KX7 works outside case, won't post mounted in case... (?!?)

[rudds]

ok, i thought my new KX7 and corsair XMS 2700 were bad because they wouldn't post even with just the CPU/memory/video card installed, but on a whim i tried taking the board out of the case and just running the power supply cable over to it... the board is balanced on a cardboard box right now, not touching the case at all, and lo and behold it's working flawlessly.

now what i don't understand is i've had two other boards (BH6 and KT7) in this case and never had a problem at all... but when this board is in the case (not even screwed down), it won't go. is it shorting out somehow? if the wrong part of it is touching the metal frame will that cause this problem? where are the trouble spots on a mb if this is the case?

 

[kuk]

When mounting the screws on the case, did you place the spacer (a thin donut-shaped circle), between the screw and the case? ... it prevents the motherboard from short-circuiting with the case.

 

[rudds]

well, my case has metal standoffs that keep the board from touching the frame (or they're supposed to anyway). i always just screwed the board into those and it didn't seem to have a problem... i'm not sure what i'm doing differently with this board.

 

[FluxCapacitor]

You don't need spacers on the screw mounts, you just need to make sure you don't have extra mounts underneath the motherboard where they're not supposed to be that are coming into contact with the motherboard. Get rid of any extra metal mounts under there and make sure you're not using massive screws that are touching a nearby component (like a resistor or circuit path).

 

[rudds]

you know what, i bet that's what the problem is - there are nine or ten spacers in there and i only screwed down to six of them. i should just take out the ones that aren't being used. i guess i'll report back when i see if that works.

 

[bunker]

I had the same problem...one standoff that was touching the board, but not being used to hold it down caused the short that wouldn't let me boot. Took it out and like magic, it booted .