Pc Chips 955G mobo with celly 2.0 northwood and emachines parts :)

[unfalliblekrutch]

A friend of mine recieved a free video card from a friend of his, but the video card was AGP, and his eMachines computer came with a mobo that does not have an AGP slot, so my friend decided to swap out the mobo for a new one. Since i'm the only "computer person" he really knows, I agreed to help him. Today, we did just that, using the Pc Chips M-955G mobo from newegg. To be honest, i never done this major of a procedure on a computer before, but I thought it wouldn't be too hard. So we took out everything inside, one by one, then put in the new mobo, and added everything back in piece by piece. Then when we went to turn it on, nothing happened. no sound, no lights, nothing. I kinda have a hunch that the problem is the power switch connector isn't plugged in the right place, but I have already tried plugging it in every possible way i could think of. THe problem is, my friend had dropped the mobo from a distance of about 3 feet before we even began, so we think that it might be broken. However, the other thing is, the power switch in question connected onto a clearly labeled location on the old mobo. On the new mobo, the manual is unclear as to the pin-out locations, and which pin goes where. The pins are arranged in a 2 by 5 rectangle, with one pin from one corner missing. The old mobo had only 7 pins and they were all in a straight line. We beleive the the problem is either the mobo being broken or the connector for the power switch being on the wrong pins.

Does anyone have any thoughts to share?

I don't believe the problem is with incompatibilties of RAM or whatever, because the computer does not power on at all...not even for a few milliseconds.

We also don't really want to take out the new mobo until we are certain that it's hopeless, because putting it in took over 2 hours.

 

[imported_Kensai]

It'll be easier if we can entire specs of everything.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

well, i'm not sure of the specs of all the parts (most are emachines stock)

this is what i know (some may be wrong)

celeron 2.0ghz northwood
1 x stock 40gb harddrive (not sure of brand, ATA speed, or rpm)
1 x generic 40gb harddrive from a garage sale (again, not sure of brand, etc)
1 x stock cd-rom drive (or is it dvd-rom? i cant remember)
1 x lite-on DVD+R drive
1 x stock ADATA 256mb ddr2100
old chipset was intel 845, new chipset is via PM800
1 x stock cpu fan/heatsink
1 x stock 56k modem
old mobo had 2 channel sound, new mobo has 6channel sound
both mobos have 4x back usb, old mobo has 1 usb front header, new one has two
the video card is a PNY verto fx5500, but just in case that was the problem, i tried turning it on with integrated graphics and it still wouldn't start
new mobo has SATA headers, but i didnt touch them

I also had some troubles figuring out which pins to connect the front audio ports to, but i don't think that has anything to do with not POSTing.

oh, and i have no clue what the PSU is...it's stock emachines.

 

[daclayman]

Without assuming:

Is the BIOS jumper shorted correctly? PCChips mobos come new with the jumper set to clear.

To troubleshoot the board, you'll want to test just the mobo, cpu and memory. Unplug everything except the 20 pin power and 4 pin 12V power (and the 3 pin CPU fan). I checked page 14 of YOUR manual; SW1 (see below) is for the power/LED plugs. The numbers represent the pin numbers according to the manual.

1 2
3 4
5 6 <--- these are
7 8 <--- the power connects
9 x

If no POST still, this board may not like your memory. Check PCChips website for memory compatability for the 955G.

Lastly, retry the old board with just the 20pin, 4pin12V, CPU and memory. If it no longer posts, you may have mishandled the memory and/or CPU (static elec. though highly unlikely).

I'm tired; someone else can clean up any omissions.
:beer:

 

[Peter]

The usual mistakes include:

Not hooking up the power right (main plug, additional 4-pin, power button)
Forgetting to move the CMOS Clear jumper to Normal position
Shorting the board against the case by wrongly positioned standoffs

 

[kobymu]

when you press the ON button does the psu fan spin? and cpu fan? and if that mobo have a chipset fan, does it spin?

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

none of the fans spin, there is no indication that anything is getting power.

the main power and 4 pin additional power plug are both in place. I'm not sure of the power button switch, but I'm pretty sure one of the combinations we tried put it in the place daclayman described. THe computer is not at my house, so I will have to work with it later and see if any of the suggestions work out.

thanks guys, and if anyone has any other suggestions, please speak up

 

[kobymu]

make sure that the 2wire cable that connect the power switch is connected in the right place on you'r mobo.
if it is AND you dont see the psu fan spinning whan pressing the power botton then its 90% that the psu is toast and 10% (very rare but can happen) the mobo got COMPLETELY FRIED.