Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
[SOLVED]Getting Started with newly Built Rig
I just finished putting my very first custom computer together. It took forever. At east 3 hours not including the breaks I took.
I've gone over all the booklets over and over making sure everything was in the right place. And I'm like 90% sure everything is good to go. So assuming the thing doesn't blow up and kill me when I turn it on, should I put the windows installer disc in right away or should I do something in the BIOs first. I looked online about some things "RAID" or some such, but I have no idea what all of that is. Even though I managed to build it without cutting myself, I feel like a total n00blet. I just don't want to screw anything up.
Thanks for not laughing at me.
[Solved]- Okay, heres why windows wouldn't install/run correctly. I'm using a 6.0gb/s HDD. So I was using a 6.0gb/s cord (white and black for me). Turns out the mother board needs the drivers to support 6.0gb/s. So I just used 3.0gb/s (black) and it seems to be running fine now. Jesus Christ was that frustrating.
Also, I'm not sure if it's drivers or just updates, but after getting everything updated, I was about to both my 4gb ram sticks. So that's been solved. And I think the double posting this MB does was fixed by going into the bios and enabling "power by PCIe" or something like that.
Comments
It's usually a good idea to take a look at the BIOS and just ensure that everything is detected properly. Make sure all the drives are showing, make sure date and time are set, make sure the boot order is correct (usually it's good to set the optical drive to first boot priority during windows install). Check and see that the speed and multpliers are correct for your CPU and RAM. Check the temps and fan speeds that are reported to make sure nothing's way out of spec.
Check onboard devices like network controller and onboard video and audio. If you aren't using them, make sure they are disabled.
Most BIOS settings are just fine at defaults, unless you plan on overclocking. It's just good to check and make sure everything is auto-detected properly.
Then, throw in the windows CD and go!
Thanks. Seems simple enough.
Basically follow Fozzik's guide and you should be golden. When I built my custom, I cut myself and forgot to put the little risers for the motherboard on and had it directly mounted to the tower(lucky I didn't burn it out upon first trial startup).
It can make you feel a little uneasy, but just be glad you didn't cut yourself LOL.
Mind posting your pc specs?
Congrats and good luck!
+1 - Good post.
Also helps to make sure you have the driver for your network card handy (usually bundled with the motherboard) - with the network up and running you can get every other driver clean off the internet (usually the versions on the driver are several months out of date - they work, but just will need to be updated immediately), but without it your stuck shuttling them over from another computer via thumb drive or CD/DVD.
All good advice. I actually did the same thing with the first PC I built and ended up frying the MB and a few other things. It was a lesson learned the hard way and I have never done it again.
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true...
oh geez what are risers? I have a little blue thing, but just one. The manual doesnt mention it all.
EDIT. Oky I googled it, and I put those in. But now I'm freaking out because I'm thinking if you guys could miss those. I prolly missed something. and now I'm wondring if that little blue thing goes somewhere because theres only one. It's like a row of 8 pins with one missing, but the back of it is holes with the exact same layout as the holes it would go into. Does anyone know what that is?
god dammit. it's not even turning on at all. i've gone through it over and over. I knew I should have just gotten pre built
Man i feel bad for you.
Built my first PC not long ago, but after doing what you did(double,triple checking everything) everything went fine.
If NOTHING is happening, like, no fans, no lights, nothing at all. if you push the button and stare at the parts for 10 secs and feel stupid because nothing is happening, then it might be your PSU. if you have your old desktop, and the wattage n specs are fairly close, try swapping it in and see what happens. if it werks, get a new psu, if it doesnt......then i dont know.
SOMETHING should be happening if the PSU works but something else is faulty
The Deep Web is sca-ry.
You probably just neglected to plug something in or turn something on. Make sure that the power switches on your power supply and surge protector are set to on. Also make sure that the cord from the case's power buttun to the motherboard is connected properly.
Or does it make a light or noise somewhere when you try to turn it on?
This is super frustrating. I just took everything apart and redid everything. Now it turns on, including the gfx card. When I turn it on the fans and stuff come on but so does a red light on the motherboard near the ram slots. It starts, shuts down, then starts again. But the entire time, nothing happens on the monitor. I tried connecting the montor to the different parts on the gfx card, but still nothing.
I've googled the problem and only find confusing solutions with no real explenation and the problems never resolve. This is starting to feel like money down the toilet
Alot of motherboards and video cards have 2 power plugs in's each nowdays. Check that. Check that your CPU fan is plugged into the motherboard. Check Ram seating, it should click into place. Make sure your power cord is firmly plugged into the back of the computer, sometimes the new ones go in hard and if they aren't all the way in the computer will do that.
I redid everything and left out a stick of ram this time and it work. Thanks everyone for the help/putting up with me. Man that was frustrating. But everything seems to be working now. (installing windows now).
I think all I had to do was just take out one of the ram cards. I also switched the out let cords (power supply and monitors) after reading kujii's comment. I'm not sure if I managed to fix the start and restart problem just yet, but I'll post back if I find a solution for anyone else with this hellish motherboard
*sigh*
After installing windows and then trying to update the drivers (bios and stuff), it's normal at first. But then when it restarts it resets over and over and windows never starts. The computer has never beeped btw.
The computer restarts on the part where I can press delete to enter the bios. It restarts about 3 or 4 times and eventually the scren just goes black but the PC is still running. The red light on the motherboard is off. I reinstalled windows and then shut it down without updating anything. Then turn it back on and get th same crap with it restarting over and over. I feel like bashing this thing with a giant hammer. This is last time I build a PC myself. All this frustration isn't worth it.
