System wont turn on

Shazzam · 12-22-2007, 01:24 PM

Ok I'm relatively new to custom builds, built my own system before but had help from a friend. I've just assembled the new pc I ordered:

Asrock 4CoreDual Sata2 motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz
OcUK Huntkey 450W PSU
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

That's the basics, it's all been put together, connected etc, the only difficulty I had was with the system header connections. After putting it all together the system wont turn on, I'm thinking it could be the header connections but I've triple checked them with the manual and also tried different arrangements and combinations but no matter what I try I'm unable to turn the system on. The motherboard itself doesn't seem to have an LED on it but I think the power supply is working fine as the power LED came on during experiementing with header combinations/arrangements. All the parts are brand new and I'm now stuck as to what to do or try. I've disconnected everything non-essential like HDs, DVD+RWs etc to narrow down what's going wrong. Any ideas would be helpful, only thing I can think of right now is perhaps a faulty part, but unsure how to test for that. All suggestions welcome

Shazzam · 12-22-2007, 02:21 PM

Ok, after reading through some other posts I've tried some addition steps, removed everything, RAM, the lot, so that all that's plugged in is the power cables and the fans but still no power. CPU fan doesn't come on, nothing happens, from reading other posts I'm thinking either the power supply isn't powerful enough or the motherboard is dead? Wouldn't even a 450W power supply power at least the motherboard and processor alone though? Again any comments welcome!

Tumbleweed36 · 12-22-2007, 02:42 PM

First of all, there is no way that your power supply (we call them no-name supplies because they are simply not a good power supply and it also is too small) will simply not power this rig.

However, I doubt that would keep it from at least beginning to start up. I suspect that you have the front panel header connected wrong.

What you need to do is to take a flashlight (or worklight) and magnifying glass and look carefully along the pins of that header and it will tell you what goes where as it is imprinted on most motherboards.

Also, building in my shop with a motherboard I don't know, we enlarge the page in the manual where the front panel header locations are illustrated, so we can see the darn thing good enough to hook things up correctly.

If you have it out of the case, remember, you have to have the off/on switch wires on there to get it to start.

With it out of the case, that should at least begin to power up if that is in correctly and everything is not hooked up.

Shazzam · 12-22-2007, 03:35 PM

Ok well I took it completely apart and started from scratch again incase anything was wrong first time round. Again with only one stick of ram in and the power connections for the motherboard plugged in, and the front panel power switch header definitely connected correctly there's still no activity from the board at all.

I have the board out of the case but next to it with the power switch header connected up so I can chop and change it quickly but it's not making any difference. Even tried your suggestion in the 'How to Bench Test Your System' about using a flat headed screw driver to connect the headers but still nothing. I'm guessing this means the motherboard is dead?

Tumbleweed36 · 12-22-2007, 03:59 PM

Take all the ram out and see if it beeps (you do have a speaker hooked up, don't you) at you for not having ram.

Tumbleweed36 · 12-22-2007, 04:00 PM

It has to be either the power supply or the motherboard. If you have a best buy or a staples nearby, get a decent power supply, because you will need a bigger and better one anyhow with that video card. If that fixes it, you won't have to replace the motherboard, but if not, then you have to redo the motherboard anyhow.

Shazzam · 12-22-2007, 04:20 PM

Chasis speaker is plugged in and hasn't made a single beep. Removed all the RAM and still nothing, filling in the return form for the motherboard now, pretty sure its the source of the problem and I'll look into a new power supply as well, thanks for the help :)

Tumbleweed36 · 12-22-2007, 05:04 PM

No beep with memory out (if your power supply is putting anything out) usually means the motherboard is gone.

EricMexico · 12-22-2007, 05:47 PM

Check to see if the MB clear CMOS jumper is on normal or clear. Usually it's 3 pins, jump 1-2 is normal operation and 2-3 is clear CMOS. A few motherboards I had from ASRock the jumper was on the clear CMOS and the board wouldn't boot. Check your MB manual for exact specs for your MB.

Tumbleweed36 · 12-22-2007, 05:54 PM

Excellent point EricMexico. Forgot about that one. I have had a couple of those in my shop in the last couple of years. Rare, but worth a look. Thanks for your help.

Shazzam · 12-23-2007, 05:24 AM

Yeah I'd checked that earlier, the clear CMOS has only 2 pins and they're both open as it says in the manual so no joy there

Thanks though

Frank4d · 12-23-2007, 05:43 AM

You have the 4-pin 12V connector plugged in by the CPU, and power plugged into the 8800GT ?

Shazzam · 12-23-2007, 06:04 AM

Yup, I've also tried it without the graphics card or ram plugged in to see if the board will at least beep at me but it's never made a sound, yes the speaker is plugged in. The cpu fun has at no point had any power either, nothing.

EricMexico · 12-23-2007, 07:06 AM

Maybe try swapping the reset switch with the power switch on the front panel header. Sometime cases come with a bad power switch. Try turning it on with the reset button.

