Everything works, but it won't turn on.

[LFTKBS]

Calling all geeks!

Okay, here's the thing: the new box is not powering on.

The power supply is plugged in, the switch is set to 115. Flipping the switch causes the green LED on the mobo to fire up. The PWRBT plug is in the appropriate place on the board - I checked like four times. The cables are orange and white and I'm assuming all the white lines are ground. Switching the live and ground wires has no effect. I know that the pins themselves have juice because plugging the HDD light into the PWRBT pins makes the blue HDD light go on. After much finger mangling, I pulled the front part of the case off and followed the wires down. The power switch is simple. There are two wires on each side of the switch, and depressing the main button should complete the circuit - it goes directly into the board.

I thought that there was a manual on/off switch at the bottom of the case, but turns out I was tired and confused some wires; instead, I think that it's a manual switch for the USB ports in the front. So let's forget about that.

Now, not everything is installed yet, only the board, CPU, fans, and media drive are connected. I doubt it would need RAM or HDD or video card installed to power up, right? I just want to see the fans spin and boom, I'm happy. I can get on with the rest of it.

So. Any ideas? how can I test if it's a bad switch? It seems like the construction is way too simple for it to be that, but . . . I am stuck here. Help!

[Cthulhu]

I had a similiar problem 2 months ago.

I replaced the mobo, CPU, RAM, and it still wsant working.

I finally replaced the power supply...and everytyhing worked.

So I spent $300 to replace a $30 part :(

My system is an AMD XP2400, Georce 4, and 512MB of RAM at the time, apparently the power supply, wihch was a 430W had just stooped providing enough power for everything to power on. It had worked for about 1 year before it died.

Now, if your componets arn't as power hungry as mine, it might not be a problem, but you might want to look on ebay for a new power supply...I got a 450W for about $20.

[LFTKBS]

Thanks, Cthulhu (never thought I'd say that...). It's a brand new case and power supply. The PS is 400W. Plus, you know, power is getting to the components at least in small doses (the LEDs are going on). I literally bought this three days ago; replacement is a last resort.

[Wudang]

Not much practical help but you might feel better reading this (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/26/bofh_2004_episode_16/).

Does sound like some of the weird problems I had with power before I upgraded and after installing some USB devices.

[NoZed Avenger]

Is this some new usage of the word "work" ???

N/A

(No - nothing bu the smartass comment to add -- thoguh the power supply idea sounds possible)

[Cthulhu]

Originally posted by LFTKBS
Thanks, Cthulhu (never thought I'd say that...). It's a brand new case and power supply. The PS is 400W. Plus, you know, power is getting to the components at least in small doses (the LEDs are going on). I literally bought this three days ago; replacement is a last resort.

hehe.

It never even crossed my mind that it could be my power supply...the fans in the case were coming on, the LED's on the mobo were coming on, so how could it be the PS?

But that was the last thing I tried. If it was the first....well, I would haev saved a bit of $$.

[LFTKBS]

At least you got your fans to go on. I got nothin'.

Damn it. If I have to send the case back to newegg, that means it won't arrive till like Tuesday and I won't see a new box till the end of next week at the earliest. Glad that I paid an extra $15 buck for rush shipping on the other components. :mad:

[richardm]

Try installing some of the RAM and trying again.

[LFTKBS]

Originally posted by richardm
Try installing some of the RAM and trying again.

Do you think that it won't fire up without certain critical components, Richard? Has that happened before?

Thanks for all your help, guys (and gals). I'm just wracking my brain here.

[LFTKBS]

Okay, I just looked that up. Apparently you need at least CPU and RAM. Is that correct? I will feel way dumb if that's it.

[Hagrok]

New case or no, it's probably the power supply.

I'm not sure what quality control processes PC manufacturers are using for power supplies these days, but I think they're failing...

--Dan

[MrMonty]

Originally posted by LFTKBS
Okay, I just looked that up. Apparently you need at least CPU and RAM. Is that correct? I will feel way dumb if that's it.

You're correct. It won't even start up if the CPU fan isn't plugged it. Motherboards are too smart for their own good these days. If the fan isn't plugged in or the CPU is too hot, it'll shut itself down/won't start.

