Underpowered PSU symptoms?

[affinitydesigns]

I have an old computer I am upgrading.
It has a 350W PSU which I'm not sure can handle what I want to put into it.
Phenom 9600
Gigabyte MA78GM-US2H
3GB of Ram 2x1GB 2x512MB
DVD-ROM
250GB IDE HDD
Powerman 350W PSU

I built it all up wired it right, and when I hit power, nothing happens. I've checked a million times to make sure the connections are secure and in the right place, but nothing happens at all. I know the power supply is good because I can plug in a different mobo and it turn it on.

Does that sound like the PSU isn't strong enough?

I don't know if the Mobo is good or not. Any way to check it?
the only PSU I have access to at the moment is the 350W.

I would hate to buy another PSU just to find out that the Mobo is bad.

 

[irkjab]

Does anything light up at all on the mobo? does it beep? I would think that the psu would be capable of at least powering the system on for a short while, since it isn't dead.

That said, that power supply will naturally make some people suspicious because of its low wattage and the fact that it isn't one of the best brands.

Have you attached the front panel connectors to the motherboard correctly? Is there a power switch on the mobo itself? FP connectors can certainly be... difficult, at times.

 

[affinitydesigns]

I have it up and booting. It was shorting out due to the case. I put a rubber washer over the stand-off and it's booting. However, I'm having trouble with a few things. It seems like the system is under powered. If I have everything plugged in, my keyboard won't work.

 

[irkjab]

Is it a usb or PS/2 keyboard? For some reason my usb keyboard refused to work outside of windows. If it is usb, do you have a PS/2 adapter you can try it with?

 

[affinitydesigns]

ps/2

 

[jitpublisher]

Shorting out due to the standoff tells me that the board is not installed correctly.
If the standoffs, and the board is mounted properly, you should NOT have a problem with a standoff shorting out. Go back to the drawing board and find out what is wrong, and placing a washer on the standoff that is shorting does not fix your problem, you are simply putting a bandaide on a larger problem.

 

[affinitydesigns]

It's a very old case and this is not the first time I have seen a board short because of a bad case and standoff.