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Complete and Utter Failure

C

Carnival Forces

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Messages
4,297
just about describes my experience so far with building a computer :(

here's what i've done so far:
1. put the CD-RW in
2. put the HDD (SATA) in
3. put the Motherboard in the Case
4. Put the PCI cards in
5. Put the Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro in
6. Put the CPU in
7. put the HSF in
8. put the RAM in
9. put the "CBox" thing in
10. Put the PSU in

here's where i'm stuck:

WHERE THE HELL DO THE WIRES GO?
i've tried connecting everything i think i know should go wherever to the PSU, but then i tried turning it on: and nothing, nada, zilch, zippo, zero.

i checked to make sure i had turned the PSU on.
i've connected that big ol' 20-pin connector or w/e to the motherboard.

here are my system specs:

Case:Lian-Li PC70USB Directron

PSU: Antec 430W Power Supply, Model "TRUE430" Directron

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (RETAIL)

HSF: Zalman CNPS7000-Cu

Motherboard: Chaintech ZNF3-150

GPU: Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro 128MB

RAM: 3x 256MB Geil Ultra Platinum PC3500 433MHz DDR

Monitor: NEC FE990

HDD: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 - 200GB

CDBurner: MSI CD-R/RW Drive Model No.: CR52-M

Speakers: Creative Labs MegaWorks THX 5.1 550 Speakers Retail

Mouse: Logitech MX 500 Optical Mouse

Keyboard: Logitech Deluxe (Classic) Keyboard


i have not, as yet, unpacked the monitor or the speakers, i also haven't installed the floppy yet. I just wanted to see if the thing would turn on, and it won't.

No LEDs flicker, no fans spin, no noise. NOTHING.

:confused:^:confused:
 
Suggestions:
Take out everything, do it in this order.
1. install cpu onto motherboard
2. memory
3. put motherboard in case
4. install video card
5. install hard drive
6. install and plug in power

Make sure you plug in the fan from the CPU HSF to the right header. If you motherboard has a power on led on the board itself, check that it's on so you know it's getting power.

Also, just to be safe, make sure the switch on the back of the PSU is switched to ON ;)
 
http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

http://www.mysuperpc.com/

Others available on google.

Unplug everything. Take out the motherboard. Place it on cardboard outside of the case. Put cpu in motherboard. And heatsink and fan to cpu (plug fan into the cpu fan header on the motherboard). Put memory in. Put vid card in and plug in monitor. Plug PSU into mainboard (1 big rectangular plug, 1 little square plug). Plug in the case controls (power switch, often labeled PSW, and speaker are neccessary) for this you need to RTFM. Turn on. Anything?
 
i already tried the pcmech guide, but it doesn't actually say "connect your vid. card to THIS kinda wire from your PSU" etc. etc.

i haven't tried MySuperPC

i don't have the time as of now to re-do everything (gotta study for tomorrow, 1st day of school, today == last day of vacation =\)

and yes, the HSF is connected to the CPU Fan Header.
 
i'm sorry to sound like an ass here but...

if you don't know where the wires go, should you REALLY be building a computer??

do you have any friends who know what they're doing? maybe they'll help you out...

again, i'm not trying to be an ass...just my .02

did you hook up the wires from the case to the mobo? (pwr switch, LED wires etc.) the diagram for those should be in your motherboard manual.

best of luck to you
 
Where are you plugging your Pc into?
Wall?
UPS?

Wherever it is, is that turned on?
 
I have to agree with SlickJesus here. You've no place inside a computer if you 'don't know where the wires go', its like buying a $1100 20" LCD monitor and then SMASHING it against a wall as hard as you can. I suggest you do some research before you attempt ANYTHING more. If you have done research, and can now come back to it feeling you comfortably know 'where the wires go (ROFL)' then my suggestion is to ensure that you have all of the case controls (Power, Reset, Speaker, HD LED, Power LED) plugged onto the right pins on the motherboard (see the motherboard manual for a diagram), you should also try, as has been stated bench testing your system (aka connecting everything and running it on a cardboard box), if possible too, i'd borrow a friends PSU and try that, but I really dont think its the PSU, you've probably just not plugged in all the wires or something.

