P6N SLI Platinum - Black Screen

Question

Hello,
I have recently bought the following parts:
Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz LGA775 1066MHz w/ 8MB
MSI P6NSLI Platinum Quad Core/ NF650iSLI/ eSATA/ A&L/ ATX Motherboard
Silencer 750 Quad (PC Power) PSU
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Sunbeam Transformer IC-TR-BA Black Steel ATX Full Tower
EVGA 8800GTX PCIE 768-P2-N831-AR
320GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA II SEAGATE
LITEON 20 SATA DVDRW
This is my 8th built, so I am (although not an expert) pretty good about computers. Anyways, here is the story:
1. As soon as I press the power button, fans work (CPU, GPU, etc.), I get "orange" and "green" lights on the motherboard and a complete BLACK screen. The interesting thing is, if you keep it running, it turns itself off. Nothing is on it, it doesn't even come on. I tested it with a laptop and the monitor works.
2. The LEDs provided by the MSI that you plug in to your motherboard is not working at all (this is very weird, because green and orange lights are on, so there is power in mobo, but those 4 lights are not working). There is no light on them and yes I check 1,000 times if they were plugged in correctly.
3. There are no beeps. I know P6N doesn't have a speaker but my case had one, so i plugged it in.
Here is what I did, please read this before making any suggestions, at the end it'll save you and me a lot of time.
a. Checked the Power SW, Power LED, HDD LED, Reset SW cables (they are all working perfectly).
b. Removed the 8800 and used an old ATI 256 MB PCI-e card (same result).
c. Disassambled EVERYTHING almost twice including the CPU, video card, etc.
d. Cleared CMOS using the button.
e. Cleared CMOS using the remove battery way too.
f. Removed everything but CPU, video card, still nothing on the screen (even no error indication because of no RAM).
g. Switched RAMs to all DIMMs, even tried the old 667 Mhz RAMs I had.
h. Tried another HDD.
So this leaves me:
1. Motherboard is gone.
2. CPU is gone.
3. I am missing something.
Can you please help? I saved a few years for this system (hard earned money here) and I was so excited to put it together and I can't explain how pissed off I am right now. I don't want to wait two weeks for RMAs, so I hope there is something that can be done.
Please remember that: I am getting an orange and a green light ON the motherboard, the tool MSI provides does not work.

Answer 1

Quote from: maranello on 06-August-07, 01:14:31
The way I see it, MSI has much more features than the BFG one, but BFG one runs fine and I am scared after I RMA the MSI, I can have the same problem. So I'm thinking maybe I should "return" the MSI and use the BFG so I wouldn't loose any money. So far I spent $300 for 2 motherboards and I have return one of the two.
I'm a silly goose.   What stepping does your Q6600 have?  Unless I'm mistaken, I have seen no end user confirmation that Q6600 GO (or is it G0) is compatible with this board.  Maybe all you need is a bios update.  I know that the e6850 works fine even though it is not recognized by early bios.  But it posts even with earlier bios.  I think Spanki or Aari was concerned about this a week or so ago.  Whether anyone could confirm successful install of these new G0 CPUs.  One working isn't proof that all the others will.  So, that said, if I put the Q6600 G0 in an early LGA775 board, what are likely symptoms upon booting?  Anything like what maranello is experiencing?  It's a long shot, but I just figured I would throw it out there and see where it lands.  Hope someone knows.  None of this matters if it is B3 stepping.
If it just needs a bios update, that's something to consider if you really like this board.  Consider costs for cheap CPU to boot till bios update (and maybe return if anyone knows a retailer that does that, which would mean just paying shipping and possibly a restocking fee of as much as $45 ), or cost for testing and bios update from local shop.  Or maybe MSI will do it free (minus shipping, both ways most likely).  I hope I never have to consider those options.  Seems like at least $25 at best, unless you can buy CPU local with good return policy and no restocking fee .  This is all on top of any costs relating to returning the BFG.  Do you know anyone with an LGA775 CPU that would work on this board?  I'd be groveling at their feet if I were you.  Maybe someone can definitively state that it's not a compatibility issue.  Then you could just RMA the board and get it over with.  I'd consider writing MSI techs first.  What BFG board are you using, anyway?  Might shed light on possible compatibility issue.  If the board is just DOA, I say return BFG and RMA the MSI.  I just reached my CAPS limit.   Seriously, I hope that helps rather than further confuses.