Help!!!!

new build everything is on and working as far as i know but my monitor stays black i have a radeon 4850 4gigs of ddr2 800 ram gigabyte ma790fx-ds5 mobo need serious help

Always post full specs when asking for help.


New build didn't boot checklist

1. Did you plug in the 4/8 pin power connector to the board, located near the CPU?

2. Did you install the standoffs under the motherboard? Did you place them so that they all align with the screw holes in the motherboard, with no standoffs touching the board in the wrong place?

3. Did you verify that the video card is fully seated? (may require more force than a new builder expects.)

4. Did you attach all the required power connectors to the video card? (some need two, some need none, many need one.)

5. Did you verify that all memory modules are fully inserted? (may require more force than a new builder expects.)

6. Did you remove the plastic guard over the CPU socket? (this actually comes up occasionally.)

7. If using an after market CPU cooler, did you get any cooling paste on the board? Did you use the smallest amount you could?

8. Is the CPU fan plugged in?

9. If using a stock cooler, was the thermal material on the base of the cooler free of foreign material, and did you remove any protective covering?

10. Are any loose screws laying on the motherboard, or jammed against it?

What brand/model RAM?

micron ram and yes ive tried with just one stick o0f ram but to no avail

DVI or VGA? Monitor on? Try with one stick of RAM? check motherboard, any loose screws that could short it out? Reseat video card. Remove video card, and listen for beeping, reseat the card again. Try it with just the power, does it beep? if yes motherboard is good. try working from ground up, start with power. hope that helps.

Is the video card in the 'correct' PCI-E slot? (for single card operation) You could try connecting the monitor to the other DVI connector on the card as well..

If you have an 8 pin cpu port and connector from your psu, then yes use it. It will still work if you only have a 4 pin connector from your psu. You do have to have something plugged in though.

Do you hear beep codes when you boot up?

Do what jitpublisher suggests - except go even farther. Take the motherboard out of the case and place it on an insulating surface. Make sure that both PSU power connectors (main 24 pin and 4/8 pin CPU power) are installed.

Pull everything except the CPU and HSF. Boot. You should hear a series of long single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence here indicates, in probable order, a bad PSU, motherboard, or CPU - or a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU.

If you get the long beeps, add a stick of RAM. Boot. The beep pattern should change to one long and two or three short beeps. Silence indicates that the RAM is shorting out the PSU. Long single beeps indicates that the BIOS does not recognize the presence of the RAM.

If you get the one long and two or three short beeps, install the video card and any needed power cables. If the video card is good, the system should successfully POST (one short beep, usually).

Note - a PSU with inadequate 12 volt output will also cause this step to fail.

Another note that you do not need drives or a keyboard to get this far.

If you successfully POST, start plugging in the rest of the components, one at a time.

Building the computer outside the case is called "breadboarding" (from the 1920's days of homebuilt radios). I use an insulated cutting board. I always breadboard a new build. It lets me test the components before I go through all the work of installing them in a case.