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Need some help!!!!

r270ba

n00b
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Messages
9
I hope I am posting this in the right place....

I just built my first computer and cannot get it to power on......When I click the on/off switch on the power supply (with the power cord plugged in) my cpu fan spins, the case fan lights up, and the power supply fan lights up ONLY FOR A SPLIT SECOND!!!

Please help me...I don't know where to start trouble shooting.

One other thing is that the power supply is an atx power supply but the board has an eatx connector for main power. I read that this shouldn't matter.

Asus P5AD2-E Premium
Intel 3.0 Pentium 4 530J
MSI NVidia GeForce 6800 (regular not Ultra or GT)
2 WD 160 SATA drives
600W Okia power supply

Thanks for anyone who can lend some assistance.

r2
 
It's likely that your motherboard isn't detecting a fan attatched to the 3-prong 'CPU Fan' power header on the motherboard.

This is a fail-safe, so that should the fan on your CPU stop spinning, your computer will automatically turn off and keep your CPU from over-heating. ;)

Personally, I recommend plugging your CPU fan into this header - but if you'd prefer to power your CPU's fan through a molex header off your PSU, this failsafe can generally be turned off in the BIOS.

Hope that helps! :cool: Good luck!
 
As far as my fan goes I was talking about my Case fan would light up...the cpu fan starts to spin and stops...it is plugged into the cpu_fan port

Another thing....

Like I said above...I have a 20 pin atx main connector for a 24 pin eatx onboard connector...I switched the connectors side (shifted it to the right where the left 4 pins were open instead of on the left where the right 4 pins were open) and now I have my onboard power light lighting up....(it didn't light before when the power supply would quickly shut off)....have I ruined anything? I still cannot get the machine to power (but the power light is now on)....

Any more suggestions?

Thanks
 
oh yea and i do have the power switch connected for my front panel....(is there anyway to power it with out the front panel???)
 
Im so confused about your connection arrangements. OK, supposedly, the 20-pin PSU plug goes into your 24-pin mobo power connector and it should be plugged to/from the left (odd, there should be only one way you can plug it in). Yes, 20-pin into 24-pin connector wouldn't matter, as long as you also plug another 4-pin PSU plug into a 4-pin connector on your mobo. What you need to do is plug everything to its supposed connectors and go through the manual to see if anythings left out and if everything is connected correctly. Pushing the on/off button on your psu should only only turn on a small green light on the mobo. Then you need to press the on/off at the front panel to power on the system.

I don't think its a big deal but you need to check out the connections first (follow the well-written manual). If the prob remains.....the first thing you'd swap is your PSU.
 
ImLazZzy,

Well when I saw the the PSU connetor and the mobo connector were different I googled it....Here is the best thing I have found....
http://gear.ign.com/articles/579/579077p9.html
The mobo manual also says that it should work but is "not recomended"...I am going to order a 20pin to 24pin changer tomorrow.

I have followed the mobo directions to a 'T'....When I power the PSU from the back I get a green led light on my mobo....What I can't do is get any response by pushing the power buttong on the front (yes i have the power switch hooked up)...so basically it appears that I have power to the mobo (to light up the green led) but can't get the mobo to "turn on" (for lack of better words.

ohnnyj,

What do you mean it is probably the PSU...b/c it was a cheap one or what?

Thanks for your help!!!!!!

r2
 
One other thing to check for is the motherboard standoffs. make sure you don't have any extra ones in there that might be shorting the board.
 
r270ba said:
ImLazZzy,

Well when I saw the the PSU connetor and the mobo connector were different I googled it....Here is the best thing I have found....
http://gear.ign.com/articles/579/579077p9.html
The mobo manual also says that it should work but is "not recomended"...I am going to order a 20pin to 24pin changer tomorrow.

I have followed the mobo directions to a 'T'....When I power the PSU from the back I get a green led light on my mobo....What I can't do is get any response by pushing the power buttong on the front (yes i have the power switch hooked up)...so basically it appears that I have power to the mobo (to light up the green led) but can't get the mobo to "turn on" (for lack of better words.

ohnnyj,

What do you mean it is probably the PSU...b/c it was a cheap one or what?

Thanks for your help!!!!!!

r2

Make sure you hooked up the front panel power switch to the mobo correctly! Again, you are wasting your money here ordering a 20-24pin adaptor and I believe its actually a 24-20 not the other way around. The only way to solve the pin prob (which I don't think its one to begin with) is to get a PSU(spec 2.0 or higher) with 24-pin mobo power plug. If you are sure all connections are right and tight and you still won't get the system up then you may have a faulty PSU so you may consider getting another one to try out....(thats what ohnnyj was saying).
 
