Weird problem with a new build...

[imported_Zor]

I just got done putting a system together, and I'm having a weird problem. When I have the video card (plugged into the PCI-e 16x slot, with the correct power cable going to it), the optical drive on the only IDE channel, and the 2 SATA drives plugged into the SATA slots on the mobo, it won't power up. I hit the power button on the case, and the lights go on for a second, the fans spin for a second (both case fans, the heatsink fan, and video card fan all spin), then everything just stops...The only thing that stays on is the green status light on the mobo.

WHen I unplug the 2 SATA cables from the mobo (leaving the power connected to the HDDs), and take out the video card, leaving only the CPU, RAM and IDE optical drive connected to the mobo, it powers up.

If I try just plugging in 1 SATA drive by itself, no video card, the same 1 second power shut down occurs.

If I try just the video card plugged into the mobo, and no HDD SATA cables, same 1 second shut down.

I've tried every combo of the 3, using different SATA ports, 1 drive by itself, both drives in different ports, etc etc...and it never works.

I also reset the CMOS battery and jumper as suggested by ASUS in the install guide. I have both power cables plugged into the mobo (the normal 24 pin and the ATX cables).

Any ideas what the problem can be? A short somewhere? Bad MoBo? Somehow not enough power because I have the modular cables plugged into the PSU incorrectly???

SPECS:
Mobo: ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 XP 4800+ Windsor Socket AM2 Processor
PSU: Antec NeoHE ATX 12V 550W
GPU: eVGA 512-P2-N635-AR Geforce 7950GT KO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
HDD: 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3808110AS 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

 

[MichaelD]

That's a really odd problem. The most interesting thing is that it boots with no videocard. You need only three things for a motherboard to boot; CPU/Memory/videocard. Odd.

Here's a few ideas:


1. Remove and reseat the ram and the videocard. Try booting with just one stick of ram, then just the other one by itself too. Try all the slots, not just one set.

2. Are you sure you don't have an extra motherboard standoff installed? It could be shorting somethign out underneath.

3. Are you sure there's no dropped screw under the mobo? (I don't think 1&2 are the issue, but it happens)

4. Your PS is a multi-rail design. Possibly, you're using the wires that are all connected to the same rail. Try moving the connectors around.

5. If that doesn't work, remove the motherboard from the case and put it on top of a wooden desk/magazine whatever (as long as it's not metal). This will verify if your board is dead or not.

Unless you've got a dead motherboard, one or a combination of the above should work.

ps
The CMOS jumper IS in the CORRECT place, right?

 

[imported_Zor]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
That's a really odd problem. The most interesting thing is that it boots with no videocard. You need only three things for a motherboard to boot; CPU/Memory/videocard. Odd.

Here's a few ideas:


1. Remove and reseat the ram and the videocard. Try booting with just one stick of ram, then just the other one by itself too. Try all the slots, not just one set.

2. Are you sure you don't have an extra motherboard standoff installed? It could be shorting somethign out underneath.

3. Are you sure there's no dropped screw under the mobo? (I don't think 1&2 are the issue, but it happens)

4. Your PS is a multi-rail design. Possibly, you're using the wires that are all connected to the same rail. Try moving the connectors around.

5. If that doesn't work, remove the motherboard from the case and put it on top of a wooden desk/magazine whatever (as long as it's not metal). This will verify if your board is dead or not.

Unless you've got a dead motherboard, one or a combination of the above should work.

ps
The CMOS jumper IS in the CORRECT place, right?

1. Yeah, I tried 1 stick on ram in all the different slots, and then the other stick, same problem

2. There are 9 standoffs on the case, and they directly line up with the 9 holes on the mobe, all which are screwed in snugly

3. not sure, taking out the mobo and other things now to put on the table to try heh.

4. the 2 HDD's have one power cable, with 2 plugs on it that are meant for the HDD's. I have those running to one modular outlet on the PSU. Another modular outlet has just the PCI-E power cord running to the video card. The third modular outlet only powers 2 case fans and the optical drive.

The CMOS jumper is in the original position I followed the manual - popped the battery out, unplugged the PSU, moved the jumper to the reset pegs for 30 seconds, moved it back, put in the battery, and plugged in the PSU.

I'm about to lay everything out on the table and try it now. Ugh, what a headache!

 

[MichaelD]

Kudos to you for troubleshooting the right way. :beer: And yeah; it's a huge PITA! I know, believe me!

