[techtalk] blank screen at boot

[Naomi Hospodarsky]

Having built a number of boxes myself, I have found that this type of 
behavior can be one of several things.  In addition to trying what Nicci 
suggested, you may also want to see if the motherboard is shorting 
out.  Lots of times I find that the metal standoffs used to support the 
mainboard inside the case cause an electrical short. What you can do to 
test this, (though it is a drag) is take out the mainboard, set it outside 
the case on the anti-static bag it came in and hook everything up and try 
turning it on. See if you get a display now.
If you do, then you know that there's probably a short. Use less of the 
metal standoffs (two should do fine).  Also, I've learned to replace the 
metal ones they give you with Nylon ones which eliminates the problem 
altogether. Why they don't just send you nylon ones instead of metal ones 
is really beyond me. It seems like an obvious choice....*shrug*

Also, try taking out all the cards and powering up the system with just the 
processor and the memory, to see if one of the cards isn't causing a problem.







At 05:53 AM 5/8/2000 , you wrote:
>this is not a linux-specigic question, but maybe somebody can help: after
>putting together my new box (aopen ax67c m/b, celeron 333, 64 mb sdram,
>ati rage graphics, atx case) and turning it on, it does nothing - the
>screen stays black, keyboard LEDs don't react. However, the cpu fan works
>and the hdd seems to go round, too. Any ideas?
>
>--
>marie
>
>
>
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