returned because I thought they were defective and now I'm getting the same problems now.

Could it be the power supply? Last week while I was connecting a power card to it there was a big spark so I'm not sure if that could have messed up the power supply. I don't think that's the problem though because the power supply seems to be powering up the computer.

I have another power supply but it's a 20 pin one and this motherboard requires the 24 pins.

Anyone have any idea what could be wrong. Is the motherboard compatible with the cpu?

"Big spark"? Gee, that sounds 'normal', hard to imagine anything could be wrong after that

"with no memory, no video card the computer still does not post or beeps

Computer won't do much of anything without RAM

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie!'... till you can find a rock

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It should beep with no RAM if the power supply, motherboard and CPU are ok.

The spark bothers me.

You can destroy a motherboard if you have standoffs installed where there are no holes in the motherboard.

Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

No idea what a 'power card' is, but if you dis/connect anything with the power on it would be unsurprising if something fried.

=====================================
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

The spark was to the PSU back. I was plugging in the power card into the PSU and it sparked like when you jump starting a car and u touched both neg and positive togather. Since then I've got a brand new motherboard and cpu and still the same thing. I connect the motherboard speaker and I just don't get any beeps or anything. I know if I pull the memory out it should let off beeps but I just don't get anything.
The motherboard says it uses 1.5V .8 AGP cards and I have an ATI Raidon which is that.

I guess what I'm going to try and do is get a new power supply and see if that works if not then look out downstairs because a computer will be come crashing down.

I've build many many systems and wasn't all delicate with them and they always work but this time I cant seem to get it to work.

You should always unplug the power to the computer or otherwise remove the power to it whenever you are doing anything with any connections or changing or moving components connected to the mboard and/or inside your case. ATX mboards are always powered in some places, even when Windows is Shut Down or in Standby or Hibernate modes, and if you don't do that you can easily fry components including your PS.

Don't be buying parts before you are reasonably sure what is is wrong.

There's a good chance you have fried your PS, but you might as well check it out.
See response 4 in this
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

If you have another PS or can borrow a PS with enough capacity to try with this mboard, and/or if you can try this PS in a working computer, do that first. You may have other things wrong.

"I don't think that's the problem though because the power supply seems to be powering up the computer."

It is quite common for a damaged PS to partially work, yet it won't boot up the mboard.

"I have another power supply but it's a 20 pin one and this motherboard requires the 24 pins."

Read the manual for the mboard - some mboards will work fine with a 20 position connector even if there are 24 positions, and some must have a 24 position connector - if yours must have a 24 position one, you can get wiring adapters to adapt 20 to 24 at many smaller places such as local custom builders that have a good variety of parts.
Many more recent PS's have a 20 position AND a 4 position connector that can clip onto the end of the 20 to make it 24 - if it has that extra 4 position piece, the wires for it are probably in the same wiring bundle as for the 20, and it won't fit any other place on the mboard except the last 4 in the 24 socket.

A common mistake people make when they put together a computer is trying to use ram that is not compatible with the mboard. In the worst cases the mboard will not boot at all with the ram installed, and it may not even beep.
You don't just go buy ram willy-nilly these days, especially if it is DDR ram. You have to make sure it is going to be compatible before you buy it. There are too many factors involved other than the mhz it runs at and the PCxxxx rating.
See response 5 in this for more info about compatibilty:
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

See Response 12 in this.
You could have installed the ram backwards:
http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/...

As Ham30 said, especially:
"It should beep with no RAM if the power supply, motherboard and CPU are ok."

Hey Tubesandwires,

Nothing against you personally, as a matter of fact, I do find part of your responses valuable on several occasions, but I've held this back so long and I think some others might agree with me.

Your responses on most issues are always in excess. When people ask what the time is - 99% of them aren't really seeking a tutorial on how a watch is manufactured or the difference between analog & digital watches.

Keep it short and simple - and you are likely not to get the newbies you so much try to help lost in the shuffle.

The Secret Letter From Iraq

Recently had a new build fail. I thought it was the motherboard or the CPU...turned out to be a defective brandnew power supply. Knowing about the "spark," I'd go with damaged power supply. And I wouldn't turn it on again until a replacement is made.

ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon X2 4800+
2GB RAM, X1900GT
2x37GB WD Raptors, RAID 1
1x250GB WD Storage

Newbies 'can' be overwhelmed and turned off with too much information.

Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

You should always benchtest a board to confirm it works BEFORE going thru the hassle of installing it in the case

Hi,

I just worked on a friend's new build he was having trouble with. No spark, but he couldn't get an on screen post, no bios signals, no power to the video card, yet fans and hard drives turned on. He also didm't have power to the optical drives.

I was thinking PSU, so swapped it with a known working one, but still nothing.

As a last resort I took out the processor and found that he had seated it wrong. I reinstalled correctly and voila.

Might be worth a try.

...if it ain't broke, then you ain't having fun...

Thanks all.. Today I went to bestbuy and got a brand new power supply and hooked it up on the cardboard outside the case. And the same thing happened. All I get is the the heatsink fan spins and that's about it. I hooked up the small computer speaker and I didn't get any beeps.

I decided to keep the computer on for about an hour and after going to check it back it is cold. The heatsink wasn't warm. Motherboard wasn't warm, the entire thing was cold.

At this point it's definately the CPU or Motherboard. I had forgot to plug in the cpu fan at first and when I turn on the computer it would not start without the fan being plugged in so I'm narrowing it down to the motherboard as being faulty. I'll take it back to the store tomorrow and get a replacement.

"I'll take it back to the store tomorrow and get a replacement."
Good luck with that, but if you're honest and tell them all of what you told us, you have no grounds for a replacement - you may have trashed it yourself.

Next time you buy from a local place, have them test the cpu in the mboard before you buy it, preferably with the ram you want to use - many places will do that for free.

Waddaminit - DID YOU CHECK to see if your ram is compatible with your mboard??
If you didn't, do that BEFORE you take back the mboard and cpu! See response 5.