The table test will tell you for sure. BTW, you do have the CPU's fan plugged in, right?

 

[imported_Zor]

the heatsink fan is plugged in, yes


About to power on the table top setup. I'll let you know how it goes


This is my first build, and this is what I get for trying to save $1,000 hehe.

 

[imported_Zor]

well, everything worked when I layed it out on the table....Video card and both HDD's plugged in. So I guess I was shorting it out somewhere....Grrr...

Any suggestions on what to look for for shorts? There are only 9 stand offs, and I used them all, and no lose screws underneath the mobo when I took it out

The only other place I can think of is the connection faceplate on the back of the case I had to put in where the keyboard, mouse, etc plug in. But this doesn't seem logical since it powered up in the case without the Vid card and HDD's hooked to the mobo....

 

[MichaelD]

Yup, the faceplate in the back...all the ports have those "fingers" that are supposed to make contact with the metal AROUND the USB/Ethernet/etc ports. If you're not careful, they can go INSIDE the port. This happened to me w/the ethernet port some time back. Board wouldn't boot at all. Didn't fry anything though.

You're on the right track. Put it all back together REALLY slowly.

Don't overtighten the standoff screws either. You can crack the board and internally short out traces.

 

[imported_Zor]

welp, I put everything back in the case, and reconnected everything, and I'm back to my original problem

It looks like all the fingers are touching the outside of the connectors on the mobo propery, too =/

I'm at a loss now heh

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Zor
welp, I put everything back in the case, and reconnected everything, and I'm back to my original problem

It looks like all the fingers are touching the outside of the connectors on the mobo propery, too =/

I'm at a loss now heh

When it was outside the case, did you have ALL the stuff hooked up?

If so, then there's a possibility your motherboard is cracked...you'll never find it/see it. If it is, it probably happened when you were installing it...you didn't buy a refurb used mobo, did you?

Sorry to hear of this.

 

[imported_Zor]

when it was outside the case, the only thing that wasn't hooked up where the 2 case fans, the DVD drive, and all the little case->mobo hook ups like USB, LED lights, power switch, etc etc


I was very careful screwing in the mobo...I turned until I felt a little resistence, then stopped

I appreciate all your help by the way!


EDIT: the mobo is new, not refurbished

 

[MichaelD]

You're welcome.

Are you sure you've got the Front Panel connectors hooked up right?

Also, double check the wires for the fans to make sure you don't have them pinched/cut between some sharp edges on the case. These things do happen.

 

[imported_Zor]

I bundled all the wires away from sharp edges

I hooked up the front panel connecters as directed. According to Antec (Antec P180B case), all the white wires on the front panel wires are the ground, so when I hooked up the reset, power switch, HDD LED, and power LED lines, I put the white wire to the ground/neg pin per the mobo schematic.

The front panel audio and usb connectors only seem to go in one way to the mobo sockets because of blanks/plugs on the connector

 

[imported_Zor]

here's a new twist...

Everything works, and it posts, if I don't plug in the DVD drive and the 2 case fans onto the modular power cable that runs to those items from the PSU...as soon as I plug in the DVD (not even the case fans) I get my same 1 second shut down..

thoughts on this gem? heh

 

[myocardia]

I don't think there's anything wrong with your motherboard. You've got another component that's causing the problem. Unplug every single thing in your case, except the motherboard, video card, and cpu fan. Remove all PCI cards, etc. Then start adding them back in, and seeing whether it will boot each time, and you'll find out what component is bad.

edit: Well, it took me too long to write that, I guess. Glad you figured out which component needs to be sent back.

 

[imported_Zor]

it seems to be something with the modular power running from the top of the PSU to the fans/DVD...

as you see in this pic from Antec:
http://www.antec.com/productImageBack.php?ProdID=28550#

There's 5 modular slots on the top of the PSU...I'm using the 3 middle ones...one to the Video card's PCI-E power plug in, one that goes to both SATA drives, and a third that powers the DVD and 2 case fans...this last one seems to be the one causing the problems, since when I don't plug in anything to that cable, my system posts when I turn it on. As soon as I plug in the DVD (not even the fans), I get the same 1 second shut down.

I'm about to try a different modular slot for the wire running to the DVD/Fans and see if that works

UPDATE: Ok, I moved the cable for the fans/dvd to a different modular slot...when I power on with just the two fans plugged in, it works...as soon as I attach the DVD Rom, it fails again...grrr..

