Building PC - No power - Please help

[kmd107]

I am a newbie at building pc's . I have an Asus a7n8x-x mobo, 512 kingston 3200, athlon 2600+, ATI 9200se pci video card ( got wrong one, want agp one) I have mobo installed on brass standoffs, the led on mobo is on when i plug in but no fans spinning or nothing else, the side leds on the front of case blink once real quick, the power led or hdd led does not come on. tried switching power switch on mobo, no luck, If I have the wrong memory would this happen? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mechBgon]

Your case's power button wire might be plugged onto the incorrect pins on the motherboard. Here's a different Asus board that uses the same pin locations, so copy this: picture I hope that's the issue, since it's simple to fix 🙂 Asus does have some funky markings going on there, don't they... you'd think the plug should go on the other row, judging by the silk-screened markings.

Welcome to the Forums, post back if that isn't the issue. 🙂

 

[RSanders]

And the power switch on the back of the computer.. needs to be turned on.. but I am sure you already knew that.

 

[JenniAMDCHP]

When you're turning it on - are you turning it on by flipping the switch on the power supply in the back, and stopping there? As silly as it sounds, that was something I did - forgetting that the actual power button to turn the computer on is in the front - I was just so nervous about messing something up that I forgot about it.

If you've tried both power buttons and nothing happens, check to make sure the power cords are plugged into the motherboard correctly? How many sticks of ram are in the motherboard? If more then 1, try booting up with just one stick of memory in and see if that changes anything. mechBgon is really good at this stuff, so check out anything he suggests, too.

 

[kmd107]

The picture was exactly my setup. I tried the plug both ways with no luck. The mobo led light is on but no fans spinning. I did check the power switch on the power supply. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks for the quick responses.

 

[kmd107]

I tried one stick on Ram only with no luck. My power cord into the mobo is in correctly as well. hmmmm.

 

[mechBgon]

My next suggestion is to make a momentary electrical connection between those two pins directly, using a small piece of metal. A momentary connection across those pins tells the motherboard to fire up. If it works that way, then maybe your case's power button is mechanically faulty, or maybe the case's outer button is not actuating the switch underneath properly (if the bezel isn't quite clipped on all the way, for example).

 

[kmd107]

I put a set of jumpers on it with no luck. Before when I did press the power button the led lights flashed once on the side of the case. I do have the hard drive and cd rom installed as well. Maybe take them off take mobo out and see if it will run outside of case?

Thanks again for quick responses

 

[thirdlegstump]

Do you have a power supply?

 

[mechBgon]

Thanks again for quick responses

<-- naturally 😀

Yeah, an out-of-body experience might be just what the mobo is looking for 🙂 like this. I also have a bunch of no-POST/no-run things to check here.

If the board decides to run outside the case, maybe the springy metal contacts on the rear port panel were getting into the USB or network jacks. If the case has front USB ports and the wiring is not cross-compatible or is plugged into the board wrong, that can also cause a short-circuit condition that makes the PSU say "uh... NO." and it won't run.

If the power supply is not a good-quality one with sufficient wattage, then that could be the issue too. What brand/model of power supply is it?

 

[kmd107]

Taking the motherboard out did not work, I have a chiefmax 450 watt power supply, I do not have the front usb's plugged into the mobo , i have crucial memory coming tomorrow that I am going to try out. Thanks for the links I will check some things out there as well. I also don't have the square 4 prong (12v??) lead coming out of the power supply hooked up, i dont believe there is a spot on my mobo.

 

[kmd107]

I also had a black spingy thing pop out when I was putting my ram back in ( while the mobo was in the case, not sure where it came from.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: kmd107
Taking the motherboard out did not work, I have a chiefmax 450 watt power supply, I do not have the front usb's plugged into the mobo , i have crucial memory coming tomorrow that I am going to try out. Thanks for the links I will check some things out there as well. I also don't have the square 4 prong (12v??) lead coming out of the power supply hooked up, i dont believe there is a spot on my mobo.

Yeah, the A7N8X-family full-sized boards don't use the ATX12V plugs, so you're good there. Do you happen to have another standard ATX power supply you could try? Something in the 250W+ range would do it for the bare-bones test setup.

One tip I forgot to add to the collection: make sure the Clear CMOS jumper on the board is in the "Normal" position (manual shows its location on page 1-11). It wouldn't be like Asus to ship it in the Clear position, but it's easy to check.

 

[kmd107]

Tried a 200w old school power supply and fans running great. Looks like a have a defective power supply eh?? I didnt get anything on my monitor though when it was running (no hard drive , cd hooked up) is that normal? Thanks mechBgon your a life saver.

 

[mechBgon]

You're welcome 🙂 Yeah, I'll bet it's the power supply since that's what's happening. If you get another power supply, I've observed that the quality of power supplies can really make or break the computer's stability, so I always suggest proven brands like Enermax, Fortron or Antec. If you get something in the 400W+ range you should have enough cushion for a major video-card upgrade and more drives later.

Hang in there, you're making progress 🙂 By the way, if you don't have a hardware firewall (a home router like the popular Linksys, Netgear, SMC or D-Links) then you may want to have a look at the resources page for info on worm-proofing the computer to get it through its vulnerable "just-built" stage.