I bought an ASrock 478 p4i65g motherboard, to go with it a 3.2ghz cpu, and 1gb ram, I know this aint the most up to date specs, but its good enough for me, I installed this motherboard, along with the cpu and ram in a atx p4 case i already have, which has a 80gb hd, and dual layer burner inside it, but when I power up the computer I get a black screen, nothing comes up at all, no beeps either, I removed the ram and powered it on to see if I get any beeps, and I do, so I removed the cpu and powered on the comp, got no beeps, what do you guys think, is it the motherboard or the cpu thats causing the problem?
Have you attached the cooler for the CPU properly? Have you remembered to include the power connector for the processor?
Yes, everything is installed correctly, I've built around 8 pc's for myself already, this is the first that is giving me problems, one thing is the cpu is not brand new, I got it used of ebay, because unfortunately, 478 cpu's are now discontinued so you cannot get them new. Normally, when you fire up a computer without the cpu plugged in, isn't it meant to beep?
Not necessarily. You may have a faulty CPU. it's common off ebay unfortunately. I only buy stuff off ebay that I'm happy to replace or that has a warranty.
Ok, is there any way I can confirm its the cpu, I have a 478 1.5ghz cpu that works, but its not compatible with the new ASROCK motherboard I have, as it supports 1.7GHz minumum, so I doubt I can check it with then, the cpu does get hot though, well the heatsink does, so Im supposing it is getting power.
Well, CPUs are very rarely faulty, so the only way I see the CPU being the problem is if it's been damaged.
The metal plate on top of the die has been scratched quite badly, has been badly handled, but other than that, there is not other damage, the pins are all good. I guess I will have to try and get someones computer with a 478 motherboard and test the cpu.
