I recently tried building this today as my first ever build and when I put everything together, the fans started spinning and the lights on the case lit up but that's it. No display on a TV hooked up to the GPU via HDMI and I also had no luck with a VGA monitor hooked up directly to the motherboard. I didn't hear any POST beeps whatsoever, and the optical drive CD tray wouldn't open either.
Things I tried...
Took everything apart and redid the build from scratch TWICE, meticulous in making sure everything was plugged in properly and RAM and GPU were secured
Booting with only one stick of RAM installed
Booting without the GPU installed
Resetting the CMOS
Everything failed and I stopped because I was getting extremely frustrated and didn't want to risk breaking anything. I'm pretty sure my mobo came DOA, but even if it isn't defective, people say that ASRock is really bad and apparently, my mobo is not compatible with my CPU.
I'm looking for a replacement and need suggestions. I have a $100 budget after RMA but there's also shipping and taxes to take into consideration. Thank you in advance!
I don't actually know why there is a VGA display port on an AM3+ motherboard......... Your motherboard is an AM3+ board so it is compatiable with the FX 6300 and ASRock is very much poopoo. But are you sure it is not the GPU that is broken as everything else seems to turn on just fine, but you are not getting any video. It really sounds like it's your video card that is not working instead of the motherbooard. But if anything why not have them both RMA'd since you will be waiting anyway.
There was no display either when I took out the GPU and tried booting with just the motherboard and a VGA monitor. Isn't it the motherboard that's broken if it's not booting regardless of whether the GPU is installed or not?
well that motherboard you have right now probably does NOT support vishera FX2.0 cpu´s out of the box, so you need to update the bios first befor the board will work with that FX6300 vishera cpu. that will probably 99.9% your problem.
EDIT - I looked up how to update BIOS and all the results has me going into the BIOS itself to update it. You must have misread what I said in my original post because I can't even get a display, let alone accessing the BIOS.
You do not understand... AMD CPUs do not have graphics integrated into them unlike APUs or Intel CPUs you cannot get a video signal from them, that's why plugging any video cables into your motherboard is useless. And if everything powers on when you turn on your computer but you get to video display, it's probably that you do not have it plugged into your GPU, your GPU is dead, or like Angle said you need a BIOS update.
I tried plugging in the VGA monitor to the GPU with the converter jack that came with the GPU but there was still no display. The power light on the monitor is orange instead of green and the screen is off. When I unplugged the VGA from the GPU, the power light on the monitor turned green and on the screen it read "NO SIGNAL - CHECK VIDEO CABLE?"
So how do I know if the GPU is dead or if I just need a BIOS update? How do I know if it's only the GPU that is dead or if the motherboard is dead as well?
yeah the problem is you will need a compatible cpu, befor you can update the bios. a cheap athlon, or Phenom cpu, or FX zambezi cpu´s like FX4100 FX6100.
So this will probably a no go, because you need to buy or borrow a cpu somewhere.
But you can send the board back to the shop, because they sold you a incompatible combo. they can flash the bios for you, or you just buy a new mobo. then i would recomend the Asus M5A97 R2.0, R2.0 means vishera support out of the box, on asus boards.
It's probably the motherboard with the need for a new BIOS, you can probably save the hassel and just send that back, though i would recommend upgrading to a nicer one.
That motherboard has an Nvidia 630a chipset with integrated Geforce 7025. Motherboards had integrated graphics long before apus and cpus with on die gpu came out.
So I was thinking of bringing it to the NCIX store to get them to flash the BIOS for me, but I then learned that there is a sticker on my motherboard that says what version BIOS it is. The N68C-GS FX has to be updated to 1.30 in order to work with my FX-6300, but I found a sticker on the mobo that reads, "N68C-GS FX P1.40-1A." I'm assuming that means that the BIOS was updated already when it got shipped to me? So does that pretty much confirm that it's DOA?
could be DOA, but could also be a FX1.0 flash. because the board has an older chipset, even before FX1.0 zambezi cpu´s came out. you have to search on the manufacturer website, which cpu support, that flashed bios has. but i personaly think its a FX-x1xx flash.
Flip power switch on PSU on, standby light on motherboard turns on
Press power button on case and fans start running
And STILL no display. I checked online and updated the BIOS (because contray to what you said, it doesn't support the FX-6300 out of the box) with a USB Flashback (thank God ASUS has this functionality) and tried again and still absolutely fucking nothing. Does this mean the GPU is dead now?
Jesus, sorry to rant but screw absolutely everyone that said building your first PC isn't difficult. This entire process has been a complete pain in the ass and I'm honestly debating whether or not I want to return everything and just buy a decent pre-built off Craigslist...
Well first of all take a deep breath. double check everything, power connectors 8 pin cpu power connector. you dont have to flash or update the bios from that mobo, it should work out of the box.
Did you connect everything? 8 pin cpu power connectors? also the power connectors to the gpu? did you install the gpu in the first slot? did you try with one stick of memory? the mobo contains leds. are they green ?
Everything is connected including the GPU, GPU is installed in the first slot, tried with one stick of memory and still nothing, and the only light on the mobo is the power standby light and yes it's green.