I don't know if you have done this yet, but disconnect everything that is not necessary.

You will need the following:
1) Motherboard
2) power supply
3) Power switch
4) Memory
5) CPU with a fan.

That is it! Notice that there is NO graphics card. Simpler systems are easier to debug. No drives, keyboard, or mouse either. Play with this arrangement until you can get the fans to spin for more than 3 seconds.

Once the system actually powers up, the motherboard will complain (beep) about no graphics card. When you get to this step, add graphics and see the POST screen on the monitor.

Once you get to that point, you can begin adding the drives and other PCI card real fast.

The reason that I do this is that I have seen bad drives cause a system to not boot. So you start with the simplest system that you can, and begin adding things one piece at a time.
 
Should the fans start spinning as soon as I turn the on/off switch from the psu to on?
 
Harrkev said:
I don't know if you have done this yet, but disconnect everything that is not necessary.

You will need the following:
1) Motherboard
2) power supply
3) Power switch
4) Memory
5) CPU with a fan.

That is it! Notice that there is NO graphics card. Simpler systems are easier to debug. No drives, keyboard, or mouse either. Play with this arrangement until you can get the fans to spin for more than 3 seconds.

Once the system actually powers up, the motherboard will complain (beep) about no graphics card. When you get to this step, add graphics and see the POST screen on the monitor.

Once you get to that point, you can begin adding the drives and other PCI card real fast.

The reason that I do this is that I have seen bad drives cause a system to not boot. So you start with the simplest system that you can, and begin adding things one piece at a time.

Ok I unplugged all drives, graphics card, and everything except the above....still no go...i turn the power switch to the PSU on and the green light comes on (on the mobo)...no fans or anything...then i try to turn on the power switch from the front panel...and nothing...it doesn't POST anything....

Also...if it were a bad PSU would I be getting the green power led on the mobo to come on?

Anymore help...I really appreciate all of your hel thus far everyone!!!

r2
 
If the PSU is bad or just not giving enough power to the system, it will give results similar to what you are experiencing. In my experience if you go cheap with the PSU you end up with headaches in the future, a high quality one from a reputable company (i.e. Antec, Enermax, OCZ, PCP&C, etc.) w/a native 24-pin power connector for the mobo will rule out any kind of PSU issue. If one of those does not work than it is most likely something else in your system. But with a no name brand PSU which I highly doubt can output at the rated wattage you take your chances and IMO it looks like it is a no go.
 
but what i don't understand is .... should the cpu fan actually start running when just the on/off switch is flipped on the PSU??? I thougth it would only start running when you were trying to start the computer. Also with the PSU just flipped on in the back...should the drives open (if they are connected to the PSU)?

It just seems to me like if the 1/0 switch on the back of the PSU is flipped on then that should just give the board "juice" to be turned on....is this not correct???

r2
 
I have seen the fans rotate a few times but not power on completely. Sounds like something is not connected correctly and I would still get a native 24-pin PSU before any more damage may be done to the board. Worst case, if the new PSU does not work than you can return it and then try to rule out other items such as memory, the CPU, or the mobo.
 
r270ba said:
should i not be getting system beeps if it is one of those components?
Not necissarily, you would hope so but the computer is not smart enough to know what is wrong at all times and sometimes even gives false beep codes.
 
r270ba said:
should i not be getting system beeps if it is one of those components?
boy! your sys wasn't even powered up yet.....so the sys self-check wouldn't run! if you think your PSU is truly no prob at all (you can test it out by putting it into another system), then it must be connections here or there. It could happen that your proc is bad but its really really rare considering its an Intel. All your other parts are of fairly reliable quality. only your PSU seems out of the place.

Repeat, after me: I need to check out another PSU with a 24-pin mobo plug such as an Antec NeoPower 480W.
 
Even if your current PSU is tested in another system really doesn't mean anything unless it is equivalently equiped. Putting it in a low end computer may allow it to run since it isn't being taxed. Like we have been saying, just try a 24-pin Antec, Enermax, OCZ, PCP&C, etc. w/400W+ power.
 
I had that happen once, found that the power connector for the floppy drive was one pin off. I found out by unplugging things one at a time till I got the board to power up.
 
Thanks for all your help guys!!! I will try some of these tonight and post back....

r2
 
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