Help, mobo isn't booting up

[egravelfl]

This sucks,

I finally finish putting together my new computer, flick the power switch and nada! I open the case door and the mobo's stand-by power led is on but when I press the power switch, the associated led doesn't come on. The mobo in question is Abit's KR7A-133 and the PS is Enermax EG465P-VE FCA.

Does anyone have an idea why there's stand-by power but the switch doesn't turn it on? Is there a way for me to test the PS cables to see if there is indeed power? How about the switch? How can I test it? I tried flipping the orientation it is plugged on the board but no results. No fans (PS fan or case fan) would come on until you press the power switch right?

Anyone got a recommendation on how to go about troubleshooting this one? Should I start by unplugging all devices and removing all the PCI cards?

Many thanks for the help,

Eric

 

[MagillaGorilla]

I had the same exact problem. Make sure your not grounding yourself or anything! I have an EVERCASE and the mboard actually touches the case. Besides that the mboard was DEAD .. had to RMA it to get another one that won't save BIOS info!

I gave up on Abit and am going w/Epox.

Good luck!!!

 

[drchickenman]

I know this sounds crazy - but try warming up the mobo and h/s fan with a blowdryer. I had the same problem with my Soyo Dragon Mobo and finally figured it was the FOC (fan off control) which is defaulted on most mobo;s to keep you from frying a chip If you have your computer in a cold place (such as my basement) the fan may not run at a speed high enough for the mobo to read it as functioning and shut off to keep from frying the cpu. If that works - disable the foc in the bios under pci health.

 

[jasonja]

I have the same exact problem with my Asus p4b266... finally got the CPU and RAM... install it nicely in my new case.... flick the switch and nothing. Tore it down to nothing and still get nothing... took it out of the case and plugged in only the CPU and memory... the Standby light is on, but the damn this won't turn on.

Asus says 2 weeks to repair... I'll be in the stone age for 2 weeks.

 

[datsfresh]

Okay guys, there is a power switch on the back of the case, sometimes is near where the power supply is, a black switch, make sure you turn it on.

and also double check the SW, PW, PW led plugs


Good luck

 

[egravelfl]

MagillaGorilla,

Thanks for the idea, I read the same thing on post from a search I did afterwards. They also suggested that I check the CMOS reset jumper. I think that might be it cause I clearly remember reading in the book that it is recommended to clear the CMOS before plugging the PS... so I did so and totally forgot to put it back to normal.

But back to your idea... when I installed the mobo I put in the stubs (standoffs; whatever they are called) on the chassis. They seemed like they were made of a metal and were sqaurish. I then layed the board on it and screwed it on. Between the screws and the board I put those rusty colored washer. Was this the proper way? Or am I shorting it by having put the washer at the wrong place?

Little side comment... which the case was made a bit like the Mac... pull out (flip out) board. Easier access and work on the Mobo and I can actually see in between the two!

Thanks again for the help. I'll try it out tonight... hopefully it'll fix it... I gotta get some sleep tonight! Can't stand those stupid dreams... you know, the ones where you dream about what you did wrong or what you should try next. I rather go camping in the morning

 

[egravelfl]

datsfresh,

Good idea... unfortunately that wasn't it. I tried slipping that switch and I would see the power led on the mobo go out and on. So the PS seemed to indicate it was working properly... at least the stand-by power led was on. I also disconnected all but the power switch cable and still didn't work.

How can I test whether the switch is defective or not?

 

[rockhard]

To check if switch is faulty just get a screwdriver and from the manual identify the 2 pins on the motherboard that are designated to the power switch connector and very carefully short them together with the screwdriver.
If the shorting boots the PC up then you got switch probs.
If not - RMA time maybe

 

[jasonja]

umm.. I'm a little more intelligent than that.. as we both stated the Standby lights are on therefore the board has power, it's just refusing to let it flow... I called Asus and they summed up with "it's broke, thank you, come again"

 

[rockhard]

All the Power switch does is what i was suggesting with the screwdriver - one way to eliminate the switch as being the cause of not booting. Doesnt take intelligence - just common sense
There is no current running through the switch when the mobo is powered on, it gets its power directly from the ATX connector.
All the Power pins on the mobo do is send a quick pulse of electricity to the board to tell it to power on, then it has nothing else to do with the board unless you press again to power off or standby.

 

[egravelfl]

Alright, sorry I forgot to metion/ask if I couldn't simply short those 2 pins. I figure the switch would simply be a interupter. You press and it closes the circuit which allows the board to boot up. I wasn't sure or rather didn't realize that it's a burst and then the switch reopens the circuit. So basically it's sort of a binary state machine.

So I guess if after I put the cmos jumper back to normal tonight or removing all but essential components doesn't work I'll try shorting those pins. If that doesn't work then there's a problem with the board right?

 

[rockhard]

Yeah, thats the one - if the board wont boot when you short the pins then you got problems with the board more than likely.
If it wont boot see if you can try out your PSU on another machine so that you can eliminate that from the equation also maybe?
I feel for you bud as theres nothing more disheartening than going through what you are right now - been there and i know it aint one bit funny

 

[egravelfl]

unfortunately, I don't have another machine. but I do have another PS... granted that doesn't guarantee that that one too might not be defective. Question though is, can I power the bare minimum of components with XP 2000+ with only a 300W PS?

 

[rockhard]

Yeah sure, ive got a TBird 1.4 gig running 24/7 with an old Chieftech 250 watt PSU and have no problems whatsoever with 5 PCI slots filled, 2 dimms, 1 HD and 1 CDR.
Even if the PSU isnt really up to the job you should still get a boot, just be real unstable if you try to do anything like install windows.

 

[egravelfl]

Alright folks,

I managed to get it working on Friday after work. The problem was the cmos jumper. I had left it on reset; as soon as I put it back to normal it booted and I was on my way to configuring the BIOS.

Unfortunately, the darn thing went dead about 30 mins. into the configuration. I thought it might of been something I had changed with the ACPI and had put it to sleep mode since the screen was black but the computer was still running. I took out the mobo and left only the video, 1 DDR chip, keyboard and power supply. Still nothing and I noticed that all the led including the reset led was on. the reset switch was not plug and I wasn't shorting it. That's when I noticed a little bit of smoke coming out of the CPU area.
I'm assuming a malfunctioning mobo or cpu would start to burn... produce smoke?

I installed the cpu correctly (arrow pointing to the lever at the base), put a very thin layer of artic silver on the core only, attached my PAL 8045(?) to the mobo anchor screws, attached the delta fan (blowing down on cpu). I only tighten the screws about 2 turns.

My next step I guess is to contact googlegear to get an RMA... god I hate to have to wait another 2 weeks.

 

[rockhard]

<< I only tighten the screws about 2 turns >>


In the instructions i got with my 8045 it says that you are to fully turn the screws till they cannot be screwed in any more.
Sounds like you did not install the 8045 properly resulting in the HSF not contacting the CPU