Newbie Builder with Power-Up Issue

Felonious

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Jul 26, 2008
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Before I begin, here's my specs. Yes, I know I did some silly things, especially with the PSU, but I'm going to be using the same rig for the next four years or longer, and so I future-proofed as much as I could.

ASUS M2N-E AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
ASUS EAH4850/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V Power Supply
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor

Alright, here's my problem. After I flip the hard power switch on my PSU, and the green light on my mobo lights, I press the power button on the front of my case. My entire system lights up (fans, both case, CPU and video card) for approximately three or four seconds, and then immediately powers off again. All the cables appear to be connected properly, and I've tried booting without the video card, but the same result. The only problem I've had prior to this point was an aftermarket cooler that just wouldn't fit onto my mobo...after cleaning the CPU very thoroughly with alcohol and coffee filters, I just installed the default CPU fan and heatsink. I've tried connecting my LCD monitor to see if it starts POST, but unfortunately I don't think the system is up long enough to begin diagnostics.

Any ideas/comments/suggestions? I'd love to have a fully functional computer for college, so any advice is good advice. Thanks.

 

majorpain1588

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May 30, 2006
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I have the same problem right now also, except my fans barely spin up for a tenth of a second. They kind of just flinch a little when I hit the power button.

I am going to swap my PSU out with one that is in my other rig to see if thats the problem. I would suggest you do the same if you have an extra PSU. Otherwise I'm not really sure what to tell ya.
 

royalcrown

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If you put thermal goop on your cpu, then I'd say your ps is a good place to start looking. Believe it or not, some people don't put it on because they are "testing".
 

nowwhatnapster

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May 13, 2008
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make sure your PSU switch is set to 115v and not 220v. Sounds like the problem.

if that doesnt work then...

Disconnect everything except the bare minimum, no cd drive, no hDD, no fans. unplug the power and data cable to them. Double check you have all the correct power connectors plugged in, including additional power connectors for the mobo and GPU. you may have missed one. Use only 1 stick of ram. try switching sticks of ram to see if it makes a difference.

if that doesnt work then...

remove the Graphics card.

if that doesnt work then...

try resetting the CMOS/bios.

if that doesnt work then...

try a different PSU... or try reseating your CPU & use the stock HSF if you have one.

if none of that works wait for someone else to post a message or call up ASUS support.
 

eklipz330

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Jul 7, 2008
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THIS IS WHATS WRONG WITH YOUR COMPUTER

you obviously have a short on you rmotherboard, take it off the tray, and make sure you are only using the correct number of spacers when mounting, or else that is what will happen.. i kno this because it happened to me

you learn from your mistakes

you can try these other solutions, maybe im wrong, but when it happened to me, that was the problem
 

Felonious

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Jul 26, 2008
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Thanks for the feedback everyone, I'm at work right now, but I'll update with my situation as soon as possible.

I sacrificed a couple goats to appease the machine gods, that should help.
 

nowwhatnapster

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yea eklipz is got a good point too. i had a screw fall on my motherboard and it wouldnt boot. i wound up buying a new mobo, a year later i tested the board and it worked :pt1cable:

take out the mobo if none of the other stuff works and rescrew it in with the correct screws make sure you dont trap a screw under it, or have one fall and wedge itself somewhere on the board.

and make sure if you used thermal compound that is made of liquid silver or something, that it didnt get all over the place. it can cause a short, just like a screw can.
 

Felonious

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Jul 26, 2008
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alright, time for an epic bump.

Alright, to make a long story short, I've done nearly everything possible to narrow the problem down. I've taken the mobo out of the case, removed all but one stick of RAM, and disconnected all cables except the CPU fan connection, and the motherboard power cable. I even remounted the default heatsink on my CPU, just in case my mobo was shutting down in the first place.

I've also RMAed the power supply, on the off chance it was faulty. Installed the new one, same thing.

No dice.

The only thing I HAVEN'T done is clear the motherboards CMOS or reset the BIOS. However, since I can't get my comp to boot up in the first place, I'm not sure how this could be done.

If anyone could give me a tip on how to proceed, I'd be very grateful. I think my next option is to simply RMA the entire motherboard, but if there is anything else the collective knowledge of the forum could suggest, I'll do it.