[conspire] (forw) Re: A Request

[Rick Moen]

----- Forwarded message from Dave Pearce <daveryu at yahoo.com> -----

Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 03:58:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Dave Pearce <daveryu at yahoo.com>
To: rick at linuxmafia.com
Subject: A Request
X-Mailer: YahooMailClassic/14.0.3 YahooMailWebService/0.8.112.307740

Hi Rick,
	I hate to trouble you on a weekend when there's no Cabal, but I
can't think of anyone else at the moment to ask.  My parts finally
arrived and I finished building the new computer.  When I start it, I
get no POST, no anything.  I don't know if I have a bad motherboard, bad
RAM, a bad drive, or if I just haven't put something together correctly.
I'm trying to get it up and running before the RMA period runs out in
case I have to return anything.  My weekends are going to be tied up
with mandatory school events for the next month or so, which means that
I'll miss at least 1 Cabal get together.  Is there anything that you can
suggest, or is there a way that you could take a quick look at the
machine, please?

Dave

----- End forwarded message -----
----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:34:12 -0700
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
To: Dave Pearce <daveryu at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: A Request
Organization: If you lived here, you'd be $HOME already.

Quoting Dave Pearce (daveryu at yahoo.com):

> I hate to trouble you on a weekend when there's no Cabal, but I can't
> think of anyone else at the moment to ask.  My parts finally arrived
> and I finished building the new computer.  When I start it, I get no
> POST, no anything.  I don't know if I have a bad motherboard, bad RAM,
> a bad drive, or if I just haven't put something together correctly.

I would suggest you disconnect everything, and then attempt to validate
parts starting with the minimum set, as follows.

Put togther the absolute minimum set of parts required to get a
motherboard beep, and only then turn on the power, hearing that beep.
Those bare minimum parts would then become 'known good'; they weren't
before.  The parts will probably be these and no others:

motherboard
PSU (not mounted in the case)
one stick of RAM or one interleaved set of sticks (as applicable)[1]
CPU + cooler
case (_not_ fastened to MB) for its various wiring harnesses and speaker
     connector

At this point, you would have necessary wiring from the case and PSU
connected to the motherboard, but neither your PSU nor your motherboard
would be inside the case.  Put the motherboard on a large, flat piece of
cardboard.

You want to connect the motherboard's speaker connecter (among other
case-related wiring), and you're hoping to hear beeps from that speaker
when you power up.  If you don't hear beeps, then I'm sorry, but you
just might have fried something.  Observe carefully to see if the PSU
fan is spinning, and if the CPU fan is spinning (if there is one).
Those are vital clues.

Now (assuming you get beeps and other signs of life), introduce
additional parts one at a time, thus permitting you to vet each of them
separately as 'known good'.  Unplug AC, put the video card (if there's a
video card) in its motherboard slot, connect a monitor, replug AC, and
start up again.  System will now count RAM -- and you can make sure that
no unexpected errors are being shown on at POST.   Unplug AC.  Add the
rest of the RAM.  Replug AC, start up again.  System will count _all_
RAM.  Unplug AC.  Connect keyboard.  Replug AC, start up again.  You
should now be able to enter BIOS Setup.  Unplug AC.  Connect optical
drive (_not_ yet mounted in the case) and pointing device.  Replug AC,
start up again.  You should now be able to boot a Linux live CD or DVD.
Unplug AC.  Connect one hard drive (not yet mounted in the case).
Replug AC, start up again.  You can now, if you wish, boot a Linux live
CD or DVD and do a full stress-test of your CPU, RAM, motherboard, and
hard drive using Cerberus Test Control System.  See:

'Burn-in' on http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Hardware

If you want to stress-test specifically the RAM, I explained the best,
most reliable way to do so in a series of three postings to this mailing
list in 2006.  You will find them linked from
http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/ with text 'Herewith, the best, most
reliable way to test for bad RAM: [1, 2, 3]'.

Please note:  Only at this point should you consider mounting the
motherboard, hard drives, and optical drives into your case.   Be very
careful of where case standoffs touch the motherboard.  More than one
person has fried a motherboard using misplaced standoffs.

Assuming you assemble the full system and it appears to still work, if
you want to be cautious, that would be exactly when to do your
stress-testing.  A large portion of parts failure occurs very early.
Doing a 'burn-in' run of stress testing catches those failures right
away, before you're relying on the system.

By the way, in my experience, even supposedly good manufactrers tend to
use really awful fans and cooling gear.  I've made my systems both
quieter and more reliable / longer lasting by replacing cruddy fans
using nasty, noisy sleeve bearings with aftermarket Antec, Cooler
Master, Vantec, or Zalman fans using ball-bearing races, which you can
find at Central Computer.

[1] What I mean is, sometimes RAM sticks must be added in 'banks' for
interleaving.  You want one bank of RAM, i.e., the minimum functional
amount.  If memory interleaving isn't being used, then one stick of RAM
is the minimum.


----- End forwarded message -----