It restarts after about 20 seconds? Is the processor fan spinning as it should? The heatsink could be sitting slightly off and heat could be the problem.
Try pressing F8 when it starts and choose to start in safe mode. Then try to reinstall the GFX drivers there.
Edit: Try to remove the CD with drivers and start up. I just remember a case when I had a driver CD that messed stuff up.
And check the boot up sequence. It should have boot from DVD first and harddrive secondly.
A self-built computer isn't supposed to act any differently from a pre-built one, and it's not supposed to be this difficult. Things are supposed to go together and boot up pretty much without a hitch.
If the computer boots and installs Windows, it should work fine. It sounds like either a motherboard issue, or a RAM compatibility issue, though I'm learning towards the former myself. I'm curious, are you using an Asus motherboard? I can't see what you're using because the deal linked in your last thread is gone. If you are, though, you could always try using the MEM OK button and seeing if that makes the system behave better. Your manual should have easy instructions on how.
On the other hand, you might just have a bad motherboard, but hopefully it isn't anything that serious.
sounds like what happens when you overclock and it fails. the pc will cycle a few times and eventually force you to go into the bios
to adjust it. Try hitting tab when the pc is booting so you can watch it post, it may show where its failing.
can you get back into the bios to set it to default settings? Make sure its set to default or anything but high performance
all timings set to automatic etc.
I'm done dealing with it. I'm just taking this thing to a professional. Thats the last time I take any advice (building a PC rather than buying one) from anyone online. Any PC I I buy from now on will just be prebuilt. This is way too much hassle. I prolly wont be checking back on this thread unless it turns out to be a hardware issue to help anyone else that might be experiencing this BS.
And yeah, it's an asus. The memokay button never helped at all.
don't get frustrated with the people that recomended building. I built my first PC drunk, and it fired up first try (well second since I didn't actually hook up the power button first try). It's pretty much like lego's. You just follow a few directions, and it works. If it doesn't work it's most likely hardware related.
Like pretty much anything else in life, it's a good idea to do some research and understand what you are doing before you attempt to build a computer. This should probably go without saying.
There's nothing wrong with buying pre-builts, if you don't feel like learning about computer hardware. Building your own computer allows you to get exactly the components you want for a considerably cheaper price...but it does require a bit of time and effort to learn to do it right, and that's not everyone's cup of tea.
Maybe one of these days I'll put my how to build a computer articles back up on the web somewhere.
Just FYI...the little blue thing was very likely a pin header block designed to make your life easier when connecting the front-panel wires for the case to the motherboard. A quick look in the motherboard manual probably would have confirmed this. My guess on the memory issue is that you had the sticks installed in the wrong slots. Also something the motherboard manual would help with.
Okay I managed to fix it. I put this in my first post as well.
[Solved]- Okay, heres why windows wouldn't install/run correctly. I'm using a 6.0gb/s HDD. So I was using a 6.0gb/s cord (white and black for me). Turns out the mother board needs the drivers to support 6.0gb/s. So I just used 3.0gb/s (black) and it seems to be running fine now. Jesus Christ was that frustrating.
Also, I'm not sure if it's drivers or just updates, but after getting everything updated, I was about to both my 4gb ram sticks. So that's been solved. And I think the double posting this MB does was fixed by going into the bios and enabling "power by PCIe" or something like that.
Strangely, no one anywhere that i've seen has mentioned the 6.0 and 3.0 thing as a possible problem. So hopefully this will help anyone else with the same issues.
That sounds like an issue that's specific to the motherboard HDD controller that you got, and how it interacts with your specific hard drive. Definitely a good tip for people who might have the same problem, but with a different motherboard or hard drive, it may have worked without driver install (some just default to 3.0Gb/s until you install the drivers, I believe...mine booted and recognized my 6.0Gb/s SSD before I installed any drivers, for instance).
Glad you're up and running.
I'm glad it's working, but your hard drive shouldn't make any difference what cable you use - there is no difference between SATA cables.
There are people who market SATA III cables... but there are no physical differences. If they are honest, they are just using better wire and shielding. If they are dishonest, they are just making the plastic a different color.
http://www.sata-io.org/documents/SATA-Revision-3.0-FAQ-FINAL.pdf
Item 9.
It's all about the drivers. It could just be that you had a bad cable - that happens from time to time.
I agree that it was probably just a bad cable, or something similarly simple.
And Jinxxed, had you bought your machine prebuilt, you would have gotten a $800 machine for your $1100 or $1200 instead of a $1200 machine. Can you really say that being down for a few days over a cheap cable wasn't worth that difference? A year or two from now, that's going to mean the difference between having to upgrade your machine to play games well, or being able to leave it like it is and still play games well. When that day comes, do you really think you'll be saying to yourself "Gee, I sure do wish I had saved myself a few hours of work and a couple days of downtime a year ago so that I can be forced to go out and buy a bunch of expensive upgrades today"? I really don't think you will be.
Grats, it looks like you have learned alot, that will save you lots of money in the years to some. Not just in the cost of your machines, but also in knowing what you have and not having to pay someone to work on it.
I havent learned much, but I have saved, and even made, money from the experience Ive gained, by taking the plunge, and following the instructions of people here, and working on my own machines.
Nice Job, you did that !
See the world and all within it.
Live a lifetime in every minute.