Quote Originally Posted by Photo-John
It's all built! But it doesn't work. Is anyone surprised? I'm not. I knew I'd run into problems.

So here's the deal. It starts up, all the fans work, the led on the motherboard comes on, but I have no video. I've reseated the video card a few times but it doesn't change anything. I checked the video card manual and it only has instructions for installing it in a finished, Windows machine. I think there's a hole in my process. I've looked at a bunch of how-tos and followed all my manuals. But I don't know what's up with the video card and I don't know how to install Windows.

Anyone got some advice?
John,

Is the computer monitor in the "ON" or "OFF" mode? I think it needs to be set to "ON".

Seriously, get your Specrum Analyzer out and measure the RF CW signal at pin 34 on the U454 timing modulator. You should see a 400MHz waveform with a bandwidth of about 1MHz and amplitude of about 10dB. The noise floor should be lower than -50dB so check that and any harmonics that aren't at least 10dB less than the carrier. Once verified, grab your CDMA demodulator and verify that the ....



Seriously (this time I mean it), without having looked at anything specific to your equipment I'd probably do the following. And it should go without saying that you need to make sure the obvious has already been done (that the monitor is plugged in and known to work in its current state).

1. Is there a fan on the video card? If so, does it spin when the computer is turned on?
2. Do you hear any beeps or sounds coming from the motherboard or speakers (assuming speakers are plugged in).
3. Does the motherboard come with any built in video cards? If so, are the jumpers (or bios settings) properly setup?

Read the instruction manual that came with your BIOS and look for clues concerning video cards. Usually the manual gives screenshots of what you see in the BIOS and menu items. Look for things that have to do with AGP like disabling it, etc.

When the folks installed the CPU for you did they ever have it connected up in such a way as to go into the BIOS and adjust any settings? In other words, did that have the video working there? If they just installed the CPU and never actually turned the thing on then one thing I'd try real quick is resetting the BIOS.....this usually means removing the battery and temporarily setting a jumper somewhere although the manual will instruct you how to reset the BIOS.

You can also try removing all of the devices from your system that aren't needed for it to boot into the bios including CD-ROM's, hard drives, floppy's, raid cards, etc. All you need is video, motherboard, power supply, monitor. You can even try removing any keyboards and mice. Remember, your goal is to see something in the video so you know whether the viedo card is working at all.

If all of this fails, it's possible something is wrong with the video card (probably not but possible) so I'd look for another card to throw in there and see if that makes a diffrence or not.

I suspect there may be some conflicts with hard drives settings, mb jumpers, etc. But these days most motherboards start beeping and hollering at you telling you there are problems.

Speaking ohf which, my current motherbaord goes as far as to send a human voice through the speakers that sounds a lot like in car's "Right door is open"....lol