No power - 1st new PC build - Advice?

[spartan92]

Hi everyone, I am in the middle of building my first PC and after carefully assembling the components and making what I believe are the right connections to the motherboard, I don't have any power.

All the components are brand new, so I assume I just screwed up something in the connections. Does anyone have any thoughts as to a rookie mistake that I might have made that would be the problem. My component list is in my signature below. Thanks for any advice!

Antec P160WF case
Antec NeoPower 480 Watt power
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU (Venice)
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard
OCZ D400 2x1GB PC3200 Ram
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300 GB Serial ATA

 

[Crashman]

Yeh, there's a few things that can cause the problem, and a few answers in the first post of this forum, labeled "motherboards FAQ".

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[pat]

Is MSI listed in the FAQ as possible cause?

(\__/)
(=<font color=red><b>˚</b></font color=red>.'=)
(")ώ(") This is my bunny..terminator!!!

 

[Rugger]

LOL - probably should be...

*Steam rising*
|<font color=red>(\__/)</font color=red>|
|<font color=red>(='.'=)</font color=red>|
|<font color=red>(")_(")</font color=red>|
~~~~~
BUNNY STEW FOR DINNER!!

 

[spartan92]

Thanks Crashman, I did check the FAQ but simply didn't find the answer to my question there. I'm hoping someone else has some ideas on what I might have done wrong.

Antec P160WF case
Antec NeoPower 480 Watt power
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU (Venice)
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard
OCZ D400 2x1GB PC3200 Ram
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300 GB Serial ATA

 

[Crashman]

No power usually means the power switch is either not working, or not connected to the right pins. A board that's grounded by a misplaced standoff can also have the problem.

most power supplies have a switch on the back labeled 1/0, where 1 means on an 0 means off. That's not for turning the PC off and on, but rather cutting the standby power to the system.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[spartan92]

What would be the definition of a misplaced standoff?

I have them placed under each of the holes in the motherboard. I purposely loosened them and retightened just to the point of being snug in case I had them too tight and it was pressing the board directly against the motherboard tray.

Antec P160WF case
Antec NeoPower 480 Watt power
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU (Venice)
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard
OCZ D400 2x1GB PC3200 Ram
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300 GB Serial ATA

 

[Crashman]

Standoff can't be "too tight" so as to cause the motherboard to contact the tray, either they provide enough spacing for the motherboard...or they don't. And if they don't, it's a case problem.

You likely still have contact between a circuit on the back of the board and the tray.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Rugger]

I thought the P160s were built well and wouldn't run into that type of issue...

*Steam rising*
|<font color=red>(\__/)</font color=red>|
|<font color=red>(='.'=)</font color=red>|
|<font color=red>(")_(")</font color=red>|
~~~~~
BUNNY STEW FOR DINNER!!

 

[Crashman]

Actually what he said doesn't make any sense, assuming the standoffs are rigid posts. I've seen other styles of standoffs, but those didn't screw in, they snapped in.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Rugger]

That's what I was thinking too. The P160 has good solid stanchions. I can't imagine bending a mobo far enough to make it touch the case - I'd think it would snap.

*Steam rising*
|<font color=red>(\__/)</font color=red>|
|<font color=red>(='.'=)</font color=red>|
|<font color=red>(")_(")</font color=red>|
~~~~~
BUNNY STEW FOR DINNER!!

 

[Rugger]

I'm sure you could bend it right up to the point that it snapped. That's assuming you have enough strength in those toothpick arms of yours.

Just because the PCB will bend doesn't mean it won't damage the traces...

*Steam rising*
|<font color=red>(\__/)</font color=red>|
|<font color=red>(='.'=)</font color=red>|
|<font color=red>(")_(")</font color=red>|
~~~~~
BUNNY STEW FOR DINNER!!

 

[spartan92]

I actually got it to start up via the screwdriver brushed against the motherboard pins trick. So now I just have to figure out if it's a defective power button on the front of the case or if my connections on the motherboard were just wrong.

I'm leaning towards the defective button, as there are only two 2 pin connectors that would seem to be affected - Power SW and Reset SW and I double checked my connections to what the motherboard manual said and they were placed correctly. Getting closer! Thanks for the help.

Antec P160WF case
Antec NeoPower 480 Watt power
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ CPU (Venice)
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard
OCZ D400 2x1GB PC3200 Ram
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300 GB Serial ATA