Is this a motherboard problem?

[Alex GS]

Hi, I need a bit of advice here. I have an Asus P5K motherboard, and I'm not getting a signal from the graphics card when I switch the power on. The drives fire up (there's no OS installed yet) and the LEDs light up and the fans spin, but that's all. The reason I thought this might be a motherboard problem is that it does not make the beeps that it is supposed to in the event of a problem, with one exception. With no RAM installed, it makes the appropriate beeping sound as described in the manual, but with RAM in there it doesn't sound for lack of keyboard, or (trying without the Geforce card) lack of VGA, both of which it should do. I've tried all I can think of, including clearing the RTC RAM and I'm out of ideas. I just want to make sure this is likely a motherboard failure (or could it be CPU or something?) before I buy another.

Asus P5K motherboard
Geforce 8800GTS
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
2x2 gb DDR2
250gb IDE HDD
400w PSU

Thanks in advance.

[unfaithfulsfan]

Do you have another graphics card you can try or does the mobo have built-in graphics? Just thinking to eliminate bad graphics card before condemning the motherboard.

Good luck
Jack

[Alex GS]

Hi, this is my first PCI-E graphics card, the only other one I have is AGP (other than an old Geforce 4 PCI card -- I tried that and it didn't work, but I wasn't expecting it to), and there is no on-board graphics with this motherboard, unfortunately...

[DMB2000uk]

Do you have any other RAM you can test it with? If not, have you tried with just one stick?

Can you confirm that the CPU cooler is properly attached (i.e. doens't move when you try and wiggle it).

Are all of the power plugs connected; motherboard 4/8pin, motherboard 20/24pin and the 6/8 pcie pin for the graphics card.

Is the board over a year old from when you bought it? As you can request an RMA from wherever you bought it so that they can send it back and you get a fixed/new one (free of charge, except the postage there).

Dan

[Alex GS]

Of the 2 DDR2 sticks I have, I have tried them both singly. I've checked the CPU heatsink, it seems securely fitted and doesn't move. The power plugs are all connected and pushed in as far as they go... I have also today tried with a more powerful PSU, as I was advised on another forum that the graphics card needed 26 amps to run properly, and while this does seem to be the case according to the card's system requirements, it has made no difference and there is still no picture output. Another thing I forgot to mention before is that there seems to be no power to the USB ports, with either the new or old PSU.

[DMB2000uk]

The odds of both sticks of RAM being so broken that they stop the board from even POSTing seems remote, so the most likely culprit is the board.

Get in touch with the place where you bought it from if it is less than a year and ask for an RMA of the board. Then you can post it them and they repair/replace it under warranty.

Dan