System fans, and components do not power on, red mobo light on

[TheAquarian]

Hey all!

I've been browsing this forum for a while and occasionally commenting for a while now, but I now have my first series of questions to ask the group. I'm going to go ahead and list my specs at the beginning so you can keep them in mind while reading. I already have all the parts in hand, so please don't offer useless "ignore what you have and buy new everything" advice because it is not helpful.

Specs:

Motherboard Type: iWill DH800 (new, never used until now, but is 3ish years old)

CPU: 2x Dual-Core XEON 3.33 7140N
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL9HD


RAM: 3GB DDR SD RAM PC3200 400mhz

Graphics: Sapphire Radeon HD3850 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI-I / TVO AGP Graphics Card
http://www1.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=227&grp=2


Hard Drives: I presently have these mounted..

2x Hitachi 1 TB 16MB 7200RPM SATA Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 0A38016
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=335
and


If needed I could use these instead:

2x 750GB Enterprise Class SATA Hard Drive WD7500AYYS RAID
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=335

I know I want a RAID-0 configuration,


Power Supply: ULTRA X-Connect 500w (I love this thing. )
http://ultraproducts.com/product_reviews.php?cPath=37&pPath=157&productID=160


Case and Cooling

The case is clear and made out of acrylic. There are 3 case fans already installed (one side, one behind, one in front), as well as 2 fans that fit into a PCI slot to take heat off the graphics card, a fan for each hard drive, a 1fan that fits into a drive bay, and 2 extra fans that have yet to be mounted… I am thinking one on top (since heat rises) and the other… either also on top or on one of the sides.


Current Problem

I had everything connected plugged in and attached and the computer powered up just fine. all the fans were going, the LEDs were on, and there was no outward sign that any component failed to get power. Unfortunately I was having trouble with the graphics card in that I was getting no VGA signal out which is pretty much required to set up the bios and install a new system. I did some hunting around on the internet for solutions, and discovered that similiar cards (I couldn't find any explanation for my exact model) required software to be installed within windows BEFORE they would function. Whether or not this will fix my video card problem or not, I have no clue because I am not there yet.

Anyway, content to follow up on this advice I decided to remove the card and stick a cheap-o PCI video card, or old AGP card from my computer before the one this machine is intended to replace. I tried them both at different times, and eventually put the HD3850 back in for the sake of trying to get the machine back into the last known "working" (aside from the no-vga) state.

Unfortunately I discovered that from the time I took the origional video card out the computer would no longer power on when I pushed the button on the front side of the case. I DO HAVE a glowing red light on the motherboard to indicate that it has power, but no matter what I try it seems like pushing the power button has no effect whatso ever besides the usual clicking sound of the button.

The FIRST two times this hapened I noticed that there was a wire loose for one of the peripheral connectors. I pushed on it, gave it a wiggle, attempted to establish a better connection, and attempted to power on again. The machine came on for all of 2-3 sec before losing power. I repeated the push and wiggle routine again with the same result, and then nothing after that.

My co worker said that he had symptoms earlier on (he helped me install the processors/heat sinks) akin to those I described the first time when a SATA cable was loose, but I've already connected, disconnected and reconneted these things many times in attempt to fix the problem.

Here's what I've tried so far:

Unplugged EVERYTHING + removed cards and ram, and reconnected/installed again.

Pushed on the connector to the switch itself to ensure that it is firmly in place.

Connected everything WITHOUT using the peripheral connector that was loose

Connected only the mobo, and hard drive cables.

Removed video card, and tried another in the same slot (also AGP), then one in a PCI slot.

Double checked all connections to ensure that everything had a line of power going to it and was connected to the motherboard.

Tried pluggint the machine into different outlets.

The end result is the same every time - as soon as I plug the PSU in and flip the switch on the back of the power supply the mobo light comes on indicating it has power. Pressing the power on button however does nothing.


Ideally I'd like to get what I have up and running properly, that said if this turns out to be a worst case scenario and the mobo needs to be replaced, can anyone recommend a workstation motherboard that will utilize the components that I have listed? I would really rather not have to replace everything I just bought. Basically I would need something that'll take the pair of CPUs (socket 604), has an AGP 8x slot, SATA connectors (ideally with onboard RAID0), and can make use of my current RAM (DDR SDRAM 3 1MB sticks).


Thanks in advance. I'm at the point of pulling out my non-existant hair.

Expert advice is nice, but really I'll listen and consider anything this community has to offer as a (practical) solution.

PJ

 

[tecmo34]

Has everything been sitting for a few years like the MOBO?

Your problem to me points to either a dead PSU or MOBO. My first thought is the PSU is dead (or has died), which is why you get a little powerup and then nothing. Even with the PSU dead, you can still see a light on your board... It is just the PSU doesn't have enough power to fire your system up. Do you have a PSU to replace/test if that is what is wrong?

Have you reviewed the thread on the "before you ask about a boot issue" and followed all the points listed in there as well?

 

[TheAquarian]

Has everything been sitting for a few years like the MOBO?

Your problem to me points to either a dead PSU or MOBO. My first thought is the PSU is dead (or has died), which is why you get a little powerup and then nothing. Even with the PSU dead, you can still see a light on your board... It is just the PSU doesn't have enough power to fire your system up. Do you have a PSU to replace/test if that is what is wrong?

Have you reviewed the thread on the "before you ask about a boot issue" and followed all the points listed in there as well?

Thank you for your response. I didn't see the "before you ask about a boot issue" thread until after I posted, but once I looked at it it looked like I'd already tried most of what was on there, as well as took the safety precautions that are recommended.

As for the PSU vs. Mobo issue, I am not sure which one or both it is. I did try plugging a different PSU into the mobo and it did not power on. That said, I don't know if the mobo died because of a faulty PSU or not. Having concluded that most likely the mobo is dead I decided to go ahead and buy a new mobo. It should be here in a few days... before plugging anything into it though I need to figure out a way to test the PSU - if it IS the cause of slaying the old mobo, I certainly don't want to plug it in and have the same thing happen twice.

As for the mobo itself, it was in fact unused, and came out of a retail box, but you are also correct in your guess that it was sitting around for several years. I bought it a long while ago when I thought I was going to build a machine, but then just ended up buying something out of the box for expediancy.

I think I will have more information once the new mobo arrives. I'll see if I can get the PSU tested if it is confirmed as being perfectly functional then I'll proceed to replace the mobo. If it is faulty, I'll start looking at new power supplies before doing anything else.

Thank you for your response. I will keep the thread updated.

 

[tecmo34]

As for the mobo itself, it was in fact unused, and came out of a retail box, but you are also correct in your guess that it was sitting around for several years. I bought it a long while ago when I thought I was going to build a machine, but then just ended up buying something out of the box for expediancy.

The reason I asked about the age of the MOBO, is that you BIOS battery maybe dead and the computer won't boot or send a command for the VGA to display anything, since it has been sitting for a long time, that could very well be one of your issues.

Hopefully, your new MOBO will work just fine and you have your PSU tested and verified before hand to rule that out as well.

 

[TheAquarian]

We can certainly hope.

The battery was actually replaced before I did anything else so I don't think that is the problem. Thanks for your help. Again I won't have any more info until I have the new mobo. Who knows? Perhaps I'll get lucky and discover nothing is bad, except the switch itself. Then I'll have a number of spare parts to do whatever with.