New Build Acting Funny

[kalizar]

Just got my shipment from Newegg today, and I was very excited. I should have known better...

Here is the build

mobo asus p8z68-v z68 lga1155 r

vga gigabyte hd6950 1gb

psu rosewill 850w

cpu i5 2500k

mem 4x4gb corsair

hdd seagate 1tb sata 6gbs

First and foremost, when I turn on the system, it starts for about 3 seconds, and then turns right back off. After a second or two it boots back up, and will stay on. It's done this every time I've turned it on. Once I get the thing turned on, I will go into the asus advanced bios thing, and I notice my cpu temp is leveling out at about 60c. That's just sitting there on the bios screen. The temp keeps going up and up but the fan speed stays low. Nothing I click speeds up the fan either. Arent these things supposed to idle at like 32c?

Anyway, so I decide to just install windows and then get a fan speed monitor utility going. However, I can't get it to see the hard drive. The hdd light keeps blinking, but both the asus bios and windows 7 installer can't find any hard drives. wtf?

EDIT: It's restarting up to 3 times before it turns on now. Tried a new sata cable and the hard drive was recognized. After trying to get the windows installer to format, it completely disapeared from the available hard drives menu...... ???? back to square one.

any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[Another Canuck]

First, double check you've applied the proper amount of thermal paste and that the CPU cooler is seated properly.

Next, clear the CMOS and update your BIOS to the latest revision (I was trying to be a Good Guy Greg and give you the link, but the ASUS Support site is down right now).

[kalizar]

The stock fan came with a "paste square" on the bottom. I put it how it was supposed to be. It was pretty simple. However, I did carefully take it off, and everything looks fine, and like it was making pretty good contact.

I finally was able to make it see the hard drive. I tried the other cable that came with the motherboard, and now everything works fine. Maybe a bad cable... idk. Trying to install windows now, but the thing reset 3 times before I could get it to turn on this time. Meh.

[Another Canuck]

ASUS Support is back up: http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=P8Z68-V&p=1&s=39

Clear CMOS and flash latest BIOS.

[kalizar]

I pulled the battery. It started up on the first shot. CPU is still running a little hot, but like I said the fan speed isnt but maybe 1/10 of full speed. I'll mess with it once I can get a app running.

Found hard drive, windows is installing now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Its funny how many computer problems I've seen solved by yanking the battery for a minute or two.

[kalizar]

Alright so everything seems to be sorted out, but now a new problem arises. I was using onboard video to figure things out in case it was the video card causing problems. My onboard video I had connected with vga to a smaller monitor, and this looked fine. I installed the video card and then hooked up my 47" lcd thru HDMI. The colors look a little weird, everything looks a (TINY) bit stretched, and it doesn't quite use the whole screen. It kinda looks like crap. My monitor is VGA only. Would getting a VGA to DVI connector do the trick? Is this a known problem when using HDMI connection instead of VGA or DVI?

I know the video card is working properly. I have a 8 rating for gaming in windows, and I just played HL2 for about 2 hours with it completely maxed out and it almost never dropped below 300fps.

[+Zlip792 MVC]

Tried latest driver of onboard GPU. Its released today:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Latest-Intel-Graphics-Driver-for-Sandy-Bridge-CPUs-251353.shtml

[Excelsis]

Try your TV with the VGA cable (if there's a VGA input), otherwise look for a PC mode setting in your TV's menu. Personally I've never been able to get an HDTV to look good with a HDMI cable, always had to resort to VGA cable to get true 1:1 pixel ratio.

[neoraptor]

hdmi > vga (always use hdmi when available).

1. Check video resolution on the PC to match supported one on the TV

2. Check if the TV is streaching the picture (turn on game mode and just scan if you have such)

[HyBry]

1. Check video resolution on the PC to match supported one on the TV

2. Check if the TV is streaching the picture (turn on game mode and just scan if you have such)

This!

Have you installed the drivers for the new GPU? Lack of drivers can limit possible resolutions offered. Then make sure you have set the right resolution.

Also TVs can mess with that a lot. For me standard TV mode did not work and I think just scan was the only thing that made the picture look good and fit on screen.

[kalizar]

Try your TV with the VGA cable (if there's a VGA input), otherwise look for a PC mode setting in your TV's menu. Personally I've never been able to get an HDTV to look good with a HDMI cable, always had to resort to VGA cable to get true 1:1 pixel ratio.

That's how I've usually done it, but this video card is dvi or hdmi only, and didn't come with a converter. I'm going to try to pick one up tomorrow at walmart or somethin.

hdmi > vga (always use hdmi when available).

1. Check video resolution on the PC to match supported one on the TV

2. Check if the TV is streaching the picture (turn on game mode and just scan if you have such)

Yes, I've been using this same tv at this same resolution with a different pc for a while. Wide/stretch mode is the same as before.

[metal_dragen Veteran]

Yes, I've been using this same tv at this same resolution with a different pc for a while. Wide/stretch mode is the same as before.

Try looking for an overscan feature on the TV and turn it off. A lot of times this is what causes parts of the picture to be cut off, especially when driving a television display with a computer.

[kalizar]

It actually was smaller than the tv. Drivers are installed, and I'm using the native resolution. I turned on overscan thru CCC, and now it fits the screen.

It looks okay, but I don't really know how to describe it. Text is a little blurry, the colors are just a little bit off, and it looks a little too bright regardless of brightness setting. I don't really notice it in-game though.

I'll update when I get a dvi to VGA converter.

[CentralDogma]

The stock fan came with a "paste square" on the bottom. I put it how it was supposed to be. It was pretty simple. However, I did carefully take it off, and everything looks fine, and like it was making pretty good contact.

FYI, you're suppose to clean off the paste and apply a new layer everytime you reseat the cooler. I wouldn't worry about it if isn't causing you problems.