Head melted.....help

alansweeney100

Just spoilt myself and got a new case, graphics card and cpu cooler, got a lian li pc p60 to replace an old aurora3d which couldn't take big modern graphics cards, gtx285 to replace 8800 GTS320mb and a Xigmatek s1285 to replace a slightly damaged arctic freezer pro
Now I've put it all together and everythin comes on, case fans, cpu cooler, but I'm not seeing the bios, two blank monitors and I hear one long beep. Heres what I've tried,
reseting the CMOS (with jumper and afterwards by removing battery)
switching graphics cards
removing all but 1 stick of RAM, tried different slots too
Tried different power connectors from my psu (its a 1200W, i know, overkill)

I'm getting the error code 7F on my mobo (BFG 680i) I read that this means 'waiting for user input' I read on another forum to press F1 to proceed from this which I did and after I hear my hard drives whirring, then my cd drive starts up, so its responsive but the screen is completly blank, that said, I don't hear the windows noise so its not getting that far.

I currently have my old 8800 in and one stick of RAM in the fourth slot and am clueless on where to go from here, been at it since I came home and the head is wrecked at this stage. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Blazer

You do have the CPU power pin plugged into the board,and not into the video card like some eejit (moi ) did..the cpu can be 4 or 8 pin and it's easy to get mixed up with the vga power pins..unless you read them of course
I have the exact same sypmtoms as yours and wrecked my bloody head for about 2 hours..

alansweeney100

Hey Matt, thanks 4 d reply. Cpu fan is plugged into the board marked cpu so I think im ok there, can't get it mixed up on mine the vga plugs are bright red and different to the cpu plug.

Blazer

What's your cpu?
Post full list of specs just in case something jumps out.
Both old and new.

alansweeney100

ok so

mobo: BFG 680i sli
cpu: Q6600 2.4Ghz (old B0 stepping type) had it overclocked to 3Ghz
HDD's: two WD raptors 150GB
case: Lian Li pc p60
RAM: team group xtreem ddr2 1066 2GB (four sticks) also have 2GB stick of crucial memory, I've tried that in that in the mobo too
PSU: Thermaltake toughpower 1200W
Graphics card: BFG 8800 GTS 320MB
Graphics card new: EVGA GTX285 SSC
cpu cooler: Xigmatek s1283 (not 1285 as earlier posted)
OS Vista 64
Bios flashed to latest version

Thats all the details I can think of............

Blazer

The best thing I find is to take everything apart again.
I know it's painfull but believe me..by the time you've eventually figured this out you'll have built the system twice over.


Also might help to check the cpu cooler, did you remover the cover for the heatsink part (if there was one?).
If it possibly faulty and not sitting right?
Sorry for the obvious questions..but from building myself I know it's often the most stupidest and last thing you think of.

alansweeney100

Thanks for the suggestions so far, if I may ask whats your thinking behind checking the cpu and cooler, cable, seated correctly, and what type it is. I'm thinking its more to do with the mobo and/or graphics card cause I have nothing on both monitors, I know these things aren't always logical though
I think your right though on re-doing it, I'll take it apart and try again, painful stuff.:(

mgadget

Reset your bios cmos switch.
unplug and reseat mainboard power cable and cpu power cable, be really sure the mainboard cable is fully home - i've done that one myself.
load default settings, install only two sticks of ram (if you have 4)

Try the graphics card in the other slot.

alansweeney100 wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions so far, if I may ask whats your thinking behind checking the cpu and cooler, cable, seated correctly, and what type it is. I'm thinking its more to do with the mobo and/or graphics card cause I have nothing on both monitors, I know these things aren't always logical though
I think your right though on re-doing it, I'll take it apart and try again, painful stuff.:(

alansweeney100

Finally got around to stripping the pc down and re assembling (couldn't bear to face it over the weekend)
So I took it all apart, mobo, psu, gfx card, ram, and heatsink off the cpu. Then set it up out on a table, not in the case. At first it wouldn't start up so I removed one of the team xtreem ram sticks and stuck in my older crucial and she started up first time. I then took my old 8800 out and stuck in the GTX 285 and that worked no problem as well. I then removed the crucial ram and stcuk my 8Gb of team xreem in, no problem, worked grand. I checked all the core temps and system temps in the bios and in windows using speedfan, everything looked nice and cool, idling at 28degree Celcius in each core of the Q6600 at 2.4GHz. Installed drivers for my new card too. That was about as good as today got.
I put everything back in the case and I was back to square one. Nothing on the screen, pc shutting itself down after a couple of seconds. I've tried;
Different psu sockets
Reseated everything
Every possible combination of RAM
Different graphics cards
With case fans plugged into the mobo and without
Case fans plugged directly into the psu
Reset cmos

