Built a PC, but no response

[Dida]

My friend's parts all arrived today, and we put everything together. But when turned on, the pc gave no response, no fan/disk activities whatsoever. First, I suspected the PSU, ripped it out, tested in another system, it worked. I thought maybe we didn't connect the power button correctly, but I doubled checked that, there is a pin on the mobo, that says "PWRBTN#", it must means power button, I connected the "Power SW" from the front of the case to this pin, and another "GND" ground pin. From my experience, this should be the right way of connecting power switch. Can the mobo be a dead on arrival? How do I check if it is?

 

[Speedo]

Double check the mobo manual just to be sure you got the right connector... in my experience cases usually just have one plug for the power switch, not sure what you mean by the ground plug.

But yeah, it's possible the motherboad is DOA. That would be the my first suspect if you know the PSU is good and are getting zero response.

Oh yeah, idiot check yourself- You did plug power into the board, right? Did you plug in the extra +12V 4 pin connector? And the second piece of the main connector, if it uses 24 pin (ATX v2.0)?

 

[Dida]

I plugged the 20-pin, as well as the 4-pin power connecter. My case has 1 plug for power-on switch, but it takes 2-pins. on the mobo, only 1 pin is labeled with 'PWRBTN#', so I think the other pin that the connector takes must be the 'GND' pin.

 

[Dida]

found someone with similiar issue

What exactly is a 'cold boot' issue.

The article stated "We did find extremely irritating cold boot issues with the ASRock in our testing. Even at standard stock speeds and settings, the 939Dual often required several starts to boot,"

I purchased the 939Dual for a new computer and it will not start when the power button is pushed. The pins on the System Power Header for the PWRBTN# to GND measure 3.37 Vdc.

Are these separate problems?

 

[Dida]

Just talked to newegg, I am gotta return this trash for a replacement. I forget to ask if newegg will pay for my return shipment. But I hate to call them again, anyone had prior experience with new egg? do they pay for the shipment for DOA replacement?

 

[Dida]

I took the mobo out of the case, and it powered up. It appeared as if the case is somehow shorting the mobo.

 

[Black_Hole]

I took the mobo out of the case, and it powered up. It appeared as if the case is somehow shorting the mobo.

maybe the on button is messed up, try crossing the 2 pins that would have been connected to the case power button with a screw driver...
if it works, chances are the case's on button is the culprit

 

[Dida]

I found out the problem is between the mobo and the case. At first, there was no power at all. Then I took it out of the case, it got power, but not POST. Then I took out of the case again, this time it powered on, with POST. So, the motherboard works alrite outside of the case, but just not inside the case. Weird situation.

 

[Duke of Marlbrough]

Is any part of the mobo touching the case and creating a short? Do you have all the spacers in the right spots?

 

[Dida]

The case must be shorting the mobo, there is no other explanation. But, something just went wrong, now it won't even power up outside of the box. LOL. I never had this much trouble with a single computer. This is making me sick. In my computer building career, this is the worst experience.

 

[Speedo]

I have a particular mobo where the 3 holes on the front edge of the board (as the board is sitting in the case) were lined up correctly and looked like they were meant to be used, but didn't have any insulation around them and looked to me like they would short if you put a screw in them or spacer under them. Could be something like that.

 

[Dida]

Now, the board would power up and spin the fans if I only connect the 20 pin power cord to it, and it doesn't go into POST. If I connect both the 20 pin and 4 pin, I will hear a low 'zeep' sound from within the PSU, but nothing on the board will move.
But just a moment ago, it will power up and go into POST. This board is giving me so much headache, I cannot believe this. Seems to me that this board or whatever is beyond salvation. Gotta go back to NewEgg.

 

[Speedo]

Does the mobo require the 24 pin main connection (ATX v2.0) and an additional 4 pin +12V, or just the old 20 pin main and the 4 pin +12V?

When you tried the PSU on another board, did it have identical power connection requirements as the one you're having the problem with?

 

[Dida]

My board requires 20 pin + 4 pin. My old board requires only 20 pin. I went to get another PSU from BestBuy to test if mine was broken. When I turned the system on with that BestBuy PSU, there was a spark, and something burnt. I thought:"okay, now it is toasted." The system seem dead, and won't move with that BestBuy PSU attached. So I hooked up my own PSU, and WOW, it booted into BIOS, everything runs fine. The board is still outside of the case, I don't know what is gotta happen if I put it back into the case though. This is ridiculous, I have never seem anything amazing like this, I have to give a testomony on how Jesus helped me built a PC.

 

[IglooDame]

My board requires 20 pin + 4 pin. My old board requires only 20 pin. I went to get another PSU from BestBuy to test if mine was broken. When I turned the system on with that BestBuy PSU, there was a spark, and something burnt. I thought:"okay, now it is toasted." The system seem dead, and won't move with that BestBuy PSU attached. So I hooked up my own PSU, and WOW, it booted into BIOS, everything runs fine. The board is still outside of the case, I don't know what is gotta happen if I put it back into the case though. This is ridiculous, I have never seem anything amazing like this, I have to give a testomony on how Jesus helped me built a PC.

Is Jesus A+ certified?

Sounds like you blew the BestBuy PSU, not the mobo. And like others have said, I'd pay careful attention to the various spacers and make sure nothing is shorting it.

 

[Dida]

Is Jesus A+ certified?

Sounds like you blew the BestBuy PSU, not the mobo. And like others have said, I'd pay careful attention to the various spacers and make sure nothing is shorting it.

The interesting thing is, the BestBuy PSU still works. In fact everything works. Before the 'spark', the motherboard won't boot outside of the case either. Now I put it back to the case and it is happily installing Windows XP. The 'spark' seem to have solved whatever problem I had with the system. Jesus must have been such a computer geek!

 

[handyandy]

Could it be that the new bestbuy psu had more power and for want of a better word burnt through a bad conector between the psu and the motherboard?

 

[Dida]

Could it be that the new bestbuy psu had more power and for want of a better word burnt through a bad conector between the psu and the motherboard?

I don't know WTH happened, but whatever happened was nothing short of amazing.

 

[Dida]

my question now is how to check if your hdd is running in SATAII mode?

 

[Speedo]

my question now is how to check if your hdd is running in SATAII mode?

If your motherboard supports SATAII (and be sure you have it going to a SATAII header, some boards support both SATA150 and SATA2) and your HDD is SATAII... well, then you're running in SATAII.