Motherboard ports not aligning to I/O backplate shield

[aln688]

I'm building an Asus P6T Deluxe and Lian-Li A17 system. I've just discovered that when installing the motherboard into the case, the ports (USB, Firewire, etc.) do not align correctly with the I/O backplate provided with the motherboard. At the very least two USB ports are unusable as well as the eSATA port.

The ports on the board sit down to the left of the holes in the I/O backplate shield. I'm thinking if I use metal spacers under the metal standoffs that came with the case, it'll lift the board up slightly although without trying, I suspect that the graphics and sound card brackets will sit higher up than usual.

Anyone else experience this?

Thanks.

 

[Onus]

With the mobo out of the case, see if the holes line up properly when you hold the shield up to the back of the mobo. If they still don't, then send it back to Asus with a request to get it right.
If they do line up, then sight down the edges of your case and see if it got torqued in shipping or is otherwise out of alignment. You may or may not be able to easily fix that, depending on what you find.

 

[aln688]

With the mobo out of the case, see if the holes line up properly when you hold the shield up to the back of the mobo. If they still don't, then send it back to Asus with a request to get it right.
If they do line up, then sight down the edges of your case and see if it got torqued in shipping or is otherwise out of alignment. You may or may not be able to easily fix that, depending on what you find.

Thanks for your message. The nine holes in the board do line up with the nine standoffs in the case, IF I push the board towards the back of the case, therefore putting pressure on the I/O backplate shield - I believe this is normal.

It's just when I push the board towards the back of the case, the nine holes do line up fine, but at the back the USB ports aren't accessible, they sit downwards to the left. If I take the I/O backplate shield off and hold it over the ports on the board, it fits fine, everything is spaced out correctly.

The edges of the case look fine, no bends or warps from what I see. I could understand if it did, with this Lian-Li case being aluminum. I think I'm "lucky" as the problem is my board sits downwards of the holes in the I/O backplate shield, maybe spacers under the standoffs will fix it, then shift the board to the right slightly as I'm pushing the board to the back.

Of course, whether a graphics and sound card will fit is debatable, I'll likely need spacers for those too. Ugh, what a mess.

 

[Onus]

Hmmm, that sounds like the case just wasn't measured properly.

 

[aln688]

I'm not new to building PCs, but this is my first Core i7 system, first system with an aluminum case, and first case with a removable motherboard tray.

I can't say the I/O backplate shield is perfect by any means, if I hold it against the back of the board (all outside of the case), some of the USB ports are centered, some sit off to the upper-right.

I used the standoffs that were provided in the Lian-Li A17 packaging, nine of them per the holes in this board. They are stainless steel from the looks of it, not brass. All holes in the board have a matching standoff on the motherboard tray.

Well I fixed it, I suppose. I originally had the case on its side, and try after try I'd take the board and carefully lower it onto the case motherboard tray, then slide it towards the back of the case so the ports poke through the I/O backplate shield. Every single time I'd look at the back, the left ports would be alright, but some of the ports on the right would sit low down. Now this is with small copper washers under the metal standoffs, bought from Ace Hardware. No way would this board line up with just the standoffs.

So after it still not lining up, one of the posters here mentioned warping or bending of the motherboard tray. So I decided to sit the case upright, and for the first time take out the motherboard tray, attach the board to the tray, then carefully put the tray + board into the case. Do you know, all ports lined up *perfectly*! I'm sitting here not knowing exactly why I'm successful with this, I have a "who cares, it works now" attitude, but I still can't think what the issue was, maybe the tray wasn't screwed in from the factory.

I still needed the copper washers though, otherwise the board would not have fitted or aligned correctly, it would have been too low down. It still would have fitted into the I/O backplate shield, but almost none of the ports would have been functional. I also had to shift the board to the right slightly when I screwed it into the tray. I also checked that a graphics card can slot in without needing a spacer under its bracket, all seems fine. Odd. First time I've experienced this type of issue.

Thanks.

 

[Onus]

Sounds like all's well that ends well.

 

[aln688]

Sounds like all's well that ends well.

Sure does, thanks for your help. I still can't figure out what exactly the issue was, maybe Lian-Li has an inaccuracy with their case when you install a board directly into the case, but if you use the tray the fittings are somehow different. I've never had a case with a motherboard tray before, now the board is in and lined up, it's staying in there for years to come!

 

[doormatderek]

I've seen standoffs of different sizes before, but my guess is the alignment with that mobo tray was just enough to screw up your alignment with the backplate. It always seemed i had to kinda force that backplate in, but never had as big a problem as you seemed to have. I never really saw the need for a removable tray either. Maybe for the ease of that first installation, but after that, if the case is big enough, I don't see the point in that tray.. Glad it all worked out in the end though