Case mount screws causing motherboard to short cannot draw power while screwed in

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Dylan_K_4

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Dec 12, 2016
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My NZXT Phantom 410 Case and AsRock H97 Pro4 motherboard have never worked well together.

Ever since I built this PC I've had problems with the case mounting screws casuing the motherboard to short, and not be able to draw power when pressing the power button the case.

I am able to draw power just fine if the case screws are not screwed in to mount the motherboard to the case. But when they are screwed in, it casues an electrical short, I believe and my PC won't power on as a result.

I'm wondering if its time for a new case or new motherboard, or if there are any other things I can check? This is a really annoying issue to have to deal with while transporting my PC.

As as side note, I have never been able to fully screw in all the of the standoffs as when they are all screwed in my PC won't draw power. I used the PC for the past few years only mounting the motherboard to the case using 3x of the screws, as using the other positions casues a short.

Thanks
 
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OK, it looks like you don't understand stand-offs, so I suspect clutchc is correct.

Stand-offs are little pieces of metal used to mount your mobo to the case. Often made of brass, each looks like a six-sided tube of metal about ¼" across and ¼" tall. It has a threaded external shaft on one end that screws into a hole in the case's back plate, and a threaded hole bored into the other end to accept a screw used to fasten the mobo to the stand-off. Using these establishes a gap between the case's mounting plate and the bottom of the mobo where there are exposed metal traces that can short out to the mounting plate.

Every mobo has a set of holes in it - often in three rows of 3 holes each - but there are several possible layouts for...
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Dylan_K_4

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Dec 12, 2016
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I honestly don't know how to check this. I've been using a few of the same screws ever since I built the computer about 3 years ago. I've done things like upgraded the graphics card, and changed the cooling fan unit but I think the screws I've been using are the same as the start.

The only thing I can think of is possible that I might be using one or two of the screws that screw that screw the main side plate of my case )the one with a plastic viewing region) as standoffs by accident because they look incredibly similar. Think this could have caused some error? Any way to check or confirm this? Any other ideas on what i can do? Can I order new screws by some special way from NZXT../
 
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Paperdoc

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OK, it looks like you don't understand stand-offs, so I suspect clutchc is correct.

Stand-offs are little pieces of metal used to mount your mobo to the case. Often made of brass, each looks like a six-sided tube of metal about ¼" across and ¼" tall. It has a threaded external shaft on one end that screws into a hole in the case's back plate, and a threaded hole bored into the other end to accept a screw used to fasten the mobo to the stand-off. Using these establishes a gap between the case's mounting plate and the bottom of the mobo where there are exposed metal traces that can short out to the mounting plate.

Every mobo has a set of holes in it - often in three rows of 3 holes each - but there are several possible layouts for these. The mobo's mounting plate has many MORE holes pre-punched and threaded so you can place the stand-offs in them to exactly match the locations of the holes in YOUR mobo. When you get them in the right places, you tighten them a little. THEN you place the mobo into the case over the stand-offs and make SURE you got all their locations correct. Ideally, there ought to be one stand-off under each mounting hole in the mobo for good support. But MOST IMPORTANTLY there should NEVER be a stand-off where there is NOT a matching mobo hole. Look at the mounting holes of the mobo and you'll see little metal fingers radiating out from each hole. The design is that the mobo should be Grounded to the case back mounting plate via the screws and stand-offs at those mobo mounting holes ONLY, and nowhere else. When you're sure the Stand-offs are all located correctly, you use the screws through the mobo mounting holes to fasten it down.

So, OP, start with your system unplugged and open the case. Look closely at the mobo and locate the mounting holes in it. Now you'll have to remove many items, like add-on cards in the PCI slots and cables connecting to mobo headers - be sure to note how to get each of these back into place. Then remove the mobo mounting screws and gently lift it from the case. Under it you SHOULD see those little Stand-offs sticking up from the back plate. If you do, examine each one carefully and make sue they are placed to exactly match the mobo holes, and NOWHERE ELSE! MOVE or (remove if necessary) any that are wrong. On the other hand, if there are NO stand-offs so the mobo was simply screwed into holes in the base plate, you are missing some important parts! You can get spares from a computer parts shop.

Once you get the stand-offs repositioned correctly you can re-install the mobo into the case, check the stand-off locations one last time, and screw down the mobo. Then re-install all the items you removed, and re-connect the cables to mobo ports. That should solve your problem.
 
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R0GG

R0GG

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Dec 27, 2012
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You can replace metal stand-off with plastic one with plastic screw, or at least temporarily use isolating 2x plastic/paper washers between stand=off/mobo and screw/mobo (you can temporarily cut your own in thick paper piece for example).
 
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Dylan_K_4

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Thanks so much for that detailed explanation! I was not using standoffs. I screwed them all in now and everything is seeming to work perfectly!

 
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clutchc

clutchc

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Wow! You dodged the bullet that time, Dylan K 4. I'm glad that the grounded-out circuits on the back of the board didn't cause any permanent damage. It's a good thing that case has a large cutout in the top half and recesses in the lower part to keep contact to a minimum. I suspect Asrock's ground fault protection helped a bit too.
 
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Dylan_K_4

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Dec 12, 2016
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Could this have caused this issue?

Only the USB 3.0 ports on the back of my motherboard work. The USB 2.0 ports on the back of my motherboard do not work. The USB ports on my case or any external device (connected to the motherboard with the blue 20 pin USB connector) will not work. Tested with my case USB ports, and an external KINGWIN 7 port USB hub. Ports can "charge" devices but don't register them with the PC, mouse, keyboards, controllers, flash drives and any other external storage devices via USB on the 2.0 ports on my motherboard never work.

Would appreciate your thoughts. Trying to fix the solution or perhaps maybe realize I need to buy a new board due to my mistreatment of it with this issue of not using standoffs.
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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Yes, it is possible that certain live circuits were affected by having the backside of the board contacting the metal surface of the case in the wrong area. But you'll never know if that was the reason or if the board was defective from the retailer. Your problem seems to be centered around the USB data link, since charging still functions.

Is the board still under retailer RMA?
 
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