Shazzam · 12-23-2007, 10:07 AM

Tried that too, tried all combinations of headers incase they were the wrong way around for whatever reason, tried the reset button as well but no luck. Even tried using a flat headed screw driver to connect the pins to start the system but again nothing, saw that idea in the 'How To Bench Test Your System', not having a lot of luck with this

dai · 12-23-2007, 10:22 AM

have you put a bigger psu in it you need
video
cpu
ram
to fire up and the video and cpu pull 90% of the power,so trying to fire up with a psu supplying only around 60% of the power required is of little use

Shazzam · 12-23-2007, 10:39 AM

Dont have any larger psus available, need to wait for an ordered one to be delivered first. Shouldn't the motherboard at least power up without the video card and ram plugged in?

dai · 12-23-2007, 10:49 AM

without one of them in you would expect bios beeps,unless the power available was to low for even that

Shazzam · 12-23-2007, 03:28 PM

The power supply is an OcUK Huntkey 450W PSU and is supposed to be of a high quality, gonna hook it up to another pc and see if it powers that to try and eliminate there being any problem from the psu

**mack1** · 12-23-2007, 08:18 PM

A couple of items have not been mentioned concerning the power supply. Some cases have a switch that is made when the cover is installed to enable the start button. Look for this.
Also, if you have a volt meter, check the power cable that connects to the mother board. I don't recall the pin number, but one pin supplies voltage to the board even when the computer is powered down. That voltage is required for the start switch to work. When you press the start button, it shorts the two pins together where the start button wires connect to the mother board and brings in a relay inside the power supply. Once this is done, power is supplied to the mother board and fans come on and the post starts. The 450 watt ps should at least make an effort to start the system, and will probably work for all equipment plugged in.

12-22-2007, 01:24 PM	#1 (permalink)
Shazzam Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 13 OS: XP SP2	System wont turn on Ok I'm relatively new to custom builds, built my own system before but had help from a friend. I've just assembled the new pc I ordered: Asrock 4CoreDual Sata2 motherboard Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz OcUK Huntkey 450W PSU Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) OcUK GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) That's the basics, it's all been put together, connected etc, the only difficulty I had was with the system header connections. After putting it all together the system wont turn on, I'm thinking it could be the header connections but I've triple checked them with the manual and also tried different arrangements and combinations but no matter what I try I'm unable to turn the system on. The motherboard itself doesn't seem to have an LED on it but I think the power supply is working fine as the power LED came on during experiementing with header combinations/arrangements. All the parts are brand new and I'm now stuck as to what to do or try. I've disconnected everything non-essential like HDs, DVD+RWs etc to narrow down what's going wrong. Any ideas would be helpful, only thing I can think of right now is perhaps a faulty part, but unsure how to test for that. All suggestions welcome

12-22-2007, 02:21 PM	#2 (permalink)
Shazzam Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 13 OS: XP SP2	Re: System wont turn on Ok, after reading through some other posts I've tried some addition steps, removed everything, RAM, the lot, so that all that's plugged in is the power cables and the fans but still no power. CPU fan doesn't come on, nothing happens, from reading other posts I'm thinking either the power supply isn't powerful enough or the motherboard is dead? Wouldn't even a 450W power supply power at least the motherboard and processor alone though? Again any comments welcome!

12-22-2007, 02:42 PM	#3 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 18,021 OS: XP Professional	Re: System wont turn on First of all, there is no way that your power supply (we call them no-name supplies because they are simply not a good power supply and it also is too small) will simply not power this rig. However, I doubt that would keep it from at least beginning to start up. I suspect that you have the front panel header connected wrong. What you need to do is to take a flashlight (or worklight) and magnifying glass and look carefully along the pins of that header and it will tell you what goes where as it is imprinted on most motherboards. Also, building in my shop with a motherboard I don't know, we enlarge the page in the manual where the front panel header locations are illustrated, so we can see the darn thing good enough to hook things up correctly. If you have it out of the case, remember, you have to have the off/on switch wires on there to get it to start. With it out of the case, that should at least begin to power up if that is in correctly and everything is not hooked up. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread. Last edited by Tumbleweed36; 12-22-2007 at 02:46 PM.

12-22-2007, 03:35 PM	#4 (permalink)
Shazzam Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 13 OS: XP SP2	Re: System wont turn on Ok well I took it completely apart and started from scratch again incase anything was wrong first time round. Again with only one stick of ram in and the power connections for the motherboard plugged in, and the front panel power switch header definitely connected correctly there's still no activity from the board at all. I have the board out of the case but next to it with the power switch header connected up so I can chop and change it quickly but it's not making any difference. Even tried your suggestion in the 'How to Bench Test Your System' about using a flat headed screw driver to connect the headers but still nothing. I'm guessing this means the motherboard is dead?

12-22-2007, 03:59 PM	#5 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 18,021 OS: XP Professional	Re: System wont turn on Take all the ram out and see if it beeps (you do have a speaker hooked up, don't you) at you for not having ram. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.