HiTech

PS
I appoligize for being so harsh, but I really can't understand why someone would attempt to build a computer without even knowing where the wires go.
 
A)i'm plugging it into a UPS and yes it's on
B)i thought i knew where the wires went, after watching a friend build a computer, evidently, i was too stupid
C)yes, i've got all the pwr switch reset switch HDD LED etc. connected.
D)i've connected everything, and it all seems fine, but for some reason it won't turn on.
E)thanks for replying.
F)post count isn't everything.
 
No where do you mention that you connected the small black connectors to the motherboard headers. (Power, reset, Speaker, Hard drive and power led)
 
Originally posted by Mojo JoJo
No where do you mention that you connected the small black connectors to the motherboard headers. (Power, reset, Speaker, Hard drive and power led)
Click to expand...

you're quite right, in my original post i had neglected to provide this information, however, i have done it as per the manual said to.
 
Try testing you PS

Un-plug your PS
disconnect your PS from everything
then connect the green wire on the 20 pin to any of the black wires. (use wire, paperclip, etc...just something conductive)

plug your PS back in and if it is good, it will power on.

(please don't kill yourself doing this)


This will only tell you if the PS will turn on, to verify voltages you'll have to use a multimeter.

Also, verify in as many places as possible, that all your wires are connected to the correct headers on the MB.

Download the manual for your board off of the website. That way you are sure to get the most current version.

Good luck
 
thanks for the suggestions

maybe i wasn't clear in my original post of desparation.

i'm almost certain i've connected everything correctly to the motherboard, as i have the manual; the same with the CD-RW, Vid Card, NIC etc.

HOWEVER

what i DON'T have a manaul for, and consequently am not sure of, is whether i've connected the correct wires from the PSU to the components.

the only one i'm absolutely sure of is the 20-pin connector, seeing as how it's almost impossible to screw up

despite looking at several online guides and my manuals, i can not find a resource that tells me which wires that come from my PSU to connect where

for instance, that little white (4-pins, i think) socket that's on the upper-right-hand corner of my Vid. Card, what, exactly, fits in there?

so far, my method has just been to plug whatever fits from the PSU into whatever fits on the components...unfortuantely, it doesn't seem to have worked

i know the UPS works because I verified it on an old monitor i had lying around.
 
just plugging in whatever you can is not a good idea. sending power into something that wasnt intended for that votage is going to mess things up and could end up burning things out. You need to plug things in where the were desgined to go, not where you thing they could go. Granted this method probably works out in most cases but is not full proof. I know this from expirience watching some kid in my computer class plug an audio wire from a cd-rom into a fan supply on the motherboard and seeing the box start to fill with smoke. Dont rely on just because it fits its right. just my .02
 
Originally posted by Spearboy
just plugging in whatever you can is not a good idea. sending power into something that wasnt intended for that votage is going to mess things up and could end up burning things out. You need to plug things in where the were desgined to go, not where you thing they could go. Granted this method probably works out in most cases but is not full proof. I know this from expirience watching some kid in my computer class plug an audio wire from a cd-rom into a fan supply on the motherboard and seeing the box start to fill with smoke. Dont rely on just because it fits its right. just my .02
Click to expand...

i'm not so stupid as to plug in the audio wire into a fan supply socket on the motherboard, if you'd bothered to read subsequent posts, you would notice that the only part where i am confused ( :confused: ) is with the wires coming from the PSU itself, not with what goes where on the motherboard; believe it or not, i, too, can RTFM.

oh yeah, it was just my .02
 
Heh, this reminds me of one of the guys in my dorm. Rich little fella. Bought the best computer at the time...boxes of stuff laying in his room. We were all jealous. But then we found out the fool didn't know how to put it together......:D

My recommendation it to find someone who's experienced in this and ask him over for help. This is too risky to do by yourself. That said, are you sure you put on the heat sink and fan correctly too? (Did you use thermal paste or use the given thermal pad?)

