New build under $1,250?

DVI-to-DVI cables usually run about 30 bucks $13 if you're lucky. Honestly, the picture quality is identical, but HDMI has the edge since it carries audio too—super handy if you're hooking things up to a TV or a monitor with built-in speakers.

So I picked up a new HDMI cable for my $13 and, surprise surprise, nothing changed. It’s the exact same issue. I’m honestly a bit confused right now. From the jump, something felt off—like when I power it up, there isn't even that initial beep to signal everything is connected properly. Everything seems fine on the surface, but I have no idea what's going on. I'm trying to figure out how to actually get into the case, but it’s got these weirdly flat-head screws holding it all together...

briskmason6 said:So I went out and bought an HDMI-to-HDMI cable for $13 and, surprise surprise, nothing changed... honestly, I’m just lost at this point. From the very start, something felt off—like when I power it up, there isn't even that initial beep, almost as if everything is connected properly when it clearly isn't. And now I'm looking at the case, trying to figure out how to open it, but it's got those weirdly flat screws....

Before you go making any moves to crack that thing open, check for any warranty stickers, maybe on the back from the Center for Tech/Media. If they're there, don't you dare touch them or open anything, because that'll void your warranty instantly. You have their phone number, right? Just give them a call and ask them what to do.

I know they’re phasing out those warranty void stickers, but I don't see anything stuck on there right now... Another thing, besides the fact that I'm not getting a beep code, is that the HDMI port won't plug all the way into the graphics card. It only goes in halfway because some kind of rubber gasket is blocking it. I'm assuming it still makes contact, so it shouldn't be an issue, but I'm not sure. My only options left are to crack open the case and check if everything is actually connected, or just trim down that rubber around the HDMI port so it fits properly.

briskmason6 said:I know they’re phasing out those warranty stickers, but there isn't anything stuck on here right now... Another thing—aside from the fact that I'm getting no beep code—is that the HDMI plug won't seat fully into the graphics card. It only goes in halfway because some part of the housing seems to be in the way. I assume it's still making contact, so maybe it isn't an issue? My only options left are to crack open the case to check if everything is plugged in correctly, or just trim away whatever rubber bit is blocking the HDMI port so it can slide all the way in...

Did you remember to pull off those little white translucent protective caps on the top of the HDMI port? If you did, then it really should go in, but you have to make sure you're orienting the plug the right way and giving it a gentle push. If it's being stubborn, try turning the back of the PC toward you so you can get a better angle while you plug it in. Let me know what happens, or just snap some photos once you open up the case. We can take a look together to see what the actual problem is and confirm if everything is seated properly.

Problem solved. I ended up trimming about 5mm off the cable with a knife, and once it was seated all the way in, everything looked perfect on screen. But now I’ve hit a wall: I can't get Windows installed on this "click BIOS" setup. I've tried burning a disc and using an SD card formatted with Rufus, but nothing works. Even when I set the boot order to #1 USB for the card or #1 DVD/CD for the disc, it just fails. Sometimes I get the "insert disk and press any key" prompt, and other times I just get stuck in the EFI shell version 2.31 🙂 The OS is Windows 8.1, and there should be a UEFI version for the boot order settings within the BIOS

Eh, so here's the thing... I don't actually have a standard USB drive, I'm using an SD card inside a USB adapter. Could that be the issue?
The BIOS recognizes it as mass storage and I can set it as the top priority, but I'm still running into the exact same problem.

You’ve had that PC for two days now and you haven't even gotten Windows on there yet. Is your BIOS really so precious that you're refusing to install anything? 🤣

Just mash F11 while the computer is booting up to pull up the boot menu. From there, just pick the DVD or SD card, but skip anything labeled UEFI—you probably need to select Legacy or whatever. Just keep cycling through them until something actually works. 🙂

That was basically my first attempt... it just won't boot. The only thing that actually tries to start is my buddy's ancient original Windows XP Home edition from a decade ago, but even that just freezes up for thirty minutes before throwing an error message. I've got a few other solutions I can try, so I'll let you know how it goes later. 😉

Honestly, I ran into a nearly identical issue with a PC I ordered for a buddy about a month ago from a local shop here. After spending way too much time swapping monitor inputs and eventually tearing the whole thing down, we realized the motherboard and GPU were both dead on arrival. We sent the rig back, and a replacement arrived after about a week. I had my suspicions when I didn't hear that initial POST beep during startup, and once I popped the case open, I saw the internal speaker hadn't even been plugged in. This happened with a build I ordered through Future Tech, and while the guys there should have run a quick diagnostic before shipping, you can't exactly plan for a simultaneous motherboard and graphics card failure... It was just bad luck. Ipal gave me some solid advice and really tried to make things right, so they're totally forgiven in my book.

So, I finally got it sorted... managed to grab a Windows 7 DVD and a blank USB drive. Of course, trying to boot from the disc kept throwing an error—something about "can't boot from disc, code error 5." To get around it, I just copied the contents from the DVD onto the USB using a simple utility, set my BIOS to boot via Legacy from the USB, and now I’m typing this from the PC 😁... though, obviously, the problems aren't actually fixed, haha. Once I installed those Intel Catalyst drivers, the 1080p resolution suddenly went wonky. It was perfectly fine before, but now, whenever I try to set it to max resolution, I get these black bars running along every side of the screen for a few centimeters. I have no clue how to fix it, but it's definitely driver-related (I used the ones on the disc I received, but even after downloading the latest versions from the web, the result is the same). Also, the scaling options in the CCC are set to overscan, basically maxed out, but there's absolutely no way for me to adjust the scale

So, I finally figured this one out too... basically, I head over to Best Buy > my digital displays > HDTV support > then I check the box for 1080p at 60 Hz > hit scaling options > and that's when I can actually adjust the scale. That does it.

briskmason6 said:Well, I finally sorted that out... basically, you head over to the Control Panel > My Digital Flat Panels > HDTV Support > then just check the box for 1080p at 60 Hz > hit scaling options > and only then can you actually adjust the scale. Problem solved!

Now that everything is running perfectly, why don't you post a photo? We'd love to see the full setup—keyboard, mouse, monitor, and the tower all together.

I put the photos into a zip file, but when I try to upload them, I get an error message telling me to contact the admin...😕

Why put them in a zip file? It’s much easier if you just upload the photos directly to somewhere like Imgur.