All I have gathered from this is that it works outside the case but not in it.
The results with the different combinations mentioned above were entirely random, only on one occasion did the bios come up on the screen and I couldn't reproduce this, the rest of the time the fans come on on everything and it knocks itself off in 3secs - 60secs. When it is on for long enough it gives the mobo code 7F or FF the latter meaning its booting, however there is nothing on the screen.
The next step is to take everything back out of the Case and stick it back in my old case and see if that works.
Before I do that I would appreciate any help/suggestions
The title of this thread 'head melted.......help' just doesn't cut it at this stage, this thing has my heart broke

Slutmonkey57b

If it's all working out in the open, did you reassemble it in the case or did you just put the whole lot in? What sort of PSU do you have? It sounds like the PSU is shutting out due to overheating or overload.

alansweeney100

I've got a damn expensive PSU so I'd b suprised if it was that, its a Thermaltake toughpower 1200W
Could b faulty I suppose, might try and yoink a psu out of a pc in work and try it on my system

TiGeR KiNgS

'I have gathered from this is that it works outside the case but not in it'

make sure there is not jagged edges on the lian li shorting the mobo

Blazer

Agreed...some area of the chassis is more than likely shortening out the power on the board.

TiGeR KiNgS

if my previous idea isnt the problem

'and a Xigmatek s1285 to replace a slightly damaged arctic freezer pro'

what was the damage on the freezer pro?
could the heat sink of damaged the cpu in some way, ie not worked effectively to cool down and extenuated by you moving the mobo around?


make sure the new hsf is correctly fixed in place

if your still having problems ur probably going to need a new cpu and/or mobo
but keep testing for the time being

alansweeney100

TiGeR KiNgS wrote: »

if my previous idea isnt the problem

'and a Xigmatek s1285 to replace a slightly damaged arctic freezer pro'

what was the damage on the freezer pro?
could the heat sink of damaged the cpu in some way, ie not worked effectively to cool down and extenuated by you moving the mobo around?


make sure the new hsf is correctly fixed in place

if your still having problems ur probably going to need a new cpu and/or mobo
but keep testing for the time being

It was one of the plastic push in pins that was damaged. I cleaned the cpu pretty well before putting the new hs on and I'm pretty sure I would have noticed some damage.
I think you guys might be onto something with a short on the case, I thought it was a short myself between the 680i mobo and the GTX285 and was looking all around that but couldn't see anything obvious.
Now I'm thinking the Sheild which comes with the mobo (the one which wraps around the usb, ethernet, etc) took a long time to fit and wasn't sitting perfect, maybe thats where the short is occuring.
I'll get stuck into it tonight and hopefully get to the bottom of it. I really hope its a short and I don't have to start replacing, psu's mobo's etc.
Thanks for the suggestions so far lads

alansweeney100

Thought I had it fixed there lads, I believed I had found the problem, I thought it was the mobo touching the end of the case, the mobo tray which is removable was locked in place but I pulled it back a bit so there was some clearance between the mobo and the end of the case. It worked fine then for a day and a half then it began shutting itself down again seconds after I pressed the power. I took it apart put it together again and had it going for nearly a full day and it went again and won't start, although I haven't taken it apart again since. I've tried varying distances between the mobo and case but none seem to make a difference now so I think that was a coincedence that I made that adjustment and it started working.
I think its a component, possible psu, cpu, mobo as suggested earlier. I'll be able to rule out the psu by using a spare but after that I'll have to spoof BFG or intel and tell them that I have a faulty product, tell them I've tested and found the mobo/cpu to be the problem and try and RMA
I haven't tried putting the lot back in my old case, dunno if its worth the effort, have a feeling its a component at this stage

al_

Im curious about your problem as I may have something similar.
Am I right in thinking your pc restarts itself?
What motherboard have you got?

I'm having a similar problem with an nforce xfx 680i sli mobo....

alansweeney100

Hi Al, My pc regularly turns off, i.e. completely dies, not restarting or shutting down.
It won't even start now. All the fans start up for about 2seconds and it shuts down.

The PSU I got from work from a PC bought only last year has completely different connections, old ones with not enough pins so I’m fcuked now.
Don’t know if my problem is the PSU, mobo or cpu and no means to test any of them.
Think I’ll send the mobo back; It’s a BFG 680i sli by the way. I had some artefacts on my BFG graphics card and sent it back to them and they were quite fast with the repair/return and their customer service is good so I’ll start there.

rockal

alansweeney100 wrote: »

Hi Al, My pc regularly turns off, i.e. completely dies, not restarting or shutting down.
It won't even start now. All the fans start up for about 2seconds and it shuts down.

This happened to me and at the time I thought it was the PSU. On investigation it was a faulty hard drive shorting the system.

Slutmonkey57b

Google the motherboard and see if other people are having the same problem. Nvidia's last few years worth of chipsets have been flakey to say the least.