New Computer - Fans Don't Run - No Post

fatsheepfatsheep
edited July 2007 in Hardware
ALl the parts just got here from newegg, I assembled it in the case, attached all the connectors, SATA power, SATA data, main ATX power cable, power switch, video card, cpu, cpu heatsink, memory, ... everything... You get the picture. I've built computers before but this one won't even show any sign of life when I push the power button. I have checked multiple times to make sure that the power button cable is installed correctly and it is. The ATX12 and main ATX power cables are attached, memory is installed, CPU is installed with heatsink, ... What could be wrong?

What's even stranger is that when I am pushing in the main ATX power connector into the motherboard, all the fans (system fans, power supply fan, cpu fan, and video card fan) start turning really slowly. However when I push the power button I get absolutely nothing.

Any ideas? Specs are below.

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6420

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R

Memory: G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit

Video Card:
EVGA 7600 GT

Case: Cooler Master Centurion.

Power Supply: FSP Group (Fortron Source) Blue Storm II 500 ATX.

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 500 Gb.

Optical Drive:
Lite-on Black DVD Burner

Monitor: Acer 22" LCD Widescreen

Floppy Drive:
Sony Floppy Drive. The samsung floppy disk when out of stock.

Speakers:
Logitech X-230 32 watt 2.1 Speakers.

Mouse and Keybpard
Logitech Mouse and Keyboard

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Remove the entire PC from the case. Make sure you have the <i>correct</i> +4 connector plugged in. The one that breaks off from the main ATX connector (If your PSU can do that) is often, and incorrectly, placed in the +4 or +8 auxiliary connector on the mainboard.
  • IndigoRedIndigoRed Perth Western Australia Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Make sure your ram is correctly seated. Won't boot if it's not.
    Get a meter and check the power supply. At the same time check the power on switch and make sure it's functioning properly (open and short when you push it). Also what Thrax said... :D
  • fatsheepfatsheep
    edited July 2007
    Thrax wrote:
    Remove the entire PC from the case. Make sure you have the <i>correct</i> +4 connector plugged in. The one that breaks off from the main ATX connector (If your PSU can do that) is often, and incorrectly, placed in the +4 or +8 auxiliary connector on the mainboard.

    I'm not familiar with the connectors you are referring to, I'll look in the mobo manual though.

    Installed in the ATX12 port on the motherboard is the only connector that would fit in it from the power supply, labelled "R3". The main ATX connector from the power supply was not long enough to cover the entire main ATX port on the motherboard. Four pins are left exposed. The power supply has the main ATX connector (labelled P1) and a four pin connector that fits into the four exposed pins snugly (labeled 24). So I've tried using just the main ATX connector and I've tried powering up with both installed but neither configuration works. The connector labelled 24 didn't fit in the ATX12 port on the mobo.

    So you want me to remove everything from the case? So I should just be using the motherboard with CPU, video card, and memory installed?
  • IndigoRedIndigoRed Perth Western Australia Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    There should be 2x four-pin connectors from the power supply that look very similar. One should actually slide into place on the large motherboard power plug and they are both plugged into the mobo together. The other plug does not have this feature. The 2nd one is plugged into the mobo on it's own, usually to the left of the cpu.
  • fatsheepfatsheep
    edited July 2007
    IndigoRed wrote:
    There should be 2x four-pin connectors from the power supply that look very similar. One should actually slide into place on the large motherboard power plug and they are both plugged into the mobo together. The other plug does not have this feature. The 2nd one is plugged into the mobo on it's own, usually to the left of the cpu.

    Yea that's how I have it set up.

    I took everything out of the case and booted up and everything worked beatifully, it posts fine (one short beep) and all fans work. There's a small delay on the CPU fan but perhaps that is just normal. So I guess the next step is to put it back in the case and see if I can get it to boot.
  • IndigoRedIndigoRed Perth Western Australia Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Add each component (hdd, dvd, fdd) one at a time. One may be borked. Also, make sure your mobo has clearance off the case. Look at the back of the mobo and see if there's any long solder dags that may be touching the case. And make sure your posts the mobo is screwed onto has enough height.
  • fatsheepfatsheep
    edited July 2007
    IndigoRed wrote:
    Add each component (hdd, dvd, fdd) one at a time. One may be borked. Also, make sure your mobo has clearance off the case. Look at the back of the mobo and see if there's any long solder dags that may be touching the case. And make sure your posts the mobo is screwed onto has enough height.

    I put it in the case and screwed it in very very losely but I still had problems so I actually took out all the screws and just set the motherboard down inside the case. It still had problems. Then I set a piece of foam under the motherboard and it again works fine. :confused:

    I'm leaving on a short vacation early tomorrow morning, I'll get back Sunday afternoon so I probably won't be able to get internet until I get back. I've got to go to bed now or I'll never get up early enough for the plane tomorrow (6:00 AM :p). So I'll continue diagnosis when I get back.
  • IndigoRedIndigoRed Perth Western Australia Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Sounds like what I said. You have something shorting the mobo to the case. Is there a spare post under the mobo where it shouldn't be? Look at the other items I mentioned. Have fun / hope you had fun... :bigggrin:
  • fatsheepfatsheep
    edited July 2007
    Well I just got back and I must say this is one of the most frustrating problems I've had with a computer. I tried looking under the motherboard to see if there was anything sticking out too far that shouldn't be but it's really hard to see and nothing looked like it was protuding too far so I put the motherboard down in the case and it worked fine. Then I matched it up with the I/O port grid thingie (plastic piece with holes cut in it matching the I/O ports on the motherboard. My system stopped working. I noticed the motherboard had to be tilted a bit to reach the I/O port panel holes so I removed the I/O port panel. I thought I had solved the problem.

