Problem with my system

[elven_lord]

I built a computer recently and am having trouble starting it. I have the evga nforce 780i, an Antec Three Hundred, and a raidmax quantum rx700 power supply (700 watts). I put my system together and the pc will not start. When I turn the power supply on, the motherboard has a blue LED light on in the top right corner. When I press the power button on the computer, a yellowish/orangish LED light turns on a little to the left of the blue LED light. Also, I hear a soft whine for like a tenth of a second just when I turn it on. After that there is no noise and no fans or anything on.

Anyone know the problem and how to fix it? The only thing I can think is that my power supply is defective. Could my mobo be blown out? Thanks.

 

[Zorg]

Sounds like a short. Remove the mobo and build a minimal setup on a piece of cardboard, mobo bag etc. If it runs, then check the standoffs for the correct number and location then check for other possible shorts.

 

[elven_lord]

What do you mean a short? Why would that occur?

 

[GhislainG]

The only reason you'd have a short when using an Antec case is if an extra standoff had been installed to support the motherboard and the motherboard didn't have a corresponding mounting hole. That's not really possible with your motherboard because it has mounting holes for all 10 standoffs that could be installed to support it.

According to your manual, what do the lights mean?

 

[Zorg]

Short, as in short circuit. That is a condition where voltage flows through a path that it shouldn't, causing high current flow that is sufficient to trip the over current protection on the PSU.

 

[elven_lord]

The motherboard is not short circuited i'm pretty sure. I think it is the power supply. I'm going to test it with a backup one.

 

[Zorg]

That's a good idea.

 

[elven_lord]

Never mind. I found the problem. I have 2 sticks of 2 GB of RAM. Earlier I took out the 2nd stick and tested it with no success. However, I decided to take out the 1st stick and it's ok. I'll have to work out how to get both sticks in when I work with the BIOS. Thanks for all of your help.

 

[Zorg]

What are you saying? You have one bad stick of RAM, or that the mobo crashes with a stick in a particular slot? I can't follow you.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Have you tried manually setting the RAM timings and voltage to the manufacturers specs and running both sticks?

 

[Zorg]

I really would like more details. The computer completely shuts down in 1/10 of a second because of bad RAM? That's anomalous, help us out here.