New build help
 

Hmmm, I thought I was getting better at this, built a few machines. but obviously not!

Story:

Friends Dell Dimension 5100 died. Internet search reveals its most likely the motherboard. Said might aswell go with a new build.
Bought a barebones, this: http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-s7...=4294957099-13 as it seemed ok, and took the Pentium 4 LGA775 socket CPU from the old machine.
The plan was to reuse as much as poss, cpu/memory/hdd and optical drives.
Put everthing together, lovely. Except, can't even get display on the screen, so don't know if its booting into BIOS.
Pulled all the memory, and its not even giving the beeps you get with a ram fault. So that can't be the issue. Not good.

So I have a few questions fror the Pro's:

1: How do you know if a CPU is faulty?
2: I think I know the answer to this, but should a PC even go into the BIOS without the CPU?

Not looked into it, but I'm sure a new semi decent LGA775 CPU will be into at least 100quid, which would take this well over budget.

Appreciate the advice.

Just start off easy ;) plug just the mobo in, no chip or memory, will give you a few beeps (need to find out what they mean, I have it in a book but thats not here :()
Now if the cpu is faulty you will know, it wont do anything, just like if its not in the mobo.
Now remember that the BIOS is the basic interface for you, so you should be able to access it even without anything else working (with the exception of a graphics card), so start small, mobo first to get the beeps, then add the cpu (you can do this on a desk with an anti static mat), then add the cpu, leave the memory till later, you just need to make sure the beeps are the correct ones.
CPU wise, depends what you have in there, but a cheap one is about 83 quid
BX80571E7400 - Intel Core 2 Duo E7400, S775, Wolfdale, 2.80 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB Cache, 10.5x Ratio, 65W, Retail - Scan.co.uk

Let me find where the list of those codes are ;)

Tony:)

Cheers Tony. It seems to be the same with the CPU in or out, but no beeps either way.
So I'm hoping its not the mobo being DOA.

The board has onboard graphics, which I am using. It has a DVI, VGA and HDMI. I've tried the first two, to try and get something on the screen, but I doubt that would be it.

How do CPU's tend to die?

CPU's die either at new if they are faulty, due to being touched or having damaged pins or the main cause, overheating :( (clogged cooling fan is the main suspect)

Tony:)

Thanks for the advice Tony.
I think I've done everything I can, and have to accept the board was DOA. Surely I should have got some beeps without the RAm or CPU.
Oh well, its being sent back to dabs, only for me to re-order from ebuyer, as dabs don't keep them in stock.