No Power but PSU works in other pc?

[ericonda]

Hi, i am building a new system for my little brother and I just finished putting it all together but it won't power on. I'll explain but first here are the specs of my build.

Specs:

Mobo: MSI 870a-G54
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130275&Tpk=870a-g54
CPU: AMD Phenom ii x4 955 Black Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&cm_re=phenom_ii_x4_955-_-19-103-808-_-Product
RAM: GSkill Ripjaws x DDR3 1333 dual channel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231438&cm_re=gskill_ripjaws_x-_-20-231-438-_-Product
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 380d
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033&cm_re=antec_380w-_-17-371-033-_-Product
Case: Apevia x-trooper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144268&cm_re=apevia-_-11-144-268-_-Product
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148701&cm_re=seagate_barracuda-_-22-148-701-_-Product
GPU: Sparkle 9400gt pci edition (upgrading to a gtx 460 or hd 6850 soon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187058&cm_re=sparkle_9400gt-_-14-187-058-_-Product

When I plug it in nothing turns on, not even the fan in the poewr supply. Mr first thought was a dead PSU, so I put another computer next to it and moved the 24pin and 8pin connectors to it and tried turning it on and it worked perfectly. All of the fans and the dvd drive turned on and the other computer booted up as normal. So now I am thinking that the motherboard is DOA. Would a dead motherboard make the psu not turn on at all? I thought that it would still at least turn on something with a dead motherboard. I guess that's why there's a superstition to not put on the side panel before you turn it on for the first time.

 

[Rusting In Peace]

Suspect it is the motherboard but here are two things to try first:

1) Use the other PC's PSU and see if your machine still refuses to boot

2) Using your new PSU, disconnect everything bar the CPU and a single stick of RAM. Don't connect hard drives, don't connect the GPU.

If this doesn't work I think you can be confident that your motherboard is DOA and you should arrange for an RMA.

 

[jsc]

Could be a lot of things.

Work systematically through our standard checklist and troubleshooting thread:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-posting-boot-problems
I mean work through, not just read over it. We spent a lot of time on this. It should find most of the problems.

If not, continue.
The following is an expansion of my troubleshooting tips in the breadboarding link in the "Cannot boot" thread.

I have tested the following beep patterns on Gigabyte, eVGA, and ECS motherboards. Other BIOS' may be different, but they all use a single short beep for a successful POST.

Breadboard - that will help isolate any kind of case problem you might have.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboarding

Breadboard with just motherboard, CPU & HSF, case speaker, and PSU.

Make sure you plug the CPU power cable in. The system will not boot without it.

I always breadboard a new build. It takes only a few minutes, and you know you are putting good parts in the case once you are finished.

You can turn on the PC by momentarily shorting the two pins that the case power switch goes to. You should hear a series of long, single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence indicates a problem with (in most likely order) the PSU, motherboard, or CPU. Remember, at this time, you do not have a graphics card installed so the load on your PSU will be reduced.

If no beeps:
Running fans and drives and motherboard LED's do not necessarily indicate a good PSU. In the absence of a single short beep, they also do not indicate that the system is booting.

At this point, you can sort of check the PSU. Try to borrow a known good PSU of around 550 - 600 watts. That will power just about any system with a single GPU. If you cannot do that, use a DMM to measure the voltages. Measure between the colored wires and either chassis ground or the black wires. Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

A way that might be easier is to use the main power plug. Working from the back of the plug where the wires come out, use a bare paperclip to short between the green wire and one of the neighboring black wires. That will do the same thing with an installed PSU. It is also an easy way to bypass a questionable case power switch.

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU.

If the system beeps:
If it looks like the PSU is good, install a memory stick. Boot. Beep pattern should change to one long and several short beeps indicating a missing graphics card.

Silence, long single beeps, or series of short beeps indicate a problem with the memory. If you get short beeps verify that the memory is in the appropriate motherboard slots.

Insert the video card and connect any necessary PCIe power connectors. Boot. At this point, the system should POST successfully (a single short beep). Notice that you do not need keyboard, mouse, monitor, or drives to successfully POST.
At this point, if the system doesn't work, it's either the video card or an inadequate PSU. Or rarely - the motherboard's PCIe interface.

Now start connecting the rest of the devices starting with the monitor, then keyboard and mouse, then the rest of the devices, testing after each step. It's possible that you can pass the POST with a defective video card. The POST routines can only check the video interface. It cannot check the internal parts of the video card.

 

[ericonda]

Suspect it is the motherboard but here are two things to try first:

1) Use the other PC's PSU and see if your machine still refuses to boot

2) Using your new PSU, disconnect everything bar the CPU and a single stick of RAM. Don't connect hard drives, don't connect the GPU.

If this doesn't work I think you can be confident that your motherboard is DOA and you should arrange for an RMA.

Thank you. Your answer was simple and easy. It was in fact DOA and I will be sending it out for RMA today.

 

[ericonda]

Best answer selected by Ericonda.