Can't get pc to show any signs of life when hooked to motherboard

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canadaspy007

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Assembled my new water cooling build, used ESD wrist strap, minimized amount of time handling components double checked cpu was seated before I tightened it down. Inserted ram till it clicked, pretty much spent a whole day just double checking everything had all the psu power chords hooked up. Turned and plugged psu in pressed power button absolutely nothing happen, then pressed start button on motherboard still nothing. No beeps no codes no motherboard lights no fans absolutely nothing. I jumped the psu and got 5 fans to run, case LEDs, plus water cooling pump, plus psu fan spun. So I'm at a loss I really need to figure out what part I need to RMA. Any troubleshooting advice keeping in mind my water cooling loop is filled cpu/gpu. Thanks
 
Solution
clutchc
Maybe you had one of the I/O shield grounding "tabs" bent the wrong way and it worked its way into one of the rear ports. That's easy to do. Keep an eye on those when you slide the board back into the case and the rear ports pass through the I/O shield.
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clutchc

clutchc

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What are the components? MB? CPU? Card?
I would remove the MB and breadboard it. Laying on an insulated surface, connect just the CPU/stock cooler, 1 stick RAM in first slot, PSU, monitor to on-board video if available. Nothing else. Start it with the on-board button. See if it will boot to BIOS. If not, the board is probably defective.
 
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canadaspy007

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Asus maximus vi formula. Intel haswell 4770k, arctic MX- 4 thermal paste, corsair ax860 psu, 2 sticks of 8gb 2400mhz g skill trident x memory, 512gb Samsung 830 pro ssd, evga gtx 780 hydrocopper 3gb gpu, azza genesis 9000 case, pioneer blu ray, 24" 3D playstation monitor. Also My mother board has a 8 pin and a 4 pin atx power for the CPU but in a vague way I think my asus manual said to only use the 8 pin or just the 4 pin but in my first boot I hooked the 8 pin and the 4 pin up, cause my psu came with two 8 pin cables ( 4 + 4) labeled cpu . Also of I have to hook up a 4 pin molex to the EZ PLUG on the motherboard. Also not I do have An old dell xps 630 non modular no name psu, with horrible cable management so not sure if trust using its components to troubleshoot.
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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According to your MB manual, you need to have both the 8 pin and 4 pin ATX 12V power connectors plugged in to boot. See page 1-45

Are you saying there's a Molex header on the MB???

What is the +12V amp and watt rating of the old Dell PSU?
 
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canadaspy007

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Yeah my dell psu isn't a single rail. It has + 12V1 18amp +12V2 18 amp +12V3 18 amp +12V4 18 amp
Total + 12VDC OUTPUTS shall not exceed 732 watts
Max output power 750 watts, it only has 2 6 pin PCI-e cables my gpu needs 8 pin and 6 pin. Also pretty sure this psu only has a 8 pin atx power for the cpu.
 
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canadaspy007

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why does this diagram in my motherboards manual say OR and why they hell arent there words explaining what each diagram means. http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1150/MAXIMUS-VI-FORMULA/E8336_Maximus_VI_Formula.pdf[/img] chapter 2 basic installation 2- 7 :s
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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If I understand your question correctly...
I believe what they are trying to show in their "multi-language" pictures, is that the 8 pin header needs at least the 4 pin half powered (along with the separate 4 pin header also powered) to boot. In other words, the 8 pin header doesn't need both halves powered to boot, but it is recommended that both halves be powered for high power demands.

So theoretically, if you only have a PSU with a 4+4 pin cable... you could split the cable and plug one 4 pin half into the 8 pin header as shown and the other 4 pin half into the 4 pin header. That way both headers would be powered.
 
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canadaspy007

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My psu has two 8 pin cpu modular cables their just split in half. Does it matter that their split in half. Just trying to figure out cause I'm almost sure I'm getting a new motherboard and want to be 100 percent sure I hooked everything up good. I even tried hooking up a fan to the cpu fan slot to see if it would boot and it didn't also did what you said and just used a 4 pin in both power sources tried every config possible my psu seems super compatible and versatile when it comes to cpu atx hook ups.
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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It doesn't matter how you split the 4+4 pin connectors. There's only one voltage there. +12V. The black wires are neg(-) and the colored wires (usually yellow) are positive (+). If breadboarding the system as described above with both CPU power headers populated doesn't allow you to boot to BIOS, I would have to assume the board is bad.