BTW, I spent $45 on a case/PSU from newegg. You get what you pay for. The power supply died after a couple weeks (the kids helped it along by repeatedly turning it on and off). $50 for the power supply alone will get you a decent 400W.

Monty

[thrombus29]

Add me to the list of people who got screwed by a cheap power supply.

You can get at least a decent one for $40 from Newegg

I think you might need to have the Video card plugged in also for power in a newer motherboard.

Have you tried to clear the CMOS?

[Soapy Sam]

LFTKBS- surely you can test the switch by either using a circuit test meter or just running wire through the switch to a bulb?

[Rob Lister]

Originally posted by LFTKBS
Switching the live and ground wires has no effect.

::cringe::

[Zep]

At a minimum, you will need CPU and RAM to make anything work, if it's gonna. But if the power supply is silent - no fans? no crackling noises? - then that would be my primary suspect (poopie, huh).

[Janus]

Originally posted by LFTKBS

Now, not everything is installed yet, only the board, CPU, fans, and media drive are connected. I doubt it would need RAM or HDD or video card installed to power up, right? I just want to see the fans spin and boom, I'm happy. I can get on with the rest of it.

The machine will do extreamly little without ram. Make sure you have it in the correct slots as some motherboards are very finicky about which slots are ocupied.

The other bit of advice is always plug in the front panel speaker. Most motherboards will beep diagnostic codes through the speaker if they arent able to fire up. On the other hand I've lost count of the number of times where a mother board will just appear dead (no beeps) when it is infact expericing a more mundane dificulty, such as incompatable video card.

[Janus]

Originally posted by Cthulhu


hehe.

It never even crossed my mind that it could be my power supply...the fans in the case were coming on, the LED's on the mobo were coming on, so how could it be the PS?

But that was the last thing I tried. If it was the first....well, I would haev saved a bit of $$.

I've made that mistake. Turns out that one of the outputs on the supply had failed while the other voltages were ok.

[Uh_Clem]

If I remember correctly an IDE cable on backwards will keep a system down. I don't think there's any beep codes with it either.

Though just about every IDE cable I've seen in the last 6 years was keyed so it's probably pretty hard to do now.

[Janus]

Originally posted by Uh_Clem
If I remember correctly an IDE cable on backwards will keep a system down. I don't think there's any beep codes with it either.


I've seen that, but its not suppose to happen. The "correct" symptom of reverse wiring of the ide bus is that the activiy light should be constently on. Older cdrom drives would also spit their trays as soon as power was applied.

[edit]Just rembered that the cd spitting trays was specific to the panasonic interface, not the ide interface.

[a_unique_person]

Can also be a mismatched CPU/Mobo.

[Oleron]

Simplify the problem.
Disconnect any unnecessary cards/disks.
Just have the PSU attached to the MOBO. Leave the CPU in the MOBO. Remove the memory but leave the video card in (if it has one). Remove modems, sound cards and anything else. So it should just be PSU, CPU and Video card attached to MOBO. Connect the power switch and speaker to MOBO. Don't connect the keyboard or the mouse, just the power cable and monitor cable.
Power on. The board should start to beep a memory error code (because you have no memory in it). If it doesn't then power off and remove the video card. Power on and you should get error beeps (no video). If not then replace the video card and reseat the CPU (AMD chips are difficult to position the heatsink - check this carefully). Make sure any jumpers are in the correct position - check the manual.

Finally - have a sniff inside the case! Can you smell odd burning smell? Memory chips and CPU's give off this pungent smell when they are fried.

Sorry about the disjointed style - hadn't much time. The bottom line is rule out the components one by one until you find the culprit.

[Rat]

Test each of the molex connectors from the psu with a multimeter. If you don't have a multimeter, it is a generally useful thing to have, so a worthy investment. They should be well within 10% of their intended voltages (3v, (or 3.3v) 5v, and 12v.

Cheers,
Rat.

[richardm]

Originally posted by LFTKBS
Okay, I just looked that up. Apparently you need at least CPU and RAM. Is that correct? I will feel way dumb if that's it.

Don't feel dumb, it's not necessarily obvious! I seem to recall that my father fell foul of this same problem when putting a PC together.

