No motherboard lights or Fans spinning and will not boot

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Gpret

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Oct 19, 2009
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Hey, I recently built a new pc for myself for the first time and it has been running fine but a few nights ago I shut the system down and ever since it will not start properly. The case power button still starts the system but only the PSU fans spins up along with the case fans plugged in by molex plugs. I'm assuming it is a motherboard problem or possibly some sort of loose connection?

My specs are:
AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor
Zalman CNPS5X Performa CPU Cooler
ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card
Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks



 
Solution
kira70591
Does it even POST? Do you see the brand name pop up or do you see a chance to get into BIOS?

Make sure that nothing is shorting out your motherboard such as something metal touching it. Strip it down to bare minimum. 1 stick of memory, CPU, motherboard, hard drive, PSU, heatsink. Take the GPU off as well as any expansion cards that you may have.
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kira70591

kira70591

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Feb 2, 2014
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Does it even POST? Do you see the brand name pop up or do you see a chance to get into BIOS?

Make sure that nothing is shorting out your motherboard such as something metal touching it. Strip it down to bare minimum. 1 stick of memory, CPU, motherboard, hard drive, PSU, heatsink. Take the GPU off as well as any expansion cards that you may have.
 
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Solution
G

Gpret

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Oct 19, 2009
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No, just a black screen and none of the fans attached to the motherboard spin up. I don't think anything is shorting but ill remove it all out the case and try you advice when I get a chance and get back to you if it helps. thanks man

 
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InvalidError

InvalidError

Titan
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May 18, 2007
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If your motherboard has a 5VSB LED and that does not light up, either something is busted on your motherboard or your PSU's 5VSB output has issues. If you have a multimeter, you might want to back-probe the purple wire on the ATX connector to see what voltage you get there before, during and after attempting to turn on your PC.

On one of my problematic PSUs (Antec SL350), the 5VSB rises to 5.6V while on standby, drops to 3-4V during power-up and goes back up to 5.6V if it fails to power-up (the PWM chip is powered by 5VSB so the crash to 3.xV might cause the PSU to go into under-voltage lock-out) or 5V if the PSU manages to power-up - that PSU quit working properly after power was restored from a blown transformer a few city blocks away so I'm guessing its 5VSB circuitry got damaged by junk power when service got restored.
 
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Gpret

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Oct 19, 2009
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Hey so i did what you suggested whilst also taking everyone else into account and i have life outside the case on the motherboard box, boots and everything :) does that suggest it was a short circuit? and what should i do now when rebuilding? thanks so much

 
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InvalidError

InvalidError

Titan
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If the computer works on the desk but not inside the case, it does suggest a short of some sort somewhere and the next step would be to triple-check for any piece of metal or other conductor that might not b in the right place as you put the components back in.

The most common offenders are misplaced motherboard tray studs, missing cardboard or nylon washer around a screw or mounting stud that has a trace close enough to cause a short and the metal fingers from the IO-shield sticking into IO ports instead of over the connector's metal shield.
 
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G

Gpret

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Oct 19, 2009
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OK thanks, ill give it a go now. How would I determine if I have missing cardboard/nylon washers? as that may be it as i couldn't notice any stray metal ect which could course it..
 
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InvalidError

InvalidError

Titan
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Compare the size of solder pads around the motherboard's mounting holes to the size of your studs and screw heads. If the solder pads are big enough to cover any area the screw or stud could possibly touch then the washers are unnecessary.

BTW, do not over-tighten motherboard screws since that could crush inner layers together and cause a layer-to-layer short. You only need something like 1/4-1/2 of a turn past snug, with 'snug' being the point where there is no slack left between the motherboard, the screw and the stud.
 
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kira70591

kira70591

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Make sure that your IO backplate is fitted snugly in place and that your motherboard seats correctly into. Also, make sure that your motherboard tray standoffs are all in the correct place. Count the number of mounting holes that your motherboard has and then count the number of screws that you use while securing it in place. This will allow you to make sure that you have mounted it properly and have accounted for all of the standoffs.

Also, make sure that you are correctly connecting the front panel connectors of your case to your motherboard. The easiest way to do this is to consult your motherboard manual which will tell you which pin is for what connector. Many times, the motherboard also comes with an easy to read adapter that you can plug all of the front panel connectors onto and then plug that into the connectors on the motherboard.
 
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