First build and its gone pear shaped !

[Liveforadventur]

Hello,
I have attached everything in my first build according to the manual (well I think I have done it step-by-step). I have just gone for the BIG switch on, and failure strikes. How depressing.

The green power light on the motherboard lights up, but oddly, the rear exhaust fan, and the fan on the graphics card, move a few inches from side to side, in a kind of wobble.

The power/reset LED's on the front of the case don't light up (I have removed the cables from the motherboard and tried to re-insert the plugs the opposite way up, but still to no avail).

Anyone have any ideas as it all looks so nice in a 'non working' sort of way.

 

[mailpup]

At least you have a sense of humor about it. List your component specifications. It might have a bearing on the problem.

That said, did you use case standoffs for the motherboard? If not, the motherboard is shorting to the case.

 

[KingCody]

sounds like a power supply issue, or as already mentioned, your board may be shorting out.

when building a system, you should always "table test" it before installing it into the case. So you should:
1. disconnect all components and remove mobo from case
2. lay the mobo on a flat, anti-static surface (i.e. bag it came in)
3. install 1 stick of RAM
4. install video card and connect 1 monitor
5. connect the PSU and turn machine on
5a. if it turns on and you get video (bios POST screen), then connect other components one by one and make sure everything works before installing back into the case
5b. if it still doesn't work, try another PSU and repeat from step 2

 

[Liveforadventur]

Thanks,
I inserted the brass coloured screws into the case and then the motherboard on top, then screwed it in. I will do as suggested and remove everything. The thought of re-doing everything fills me with delight (not).

thanks

Swing Thermaltake PC Gaming Case ATX VB6000BWS
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ Socket 939 1MB Inc Fan
Asus A8N-SLi (Standard), ATX, DDDR400, PCI-E, Gbit Lan, USB 2.0, 1394, 8ch Audio, 4 x SATA, Raid
480W XClio-SCF aPFC Super Silent (21Db) 12cm Fan 8/20/24 ATX2/2.01 12vEPS + SATA+PCI-E Hi-End
256Mb ScanFX PCI-E 6800GS SLi Extreme Edition GDDR3 ViVo Tv Out Dual DVI HDTV
1Gb (2 x 512 Mb) Corsair TwinX, DDR, PC3200C2PT, Cas 2, Lifetime Warranty
LN9709 160Gb SATA300 Samsung SpinPoint™ HD160JJ (7200rpm,8mb) - NCQ
LG GSA-4167BAL Black 16x16 ±R Super Multi Dual Layer DVDRW/RAM Writer OEM UK
SM930BF 19" TFT Silver 4ms DVI Monitor Samsung
KeySonic Aluminium Design (Back Lit with Blue Neon) USB Flat Keyboard XType (ACK-720EL)
1.44Mb Sony Black Floppy Disk Drive OEM

 

[Cartz]

sounds like a power supply issue, or as already mentioned, your board may be shorting out.

when building a system, you should always "table test" it before installing it into the case. So you should:
1. disconnect all components and remove mobo from case
2. lay the mobo on a flat, anti-static surface (i.e. bag it came in)
3. install 1 stick of RAM
4. install video card and connect 1 monitor
5. connect the PSU and turn machine on
5a. if it turns on and you get video (bios POST screen), then connect other components one by one and make sure everything works before installing back into the case
5b. if it still doesn't work, try another PSU and repeat from step 2

ACK! Don't forget to install the CPU!!

(It's his first build, don't know if he'd assume that or not) Definately sounds like a short somewhere, somethings touching...

Edit: You only put the brass screws in the case where there were matching holes in the mobo right?

 

[KingCody]

ACK! Don't forget to install the CPU!!

I can't believe I forgot the most important part! ...lol, sorry

also, the holes in the motherboard that you should use will have a metal ring around them, this keeps the board properly grounded, do not use any other holes because they may cause a short circuit.

 

[Liveforadventur]

Hi,
I have followed suggestions and (a) Taken off the motherboard (b) attached the power supply 4pin plug and 24pin plug (c) attached the PWR supply button lead from front of case.

When I switched the mains plug on, the green power light on the motherboard lit up. When I pushed the case PWR button, nothing happened. I then fixed one of the leads from the PSU (fan speed monitoring connector) to the CHA2_fan plug and tried again. This time when I pushed the case PWR button, the on board chip fan started spinning, but the CPU fan turned very slowly, sometimes speeding up a bit, then slowing again. Oddly, if I pushed the PWR supply button at the front of the case, it had no affect (didn't turn anything off).

I attached the case fan lead to the CHA1_fan plug and the case fan molex to a PSU plug and tried again. Again the chip fan worked, but both CPU and case fan, slightly moved. When I pushed the case fan (to give the poor thing a helping hand), It started spinning and kept going ok. This method didn't work for the CPU fan.

Incidently, the PSU fan did not start at all no matter what I did.

I repeated this test a few times with the same results. When I plugged the PWR LED lead in, it caused a red light to flicker at the front of the case.

I expected the PSU fan, the case fan, the onboard mothererboard fan and the PWR switch all to work.

Any ideas what to do next ?

 

[mailpup]

Your graphics card requires a separate power connection to the power supply. The connector is on the inside end of the card. You didn't mention it so I'll ask, did you connect this to the power supply?

 

[LipsOfVenom]

the PSU fan doesn't work? maybe that is where your problems lies

 

[Liveforadventur]

At the point in testing, I did not attach the graphics card at all, I just wanted to see if all the fans worked. Perhaps the PSU and CPU fans shouldnt spin until a specific temperature is reached ?

 

[Liveforadventur]

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I just can not get anything to work properly. I decided to remove the PSU and as I did, I heard a 'moving' sound. I loosened the PSU case and out dropped a chunk of broken plastic. Now, I dont know if this is causing my problems, but its obviously been bashed about. I will take it back to SCAN this weekend and exchange or refund.

It also annoys me that it came with a power cord that is NOT for the UK, It is one of those 2 pin foreign plugs. Strange.

Oh well, thanks again, I will post again at weekend if I get my new PSU.

 

[Cartz]

Don't you guys use a different voltage/current from your outlets on that side of the pond? Did you check that switch on the back that selects the power type? I'm pretty sure if the power supply was set to 110V and you have 235V going into it, that it would be the source of your problem..

But, regardless, if parts are falling out of your PSU, its probably best to replace it, let us know how it turns out... Cheers.

 

[Liveforadventur]

Many thanks for responding.

I replaced my PSU and everything worked fine. Windows XP loaded as well on my SATA disk. The only problem now is that I can see the screen 're-drawing' itself when I scroll down a page OR if I click on a window and try to whizz it about the page, its very jerky and again, I can see it re-drawing itself. I think I need to 'set' something somewhere.... ?