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New Card a No Show

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by brinewolf

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I installed a new card:
GIGABYTE GV-NX86S256H 8600GTS (basically a nVidia 8600 GTS)
to replace my old card:
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE

While I was at it, I put on a new CPU COOLER "ARCTIC COOLING|ACF64LP"
to replace my old tiny and dirty one.

I also put in a PCI fan to blow circulate under the pasively cooled new card.

Now, I plug her up and get nothin'. Green LED in front is on is on, fans are on, thats all i can tell. There is nothing on the screen.

Any Ideas what to do? When I replaced the heat sink on the processor, as I removed the old one the processor came out, stuck to it. This kinda wierded me out, b/c when I put it back in (I'm pretty sure you can't do so without having the pins aligned . . .?) there was a little lever that I pulled up first then pushed down after puting it in which I assume should have had kept it from coming out in the first place. Do you think maybe I screwed up the processor? or the mother board? If so, how can i be sure?
Perhaps I need a larger power supply?

here is the invoice from cyberpwer when i ordered it, so you can know what i'm working with:
CAS: TURBO X-DREAMER CASE 350 WATT W/ WINDOW & LCD Temperature Display
CPU: (Socket AM2) AMD Athlon(TM)64 X2 3800+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport TechnologyCD: (Special Price) 18X DVD+/-R/+/-RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)CD2: 16X DVD ROM FAN: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINKFLOPPY: 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE (BLACK COLOR)HDD: Single Hard Drive (160GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD) MOTHERBOARD: (Socket AM2)MSI K9N4 SLI-F nForce 500 SLI Chipset DDR2/800 SATA-II RAID MBoard w/ Dual 16x PCI-ExpressMEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)1GB (2x512MB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
Microsoft(R) Windows Vista(TM) Home Premium
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1
Built-in USB 2.0
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE Turbo Cache supports up to 512MB PCI-Express (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

and i installed anoter 2 gigs of ram awhile back, thats worked fine for a few months.

Thanks for any help,

17 replies

by formerly callpete.com

From what you are describing, there is probably a bent pin on the processor.
Step 1: remove the heatsink
step 2: lift the ZIF lever
Step 3: pull the processor and CAREFULLY check and straighten the pins.
Step 4: carefully insert the processor
Step 5: lower the ZIF lever
Step 6: put on the silicon grease, and clamp down the heatsink.

by thechas

First off, 350 watts does sound a bit on the low side for powering this system.

I do however suspect that your motherboard and / or CPU is damaged.

The force required to physically pull 700 plus pins out of a closed ZIF socket is more than enough to fracture the BGA solder fillets under the socket. Or, to crack the processor die and wire bonds inside the CPU.

I have to recommend replacing both the CPU and the motherboard in this instance.

Chas

by mjd420nova

A 350 watt power supply is nowhere near enough to run that unit. You can check the CPU for bent pins and be sure it is oriented properly in the socket but I really think it's the power supply's fault.

by kim_forbes

All replies to this question are quite helpful.

I would moreso, however, be worried that you have damaged the CPU, as it should in all reality (if connected properly in the first place) be locked in the motherboard socket via the pins and locking mechanism.

Does the vid card, regardless of the cooler,need a power supply connector also, one of those 6-pin connectors?

by rob miners

Some good suggestions here but I will add my two bob's worth.

I don't think that you would have been able to reseat the CPU and lock it in if you bent the pins. Unless you forced it in. I have had a lot of CPU's that have been stuck on the heatsink when trying to remove it. And I have also had to straighten a few pins. You also mentioned that the fans are still spinning. I thought that these new Mobo's shut straight down when a CPU problem occurs. Mind you I have never tried to install a CPU with bent pins so I am not really sure.

I would remove the new PCI Fan and put the old Video Card back in and see if it fires up. If it does you are up for a new PSU. Which I would replace anyway. I'm for the PSU.

by david.wallis

its the PSU 100% sure, you rnot getting enough juice to run all the stuff :) find yourself a decent 600w one and youll be fine :D

by computercookie

if you could explain how you determined 600W it would be appreciated!

by formerly callpete.com

The motherboard + proc + RAM is probably not over a 70W drain. 10W for the hard drive, and 15W for the DVDRW, and 5 or 10W for the proc fan. 100W would probably cut it with room to spare, so the 350W he has should be more than enough power to drive this system.

by dumphrey

like no bodys buisness =\ It draws way more then the rest of the box. I have an Nvidia 7800 that would not boot correctly (limited resolution) until I upgraded from a 350 to a 600 psu.

by david.wallis

one 400w psu can have different amp outputs to other 400w psu's..

600w was just an example it should be adequate to run the system :) but you can go as high as you like , you can never have too much power :)

by formerly callpete.com

According to another website I googled, the NVidia 7800 uses up to 120W. That seems crazy to me, but I have never been a high-end graphics and gaming systems enthusiast. I know about them, but never realized that the PCI bus would support that kind of power.

Learn something new every day...

by computercookie

might be able to run, but it probably wouldn't boot?

Perhaps you could provide some graphs or other data to back up your data!

by brinewolf

I changed back to the old card, pulled a couple fans, checked for bent pins (there were none) but still get nothing. How much of this system is salvageable if I were to build a new, hopefully much better, system? Can ya'll give me any build ideas? (this will be my first from scratch attempt).

by computercookie

what sort of research do you do?

However, can give you some advice so long as you don't won't to run complex math over a network!!

by brinewolf

The computer is more for prsonal use, I am an avid gamer, but I also use it a little bit for programs like gaussian for biochem. My research is more clinical, so in all honesty, most of any research work on the computer is stats related.
I really just want to know what kinda mother board i should get and if the ram is any good for using or outmoted and what kinda processor i should go with.

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