Mobo wont post. Need help!

[ImCharming]

My specs are...

AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 crossfire'd

Thermaltake TR2 RX 750W Bronze W0382RU ATX 12V

MSI 870A-G54 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

NZXT phantom case


So originally I had the cooler master elite 310, which is a mid tower and was hoping it was going to be okay for what I needed, even though I sort of knew it probably wouldn't I still got it. I had the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD mobo as well.

So I had my computer put together, it was working great and all that stuff but then I noticed my temperatures about 2 weeks after putting it together. I decided to turn to water cooling. I bought the xspc rasa kit, 360 radiator, and 2 gpu waterblocks. I knew that I would have a hard time fitting everything in, so I made a riser thing for my case to sit on and I would put the radiator under it. I drilled holes in the side panel to feed the hoses through. I put it all together, I made it work I turned it on, nothing. The fans were spinning, I don't remember if there were lights on the motherboard or not but it wouldn't post, it was just sitting. I tried troubleshooting that but nothing worked. In my thread on the water cooling section posted this problem, people said it could have been the back plate since I was stupid and had the metal part on the mobo and may have shorted it. I figured that's what the problem was.

So I ordered a new case, the NZXT phantom and I went to frys to get a new motherboard, the one in my specs. Problem again! I was just putting it together the past few hours, I decide before I get too far into it to see if it will post, I turn it on with 1 gpu in, 2 sticks of ram and cpu. Lights turn on on the motherboard, I have a cpu fan plugged in to make sure it's working, nothing. Same thing as before, no post, nothing. I remove the gpu, try it again, nothing, I re-place the ram, nothing, I remove a stick, nothing. I have no idea what the problem is but I'm so tired of being on my laptop, this is so incredibly frustrating. I really need some help. I'm thinking about taking this to some PC place to get them to fix it but I'd really rather not, since I have some content on my HDDs that I don't want to be seen.

What can I do. It's really depressing me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[rolli59]

Start by going through the guide step by step http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-boot-video-problems
If that does not solve your problem try the breadboarding linked to in the thread.

 

[ImCharming]

1. Did you carefully read the motherboard owners manual? Yes

2. Did you plug in the 4/8-pin CPU power connector located near the CPU socket? Yes

3. Did you install the standoffs under the motherboard? Yes

4. Did you verify that the video card is fully seated? Yes

5. Did you attach all the required power connector(s) to the video card? Yes

6. Have you tried booting with just one stick of RAM installed? Yes

7. Did you verify that all memory modules are fully inserted? Yes

8. Did you verify in the owners manual that you're using the correct RAM slots? Yes

9. Did you remove the plastic guard over the CPU socket? Yes

10. Did you install the CPU correctly? Yes

11. Are there any bent pins on the motherboard/CPU? No. But when I was switching over to water cooling I was trying to take the fan off the cpu and it was on there pretty good, I ended up pulling the cpu out of the socket. Could that have damaged the cpu?

12. If using an after market CPU cooler, did you get any thermal paste on the motherboard, CPU socket, or CPU pins? Got a tiny bit on one pin of the cpu, but I cleaned it off. I had this problem before this happened.

13. Is the CPU fan plugged in? Some motherboards will not boot without detecting that the CPU fan is plugged in to prevent burning up the CPU. Yes

15. Are any loose screws laying on the motherboard, or jammed against it? Are there any wires run directly under the motherboard? No

16. Did you ensure you discharged all static electricity before touching any of your components? Yes

17. Did you install the system speaker? Yes, but the manual sucks and I can't tell if I have it right. Here's a picture of how I have it..

18. Did you read the instructions in the manual on how to properly connect the front panel plugs? Yes

19. Did you turn on the power supply switch located on the back of the PSU? Is the power plug on a switch? Yes

20. Is your CPU supported by the BIOS revision installed on your motherboard? Yes

21. Have you tried resetting the CMOS? Yes

22. If you have integrated video and a video card, try the integrated video port? No integrated video

23. Make certain all cables and components including RAM and expansion cards are tight within their sockets. They're tight.

I did the breadboarding thing together outside of the case, same thing. Lights on mobo, fans spin, cpu heats up but no beep. I tried the psu test and it passed.

Is it probably the cpu that's dead?

 

[rolli59]

Reading through that and the trouble removing the cooler it is very possible that it is the CPU or the motherboard. Are there any beeps if you start without the ram? If none points to motherboard.

 

[ImCharming]

I tried it without the cpu, nothing. But I got a new motherboard and it's still not doing anything, 2 dead motherboards?

 

[rolli59]

It happens that people get DOA motherboards. Have you ever gotten the MSI to boot or beep?

 

[ImCharming]

No to either. I'm thinking of taking all the parts to some computer place and letting them deal with it. I'm kind of tired of everything. And they have ways of testing everything to see what's bad, I'm just guessing.

 

[rolli59]

Understood, I have the luxury of having always spare parts (and other computers around) so troubleshooting is really simple for me swapping parts. Looking at your speaker connection though, without knowing if it matters, the black wire is usually negative and I think I see it on the + on the connector.

 

[ImCharming]

I wish I did. I'll try the speaker the other way around. But if that doesn't work then I guess I'll take it to a place. But if I take it to the place, should I take the waterblocks off and give it to them with the stock fans and everything? And I don't want to give them my hdds.

 

[rolli59]

As is if it is all connected and working.

 

[ImCharming]

I connected every way, in every spot on the motherboard, well not every single one but everwhere that it could go that made sense, still nothing. I boxed both mobos up and the cpu, going to take them to a pc store and see what they say about it. *crosses fingers* thanks for all your help.

 

[ImCharming]

Best answer selected by imcharming.