12-22-2007, 04:00 PM	#6 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 18,021 OS: XP Professional	Re: System wont turn on It has to be either the power supply or the motherboard. If you have a best buy or a staples nearby, get a decent power supply, because you will need a bigger and better one anyhow with that video card. If that fixes it, you won't have to replace the motherboard, but if not, then you have to redo the motherboard anyhow. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread. Last edited by Tumbleweed36; 12-22-2007 at 04:05 PM.

12-22-2007, 04:20 PM	#7 (permalink)
Shazzam Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 13 OS: XP SP2	Re: System wont turn on Chasis speaker is plugged in and hasn't made a single beep. Removed all the RAM and still nothing, filling in the return form for the motherboard now, pretty sure its the source of the problem and I'll look into a new power supply as well, thanks for the help :)

12-22-2007, 05:04 PM	#8 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 18,021 OS: XP Professional	Re: System wont turn on No beep with memory out (if your power supply is putting anything out) usually means the motherboard is gone. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.

12-22-2007, 05:47 PM	#9 (permalink)
EricMexico Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 24 OS: xp sp2	Re: System wont turn on Check to see if the MB clear CMOS jumper is on normal or clear. Usually it's 3 pins, jump 1-2 is normal operation and 2-3 is clear CMOS. A few motherboards I had from ASRock the jumper was on the clear CMOS and the board wouldn't boot. Check your MB manual for exact specs for your MB.

12-22-2007, 05:54 PM	#10 (permalink)
Tumbleweed36 Asst Manager Hardware Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA Posts: 18,021 OS: XP Professional	Re: System wont turn on Excellent point EricMexico. Forgot about that one. I have had a couple of those in my shop in the last couple of years. Rare, but worth a look. Thanks for your help. __________________ ---------- I don't receive email notifications of replies to subscribed threads. (Internet provider policy) Therefore, if I don't respond to your post within 24 hours, please send me a reminder PM and include the link to your thread.

12-23-2007, 05:24 AM	#11 (permalink)
Shazzam Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 13 OS: XP SP2	Re: System wont turn on Yeah I'd checked that earlier, the clear CMOS has only 2 pins and they're both open as it says in the manual so no joy there Thanks though

12-23-2007, 05:43 AM	#12 (permalink)
Frank4d Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 78 OS: XP Pro SP3	Re: System wont turn on You have the 4-pin 12V connector plugged in by the CPU, and power plugged into the 8800GT ? __________________ Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

12-23-2007, 06:04 AM	#13 (permalink)
Shazzam Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 13 OS: XP SP2	Re: System wont turn on Yup, I've also tried it without the graphics card or ram plugged in to see if the board will at least beep at me but it's never made a sound, yes the speaker is plugged in. The cpu fun has at no point had any power either, nothing.

12-23-2007, 07:06 AM	#14 (permalink)
EricMexico Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 24 OS: xp sp2	Re: System wont turn on Maybe try swapping the reset switch with the power switch on the front panel header. Sometime cases come with a bad power switch. Try turning it on with the reset button.

12-23-2007, 10:07 AM	#15 (permalink)
Shazzam Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 13 OS: XP SP2	Re: System wont turn on Tried that too, tried all combinations of headers incase they were the wrong way around for whatever reason, tried the reset button as well but no luck. Even tried using a flat headed screw driver to connect the pins to start the system but again nothing, saw that idea in the 'How To Bench Test Your System', not having a lot of luck with this

12-23-2007, 10:22 AM	#16 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 53,565 OS: vista 32x 64x ultimate retail	Re: System wont turn on have you put a bigger psu in it you need video cpu ram to fire up and the video and cpu pull 90% of the power,so trying to fire up with a psu supplying only around 60% of the power required is of little use __________________

12-23-2007, 10:39 AM	#17 (permalink)
Shazzam Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 13 OS: XP SP2	Re: System wont turn on Dont have any larger psus available, need to wait for an ordered one to be delivered first. Shouldn't the motherboard at least power up without the video card and ram plugged in?

12-23-2007, 10:49 AM	#18 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 53,565 OS: vista 32x 64x ultimate retail	Re: System wont turn on without one of them in you would expect bios beeps,unless the power available was to low for even that __________________

12-23-2007, 03:28 PM	#19 (permalink)
Shazzam Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 13 OS: XP SP2	Re: System wont turn on The power supply is an OcUK Huntkey 450W PSU and is supposed to be of a high quality, gonna hook it up to another pc and see if it powers that to try and eliminate there being any problem from the psu

12-23-2007, 08:18 PM	#20 (permalink)
mack1 TSF Articles Team Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Texarkana, Texas Posts: 1,235 OS: xp sp3 My System	Re: System wont turn on A couple of items have not been mentioned concerning the power supply. Some cases have a switch that is made when the cover is installed to enable the start button. Look for this. Also, if you have a volt meter, check the power cable that connects to the mother board. I don't recall the pin number, but one pin supplies voltage to the board even when the computer is powered down. That voltage is required for the start switch to work. When you press the start button, it shorts the two pins together where the start button wires connect to the mother board and brings in a relay inside the power supply. Once this is done, power is supplied to the mother board and fans come on and the post starts. The 450 watt ps should at least make an effort to start the system, and will probably work for all equipment plugged in.