Hardware problem? Idiot problem? You tell me...

[rusty]

Hi guys,

Just put together my new computer, the salient specs being the following:

- Asus p5n-t deluxe
- Asus 9600GT
- Intel e8400
- 4gb Team Xtreem Dark PC2-8500
- Zalman 750W PSU

now that i am trying to get the system up and running i have hit something that is outside the limits of my puny knowledge....

on powering up, the "Ai" splash screen came up and then after post it informed me cpu has changed and to change the cmos settings accordingly. It then hung and turned off the display.

I cleared the CMOS as per the instruction booklet, and then booted again but into setup obviously... I can go for the whole of about 5-10 seconds in setup before it hangs and then turns off the display.

if i boot without entering setup then obviously it holds on "CMOS checksum error - defaults loaded" and if i press f1 to continue it initially appears to carry on its merry way but then reboots and i get back to the Ai splash screen followed by the display turning off due to no signal.

Please help!

[rusty]

just to add, i've tried one or other and both of the ram sticks, double checked all power connectors etc... don't have a spare mobo, cpu or pci-e gfx card to troubleshoot with.

[jacobzcoool]

Tried a boot with minimal hardware? (PSU, mobo, CPU, 1 ram stick, graphics)?

[rusty]

just have, same outcome...

Something is clearly a bit fubar'd but i don't know what

the mobo and gfx card are b-grade (from here), so while they are thoroughly tested i'm sure, my suspicion naturally lies with one of them. Seems like it is more likely the mobo to me from the problems, but i basically know jack squat.

[jesush++]

Have you tried updating the BIOS.

IIRC, those motherboards, while they support E8xxx processors, dont have the correct BIOS version by default.

[rusty]

how can i update the bios? the system only lives for the whole of 10 seconds tops...

another bit of info i've gleaned, managed to get into hardware monitor before the hang, and cpu temps and mobo temps were fine.

[jesush++]

You could go down the floppy disk road, the way BIOS used to be updated :)

How did you try to clear your CMOS? Have you taken the CMOS battery out. There are also a set of pins you should be able to short, that will also do this.

[rusty]

i did it as per the instructions - take out the battery, short the pins for 5-10 seconds, then replace the jumper and the battery.

I don't own a floppy disc drive lol... but even if i did surely 10 seconds of system life isn't enough to do anything. It screws up no matter whether i enter setup, or carry on past it.. whatever. there's just no time to get it to do anything. I did manage to get to the setting in bios where i could reset all to default as well, but didn't help.

[Westy5]

Checked that the HSF is correctly seated?

[rusty]

well, all 4 points are fully locked down, it's flat to the cpu cover and the temps aren't particularly high in the brief glimpse i can get at them before the thing hangs. So I would think that's probably not the problem.

[jacobzcoool]

Dodgy CMOS battery perhaps? It could be losing all its values each time it powers down (someone else please confirm/not first before you go replacing it as it was just a random thought :p )