    I screwed in the screws one at a time, testing the boot up after each. I got to the third screw and it stopped working. I unscrewed that screw. It still didn't work. I unscrewed all the other screws - still nothing. I remove all screws and just set the motherboard in the case - nothing. I pick up the motherboard and set it back down again in the case - nothing. Everything's connected as it should - still nothing.

    So then I take out the video card. I start messing around with the positioning of the motherboard. Still no boot up - no fans spinning - no POST - nothing. Then I start plugging the video card back in and all the fans start whurring, it POSTs (one short beep) and it looks like all is well. I didn't even put the video card all the way in and now it works fine.

    What is going on here? I'm fairly sure once I start screwing the motherboard in again it is going to stop working again. I'm pretty fed up with this thing for tonight to be honest so I'm going to be now, I'll work on it in the morning. Hopefully I'll have more luck then.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
  • IndigoRedIndigoRed Perth Western Australia Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Ok, sounds like there could be a couple of things here.

    Firstly, if you have to tilt the mobo to fit the ports into the slots, then you have the wrong size screw posts under the mobo. They come in 2 sizes; you may have the long ones and need the shorter ones.

    Second, it sounds like you could have a cold solder joint somewhere on the board. When you screw down the board with the tilt, it maybe opening the joint. If you're lucky, after the right screw posts are put in, you may not have the problem again.

    Try the posts first, cheap at a pc shop, then go looking for a large magnifying glass and a soldering iron... :-/
    Actually, if the stuff is new, trade it in...
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    The post height and screw size both need to be checked. It really sounds like you are shorting something out.
    I have gotten so gun shy that I run machines for a couple of weeks in the open before I mount them into a case.
  • fatsheepfatsheep
    edited July 2007
    IndigoRed wrote:
    Ok, sounds like there could be a couple of things here.

    Firstly, if you have to tilt the mobo to fit the ports into the slots, then you have the wrong size screw posts under the mobo. They come in 2 sizes; you may have the long ones and need the shorter ones.

    Second, it sounds like you could have a cold solder joint somewhere on the board. When you screw down the board with the tilt, it maybe opening the joint. If you're lucky, after the right screw posts are put in, you may not have the problem again.

    Try the posts first, cheap at a pc shop, then go looking for a large magnifying glass and a soldering iron... :-/
    Actually, if the stuff is new, trade it in...

    Actually I have to tilt the motherboard upwards to tilt it into the I/O panel. The link to my motherboard is above, I got it from newegg less than a week ago. If I traded it in, how could I guaranteed that the post sizes would be correct?

    But anyways I think I have the solution to my problem. I googled about motherboard mounting posts and found this:

    http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1970805,00.asp

    I have these brass posts that are shown in the above link but haven't used them. Infact I think they have come with previous cases but I didn't use them then either. The motherboard manual had no information about installing the motherboard into the case and the case manual simply said "install with appropriate screws". I did not know that these brass mounting posts were meant to be used like this and I think that they would probably solve my problem and elevate the motherboard enough so that I could use the I/O panel.

    I'll post back after installing these posts and screwing in the mobo. But just out of curiosity, are you always supposed to use these mounting posts? Because this is the third computer I've built from the ground up and I have not used them before.
  • RatBurger08RatBurger08 Corpus Christi, TX
    edited July 2007
    well you don't always need to. Take my Aerocool ExtremeEngine 3T case for example. It came with the brass spacers, but it turns out the motherboard tray has elevated parts that work like spacers, but I did need to use them for the front-most three posts. It really depends on the case.


    hope this helps you out!

    Corey

    *edit* And I did look at your case on newegg, and you will definately need to use spacers, as there are none on the case. Make sure you put them in the "ATX" labeled holes also.

    Good luck!
  • fatsheepfatsheep
    edited July 2007
    TheBurninator wrote:
    well you don't always need to. Take my Aerocool ExtremeEngine 3T case for example. It came with the brass spacers, but it turns out the motherboard tray has elevated parts that work like spacers, but I did need to use them for the front-most three posts. It really depends on the case.


    hope this helps you out!

    Corey

    *edit* And I did look at your case on newegg, and you will definately need to use spacers, as there are none on the case. Make sure you put them in the "ATX" labeled holes also.

    Good luck!

    I put the supporting posts (or "spacers" as you call them) into the correct holes for my motherboard. The holes on the case were actually incorrectly labelled btw. I have everything working on the computer hardware-wise, I'm in the process of installing Ubuntu and partitioning the hard disk now.

    Thanks for all the help. I think this problem is solved. :)
  • IndigoRedIndigoRed Perth Western Australia Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    :clap: Good job!!!


    :wow: :wow: :wow: Mounting a mobo without posts??? Well you got away with it... Glad you didn't bork the board. Sometimes ya learn even the littlest things. Good on ya!
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