noob in need

[Arriend]

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this.

I've decided to purchase system components to put together a nice computer for a small budget... Problem is that I think I may have gotten in over my head.

The first problem I'm encountering is that of the PSU to MoBo connection...the PSU is an Antec, came with the tower I got (a nice Sonata) and has a 24pin connector (even though the manual is calling it a 20 pin..) and the MoBo is a 754, which takes a 20pin connector...I've heard that it's fine to just leave the extra 2x2 space hanging over, and it seems to work that way, but I believe I may be missing out on the power needed on the 12v rail.
When I put some power through the thing, all the drives and fans spin up fine...but there are a few problems I'm seeing after that:

The green power LED on the front panel does not come on...the orange light beneath it will, but the green light will not come up.

The monitor isn't recognizing the system when it powers up (stays without an image, and the orange light also solid there)

When I tried to coax the system into a beep code (by removing RAM and booting up) nothing happened...

K..so I feel like this system I had once fantasized of is now a hunk'a'junk that has been little more than a headache. Any advice, pointers, or input is HIGHLY appreciated.

Thanks again.

 

[erorr404]

what exactly do you mean by "put some power" through it?
if you mean plugging stuff in (USB, drives, etc), then yes it looks like a PSU problem. i would try using another PSU you may have laying around.

 

[nst6563]

Does your Antec supply have a "detachable" set of 4 pins on the end of that ATX connector? I know that's becoming a popular feater for the 24-pin PSU's so they are backward compatible to the 20-pin mb's.

The extra 4 pins aren't going to net you anything in terms of power. They are simply an extra 4 pins for 12v and 3.3v, nothing more. Basically (from what I understand) all it's doing is splitting the current draw into more wires so that the newer boards that come out with higher power requirements don't overload/overheat the wires. Think car stereo amp. The mfr may recommend you use a single 8-gauge wire for power, however, you can use two smaller gauge (10 or 12) and get the same result with less heat generated through the wire due to the multiple current paths.

Make sure you have it plugged in correctly. If those extra 4 pins aren't detachable and you didn't get a 24-pin to 20-pin adapter, then make sure you have the right 4 pins out of the connector.

 

[Arriend]

Thank you for the quick responses!

When I said "put some power through it" I was referring to connecting the PSU to an outlet and attempting to boot up. I thought about using a different PSU, but the only spare is ancient and provides a whopping 130w or so (video card is requiring a 350w supply, so I'm not certain what risks I'd be running).

Unfortunately there is no 24 -> 20 adapter provided and the additional 2x2 pins are not removable. I had also thought that the wrong four may have been hanging over the edge, but the PSU connector has square and pentagram shaped "teeth", and with the configuration of them the only way to have four hanging over is how it currently is. The four hanging over are black, red, orange and yellow. The manual was talking about the red/yellow being 12v rail, and I'm suspecting they are not able to provide the power needed to get this machine up and running.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll try getting Antec on the line and see if they have any idea how to rectify this 24pin problem...I suppose if all else fails I'd have to return the MoBo and have to go up a tier in the socket department (all socket 754s I've seen have 20 pin connectors though)..which means a new proc, new video card...oh damn, this is intimidating...

[edit]
Currently, here's what's in the machine.

CHAINTECH VNF3-250 Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce3 250 ATX AMD Motherboard
eVGA 128-A8-N350 Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card
AMD Athlon 64 2800+ Newcastle Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 754 Processor
crucial 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory
Antec Life Style SONATA 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Antec 380W Power Supply
...would there be a conflict between a nForce3 MoBo and a GeForce video card..? I'd hope not, being that it's the same manufacturer..but then again, I'm out of ideas...

 

[nst6563]

you can still get NForce s939 boards with AGP. I think you'd just need to get NF3 or VIA chipset.

s939 may be the better way to go anyway, it at least leaves you an upgrade path to X2 if you so desire in the future.

 

[Arriend]

I figured it's only fair to give updates on what's going on after drawing a few into the conversation so...

I contacted Chaintech (manufacturer of the MoBo) about the problems I'm experiencing and, while struggeling to decipher the engrish, went through troubleshooting steps to see if the problem is something we can narrow down...I disconnected everything other than the proc, heatsink and fan,, removed the MoBo from the case, attached the 24pin connector to the 20pin intake, connected the 4pin bit, connected the pwr sw connector, put some power to it and...nothing. No beep signal or anything, so all they could say was that the proc or the mobo have gone bad. I'm attempting to contact AMD to question as to further troubleshooting, but am thinking I might as well get these things packaged up and sent back to Newegg...boy I hope they cooperate..

Thanks again for the help thus far.

 

[nst6563]

Newegg is usually VERY good when you call and explain what's going on. A similar thing happened to me when I first upgraded to P4 a couple years ago and was having problems with an Abit board (IS7-G). Went through two of them that wouldn't work with my configuration so they let me "exchange" my order for an Asus board and just pay the difference. Funny thing was, they sent me a bunch of AMD stuff (stickers, badge holder, T-Shirt) for my trouble...even though I was ordering an Intel system

 

[Russ]

Chaintech boards usually suck. Either rma or return the board (for a different one if you can). I doubt your psu is proken, seeing as it's a new antec and you shouldn't be having any power problems with everything unneccesary disconnected (I.E. video card, ram, etc.).