new system startup failure

[ncal]

Hello, I just finished assembling a system and I am having difficulties when I attempt to power up. The HS fan will spin, HDD spin, and so does the video card fan, but after two seconds the system immediately shuts down. I've never encountered this problem before but I'm certain I have neglected something in the assembly process.

system specs are:

MSI KM4M-V Via KM400
AMD XP 3200
512 MB Corsair
Radeon 9800 pro
Creative Audigy2

Thank you for any help.

 

[imported_nocturne]

When all else fails, reset the BIOS... (see your mobo instruction book for directions; usually a jumper near BIOS chip, or you can pull the mobo cmos battery for a while)

 

[Harvey]

Possible problems:

1. Your CPU may be overheating.

• If it's an OEM chip, is your HS/fan rated for your CPU?
  
• If so, did you use some thermal compound, or an included thermal pad?
  
• If you used thermal compound, did you use a VERY thin coating? Thermal compound is intended to fill the tiny pits and grooves on the metal to metal surface areas. Using more than the thinnest possible coating actually impedes thermal transfer.

2. There is some kind of near short circuit in your system. Try unplugging your RAM and vid card and any other plug in cards, and plugging in just one stick of RAM and your vid card. When you reboot, you may stick a floppy in the drive to keep it from going to Windows. If it works, try adding the rest of your stuff.

If the system still does the same thing, unscrew the motherboard from the case, and slide a piece of some insulating material (cardboard or plastic) under it to see if there's a short between the mobo and the case. If that works, remount it carefully, and try again.

3. Your power supply could be inadequate. You didn't tell us the brand or model or even the power rating.

Good luck.