Motherboard grounding on case!

[snoutmeat]

I'm putting together a system: K7S5A board, Athlon XP 1600+, Antec case, Enermax PS....

I've just tried hooking up my motherboard for the first time -- I ignored the suggestions of the "start it for the first time on a piece of cardboard" folks. Installed motherboard in case, hooked stuff up, powered it up, and.....nothing but fans. Pulled it out of the case, and it the board posts (hooray!). I put it back in, back to just fans. I try reinstalling it with the hunk of pink foam that shipped with the board tucked between the case and the board as an insulator, with one screw holding the motherboard in place....nothing but fans. Pull the board back out of the case, and it posts again (it says the battery is low, the memory setting is wrong, the CPU is the wrong speed....but at least the screen comes up!)

So it seems clear that the motherboard is grounding on the case. I've seen this mentioned as a problem, but I've never seen a solution. Is there some typical connection on the board where these ground out? From quickly looking at the bottom of the board, it appears that the longest soldered connections are to ground anyway, so those shouldn't matter, right?

What now? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

--Shane

 

[Kartajan]

the most common cause of motherboards grounding to case is metal standoffs. Make sure all your holes line up with your standoffs.

 

[compudog]

Use the nylon (plastic) standoffs. Also, some cases ship with little fiber washers you put between the screw and the motherboard. I think you should have at least one screw attaching the mobo to the case to insure ground continuity. The motherboard book should have suggestions on how to install the mobo. It certainly SEEMS like that is your problem. Good luck and keep the forum posted..