New PC problem...

[DragonPark]

I just recently bought my gf some parts for a new computer. I had another person go through everything just to make sure they would all be compatible as ive never built an entire system before. I got everything installed correctly to the best of my knowledge. Only problem areas there could have possibly been were mounting the mother board and installing the CPU, everything else ive done in my own computer without any problems. When i started it up for the first time, everything was great and seemed to be working correctly. I put a windows disk in to install XP and did a format of the HD. It was taking forever to format for some reason i left for 5min and it only did about 6%. I think this is probably due to the large size of the disk (200gigs). A few minutes later, it jumped up to 89% and then finished only 20sec after that. Once it reached 100%, the computer shut off. I have no idea what happened. My gf claims she smelled a burning smell, but i didnt smell it. After unplugging the power and letting it sit for a while, i tried to turn it back on. Didnt turn on, the power flashed on then off quickly. I checked all my connections to make sure they were correct. HDD was installed and selected as master, first dvd-rom was master on cable as well as the jumper and the second dvd-rom was select as slave on the cable and jumper. Video card was in correctly, as it would show a picture if it werent, and the audio card was installed correctly. The computer does have 2 extra peices that take up a PCI slot, one is a firewire port and the other is 2 USB2.0 and a serial port. There is also a mic jack, headphone jack, and 2 USB2.0 ports on the front of the case. My stubling block was install the wires for these as they were all single wires. I connected the USB2.0 wires as i saw them on the other connector. Seamed to make sense after with the lables that were on the connectors too.

Basically im giving you all this info cause i cant find out what is wrong with the thing. I can get pics of a few thing, but it wont be for a few days as i have work tomorrow night. Does anybody know any possible problems?

[jcarle]

If you bought a cheap case or a used one, chances are your power supply is crap. If it's a low wattage one, it could be choking on the demand for power.

Go out and buy a good quality, 450w+ power supply. That will eliminate one of the most problematic, important and hard to find issues with PC blue screens, crashes and operational inconsistencies.

[DragonPark]

the power supply is only 400w, but that cant be the problem. I disconnected everything that wasnt needed to boot the computer. I detatched the video card, both cd-roms drives along with all extra USB and firewire ports. The computer still will not boot up.

[jcarle]

If it does not beep at all when you try to boot it with only the motherboard, cpu and ram (yes, no videocard), then one of those three things hit rock bottom and went to kentucky fried heaven.

[clee25]

DP: did you put the contact jel on the heat sink properly?

also check to see if your grounding the mobo on the case or if your warping the board when you tightened the screws down

ill be in and out of the irc chan all day so try and PM me there.

[DragonPark]

curious as to if anybody knows why it would suddenly shut off when everything was going fine.

[gandalfgrey]

Maybe your RAM is loose in the socket? Try re-inserting it.

[DragonPark]

Ive installed and reinstalled everything a few times already. I doubt it would be the ram anyway, the board is designed to beep when there is a missing componant.

[Flashcore]

The best advice I can give is take the motherboard completely out of the PC and stick it on the plastic bag that it should have came in or on a piece of cardboard/wood (Anything with no metal in it) make sure the CPU and Heatsink are securely fashioned. Remove the ram from the board and hook the power switch cable and the speaker cable from the case up to the correct pins and plug the power supply in. Try to turn the computer on and if you still don’t have any power it’s the board or processor. If the system comes on with a long beep then it is because you have no ram in there and that is likely the cause of the system problems. If you still get nothing take the CPU out but leave the heatsink fan plugged into the correct power port and try and power it up. If you get no beeps this time your board is fried or it’s a bad power supply.

[rupert86]

I assume that you are doing it the very first first time in your life. Yet if the system is not POSTing (or gives 'no display' - as in or local slang) it is the hardest problem to troubleshoot, since there can be a number of devices gone wrong. If you are finding it hard, get the whole system in its state to a nearby computer workshop.

My suggestions:

0. Keep trying the 'CLEAR CMOS' jumper. It is most probably the only jumper on your board, notified by 'JP2' or 'JBAT1'.

1. Detach everything (HDs, DVDs, every extra connector). Detach their power cables as well as data cables. The only things connected together should be CPU, mobo, PSU and RAM (of course the VGA card if it is not integrated).

2. Get the mobo out of the casing, and the PSU. Put it on a thick book, insert the VGA card so that its tail hangs off the book. Now you have mobo on the book, with RAM, CPU and VGA card fitted. Connect the PSU, only the monitor and keyboard. Now the next bit is hard: Short the two pins marked 'POWER_ON' or 'POWER_SW' on the front panel connector (insert a screw driver or one leg of needle nose pliers between the two pins). The fans should run. If they run, its OK. Now there should be some display. If its not go to #3.

3. Exchange RAM, VGA card ad CPU between systems, if you have any other at hand. By that I mean, try this CPU on the other, plus the other system's CPU here. Go with only one thing changed (e.g: RAM) to all of them (RAM, VGA, CPU). If all the things worked on the other system, and all the other system's components worked on your system, naybe returning things to their original locations would also do.

Plz. note that #2 is asking for too much care. Although I've noted that sometimes hit & trial works (there were some cases in which I didn't know of the location of the 'POWER_SW' connector). I myself have burned two boards doing this. #3 can be followed also when your mobo is installed in the casing.

Did you say that the power LED lights up for a sec. Hmmmmmmmmm: maybe somethings shorting, but the PSU trips instantly.

P.S.: A hundred times it has happened with me (esp with older systems) that changing of 'climate' (install components on the other board and they POST, install it back into their own mobo, they start to run; new life, it is) helps too much. Can somebody tell me why. This most usually occurs with Klamath & Deuschutes CPUs, and unbranded RAMs.

[DragonPark]

Heh, i guess i should have posted here when i found out the problem. I had thought that the problem was the power supply due to what was going on, power on and shutting off right away. I got so fed up with not being able to tell what the problem was for sure that i took it to a computer tech shop and paid freaking 35bucks to have a technician plug a switch into the power supply, turn it on and see it turn off right away, same exact behavior i saw when i had the mobo connected. Of course this p***ed me off, but at least i knew the problem.

I called tigerdirect, they refunded me for the case and power supply as they were damaged and my gf and I went out and bought a new case and psu.

I got everything connected again, and there was yet another problem! This time i knew exactly how to troubleshoot it. The problem was that the mobo was reporting that the cpu fan wasnt working. I looked at the fan and it was indeed not spinning. I shut the computer off quickly as to not cause any harm to the cpu and connected the fan to another fan slot on the mobo. After letting the cpu cool down, i turned it on and the fan was spinning, so the problem was not the fan. Then i got a multimeter to test the voltage running through the pins. I found that the voltage running through the psu fan supply was 12v, exactly what its supposed to be. Then i tested the cpu fan and found only 2v was running through the pins.

I called tigerdirect and told them of the problem. Beleive it or not, the rep said that he had the same problem and he just plugged his cpu fan into the psu fan pins. Me being one NOT to keep faulty hardware told him that the mobo wont even let me boot up without the cpu fan working and basically forced him to issue a return. It is on its way here now and hopefully i wont have another problem.

Wish me luck with the new mobo, if that doesnt work, i doubt ill ever buy from tigerdirect again...