From your posts it sounds like this is all a power/connection issue. First off, you'll need to check the case switches to your motherboard. Some of these switches are Polarized, meaning there's a negative and positive side. If you get them reversed, they won't work. Black and white are always negative... and red is always positive (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

The next issue is the power supply, you said you got the 20 pin MB connector plugged in. There should also be a square 4-pin connector (yellow and black wires only) that also needs to go into your motherboard (should be fairly near the 20 pin one). After that, you've got your 4-pin molex connectors: They're flat with slanted edges on one side and red, yellow, and black wires. These need to be plugged into your burner and ata HD. Your other hard drive, since it's SATA needs a black SATA power connector, which you may or may not have..if you don't you'll need a converter to go from the molex to the SATA.

Your video card also needs power connected. This will be either one of the molex connectors stated above, or a smaller floppy power connector (4 pin, rectangular). Since ATI cards were made with both, I can't say for sure which one it is. All the newer ones use molex connectors though. There should be a diagram that came with the card though....

Ah, like I said, it's all rather confusing unless you've done it correctly yourself. I'm about to ask if you even installed the motherboard mounts in your case too....

I also have no idea what the "c-box" thing is....????
 
I'm confused.

Those 4 pin power connectors are called MOLEX connectors. They are used to hook devices up to the PSU to give them jooce. Your drives need to be connected to this, as does your video card if it has a connector on its board. The video card should come with the cable, and that means you have to use it. It isn't optional.

Also, as far as connecting the front leds, they can be tricky, I had a couple upside down due to labeling and the motherboard manual. Quick fix however.

Your case fans should also have molex connectors (like your drives) and they need to be connected as well.
 
Could be a simple as a bad on/off switch on the case. Try pulling the power switch off of the motherboard header and shorting the 2 pins it connects to with a screwdriver momentarily. See if it powers up. Also you can try to remove the reset button wire from the header and try powering up - the reset button may be stuck in.

dog
 
Originally posted by Carnival Forces
i'm not so stupid as to plug in the audio wire into a fan supply socket on the motherboard, if you'd bothered to read subsequent posts, you would notice that the only part where i am confused ( :confused: ) is with the wires coming from the PSU itself, not with what goes where on the motherboard; believe it or not, i, too, can RTFM.

oh yeah, it was just my .02
Click to expand...

im not trying to say your stupid. i know that i probably rank pretty low in knowledge compared to many of the users on this forum, id like to think i know a lot, but there are some pretty amazing people on here. But i did read the prior post and if you dont understand what some wire is comming from your psu is and you can't find it in the manual, call the company up and simply ask them. they built it, they should know where it goes. if they dont you shouldnt buy anything from them. that should be the easiest answer. or take a picture of it and post it so people can see exactly what you mean.
 
Spearboy--sorry, i'm just really frustrated at myself, i tried calling Antec already, but they're only open on Weekdays (when i have school...), figures :rolleyes:

i'd like to post a picture, but no digital camera =\


emorphien and BlueKnight thanks for the suggestions, i'll try them as soon as my parents get home (since they like to supervise me), perhaps it's those front LEDs that i connected the wrong way (regarding their polarity), i'll have to check that.

okay, i just went and checked and i am connecting the vid. card // SATA (my only) HDD // and CD-RW w/ the Molex connectors; however, the case fans i just plugged into the motherboard FAN HEADER slots, is that okay?

thanks for all the help, guys. I knew I could count on the [H] :D
 
err idk, that picture just has a bunch of white plugs, and i've plugged the one that fit into the Vid. Card // HDD // CD-RW
^-- it's the one that has 4 socket holes all in one row, kinda wide; not the biggest one, nor the one that has 2 rows. just the one w/ 4 plug holes all in one row.

question 1: like, there's this wire where 2 branch out from the PSU, and one is black (plug) which is connected to my Vid. Card (the wire colors are red/black/yellow), and then another one from this same branch is connected to my CD-RW, is that okay? <-- I know it's hard to visualize, but it's hard to describe as well...

question 2: I just noticed something, that little red thing, it's inset into the AnteC PSU on the back, near the power on/off switch, mine says "11", is that what it SHOULD say? Do I need to change it ? Perhaps it's the thing that decides what Voltage to run at? (110 vs. 220 i think are the options for America vs. Europe) I don't know if I need to change that, I looked in the Antec manual, but it didn't say =\.
 
