Building 1st PC and power supply burned. Please HELP!!

[bolido2000]

I've always bought barebones PC and this is the first time that I build a PC from scratch. I know I probably did really stupid things so please bear with me.

I put everything together (Asus A7N8X dlx and barton 2500+) and plug the computer. The fan of the heatsink spun for 1/2 a second when I switched the PS to "1" and then it stopped. I pressed the power button many times and NOTHING was turning on. I could hear a light "hummm" coming from the PS, but I thought that it wasn't really "on" (switch still in "1". The fan of the HS would spun for 1/2 second without me doing anything for about 3 times during 5 minutes and then it would stop. Then I see sparks and smoke coming out of the PS.
Questions:
I didn't use stand off for the MB. They didn't come with the MB (not even in the retail version) and they were not mentioned in the manual. I googled my problem and there was a site saying that without stand offs MB would likely not turn on. Is this what happened to me??

The PS is toast. are my MB or other components dead as well?

The MB is a newegg refurb. Could all this problems caused by a defective MB??

thanks

 

[Mem]

I didn't use stand off for the MB. They didn't come with the MB (not even in the retail version) and they were not mentioned in the manual.

They normally come with the case,anyway that`s your problem you didn`t have any standoffs underneath the motherboard at all ,only way to test the components now is to get a new PSU and some standoffs and try again,remember to put the standoffs(you need about 6 or so) in the right positions which is underneath those soldered looking round holes on the motherboard(you don`t need to use all of them)then you just put some screws in from the top to secure the board.


Btw you could also try the motherboard out of the case on a wooden surface(anything non-condutive).


You can get the standoffs and screws here .

This guide here(look at pic 7) should help.

 

[DieHardware]

How to install a motherboard

 

[chocoruacal]

Motherboard standoffs

How does the motherboard attach to the case? Probably has little "humps," right? No worries there, you're not supposed to use standoffs in the situation.

Power supply

PS's can be VERY flaky. It would not be the least be surprising if yours was bad right out of the box.

Refurbished motherboard

This is the biggest problem with refurbished parts and a "new" build...when you have a problem it becomes difficult to troubleshoot, cause the "refurbished" part is out there. First things first, go to a local store and buy a new power supply. Go over all of the connections. Boot up on the bare minimum....motherboard, CPU, RAM, and video. Go into the BIOS and make sure the temps and voltages are okay. Make any CPU/RAM adjustements, reboot, then shut down. Hook up any drives, sound cards, whatever and go to town. This is a personal preferrence, but I always install Windows on the bare minimum...I add things like sound cards, capture cards, whatever after the initial install and after I've had a chance to ghost the clean install to CDRW.

 

[bolido2000]

Thanks for the help

One more thing....the other components including the motherboard are not damaged, are they? I have blown PS in the past and all the components survived (Don't want to wait 8 hr to find out if everything is toast)

 

[Mem]

One more thing....the other components including the motherboard are not damaged, are they? I have blown PS in the past and all the components survived (Don't want to wait 8 hr to find out if everything is toast)

Well it`s hard to say without hooking it all up to a new PSU and trying to see if it`ll boot,probably 50/50 ,all we can say is hope for the best.

 

[bolido2000]

Originally posted by: Mem

One more thing....the other components including the motherboard are not damaged, are they? I have blown PS in the past and all the components survived (Don't want to wait 8 hr to find out if everything is toast)

Well it`s hard to say without hooking it all up to a new PSU and trying to see if it`ll boot,probably 50/50 ,all we can say is hope for the best.

I see. One more question...I have this power supply. I was reading on the web that a lot of PS have short circuit protection. Is that a fairly standard features in all modern PS?

 

[SkaarjMaster]

As far as the power supply, get an Antec or Enermax and try this to determine power needed:

http://takaman.jp/psu_calc.html?english