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Computer won't turn on

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UnseenK said:
Alright, well, I got the power working with every part inside the case. There are a few weird things though. A, one of my fans won't start to spin unless I give it a very light tap, then it spins infinitely. Secondly, as I thought I finally fixed my computer, I plugged it into my monitor and it still did not work. All the lights on the mobo come on, although they turn off after about a minute. It SOUNDS like a working computer. The disc drive even popped open when I pushed its button.

You see here you stated the mainboard lights go out then when this happens your computer isn't running even if the fans are turning. it isn't booting or anything.

I've built Alot of computers in 15 years and never have I seen the mainboard leds go out unless it wasn't working. So no matter what you think, if these leds are all off it will not run.
Im sure others here will tell you the same thing, not just my opinion. If you asked someone here to troubleshoot this they would take it all apart start from scratch and build it one part at a time until the problem is found. Even new parts can be bad don't assume it couldn't be something bad. my 2 cents worth
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I still say that the PCIE adapter isn't plugged into two molex connectors. It might be plugged into one and then the other connector is plugged into his case fan.
 
can't tell from the picture, but does your case have a security switch for side panel removal? if so, you may have plugged it into your motherboard...you should unplug it if you want to power on with the side panel off
 
Pederv said:
I still say that the PCIE adapter isn't plugged into two molex connectors. It might be plugged into one and then the other connector is plugged into his case fan.
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What you said doesn't make sense. The PCIE adapter HAS 2 molex connectors, and each of them are connected to each of the 2 case fans. And the 6 pin end is plugged into the power supply, and just so happen it fits into the modular port.

Let him unplug it and see what happens.
 
lol, I see what SOSTrooper is talking about, but I think its fine -- its ass-backwards, but it should be fine if the pins are properly matched (+12v leads to a +12V and ground to ground).

I really think the OP needs to start over. Take EVERYTHING out of the case. Unplug ALL cables from the modular PSU. Read the manual for the modular PSU, and follow the mechBgon's build guide, or some other guide.
 
SOSTrooper said:
What you said doesn't make sense. The PCIE adapter HAS 2 molex connectors, and each of them are connected to each of the 2 case fans. And the 6 pin end is plugged into the power supply, and just so happen it fits into the modular port.

Let him unplug it and see what happens.
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I was looking at the first picture that the OP showed. You can see the shiney male pins of his case fan connector which is connected to one of the PCIE adapter molex connectors. I didn't follow what other things were connected to the PCIE adapter.
I can't look at any of the photos now because I'm at work and they have the site blocked.

EDIT:
I just tried again and was able to see the second image. So I see how he is using the PCIE adapter and that there are two screws missing at the top of the motherboard (as somebody already pointed out) and if the standoffs were already installed, as the OP said they were, usually there are 6 standoffs which means he may have two under his motherboard.
 
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Alright, so I'm going to completely start over, and test each part as I go. You were right about the fans to, I used the other connector and they pushed a lot more air. I'll also follow mechBgon's guide.
 
UnseenK said:
You were right about the fans to, I used the other connector and they pushed a lot more air.
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Huh? The amount of air that the tricool fans push is adjustable via the low/mid/high setting, not by plugging them into a PCIE adapter backward.


Did you unplug your case fans and the adapter and see if you can boot the computer up? Takes 10 seconds to test that out...
 
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No I didn't do that SOSTrooper, but I can build my computer pretty fast now rofl, so I'll try it.

When I used the wrong connector, one of the fans wouldn't spin until I gave it a light tap, and even then it went relatively slow. IDK, it was kind of weird. When I switched to the molex connector, it spin faster, and as soon as I pushed the power button.
 
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I think this warranted a new post. I have nothing plugged in now, except for the cpu, cpu fan, those pin things (like Power SW, HDD LED, etc), and the power supply of course. It powers up for about 10-15 seconds, then shuts down, then powers up again, and seems to do that endlessly.