Make sure that the "little red thing" is all the way to the side showing 115v.
 
Hope this helps you a little bit.

The wires from the PSU. You got your 20-Pin for the mainboard. Even if you have just that connected with out even connecting any other wires to the drives etc, when you press power you should get something regardless. I think possibly you have the mainboard controllers wires mixed up a bit. Double check the wires going from the switch on your case to the motherboard as well as the connections for the indicator lights on the case. Also to check if you mother board is getting power, generally if you plug a Ethernet cable into your ethernet port, it will light up even if the machine isn't on, as long as its pluged in. There also should be a indicator light right on the motherboard that tells you its getting power. Also if you have a laser mouse it should be lite up even when the PC is off.

Any how there isn't much to know about the PSU connections, other than you have your 2 connections for mainboards 1 for AMD the other for Intel. Then you have your large 4 pin connectors for the dirves, cd-rom HD etc. You have your slot connection for the SATA drive. Then you have your 2 Pin fan only connections that are the same as the 4 pin in size and shape but only have 2 pins inside the connector. And then finally some PSUs come with 1 or 2 small 4-pin that usally are used for fans, but recently coming on the new ATI video cards.

If all else fails, take it to a professional, he can go through the order of ops for you and figure out the problem.

Hope the helps a little.
 
Originally posted by Carnival Forces
however, the case fans i just plugged into the motherboard FAN HEADER slots, is that okay?
Click to expand...

SHould be fine, that's why they're there.
 
make sure the power switch connector isn't upsidedown or the wrong way, play w/it, it SHOULD work.

if not...i dunno man, just put things where they fit, its not rocket science.

Is your CPU seated correctly?
is your mobo grounded? (did u screw it onto the case or did you use the spacers they come with) ( USE the spacers )

Put the mobo in, put in PSW, plug in 20 pin to mobo, plug PSW into wall, look for the light on the mobo, it SHOULD be lit.

i don't know what the problem could be
 
Its generally not a great idea to plug every peice of your system together and then power up for the first time.

a) you can actually hrt things, I have seen a PSU go bad from this, and I have also seen a bios go bad from this.
b)it causes confusion, if there is a faulty part its hard to narrow it down when every single trivial part is connected in your pc, You dont need the friggen sound card connected for a first hard boot.

Take all un-necessary parts out and leave the very basics.

What to take out:

UNHOOK all cdroms, even harddrive, fans, extra sticks of ram, sound, nic, other pci devices, etc etc... (unhook both cables and power)

What to leave hooked up:

You should ONLY have the powersupply in your case with only the 20 pin connector hooked up (if p4 system or whatever then the extra 4 pin MB connector). Hook the video card up (if it requires a molex connector hooked up then do so)... Leave only 1 stick of ram in, and the CPU/heatsink-fan... and then ONLY hook up the power switch (not all the others)

Now you can turn the system on, there should be very little interfering and you will be able to trouble shoot things much easier.

also after this it doesnt hurt to clear bios before turning on, that way a bad setting wont cause problems.

Eveyone here who has built multiple systems knows that often tossing together a system can result in it not booting up for some odd reason. Now adays I dont even bother throwing together a system, I usually test it first with just the basic components then once I get a boot screen I start adding in various parts until its all put together.
 
yes its ok to have multiple devices plugged into the same branch, if it werent then there wouldnt be multiple molex connectors on the branch =P (it also doesnt matter what those devices are)
 
I must admit just skimming the thread but did you plugg the case power switch wire into the header correctly or the correct one for that matter. 5 will get yah 10?
 
