Building a computer problems

[napoleon]

I read an article in PC Gamer about building a PC. I went out and bought the componants and followed the instructions but when I press the power button the CPU fan starts then a half second later dies and a loud tone starts and then dies. I thought It was the HDD so I swapped the IDE Drive for a Sata one but this time as well as the power staying on this time the tone continues (Its really annoying) and the display on the mother board shows "F9" Please help?

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Hello Napoleon

 

Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help

 

Disconnect any hard drives and cd drives that you have.

 

Make sure all power connections are in the correct slot.

Same for memory and the graphics card and that they are securely seated then reboot and get back to us if you hear any beeps.

On boot up when the POST (Power On Self Test) screen appears note the make of your BIOS.

[napoleon]

Hello Wolfeymole

 

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly

 

I have disconnected HDD and DVD drive and checked with the installation guide from the motherboard. The power stays on, The tone remains and the mobo display has changed to C4, and an extra green light has appeared on the mobo. Still no monitor output.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Your welcome mate.

 

Ok can you give me the make and model of your motherboard so I know what I'm looking at please Napoleon.

[napoleon]

XFX nforce 680i sli mobo

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Is this the board we talk of mate?

 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2959594&body=QA

 

Can you tell me where you see a digital readout of error numbers.

[napoleon]

thats it but without the LT in the name. The Digital display is located at 1 o'clock of the circular battery, to the right of the USB 2 connectors. It consists of digital led displays which appear grey in color

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Can you give me an exact link to that mobo mate as all I can find is the LT derivation.

 

EDIT:

This is the board mate yes?

http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/listConfigurations.jspa?series=XFX+nForce+680i&seriesId=989302&productId=989542#

[napoleon]

Ok here it is...

 

http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/listConfigurations.jspa;jsessionid=a_nQv5I2e2ic4LbD_B?seriesId=989302&productId=989542

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Ok what does the error code 9 equate to in the motherboard manual?

 

If you installed as directed by the manual and installed the software then in theory you should not be getting any error messages would you agree?

[RandyL]

Hi Napoleon;

Maybe you can find something here.

http://www.xfxforce.com/web/support/supportCentral.jspa

 

RandyL

[napoleon]

Within all the documents that come with the mobo there isn't anything that mentions the display (POST) at all. normally I would agree with you but I cant install anything because the monitor is not receiveing anything. Is it possible I have a compatibility problem?

[napoleon]

Ah! I have found a list of POST codes.

http://www.bioscentral.com/postcodes/phoenixbios.htm

not sure what they mean though.

[hardware_dave]

Test everything a bit at a time.

 

Remove EVERYTHING except the cpu + fan, power supply, internal speaker and power on switch. With no memory installed you should get a load of beeps from the internal speaker. If you dont, its a problem with the cpu, motherboard or psu.

 

If you do get the beeps, plug in the memory. You should still get beeps (unless you have onboard graphics) but no continuous tone.

 

If you got this far hook up the vga card and monitor, and see if the display comes up.

 

Goodluck and let us know how you get on.

 

Dave

[napoleon]

Hi Hardware_dave

 

I did as you said. Unplugged Everything except the CPU and PSU. I powered it up and got a long repeating tone. I then plugged the memory in and there was silence. Then I tried it with the Graphics card and monitor plugged in and got that horrendus constant tone again. Does this mean that my card is knackered?

[hardware_dave]

Sounds like you could have the wrong memory for the cpu / motherboard.

 

Can you post the cpu spec and memory speed/type.

 

Dave

 

PS. The other day I was doing a new build, correct memory/cpu/motherboard, all I could get was an error code. Turns out the motherboard has an 'issue' with that make of memory according to the supplier.

[napoleon]

Cpu:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 S775 3.0ghz 4mb Cache 1333FSB

 

The memory I am using is:

INFINEON 256MB 1RX16 PC2-3200U-333-11-C1

 

2x sticks of Memory. They are out of a dell PC as the ones I ordered do not fit in the DIMM slots. They are DRR and the mobo is DRR2 compatible. I want to make sure the current componants are correct before buying more Kit.

[hardware_dave]

from the motherboard spec sheet -

 

System Memory

Dual Channel DDR2 533/667/800

 

pc2-3200 is 400Mhz, you neet at least 533Mhz thats pc2-4200. Given the low price on memory at the moment, I would try a new stick of ram.

 

Dave