New system wont boot. Grounding?

KydLynx

Senior member
Mar 18, 2001
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Put together my new system today and it wont turn on when i hit the power button on the case.

The asus a7n8x is getting power (the green light is on).

So, i assume its not the psu or mobo.

I triple checked the power/reset lines and they all seem right...

This cant be a grounding problem can it? I mean the mobo has a green light on.

I did not use those little red paper washers to mount the mobo though.

I used the gold mounting screws and then the basic mother board screws without the washers. Is this wrong?
 

Dahak

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2000
3,752
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As weird as it might be, i have heard of some cases where for what ever reason there was inproper grounding and all it took was those plastic/paper washers. Usually what I do is pull the board out, put it on the box and hookup the power supply and pc speaker if possible, and touch the 2 pins for power with a screw drive, if it powers up and beeps then there could be a issue with grounding. if not could be a dead board or cpu

 

DrCool

Senior member
Aug 3, 2001
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only way to know FOR SURE, is component swap with a working item.

as a rule of thumb, never rush the process of building a new system. always do a mock assembly on some plywood / cardboard (ie anything not electrically conductive). that will give you easy access and make troubleshooting less difficult.

also, make sure only the bare minium is attached for your first boot attempt.

Motherboard / CPU & HSF / Memory / Power Supply / Video Card
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
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Asus sometimes has ambiguous silk-screening on their mobos. For an A7N8X, you want the case's power-button wire on the pins in this photo. If the correct wire is plugged in there already, then maybe the case's power switch is faulty or is not being successfully actuated by the button that you push with your finger (usually the button and the switch are not one and the same).

To bypass the switch, use a piece of metal to make a momentary electrical connection between those two pins on the motherboard. The power supply should start up.
 

DrCool

Senior member
Aug 3, 2001
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mechBgon

that's a sweet picture (and illustrates your point perfectly), did you take it?

if so what kind of camera you using?
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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Thanks :) that was with a Canon A60, sort of a budget camera but it's what I could afford. I use a little super-cheapie flex-leg desktop tripod. That way I can turn off the flash and use long exposure times for a natural look. Wish I could afford one of those nice fancy $1000 ones, but I don't have the ka-ching for that. :eek:
 

KydLynx

Senior member
Mar 18, 2001
425
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Originally posted by: mechBgon
Thanks :) that was with a Canon A60, sort of a budget camera but it's what I could afford. I use a little super-cheapie flex-leg desktop tripod. That way I can turn off the flash and use long exposure times for a natural look. Wish I could afford one of those nice fancy $1000 ones, but I don't have the ka-ching for that. :eek:

thanks man, that was my problem! It boots...but now i have a new one, my mobile 2500 boots as 800mhz by default....blahhh.
im starting a new thread
 

PCFetish

Senior member
Aug 30, 2002
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Originally posted by: KydLynx
Originally posted by: mechBgon
Thanks :) that was with a Canon A60, sort of a budget camera but it's what I could afford. I use a little super-cheapie flex-leg desktop tripod. That way I can turn off the flash and use long exposure times for a natural look. Wish I could afford one of those nice fancy $1000 ones, but I don't have the ka-ching for that. :eek:

thanks man, that was my problem! It boots...but now i have a new one, my mobile 2500 boots as 800mhz by default....blahhh.
im starting a new thread

cuz it's mobile cpu, motherboard doesn't know what do to with it lol
set the FSB and multiplier to whatever you can get it up to and it's good to go