If you're not getting any power at all, and you're sure that all of the front panel wires are connected correctly, all cards have been seated and reseated properly, and nothing is shorting out, I think you could start to suspect the power supply. That's assuming that you've followed the advice given so far, and you're tried to power up with only select components installed. I picked up a power supply tester from newegg, and it's a Godsend. I always test new power supplies, as a bad one could kill a new system completely. You should look into that, and perhaps swap out a different power supply.
 
I still think you need to take the mobo out of the case and run it sitting on cardboard. You may be shorting onto the case.
 
Yea, even if you don't have your HD/CD-Rom/Floppy plugged in right, it should still boot to at least something, even if it's beeping. As long as the 20pin connector is on and the power on switch & reset switch are connected properly, you should get something happening.
 
Originally posted by blackrino9
Try testing you PS

Un-plug your PS
disconnect your PS from everything
then connect the green wire on the 20 pin to any of the black wires. (use wire, paperclip, etc...just something conductive)

plug your PS back in and if it is good, it will power on.

(please don't kill yourself doing this)

Click to expand...

i think this is where you should make your first step. if you can tell us that you power supply is working, then we can move to the next step. if your not even getting a the psu to power up then there is no point looking at anything else. why fix something that wont get power. post findings once you have done that
 
Originally posted by Spearboy
i think this is where you should make your first step. if you can tell us that you power supply is working, then we can move to the next step. if your not even getting a the psu to power up then there is no point looking at anything else. why fix something that wont get power. post findings once you have done that
Click to expand...

Some PSU'sill still not start if there is no load on them. Putting a fan on the 12v rail usually takes care of this.
 
Take out/unplug everything except vid card, PSU, Mobo with cpu HSF and one stick of ram. Make sure your Plugs for the front pannel are conencted right and then try powering it up.

An LED connected backwards is not gona stop you from powering your system up.

Just to make sure take a desk lamp and plug it in where your computer is to test out the socket.

Very unusual, but try your power cord with another device to make sure it works too.

GL and stay alive!
 
Here you go I will detail it.

Connect (1) Female molex connector to your hard drive.
Connect (1) Female mini-molex connector to your Floppy (on the same strand as your HDD molex.
Connect (1) Female molex connector to your CD ROM.

That takes care of your Disks

Now for your video Card. Please follow these directions from Saph.



ADDITIONAL POWER CONNECTION REQUIREMENTS

The Radeon 9800 Pro must be connected to the computer? power supply to meet its performance and high-speed memory requirements.
In order to supply the ATI Graphics Accelerator card with the necessary power, we have included the Power Extension Cable.
Use the Power Extension Cable to connect the Radeon 9800Pro to the computer? hard Drive power connector.

1. Remove the power cable from the hard drive.
2. Connect the 4-pin connector of the Power Extension Cable to the Radeon 9800 Pro power connector.
3. Connect the Power Extension Cable to the power supply connector.
4. Connect the Power Extension Cable to the Hard Drive connector.
Click to expand...

Now that is taken care of. Make sure your Power Switch is connected to the Power Header on the Mainboard, and that looking near the header, on the board it should be printed which one is Ground (gnd), and which on is Positive (pos, or +). The cable that ISN'T black on the Power Switch is the Positive. The Black cables are almost always ground.

Ok, now connect the 20pin Molex to the Mainboard, and make sure it snaps in. It can only be inserted one way, same with all the other molex connectors. This is for the newbs like your self (serious here, I am not kidding).

Ok now that you have all that crap you don't need to connect anything else. (Your fans should be in thier headers, and you HSF should be in its header).

Now that you have this accomplished, plug the standard power cable into the WALL, not the UPS (eliminate one problem at a time here). Make sure your PSU's switch is at the | position (| and O are the positions | is on, and O is off think bianary). Now that this is done, you can try the power switch.

Please get back to me on this.

Cheers,
 
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