Suggestions?

 

[imported_Zor]

And another update...

WHen I plug the DVD drive power (not the IDE) into my old computer, the drive works..

So, for some reason, the drive won't work in my new build and it's causing the system not to post

the DVD drive is a LITE-ON 16x DVD-R ATAPI/E-IDE optical drive

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Zor
And another update...

WHen I plug the DVD drive power (not the IDE) into my old computer, the drive works..

So, for some reason, the drive won't work in my new build and it's causing the system not to post

the DVD drive is a LITE-ON 16x DVD-R ATAPI/E-IDE optical drive

Is it jumpered correctly? Master or Slave, NOT Cable Select?

 

[MichaelD]

d/p

 

[imported_Zor]

I have it set to master since it's the only thing on the IDE cable

Could it possibly be the power switch on the case? everything also started fine on the table when I just used a screwdriver to short the power jumper to start it up..

I've just been messing with the PSU cable, moving it around to different modular slots, jiggling it, making sure it's in tight on both the PSU and the DVD...sometimes it will start up, sometimes it won't

 

[imported_Zor]

I'm starting to think it's the PSU....

When I plug in the 2 case fans and the DVD, along with everything else (2 HDD's, Vid card, etc), it won't power up. I've seperated everthing onto it's own modular power cable like this:
1 cable is the PCI-E power cable to the video card
1 cable is to one HDD
1 cable is to the other HDD
1 cable is to the 2 case fans
1 cable is to the DVD

Then the hard wired power cables from the PSU plug into the mobo at the 24 pin and 4 pin ATX connections.

If I unplug the DVD drive, but leave everything else's power connected, it will fire up. If I unplug the 2 fans that are on their own modular cable, and plug the DVD back into it's own modular cable, it will also fire up. SO, for some reason, when the DVD + the 2 case fans are plugged into the PSU (along with the HDD's and video card), it won't post. If one or the other is plugged in, it will.

When everything is plugged in, and I hit the power button on the case, all the fans and drives "whirl" for about a second, then everything just stops. If I push the power button again real quick, all the components will "WHIRL" a little louder and longer (like a second and a half), like being pushed by the latent power still running through everything when it stopped a second before..if I push the button again a third time in quick succession, everything gets enough power, and it will fire up. Obviously, this is a problem, and I can't do this all the time. This still only makes it work about 50/50 when doing this method when all components are plugged in....

So, is my PSU not supplying enough voltage? The Antec NeoHE 550 is SLi compatible, so it should easily supply enough power for my 1 vid card, 2 HDDs, DVD optical drive and 2 case fans. I'm starting to think the PSU is faulty =/

 

[BOLt]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
That's a really odd problem. The most interesting thing is that it boots with no videocard. You need only three things for a motherboard to boot; CPU/Memory/videocard. Odd.

Here's a few ideas:


1. Remove and reseat the ram and the videocard. Try booting with just one stick of ram, then just the other one by itself too. Try all the slots, not just one set.

2. Are you sure you don't have an extra motherboard standoff installed? It could be shorting somethign out underneath.

3. Are you sure there's no dropped screw under the mobo? (I don't think 1&2 are the issue, but it happens)

4. Your PS is a multi-rail design. Possibly, you're using the wires that are all connected to the same rail. Try moving the connectors around.

5. If that doesn't work, remove the motherboard from the case and put it on top of a wooden desk/magazine whatever (as long as it's not metal). This will verify if your board is dead or not.

Unless you've got a dead motherboard, one or a combination of the above should work.

ps
The CMOS jumper IS in the CORRECT place, right?

Good ideas. Also, use SATA connections 3 & 4. Avoid 1 & 2.

 

[imported_Zor]

As an update for MichealD who put in a lot of time with me .........

After researching the problem on ASUS's website, there appears to be a problem with ASUS boards and Antec power supplies, because a lot of people have had the same exact problem I have as seen in these posts:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=...d=1&model=M2N-E&page=1&SLanguage=en-us
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=...d=1&model=M2N-E&page=1&SLanguage=en-us
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=...d=1&model=M2N-E&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

I tried to update the bios but ASUS' ftp server wasn't working last night, so I'll see if flashing the bios to a newer version will fix the problem. If not, I guess newegg will be getting a PSU returned .