That's assuming you know the PSU is working and putting out voltage. You can do that by using the paper clip trick to start the PSU; http://www.corsair.com/en/blog/testing-your-corsair-power-supply/ and reading voltages at the pins on the cables. Here are the voltages you should read:
http://www.wegotserved.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/atx-power1.png

Btw, what was this Molex header you were referring to on the board?
 
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clutchc

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OK. I see the Molex now. It is turned on its side, couldn't find it before. I presume it's there because the board's high end components demand more +12V and +5V current than the 24 pin connector can supply. I wouldn't think that would be necessary for a breadboarding, tho. But it may be a good idea to plug a Molex into it just to be sure.
 
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canadaspy007

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And thanks for the advice when I have time I'll try to breadboard it. Also just question hot do I know it's not a faulty cpu that causing a short therefore not letting my motherboard safely power up.
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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Well... you don't know. Only way to be sure is to start swapping components out. But for what it's worth, a new processor is almost never the problem with PCs that won't start. Most of the time, it is the MB. Which makes sense... it contains the bulk of the parts that make up a PC and can be the most fragile.
 
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canadaspy007

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Kinda bugged me that the asus maximus vi formula board doesn't come packaged within a anti static bag. Prob why I'm having problems now. Just a random question I have. Since this is my first build in the eyes of a seasoned pc enthusiast just wondering where my build stands....i7 4770k@4.5ghz( hopefully), maximus vi formula motherboard, G.Skill trident x @3000mhz (hopefully),evga 780 hydrocopper 3gb, 512GB Samsung 830 pro ( boot ), 1TB WD caviar black, azza genesis 9000 full tower case, pioneer 16X blu ray burner, 360mm ( 3 corsair sp120 fans in push with 2 top azza 240mm fans in pull, rad, Darkside dazmode kit( pwm pump model) water cooling loop is radiator➡️Resivoir cpu➡️gpu➡️
 
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canadaspy007

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Kinda bugged me that the asus maximus vi formula board doesn't come packaged within a anti static bag. Prob why I'm having problems now. Just a random question I have. Since this is my first build in the eyes of a seasoned pc enthusiast just wondering where my build stands....i7 4770k@4.5ghz( hopefully)arctic mx -4 thermal paste, asus maximus vi formula motherboard,16Gb G.Skill trident x @3000mhz (hopefully),evga 780 hydrocopper 3gb, 512GB Samsung 830 pro ( boot ), 1TB WD caviar black, windows 7 64bit ultimate, azza genesis 9000 full tower case, pioneer 16X blu ray burner, 360mm rad ( 3 corsair SP120 performance fans in push with 2 top azza 240mm fans in pull, rad, Darkside dazmode kit( pwm pump model) water cooling loop is radiator➡️ Reservoir➡️cpu➡️gpu➡️Radiator.
 
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canadaspy007

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I'm bread boarding it right now so far it's booting to the bios with 2 sticks of ram hooked up as well as 8 pin and 4 pin atx cpu power, hooked up and a monitor hooked up. So what's next keep in mind I have my water cooling loop set up and filled so adding a gpu outside the case might prove difficult or possibly impossible. I can add a galaxy gtx 560 tho is rather not use this welfare stock cpu heatsink and fan doesn't even sit tight to the cpu lol.
 
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canadaspy007

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K still bread boarding have galaxy gtx 560, stock heatsink, Samsung ssd, 2 sticks of g skill ram, keyboard, mouse, pioneer blu ray drive, monitor all hooked up and the gpu showed up in bios as well as every other above mentioned component.. So what should I gather from this?
 
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canadaspy007

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The motherboard is the same. Seem like there was a short in my case :s The molex is unplugged I have every cpu header connected, I have my case hooked up, with everything hooked up and it powered up and allowed me to enter the bios i haven't tried to boot windows os install cd yet, rather install windows with everything in the case. So yeah seems like every component powered up outside case any recommendations on how to prevent another short ( no I don't have any extra motherboard tray female screws attached theirs a total of 9 right now )
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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Maybe you had one of the I/O shield grounding "tabs" bent the wrong way and it worked its way into one of the rear ports. That's easy to do. Keep an eye on those when you slide the board back into the case and the rear ports pass through the I/O shield.
 
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canadaspy007

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Got everything back in the case and it turned on and went to the bios got a A2 code ( supposedly something about IDE ) and a boot device led warning light. Is that anything I can't fix by changing some settings in the bios. Also I noticed my power on and led/ fan button led don't work Aswell as some case LEDs aren't fully lighting up. Is that just a case problem or a not getting enough power problem ?
 
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