Is my new power supply DOA?

[joe197608]

Hello,

I'm a first time builder and just completed building my pc today and when I plug it in I get nothing at all. I get no beeps, no fans running, absolutely nothing.

I have a corsair 550W PSU. I went over everything in my pc to make sure everything was connected properly and from what I can tell it is. I'm a complete newbie at building computers so I may have missed something but I put my build up on these boards in the new build section http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=31&post=250791&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0 and got the a-ok from several people so there aren't any build issues that I know of.

I also followed directions very carefully and thoroughly about building a pc and kept myself well grounded at all times.

Anyone have any ideas of what could be going wrong?

Thanks,

Joe

 

[mattg14]

There might be a button near the power cable at the back of the case . Switch that and it will essentially turn it on. If not, make sure all the cables are plugged in and all the socket plugs in also.

message back

 

[lucuis]

Did you turn the PSU on? I've done that a couple times myself, resulting in a brief moment of panic before realizing what i forgot.

Anyways, since there is absolutely no fan activity then i'd assume there's something wrong with the PSU. If you have any kind of electrical expertise you can check it with a multimeter. Otherwise i'd just send it back.

 

[joe197608]

I turned on the switch on the power supply, so that isn't the problem. I'm at work right now so I can't check, but maybe it's set on 220V? I honestly didn't check when I installed it.

All plugs are in, I triple checked that. It's kind of frustrating when building my first PC and nothing works. I get that feeling like I did something wrong since I'm such a newbie. I kept checking several manuals and looking over how to build a PC on the internet and I don't see where I could have gone wrong building it.

Thanks for your help. If you or anyone else has any more suggestions please let me know.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[royalcrown]

what kind of hardware are you running ? Some power supplies refuse to turn on if there is not enough load (power draw) from the system. Also, some motherboards don't give certain power supplies the proper signal to wake up, so it would help if you listed your other hardware.

 

[royalcrown]

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDArticles&op=Story&ndar_id=16

read this too ! good luck !

 

[jsc]

There's a section on troubleshooting PSU's here that is useful if you have or can borrow a digital multimeter:

http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Troubleshooting+a+New+Build

 

[maximiza]

make sure you got power in the wall socket, and check with a ground fault checker. Sometimes it can be the wall socket itself.

 

[Kari]

are the frontpanel power and reset buttons connected to the right pins on the mobo, maybe you got those mixed up..

 

[joe197608]

Thanks for the help everyone. I did everything everyone suggested and still nothing when I turn on the power. I tried the paperclip trick and the PSU is working that way but when I plug it in I still get nothing.

Any other ideas. Maybe motherboard?

Joe

 

[Lord Gornak]

What are your specs? Are both the 24-pin motherboard AND 4-pin CPU power connectors plugged in to your motherboard? Did you use metal standoffs between the motherboard and the case to prevent a short?

 

[joe197608]

Specs.

DVD burner: SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B - OEM

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Harddrive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

GPU: XFX PVT88GYDF4 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX ATX12V V2.2 550W Power Supply - Retail

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM

Both 24-pin and 4-pins are connected to the motherboard. I used metal standoffs.

Joe

 

[royalcrown]

Take everything out of the case and try it.

 

[Lord Gornak]

Disconnect the hard drive, dvd burner, and try using only one stick of RAM. If still nothing, remove the video card and see if you get any beeps when you turn the system on. Don't get disheartened, this happens to experienced builders too!

 

[Lord Gornak]

Good call royalcrown, that would effectively rule out a short. Make sure you set the motherboard on something non-conductive like the anti-static bag the board came in.

 

[joe197608]

Finally got it working, yay!

Thank you everyone for your help. I unplugged everything from the PSU and went by piece by piece and hooked it up to everything all over again. I don't know what I might have done different but it worked. I'm actually typing on my new computer right now.

Frustrating first build but I think I really learned a lot and enjoyed it.

Joe

 

[Lord Gornak]

Glad to hear it worked!

 

[ooh456]

I found this thread on Google because I was looking for other people with a dead Corsair 550W power supply. After reading this thread I guess mine might not be dead after all!

I just bought a new case ( Antec 300 Gaming case ). I put the PS in the case and hooked up the fans and turned on the power switch. Of course I plugged it in. I thought that the PSU fans and case fans would spin but they didn't. Nothing at all happend. Just a click of the plastic switch. I was thinking maybe the unit was DOA.... but now I guess I'm gonna go through the whole build process and see what happens. I will let you know.

Any thoughts?