Upgrade to Lian Li PC-17b - cannot power on

flauser01

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Jun 27, 2008
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Hi: I just finished upgrading from a Antec Performance Plus 1080 AMG case with Antec 450 PSU, Intel 865PERL mobo, 865PE chipset, P4 3.0Ghz, 2GB (2x1 Corsair CMS1024-3200C2PT), ATI Radeon 9600 Pro AGP 128mb, 2 Seagate 160 Sata, 1 Seagate 160 IDE, 1 WD 250 GB IDE, SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS, to a Lian Li PC-17B with an Enermax EMD625AWT PSU, same mobo, memory, video, disk, etc. I also added a Zalman ZM-MFC1 to control the fans. First problem was that the Enermax came with a 24 pin connector and I had to get a 24 pin to 20 pin to be able to connect to mobo. After finishing with all the wiring I turned it on and other than a small green LED by the LAN connector and another similar LED in the front of the mobo, nothing else happened. I assumed that that the white wires = negative (see below) and that maybe I messed up the polarity, and went back and changed the Power On, Reset Sw, Power LED and HDD Led wires around. When I tried it again I got the Power LED in the front to stay on all the time. I went back and changed the polarity to the way I originally had it, and then connected one of the fans directly to the PSU, and again nothing happened. Is anyone familiar with the Lian Li wire polarity:
RESET SW = blue/white
POWER ON = gray/white
POWER LED = green/white
HDD LED = orange/white
Lastly Enermax sent me an email stating that the problem may be my mobo requiring a (-5v) and that (-5v) output was taken out of the ATX12V power supply design guide some time in 2004. I therefore went back and installed my original Antec 450, yet I still cannot power on. I now strongly suspect a problem with the Lian Li case.
Any help/suggestions is greatly appreciated.
 

rgsaunders

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Jul 10, 2007
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The reset sw and power on sw are not polarity sensitive, so it doesn't matter. If the polarity is reversed on either of the LEDs, they just won't work. Remove the mobo from the case and place it on a non-conductive surface with power supply connected, etc. See if it will power up properly that way, if so, you have some how created a ground fault on the installation in the case. Normal troubleshooting technique for problems like this.
May seem llike a silly question, but did you remember to connect the CPU 12V connector, the 4 pin cable from ps that plugs in behind CPU back left corner of CPU area.
Looking at the bios in the manual, it doesn't appear that this board uses -5V, so that shouldn't be an issue.
 

flauser01

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Jun 27, 2008
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Yes I did have the ATX12v plug connected. After I posted the message, I tried it one more time using the old original Antec 450 PSU that did not power on before, and guess what.....it worked without me doing anything else. I think you are right regarding the -5v, so tonight or tomorrow I am going back to re-installing the Enermax 625AWT PSU as it is supposed to be very quiet, and see what happens.
 

flauser01

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Jun 27, 2008
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OK....I went back and installed the Enermax 625AWT PSU and it worked perfectly. The original power on problem may have been that the mobo capacitors needed to get power for a few seconds before I tried to power on. Thanks for the assistance.