HELP!!! My Computer isn't showing any graphics!!!!

Hi,

I have just bought different parts to customize my own PC

Here are the parts:

EZ Media SOHO ATX Case w/ 300 Watt Power Supply
AMD Athlon XP 2700+ CPU
Elitegroup K7VTA3 v8.0 mobo
Kingston 512 MB DDR DIMM RAM
XTASY 9200 SE 128 MB AGP Video Card
Khypermedia 8x DVD+RW Drive
Mad Dog 16x DVD-ROM drive
Maxtor 160 GB Hard Drive
Seal 32-Bit 4 Channel Sound Card

The only problem is that when I turned the computer first on, it didn't show any graphics on the monitor, but when i plugged the monitor into my other PC, it worked fine. Also, i tried using a different video card, but no luck. Then I thought that maybe the video card I was using had some sort of problem. I tried using the same video card I used to customize my pc on my other PC (the non-customized one) and it worked fine. Then I tried any other combinations (by taking out the sound card, or removing one of the disk drives to lower the power usage, etc.), but no luck. That eliminated everything, except that the CPU was wrecked somehow, or the motherboard was wrecked somehow. But I tried booting the PC without the CPU, and nothing happened, except one of the fans turned on. Then I put the CPU back in, and then everything started working again (like the hard drive started making sounds, the CPU fan started spinning, etc.). That meant that the CPU wasn't wrecked and the motherboard wasn't fully wrecked (maybe only partially). That meant that there must be only one possible answer to why the graphics wasn't showing on the monitor: The AGP slot is faulty.

If I am correct, please tell me so, but if you have any other theories, please tell me. I am planning to exchange the faulty motherbaord for a working model, but if that doesn't work either, I will update you on that.

Thank you very much for your help!!!!

 

Have a good read through the manual provided with your mob.This should guide you through all the connections you need to make and how to set up your bios.If your totally happy you have hooked up everything correctly and bios is set up correctly then yes take it back and change for another.Thats the thing when setting up your own pc the smallest thing can throw it out.It happen to me when i set mine up i could not get windows to install.I read through the manual and checked everything again to find that the memory ports were the other way around to my previous mob.Silly mistake i know but we all make them from time to time.
John179

 

thanks for replying nephilm and john.

nephilm,

I cannot get into the BIOS because the monitor doesn't show anything when i turn it on (it just stays black).

john,

I've read through the mobo manual 4 times now and have installed everything from scratch 2 more times, but still no luck. I even tried taking out some stuff to take some of the load off of the power supply but still no luck.

If anyone else has any more theories, i would appreciate it if u told me.

Thx!!!

 

yugioh2me,make sure that video card is pushed all the way in the agp slot,some cards fall short because of the capacitors hitting the card,check for any obstructions.

 

ive done that also, and ive also tried the video card on my other PC and it worked perfectly

 

either way, i know that the AGP slot is broken so i plan to exchange it anyways.
Thanks for the help though!!!

 

k sure. Do u think that I should get a different type of board if the one i get by exchanging my old mobo doesn't work. If so, which one do u think I should get? (I'm looking for one that is max $60, has capabilities of overclocking, and can run Visiontek XTASY 9200 SE 128 MB AGP video card).

Thx!!

 

k thanks you guys!!

 

I have another question. I went to Fry's (the store where i bought the mobo from), and they said that they couldn't replace the mobo because it was wrecked (they had found a wire on the back of the mobo that was burnt to crisp. The wire was connected to the PCI and AGP slots. I only managed to exchange the CPU for anew one (it was broken too). But they also said that if i could get a letter/email from ECS (the company of my mobo) saying that it was OK to return/exchange my mobo, i could exchange it (i think it was something about not exchanging it because of its burnt wire, and they dont take damaged pieces back or something like that unless u can get a letter/email from the manfacturer saying you can if the warranty is still in session and has not expired yet - of course mine hadn't). I have emailed ECS about my problem and I hope they give a good enough response for me to exchange the mobo at Fry's.

Thanks for all the help you guys gave me and thanks for sticking around till the end!!!
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]Customized PC:

AMD Athlon XP 2700+ CPU
Elitegroup K7VTA3 v8.0 mobo
Kingston 512 MB DDR DIMM RAM
XTASY 9200 SE 128 MB AGP Video Card
Khypermedia 8x DVD+RW Drive
Mad Dog 16x DVD-ROM drive
Maxtor 160 GB Hard Drive
Seal 32-Bit 4 Channel Sound Card
[/small]

 

Yikes! At first read, it sounds like your vid card was not seated properly when you put it in, and that caused the AGP and the first PCI slot down, to fry. But, I would think that that would have fried the vid card too. So, it may be that the mobo was roached to begin with.

 

I went to Fry's (the store from where I bought the previous mobo) and got a new mobo for $60. When I talked to the supervisor and told him about the old one getting fried up, he gave me a $10.00 dicount, so it costed me $50. But I also bought their testing policy for $10.00. The testing policy is where you can bring your components to Fry's and they test it for u first. So, if this time the mobo an/or CPU fries, its their problem and they would have to replace it!

Here is the mobo:

ECS Elitegroup N2U400-A with a NVIDIA nFORCE 2 chip.
It supports up to 13 IDE drives (ultraDMA)
It has an onboard 6 channel sound card (better than the one that i bought for $10)
It has DDR 400 capacility
USB 2.0 connectivity
This is funny: It says on the box itself that it is an overclockable board
It supports the 400 mhz FSB AMD Athlon XP CPU
It has AGP 8x
Also has 10/100 Mbps LAN

Do u think that was a good deal for $50?

 

sorry Praetor,

I meant it had room for 4 IDE drives (Ultra DMA).

I found out what the problem was with my old mobo and why it fried up. Th reason it fried up was because the bottom of the mobo was touching the case making the mobo's wires short circuit. This time I was careful and I put brackets to hold the mobo up, and it worked!!I also installed Windows 2000 Professional on it and it works perfectly!! (Although it did have some problems in the beginning, but after some reformatting and installing the OS again, I fixed the problem! Now the computer works great.

Thanks for all the help you guys gave me!

 

I purchased the same mobo from frys.. my version is K7VTA3 6.0 mobo... I have an ATI all-in-one Wonder AGP card and when I plugged in everything , the monitor display doesnt show up... I purchased a XTASY 128mb PCI video card and that didnt work either. When I try my old mobo with these video cards, the monitor works fine... My friend go this mobo from fry's and shipped it to me and I cant even return this.. someone pls help as to what needs to be done.. I can power up the pc but I cant see anything in my monitor... Any help will be really appreciated...


AMD Athlon XP 2700+ CPU
Elitegroup K7VTA3 v8.0 mobo
Kingston 512 MB DDR DIMM RAM
XTASY 9200 SE 128 MB AGP Video Card
Khypermedia 8x DVD+RW Drive
Mad Dog 16x DVD-ROM drive
Maxtor 160 GB Hard Drive
Seal 32-Bit 4 Channel Sound Card

 

sorry, here are my specs..

ATX case with 300w power supply
AMD Athlon XP 2700+ CPU
Elitegroup K7VTA3 v6.0 mobo
Kingston 256 MB DDR DIMM RAM
XTASY 9200SE 128 MB PCI Video Card
Mad dog 8x DVD+/-RW Drive
Some junk DVD Rom
WD 120 GB hard drive
Maxtor 40 GB hard drive