I was following jack's advice:

Just leave the cpu fan the main power plug and the 4 pin mainboard plug and nothing else unplug the video card, take out the ram,Leave nothing hooked up, not even the video card if the mainboard powers up and doesn't shut back down, then add the video card and check it again if at this point you have a working computer add one thing at a time until it fails that will be the problem right there what ever caused it to fail.
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Here is a picture of how it looks inside right now: http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1879/img2342.jpg I'm pretty sure I didn't mess anything up this time. It could be shutting off purposely as a security measure since it doesn't have crap in it, but that's the kind of stuff you guys would probably know, not me.
 
Install the video card so you can see if it posts and my gigabyte motherboard (P43) usta come on then power off for like 5-10 seconds then come back on when new hardware was detected. install the video card to make sure if it does post you can see it and when it powers on then goes off let it set for about 10 seconds then see if it come back on by itself OH AND put atleast 1 stick of ram in
 
Do you get any POST beep errors? In other words, do you hear the signature "BEEP" then it turns on and then shuts off? Your manual has a list of "BEEP" error codes during post you can reference once you get that far.

I still think you have a case short. You mentioned you installed the motherboard as is into the case without removing spacers or touching them. I'm assuming you have extra spacers touching the motherboard causing the short.

The only other time I've seen this happen is when someone plugged their PS/2 Keyboard into the PS/2 Mouse port by accident. Other than that, it really does seem like short. Sorry if I seem to push this a lot, but all my red flags are going off regarding the symptoms.
 
I took the motherboard out, and there are no spacers not being used that are just chilling there. for a matter of fact, I even put more spacers in all the holes except one I couldn't get the screw in, it was a pain in the ass, so I think I'm just going to skip that but still leave the spacer there. The unused spacer is still lined up with the hole, it's just in a corner and hole is SLIGHTLY not lined up, like less then a mm, and it makes it a pain in the ass to put the screw there. So should I see if it posts with a video card?
 
yes install video card and 1 stick of ram and try to boot with only the PSU connected to the motherboard and video card. NOTHING ELSE
 
My graphics card DOES have two PCI slots, is it possible I need to plug BOTH into my PSU? Or is the second one for crossfire or something?

Here is a great photograph I took of what I mean:
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8746/img2343w.jpg

I only had a pci cord plugged into one of those slots to the psu, am I supposed to use both? My psu does have two openings.
 
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Yes they both need to have a power connector in them. If your power supply has one connector you can use the one that you had the case fans connected to for the second connector.
 
Those aren't PCI slots they are 6 pin PCI Express power cable connectors and, yes, you need to plug in both as Pederv said. I'm noticing a trend here. You're not real big on reading the manual are you? 🙂
 
Alright, So now I have in the RAM, GPU, cpu & cpu fan, the case pin things, and the psu, and the mobo's LEDs still shut off after about a minute. I took the one ram stick out and put the other in, and it still happens. Should I try without my GPU?
 
Can you take several pictures of what you have now. And I do mean several pictures, I mean not just one, take a few from various angles. I'm sure we'd like to see what you have so far.
 
It seems you have everything plugged in correctly as far as I can tell. You should really take the entire motherboard out of the case and place it on a flat surface, disconnect all the LED and power/reset switch cables from the case, reseat your CPU, reseat your RAM, install the CPU fan, connect to your power supply, and turn it on by using a screwdriver to short the 2 power switch pins, and see if it stays on (you can use the CPU fan as indicator, as long as it spins, then the system stays on). If it does stay on, put in your video card, connect the 2 power adapters to it, and turn it on to see if you see the screen.

This is a crappy picture but this is how I initially tested my parts before I spend the time to install them into the case. Just nothing but the motherboard, power supply, video card, RAM, CPU, and CPU fan.

Oh be sure to rip open those 2 thin metal plates above your USB ports off so you can plug your network cable in O_O
 
The only flaw I kind of see with that is even after the LEDS on my mobo go off (which someone somewhere says that's indicating that it turned off) the cpu fan still spins. I'll go check to be sure though.

Edit: yup, it does continue to spin. The gpu fan remains spinning to.
 
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from the problems your having its hard to tell which part is bad. If you have another PCIex video card you can test try that and if you have other RAM try that also. if you still cannot get it working i would start RMA this stuff
 
Well, my brother has a Radeon X300, but i'm not sure if it's agp or pci-e. I don't know if we have any DDR2 ram in my house.
 
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