First build--Power connecting trouble *UPDATE* new problem :(

[JoLim24601]

Build:

Fortron AX500-A Blue Storm
DFI Lanparty UT NF-4 Ultra-D
Antec SLK3000B
Two CD Rom Drives
One Floppy Drive
One Hard drive
Two A2018 Thermaltake Fans
Thermalright XP-90 + Panaflo L1BX + Arctic Silver 5
Leadtek PX6600 GT
OCZ Value VX (OCZ4001024WV3DC-K)

I was looking at the power connectors for the DFI and so far I've connected the 24 pin, 12v, and I also connected this 5V/12V HDD-type to the motherboard. The only problem is that there's also this 5V/12V FDD type... am I supposed to connect that? The Fortron Blue Storm only has one of those and I connected it to the floppy. I also already connected the ide data cables and 4 pin peripheral connectors to the hard drive and cd drives. I have no idea as to which I should set to master/slave. To be more specific I connected one ide cable to my two cd rom drives and a seperate one for the hard drive. And as for the A2018 Fans... should I connect those to the motherboard or to the 4 pin connectors?

Oh and I also accidentally took off a couple of emi springs on my i/o shield layout... is that bad? They were kind of getting in the way and my stupid self took em out... before reading the thing in mechbgons guide.

 

[mechBgon]

You could buy a floppy-4-pin converter to power your floppy drive from a HDD-style plug, and then use the Fortron's floppy plug for your motherboard With a single 6600GT, you're probably not stressing the power delivery too badly regardless, but it couldn't hurt.

For your CD-ROM drives, jumper them so one is Master and the other is Slave so they don't conflict. For your hard drive, it should work on any jumper setting unless it's a Western Digital, in which case use the Single setting (remove the cap from the pins and leave it off).

The 120mm Thermaltake A2018 fans draw a maximum of around 6 watts. If it were me, I would plug them straight into the power supply, using a 3-pin-to-4-pin power adapter. Why pull 12W extra through the motherboard if you don't have to

The missing EMI springs shouldn't be a big deal. Hope your new riggie runs smooth, and if you have any crashing/BSOD'ing, give the RAM a bump in voltage.

 

[JoLim24601]

Thanks... but now I've come across a new problem. Whenever I press the power button the computer immediately flashes on and then turns off. Maybe it's a short circuit? Hopefully nothing permanent. I don't know what I 'm doing wrong... I have the pin numbers lined up correctly and I rescrewed the motherboard to make sure it wasn't touching the chassis... Should I take everything out of the case and work from there or is the problem already narrowed down?

 

[JoLim24601]

nevermind...found out the problem...it was the stupid ram... comp is running now... damn got to rma this now..

 

[montag451]

Are you sure it was the RAM that caused that?
I've never heard of RAM stopping the system from starting by turning the system off.

 

[JoLim24601]

it was the ram and it doesnt seem the ram is broken rather that dfi lanparty sux nuts... I had to put both of them in the orange slots instead of the yellow for it to turn on properly... btw anyone know how to reformat this old hard drive i have? i cant get into windows without automatically restarting... do i have to put in a windows cd and reinstall?

 

[mechBgon]

Make sure you're giving the RAM enough voltage, and if the worst thing that happens is the mobo prefers the orange slots, don't let it bug you 2.7 volts is a good all-around voltage for the RAM.

To reinstall Windows, first prepare by having a firewall and Service Pack 2 ready for offline installation, like on my Security During Windows Setup page there. Then ask yourself if all your data is backed up, because if not, it's gonna go bye-bye :Q

Now put in your Windows CD and boot from it. Carry on until it gets to where it shows the partitions on the disk, delete them all (your data will be deleted, so you better have it backed up if you wanted it), then exit Windows Setup by pressing the F3 key twice.

Now your partitions are all gone. Begin Windows Setup a second time and follow through, keeping the computer disconnected from any network connections until you have Service Pack 2 installed and hopefully a hardware firewall (a router) outboard of that. Get your security stuff in place, install the latest nVidia unified driver package, the latest nVidia video-card drivers, and there you go

 

[JoLim24601]

whoa... sorry guys but the problems keep on flooding... dont know where i went wrong...

k well now im getting a succession of long beeps from the mobo which i looked up... it's apparently a dram issue.. i plugged in my old ram and it's still making the beeps... is it the mobo? I got a pretest combo from monarch so I'm wondering if it's something i did... sorryy to bother you guys but im a poor newb lost in the woods. i need some direction. my monitor led keeps blinking and doesnt show anything so theres nothing i can do about it... and monarch isn't very lenient when it comes to returns sigh

 

[aGreenAgent]

There are only so many ways you can put RAM in your computer with A64's. Make sure you put the RAM in in a supported pattern. Check the manual, it'll have how you can put it in.

 

[mechBgon]

First, try unplugging the computer and then re-seat the video card and memory modules in their slots. Consult your mobo manual to see what the recommended slot is for a single module, and use just one module in that slot that they say.

Now keep the system unplugged and reset the CMOS as shown in the manual. That gets the motherboard's circuit breaker reset, so to speak Now plug it in again and see if you can get it to POST. If so, set the memory voltage to 2.7 volts, shut it down, unplug it, plug in the other memory module, and then plug the computer in and fire it up again, and see if it still POSTs.

I have to go for a while, but good luck in the meanwhile