ASUS M5A97 mobo not powering up

[seankanary]

Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster. I just recently purchased an ASUS M5A97 mobo and for whatever reason, I cant get it to power up. I have the green LED indicating it has power and a recently purchased Antec 650wt psu. I have played with the jumpers per the manual, but I'm lost. Any ideas where to begin?

 

[nikorr]

Post the specs...

 

[nikorr]

BTW, check the power 4/8 pin CPU cable on the mobo.

 

[nikorr]

And if u have a GPU card, check, make sure that power cable is plugged in too : )

 

[seankanary]

Thanks for posting back so quickly, what specs do you need? The 8pin cable is plugged (2x 4 pin...there was no 8 pin) in the mobo as well as the big main power cable. GPU has both 4 pin cables plugged in.

 

[nikorr]

PSU switch on the back, is it on?

20+4 pin in?

 

[neon neophyte]

switch must be on, led is lighting up

 

[caqde]

Well if you could a picture of the inside of the case, or give us an idea of what you have connected to the system and what you have tried to do. A non booting up system usually means that the power switch is either not connected properly (Front Power switch) or that the PSU is not on (Doesn't seem to be the case. Another reason could be that the Motherboard is either shorted (via case) or there is a short somewhere in the board (a break in the wiring of the board itself) between the front header and where the power comes in to the motherboard causing the computer not to turn on.

 

[seankanary]

Here are some photos. I apologize for the mess, I don't want to make it pretty until I get it working

 

[seankanary]

Any ideas? I have the mobo out of the case on its own with just power connected and still nothing so I'm not sure it is a shorting issue. PSU still shows green LED on mobo, but no cpu fan spinning, no PSU fan spinning.

 

[kelthic]

One thing i noticed that is not likely related is that you installed the 2 sticks of ram in opposite colored slots, which would likely run the ram in single channel.

One thing that is related is: did you use the standoffs that came with the motherboard?

 

[nikorr]

Any ideas? I have the mobo out of the case on its own with just power connected and still nothing so I'm not sure it is a shorting issue. PSU still shows green LED on mobo, but no cpu fan spinning, no PSU fan spinning.

Is it blinking or solid?

 

[seankanary]

@ nikorr: solid green

@kelthic: I had the ram in slots A1 and A2. What do you mean standoffs?

Thank you again guys for helping walk me through this. Super frustrating!

 

[kelthic]

Putting the ram in the same colored slots allows the motherboard to run in dual channel, which is much faster than single channel. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/254308-30-install-dual-channel should give you more information if necessary.

Standoffs are usually plastic pieces that ground out the motherboard. http://biorobots.cwru.edu/server/howto/buildcomp/mountmobo/ shows pictures and explains in more details. Without these you will likely be getting shorts, which might prevent startup.

 

[seankanary]

I'm currently (and have been) using the stock standoffs that came with the case which are metal. I have the mobo on an antistatic bag out of the case with just the power plugged in and still am having the same issue. No fans, no nothing.. except the solid green LED on the board itself.

 

[kelthic]

Couple more things: is the psu fan running when you turn the power on? Are you 100% sure the power button is wired correctly?

 

[seankanary]

no fans whatsoever are running. The only sign of life is the green led. I think I'm 100% on the power... and because of my idiocy at times I even tried a couple variations just to be safe lol. I have also tried the steps listed here:

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20090420211645831&board_id=1&model=Maximus+Formula&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

....Still no dice.

 

[seankanary]

As a side note, this is the same case I have been using for a while now.. and as of a few days ago, all front power/reset buttons and corresponding plugs were fully functional.

 

[kelthic]

Do you have a spare psu to test? if the psu fan is not running that is probably a problem. one obvious thing to check: is there a voltage switch on your psu? this should be set to 115v in the US

 

[Unolocogringo]

The memory is in the wrong slots for 2 sticks.
Memory should be in slots A2 and B2. page 2-5 in the manual. The blue colored slots.
Also check the cpu for bent pins.
Happen some times.
The cpu should drop in the socket on its own. no pressure or force needed.

 

[seankanary]

Thanks for the heads up Rick, I'll do that with the memory. The CPU went in flawlessly ... far easier than I have experienced before.

 

[seankanary]

For whatever reason.. there is no voltage switch. I do not have another PSU handy, although I may be able to rob my wife's PC for one to test with.....maybe.

 

[seankanary]

As an update, I found that my PSU might be the culprit.. I did the "paperclip test" and absolutely nothing happened. No fan spinning or anything. Really blows because I just bought this PSU (Antec EA-650) 4 months ago.

 

[seankanary]

The problem has been solved, It was a faulty PSU. Thank you everyone for the time and help, much appreciated! =)

 

[kelthic]

No problem, happy to assist!