Mobo woes :'(

[Drunken Chinchilla]

OK theres a fair amount of PC savvy people areound here so I wonder if you can help me...

Having finally recieved my new graphics card and monitor yesterday I set about adding them to my system that I've been building. Now I'd followed the Mobo guide word for word on connecting everything up and I thought it was all ready to go until I hit the switch. Nothing. No slight movement of a fan, no explosions, no bleeps or flashing lights just nothing. My first thought was that I'd wired the front panel power switch up wrong but I've tried it in every position possible and nothing. Its really really getting on my nerves now as I can't even begin to work out what the problem could be as nothing even happens to indicate where the problem is! Anyway heres my specs if it will help:

MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum ATX Mobo
P4 Prescott 3.0 Ghz processor (800 mhz fsb i think...lol)
1 Gig DDR2 Corsair value select RAM
Sapphire Radeon X800 Graphics card
2 x 160 GB seagate barracuda HDs
350 W Nexus silent power supply

I reckon thats the basics of what it needs to actually do something but *sigh* no such luck. Any help or links to help would be muchly appreciated.

[Yonkey]

This once happened to me.  Check to make sure you screwed in the motherboard to the case properly, using the right number of screws and spacers from the case.  If you used too many screws, or if it's flat against the case, it's causing the electricity to ground out and nothing happen when you press the on switch.

[Drunken Chinchilla]

Ahhhh that hadn't occured to me. Well it doesnt say exactly how many is too many when it comes to the screws...I've basically just screwed in all the available holes (9 in total), do you reckon I should try it with less screws?

[Yonkey]

Yup, try it with 4 or something.  You probably don't even really need more than 2.  But to test to make sure this is in fact the problem, try unplugging all the PCI cards and then unscrewing the motherboard from the case completely. Then connect the power supply to it and turn it on.  You should see the CPU fan and see the power lights come on at least.

[Drunken Chinchilla]

Bah, still no luck. I tried with 6, 4, 2 and then none and then I even help it raised slightly off the supports and still no sign of life! I'm beginning to think that the PSU was dead on arrival but surely thats quite rare...

meh I've developed a new found hate for computers, if this ones not careful it'll end up out the window. Cheers for the help though Neil, much appreciated.

[Yonkey]

 

The switch on the back of the case is set to ON, right?

[Warlock]

The switch on the back of the case is set to ON, right?

*chuckles madly* Knowing Alex, probably not!

[koko_99_2001]

*waits for Alex's response*

[Drunken Chinchilla]

LOL yes it is!! I can be bad sometimes but not THAT bad!

[koko_99_2001]

You sure about that?

[Louisiana Night]

This may not be related to your problem, but isn't your power supply slightly weak for a system like that ( I'm not saying it is, just that it seems that even if you do get it working, that might be your second problem ) ?

[GravityMX]

You could try this Power Supply Calculator if your unsure.

Have you tried:
-Booting with just one stick of R.A.M.
-Checked the R.A.M. for scratches
-Swapped PSU's
-Made sure the heatsinks seated correctly
-Removed various bits and pieces, allowing just enough to boot the system (CPU, RAM, HDD)

[Drunken Chinchilla]

Yes to all of the above I'm afraid.

Dan, you know I reckon that may well be the problem which is hugely annoying as its a special silent case which I bought for doing all my sound recording etc. This means if I want a new PSU for it I actually need to send the whole damn thing back for the 400W version  

[Drunken Chinchilla]

Ah I just did the power supply calculator and it only came to 312W so its not that either! Meh, I am totally at a loss now...

[Yonkey]

I think it's time to take it in to a computer technician.  

[Drunken Chinchilla]

UPDATE: Well we have power! I was plugging in a fan power supply for a fan that didn't exists so...go figure :p anyway, heres the most recent problem in teh saga I like to call, ihatecomputersandneverwanttoseeoneagain



One thing though...Neil you mentioned about screws? Well I put the mobo supports in in the holes just labelled ATX (5 in total I think) and screwed them all in. Could that have any effect on it?

(im spamming this round many PC tech places, hence the back story :p)

*sigh*

I bought all the components for my new PC late February and in early March it was all hooked up and ready to go. So I turn it on and yay! HDs are humming away, CD/DVD drives are working nicely, CPU, PSU and graphics card fans are all spinning fine BUT there's no image on my monitor and NO BIOS beep to say if there’s an error or even if there isn’t, its just silent. The fact that there is no beep made me think it was a mobo problem but alas, i sent it back to the guys at Novatech (really great customer service btw) and they tested it out and managed to get an image out of it fine. I'll list my specs then ill list EVERYTHING I've tried to get it to work:

Nexus Silent Breeze 350W case
MSi Neo 2 Platinum 915P Mobo
Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz LGA 775 Prescott Processor
1 Gig of Value select corsair DDR2 RAM
Sapphire ATI Radeon X800 256MB PCI-Express

Now that’s all I really need to list at this point as even with this set up I’m getting nada on the monitor or from the motherboard. So yeah as you can tell I've:

- Tested with just the above
- Tested without the graphics card to see if the Mobo gives me any beeps (It didn't.)
- Made sure I've got the right number of Mobo supports in by just putting the support bits in the holes labelled ATX
- Made sure the mobo isn't touching the case in any way
- Cleared the CMOS (several times)
- Checked and double checked all the front panel is wired up properly (including the system speaker)

So as you can see I'm at a total loss. I really hope I’m being stupid and its something glaringly obvious as that would be alot better than having to get a replacement *hopes*. I would check out if it’s the RAM but none of my other computers use DDR2 and this Mobo doesn't support regular DDR. I'd test the graphics card but I dont have access to another PCI-Express card and this Mobo doesn't support AGP cards. Please help

[Yonkey]

If the computer is getting power now, then it's screwed in properly.

Is the PC Speaker working properly?  It should beep if you try booting the computer with no memory chips in it.  Anyway, even if the speaker is working properly, that alone won't tell you what's wrong.

Did the tech support people say HOW they managed to get the video to work (i.e. swapping with another video card, or swapping the monitor)?

[Drunken Chinchilla]

They didn't say but I assume they had to have done so as I only sent back the motherboard and the processor. That means they stuck in RAM and a graphics card.

[Yonkey]

I'd try exchanging your video card then.

[Oldbushie]

Use a Geforce video card maybe....