Video of New Rig... but no good.

UPDATE: I now have 9 screws in instead of 4. Still same problem.

Either something is connected wrong, or you have a bad PSU.
Double check all your connections to the front of your case. The side of the connector with writing on it does not mean that side of the connector goes "out" matching the writing on the plug it goes into. You may have to turn it over. I'd unplug the one to the power button and turn it over, and plug it back in. See what that does.

Pretty good little movie there, don't take all the little case connectors to the front to be idiot proof, they can be annoyingly problematic to get them connected so they work correctly. And, I said before, don't take the writing on them to mean they all plug in with writing all on the inside or outside....so to speak.

I checked your video, and everything looks ok to go as far as I can tell (was a bit blurry, so can't say for certain).

Firstly, regarding the screws. The motherboard does not come with screws - they normally come with the case.

Check this pic of the package that should have come with your case. The top left pack contains the standoffs and screws to attach the motherboard. Were these supplied with your case? Did you install the standoffs to the motherboard and then screw the board to the standoffs? Did you only add the required standoffs according to the position of the holes in the motherboard?

I realise this is basic stuff, but always best to check. Incorrect installation of the standoffs (or not installing them) can/will cause shorts.

Assuming that these were installed correctly (screw type is not too important as long as they are able to screw into the standoffs, are not too long, and the heads are not too large - each hole on the motherboard has a circle around it, and as long as the screw head is within that circle it's fine), then pressing the power switch on the case should briefly close the circuit and start the PSU. The green LED on the motherboard indicates that it is receiving power. If the PSU does not start, then the following possibilities exist (that I can think of):

1. Case switch contact is not closing the circuit when pressed - possible causes:
a) the case switch is not connected to the cable correctly - check the connection
b) the switch is faulty (unlikely but possible)
c) the cable is not correctly attached to the motherboard - looks ok on the video I think (cable should be labelled 'POWER SW - white cable is GRND)

2. The PSU is faulty - you can test the PSU by disconnecting all cables from the motherboard, and then trying to manually start the PSU. The green cable just off centre in the main power block is the one you want, and you can use a piece of metal (paper clip for example) to connect this to one of the black pins adjacent to it. When connected, you should see the PSU fan(s) spin up.

3. Motherboard is faulty - you can test this by closing the circuit for the POWER SW manually. You can again use a piece of metal to briefly bridge the 2 contacts for the power switch. This simulates the action of closing the switch. If this does not start the PSU, then the case switch is not the problem.

Hope this helps

aoe made a some good points. As I am looking closely at the video, it almost appears that the board is screwed down directly to the case without the standoffs, but it's hard to tell.

How's it coming? This is an interesting delimma, be sure to let us know the outcome.

Well... I got it fixed.

It was the darn standoff screws. I had no idea you were supposed to use attach the standoff screws to the case, then set the case over the standoff screws then screw the darn motherboard to the standoffs.

This was NOWHERE in ANY manual....i swear.
They just automatically assume you you know this.

Its all fixed now....... OFF to start a new topic for new problems.


Thank you very much for the help guys.

Wow Newbie, that could have ended so much worse. You don't know how close you came to destroying some of that expensive equipment (motherboard, graphics card, PSU).

I don't mean to sound like an A$$, but this goes to show you that not everyone should jump into the system building. I don't know how many times I have seen this exact same result in troubleshooting a new system build. Most end in embarrassing RMA's. Thank God that these places that the equipment was purchased can't determine what caused it to fail, or they could rightly refuse to RMA.

Someone should do a comprehensive system build video that would help someone just starting out to do it right the first time. Comprehensive means covering the entire build with specific mention to all the common pitfalls and mistakes.

One would assume that a person should know that screwing the back of the motherboard (with all the solder lands and exposed components) down onto a big conductive plate is a bad thing. Apparently not.