new build woes / sporadic no posts

I

INFINITE

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 22, 2004
Messages
189
So I built this system for my kids and from square one was having issues with it posting. While the motherboard was installed in the case it would not post - all the fans would spin and you could hear the DVD and hard drive initialize but that's it. At this stage the power and reset buttons did nothing. The only way to power off the system was to flip the switch on the back of the PSU.

If I took the motherboard out of the case (with bare essentials installed (vid card and one stick of memory / even tried switching sticks) it would post. So after tinkering with this and installing / uninstalling the board about 6 times - thinking it was some sort of ground issue I finally got it to post while installed in the case. I got Win7 installed and let it sit overnight. I came back today and it was locked up. Power and reset switches did nothing again - had to shut it off via the PSU switch. Tried to reboot and same old song and dance again.

The Corsair case doesn't have a pc speaker and the mobo doesn't have one either so I'm not able to hear any error beeps if there were any. I was wondering if its possible to hear trouble beeps by plugging in headphones or speakers to the onboard audio port?

I'm assuming what I have here is a bad motherboard but I just wanted some 2nd opinions before RMA'ing it.


  • LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04
  • Corsair Carbide Series 200R Black Steel / Plastic compact ATX Mid Tower Case
  • Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
  • BIOSTAR TA970 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
  • CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE
  • Logitech MK320 Black USB RF Wireless Standard Desktop
  • Team Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000)
  • AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX
  • PowerColor AX7870 2GBD5-2DHV2 Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB
 
Do you have another video card or power supply you can try.
Did you remove everything of, ie dvd rom, rf receiver for keyboard.

Funny you brought the grounding issue up, I had an evga board and could get stable. Turned out there was a screw on the back of the board.
 
Try taking it out of the case again and see if it posts again.
 
I just tried it again - everything in the case - no post.

Took the board out of the case - everything plugged into it (exact to its in case setup) and it'll f'n post and load Windows. Something has to either be grounding / shorting out. :confused:

There is plenty of clearance - the risers are taller than anything on the back of the board. I'm ready to cover the whole back side in electrical tape and try it just for shits.
 
I am at a complete loss. For the heck of it and to rule out anything on the backside of the mobo shorting or grounding on the case I took the thin foam sheet that came with the mobo and placed it on the risers covering the back of the mobo like a gasket. Exact same shit no post no beeps (assuming it would over the audio ports since no speaker is present).

Out of all my years I've never seen something so damn odd, stupid, and frustrating.

The only other fluke I can think of - maybe there's something wrong with the main power harness in the PSU and by installing the mobo its orientating the harness some magic way that creates a problem vs when its lying outside the case. I don't have any spare parts to swap to further narrow this down unfortunately.

another edit:
I feel like a dumbass - but I think I figured it out! As a last ditch effort I simply googled "pc won't post with motherboard in case" and read a thread on tomshardware about someone having the exact same issue...someone suggested the mobo mounting screws being too large and possibly touching something on the board / or adding insulating washers.

So I took all the screws out of the board - the board is still retained in the case by a single mounting peg that corsair has in the 200 series case and fucking VIOLA it posted. I'm going to do some more tests and I'll update.
 
Last edited:
INFINITE said:
another edit:
I feel like a dumbass - but I think I figured it out! As a last ditch effort I simply googled "pc won't post with motherboard in case" and read a thread on tomshardware about someone having the exact same issue...someone suggested the mobo mounting screws being too large and possibly touching something on the board / or adding insulating washers.

So I took all the screws out of the board - the board is still retained in the case by a single mounting peg that corsair has in the 200 series case and fucking VIOLA it posted. I'm going to do some more tests and I'll update.
Click to expand...

That happened to me in one of my earlier builds. I had to find, buy, and use some motherboard washers to solve the problem. (I've been using them ever since.)
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
The only time I get that issue is if I overtightened the screws.
 
update

Still running fine without the screws installed. Ordered some fiber washers waiting on them to come in.

This is the first time I've ever had an issue requiring the use of fiber washers but I guess there is a first time for everything. And fwiw when the screws were originally installed they were tightened with two fingers so it was highly unlikely they were over-tightened.
 
Check to make sure current isn't running through your case via a bad PSU or bad ground wire from the wall.
 
Ok fiber washers came in. I installed them on all mobo screws and no post. So I started taking them out one by one each time testing to see if the system would post. I've narrowed it down to the the upper most hole nearest the back side of the board (near the panel usb, ethernet, etc.) also this is where it appears the VRMs sit on the board.

Sure enough install a screw in that hole no post - remove it - post. If I install the suspect screw, turn on the system, and put a meter on it I see a very small amount of current fluctuating from 0 to 250mv. I will have another PSU at my disposal tomorrow as added insurance it somehow is not to blame.
 
Last edited:
last update I finally RMA'd the board and replaced it with an ASRock 990FX Extreme 3. This was the board I intended to go with originally then I cheaped out and paid the price. Zero issues with this board popped it in and BAM everything is a go.

/thread
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top