Newly Built Computer has a bunch of problems

Gulshan Singh

Solid State Member
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I built a computer for my first time, without any outside instruction other than the manuals, so I was expecting problems. Now I need to fix them. I'm going to give you as much information as I can, but If you need more, just ask. Here are the parts:

Caviar GP 1TB IntelliPower Serial ATA-300 Hard Drive
e-7100 nForce 630i 775 mATX Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Processor BX80570E8400 - 3.0GHz, 6MB Cache, 1333MHz FSB, Wolfdale, Dual-Core, Retail, Socket 775, Processor with Fan
Patriot Dual Channel Viper 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2 x 2048MB)
Apevia X-Supra Case Beast PSU Bundle - Black Clear Side Mid-Tower, 680 Watt Blue Light Power Supply
XFX GeForce 9800 GT - 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, (2) Dual Link DVI, HDTV, VGA Support

First of all, my computer will turn on but not turn off. The light by the on switch doesn't work either. Second of all, I think I need to connect my graphics card to a power supply, but without it the cards red lights on the side are on and the fan is working, but with the power supply the lights turn off but the fan still works. Also, none of my USB ports seem to work because my laser mouse doesn't light up when I turn my comp on. Finally, my monitor wont turn on. It is a VGA monitor and my graphics card has DVI ports but came with a VGA - DVI adapter, so it should work. When I plug the VGA cable in, the screen stays black and the yellow light on the bottom is on (it should be a green light), and if I unplug it, the monitor says something like, cable not plugged, or some other message and the light stays yellow on the monitor. From this I at least know that there is a connection between the two.

Sorry, there are a lot of problems, but this is my first time. Again if you need more info, ask. Thanks!
 
Start unplugging componets until you find the problem.
The last thing should be your hard drive.
 
First of all, my computer will turn on but not turn off
Could you describe this a little better? Does it get stuck at "Windows is shutting down"? Or what exactly?
The light by the on switch doesn't work either
This is because you don't have your front panel connectors connected to the right motherboard pins. Have a look in your motherboard manual to see where the power LED wire should go.
Second of all, I think I need to connect my graphics card to a power supply, but without it the cards red lights on the side are on and the fan is working, but with the power supply the lights turn off but the fan still works.
The 9800GT requires a 6 pin PCI-E power connector, which should look like this:

trio659.jpg


It will plug into the rear of the card.
Also, none of my USB ports seem to work because my laser mouse doesn't light up when I turn my comp on. Finally, my monitor wont turn on. It is a VGA monitor and my graphics card has DVI ports but came with a VGA - DVI adapter, so it should work. When I plug the VGA cable in, the screen stays black and the yellow light on the bottom is on (it should be a green light), and if I unplug it, the monitor says something like, cable not plugged, or some other message and the light stays yellow on the monitor. From this I at least know that there is a connection between the two.
Plugging the 6 pin connector into your graphics card will fix this.
 
Thanks for the quick replies, I haven't tried it yet, but I see a six pin power connector but it's not labeled in big letters like that, in fact it's not labeled at all. If I put this plug in, and the lights of the graphics card turn off, is that a bad thing?

Oh, and about the computer shutting down, probably because of the graphics card problems, I can't see anything on the monitor. My VGA monitor plugs into the graphics card through a VGA to DVI adapter that came with the card. So I don't know what happens on the screen when I try to turn it off because I can't see the screen yet. All I know is that it doesn't turn off.
 
Thanks for the quick replies, I haven't tried it yet, but I see a six pin power connector but it's not labeled in big letters like that, in fact it's not labeled at all. If I put this plug in, and the lights of the graphics card turn off, is that a bad thing?
Take a look at the notches on the connector in the pic, compare them to those on your connector, if they are identical, then it's the right connector.
 
Ok I did that. Now the lights on the graphics card doesn't turn on and the monitor or USB ports doesn't work. There must be something else I'm doing wrong...
 
You have to plug the front panel switches in yourself. Find the wire that says USB on the end of it. Look at your motherboard manual and connect it to a USB port.
 
Yes, but the ones on the motherboard should work as well. The power is connected, but maybe I did something wrong. There shouldn't be any reason other than power, correct? My main problem right now is to get something on the monitor, like the BIOS. Thanks for sticking with me so far.
 
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