Hello all, a bit new here and pretty computer savvy but I can't seem to figure out this problem and I've sunk over $500 into it already with no results... I had a Dell XPS 410 that I attempted to factory reset using the built-in Norton Ghost, which errored out. After doing this the hard drives (raid) partially formatted in the process and were no longer able to run the ghost program to format. So, I decided I'd just wipe them using a windows Vista installation CD. By the time I had put the CD in and powered on, I had no response from the system No BIOS, no prompts, just a black screen (not a no-signal screen.) At first I thought it must have been my mistake because my dang CD Drive wouldn't open and I smacked the PC side a bit to dislodge it. So I one-by-one tested the parts of my computer -- RAM, Graphics Card, Hard Drives (blank though, so couldnt do much of a test), SATA Cables, Power Supply, new Monitor -- Still nothing. Also I tried to clear CMOS but when changing the jumpers the computer remained completely unresponsive and wouldn't even power up. At this point I assumed it was the Motherboard. The Dell help forums were of little use as people who had my error codes (which suggested a memory problem) said they all fixed it in several ways. So, because I had a pre-made Dell I had to replace several parts to accomodate a new Motherboard. New Motherboard, Case, CPU Fan and Power Supply. I hook everything up and to my suprise -- The EXACT same thing. Black screen, not the no-signal screen. This motherboard had an error code display on it though, which read "C1" which according to the manual means at was unable to determine the size of the L2 Cache and recommends resetting the "memory modules" which I assume meant RAM. To my knowledge though, the L2 cache related to the CPU which at this point made sense to me considering the non-responsive PC and that I had tried working RAM. So I got a new CPU. I hook up the new CPU, and SAME problem! At this point I'm completely out of ideas. This new PC also will not power up at all with the CMOS jumpers swapped. I have tried the following: 1- Swapping to a proven-functioning graphics card. 2- Swapping to proven-functioning RAM 3- Replaced Power Supply 4- Replaced CPU 5- Replaced Motherboard 6- Removing all peripheral items, including PCI hardware and disk drives/hard drives and attempting a power-up. 7- Trying 1 RAM stick at a time. Computer Specs: 8GB RAM (2GB x 4, 800MHz DDR2) SATA Hard Drives (250GB x 2, currently corrupt but can't I format?) CPU:Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops Motherboard: Newegg.com - DFI LANPARTY DK P45-T2RS LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards Power Supply: Newegg.com - AZZA Dynamo 850 850W ATX & EPS 12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply - Power Supplies Graphics Card: NVidia 8800 GTX 512MB Motherboard directly supports the CPU type/socket and the power supply more than meets the motherboard requirement of 400MW or greater. The 800MHz RAM is also supported by the Motherboard. On a side note, I did read that the Motherboard requires the Power Supply to meet the power version 1.1 standards and my power supply states it is version 2.2. Is 2.2 backwards-compatable and could this be my issue? PLEASE help if possible -- I'm a computer programmer and my computer has been down WAY too long, heh.
I forgot to mention -- could it possibly be my RAM timings? I don't know how to tell if they are compatible but they are 4-4-4-12 and I have no clue how to change that if needed...
Found the issue, in case anyone else happens to run across this problem. My RAM is too good for this motherboard, I have to buy RAM with slower timing. How ridiculous is that!?
That shouldn't really be an issue generally the memory controller clocks the frequency down to the maximum it can handle. But after all it is an Asus motherboard nuff said.