The big question is: Have you tried it, and did it make a difference ?

(If you haven't got an onboard video card you might want to bung that in as well while you're about it, and generally connect everything up. As Mr Monty and Janus say, modern motherboards are really finicky about when they will or won't do anything.)

[LFTKBS]

Thanks for all the responses, y'all. Here's an update:

1) Yeah, the case doesn't indicate which were ground and which were live. I went with colored=live, white=ground. Sorry, but I had to know. I cringed too.

2) Put in RAM. Nothing.

3) Switched cheap power supply for way-too-expensive one. Nothing.

4) The IDEs are keyed. Couldn't screw that up.

5) AUP: I'm using a Soyo KT600 Dragon Ultra and and AMD XP 3200+. So that's not it.

6) Put video card in. Nothing.

7) No weird smells. When I say nothing happens, I mean nothing.

So. This morning I'm going to just connect front panel speaker, CPU, and go from there, adding components along the way. If nothing happens, I'll take it down to the computer shop my company sometimes uses and have them manually test stuff. Ugh. Thanks again, you guys.

[thrombus29]

You can also pull the motherboard out and put it on a towel to make sure that the case or one of the standoffs are shorting you out.

[Skeptical Greg]

Are you sure the power on switch is connected to the Mobo correctly..?


It is real easy for the little two wire connector to end up on the wrong pins..


Edited....

Oops.. I see from your first post you checked this..

Try removing the power-on connector from the case and just shorting the power-on pins on the Mobo with a small screw driver..

( The power on pins do not have any voltage on them )

http://www.intergate.com/~gregorygatz/images/soyo.gif

[Underemployed]

You've done everything right in terms of checking....All you need now is to buy an identical set of components and replace them one by one in the current (non-working) box to see which one is causing the problem.

Easy!

If that isn't practical, from what you've described it could be a serious fault in almost any one (or more) of your new components. Finding which one (or more) is the culprit will not be easy, but start by powering up with the motherboard outside of the case and only the RAM, CPU and graphics plugged in (and using a screwdriver to trip the ON jumper). If it still does nothing, it's most likely to be PSU, RAM, CPU or motherboard.

Workshop experience shows that new RAM is seldom at fault, same with new PSU's. I also suggest clearing the CMOS battery on your motherboard.

[WorldBuilder]

Ok, Ok...

There's a short somewhere. Return the case and get a new one. No sense wasting time playing with something that'll probably never work. New case, new PS, and it should work. Forget shipping. Pick up something at a local PC store.

Chris

BTW, did you ever hook the PS up to a voltmeter?

[Beanbag]

You might want to unseat any cards and check the connectors on the motherboard. I had a PCI buss connector that one of the contacts had folded over and shorted out to the connector on the other side. The result was a non-functional, but all LED's lit up machine. The solution was an entirely new motherboard (ever try pulling a PCI connector from a multilayer PCB without screwing up at least one of the traces?).

Regards;
Beanbag

[An Infinite Ocean]

I had this problem two weeks ago. The LED on the motherboard turned on, but nothing else worked (although sometimes the CPU fan powered up for a fraction of a second, then stopped). It was the PSU.

[LFTKBS]

This was it:

http://www.soyousa.com/kb/kbdesc.php?id=114

Of course, no mention of those jumper settings in the manual.

So I'm typing this from the new system which I'm dualbooting WinXP and Suse 9. It's hot. Thanks for all the help, y'all. I learned a lot both from the experience and from this thread. You rock.

[a_unique_person]

I have never heard of a mother board being shipped without that jumper set. Maybe they did it to save the battery.

[WorldBuilder]

That is pretty unusual... I have to admit, I don't like Soyo motherboards, despite their good rep.

Chris

[richardm]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
I have never heard of a mother board being shipped without that jumper set. Maybe they did it to save the battery.

That is bizarre. "Thanks, Soyo!". Considering the usual life of a CMOS battery and the usual shelf life of a motherboard, it seems a bit of a cruel trick to play on unsuspecting users.

[Zep]

Well, well, well...

:confused: :con2:

Everyone RTFM - read the...fine manual.

Sounds like a cool new toy, though!