Biggest PC Building Mistakes From The Community

Motherboard Mistakes

It is easy to miss a connection on a motherboard, especially when there are dozens of them. The last thing you want to do, however, is plug something in that shouldn’t be. “UltraXHybrid” did just that when plugging a Molex power cable from the PSU into a Molex fan header on the motherboard. It is amazing nothing was damaged except the motherboard.

“We had everything in place and everything looked fine (After following a YouTube video we had everything set out the same way as the vid) And we tried to boot the PC but... nothing. My brother thought it was the PSU (As it looked as though it had been used before) so he sent it back and got a new one. We then tried again and nothing.Then after realising. there was a cable to connect the 'Power on' button to the mobo (retard mistake). The PC would then boot for 5 seconds and go off and on, repeatedly. We then realised that the RAM sticks had to be placed in a certain order or it wouldn't boot. Again, 5 seconds then on and off. I then realised the fans were not spinning. So i plugged a fan cable into the motherboard because it fit perfectly and there was also writing where it said 'fan' (This was the worst mistake ever) So after doing that, the PC booted up fine and we high-fived in excitement as we had finally got it working after hours. 20 seconds later there was an orange glow on the motherboard and we switched off the PC immediately. We freaked out and our dad came over and realised what we had done and explained to not put the fans power to the mobo. After turning the PC off, the glow went down and i noticed there was a burnt patch on the motherboard (minuscule burn patch, not extreme).”

You would never think that one little loose screw could cause so much trouble, but it all depends on where it is. If you are lucky, it won’t be somewhere with electricity running through it like it was for “kmiklas.”

“Had a screw floating around somewhere in my case (you can guess where this is going!) It was fine for a long while, until one day I decided to move my rig to a standing position. I Heard that darn screw rattle around and get stuck somewhere. Somewhere behind the mobo, and I didn't feel like unscrewing everything to get at it.I figured, "It'll be OK." Hooked everything back up, and hit the power button. POW!!! Something on that board went off like a firecracker! I saw a jet of flame shoot out from my mobo, like a little solar flare. Then, suddenly, all was deathly quiet, as smoke and the acrid smell of burnt electronics filled the room. Uhh... it was time for a new mobo anyway...Sure enough, upon unscrewing that board, that screw fell to the bottom with a pleasant little "clink." Almost like it was trying to apologize for frying my board.”

Falling CPU coolers can do some serious damage. After “thunder_hammer’s” cooler fell and scratched the motherboard, it's a wonder it still turned on.

“Most recently - I had to send in my H240-x water cooler for an RMA repair. When I went to put my intel stock cooler back into my PC... I totally forgot about how to install it properly. I didn't move the pins around properly and get them re-encased... So I scratched my motherboard. Even doing some basic repairs from "how to fix your mobo" tutorials... I still have all sorts of problems that I never, ever had before. Looks like I need to buy a new motherboard.”

Building computers can be fun, but I don't think anyone likes connecting the little power switch and front panel cables to the motherboard. They are small, easy to misplace, and if you are like "AMD--Fan," they will end up just wasting countless hours of your time.

"Hello everyone . Well few months ago , I decided to clean my pc so i removed all of the components . Clean them with an air blower , changed the thermal paste and assembled the computer again but before doing the cable management , i decided to turn on the pc to see if it works fine . I connected the mobo , cpu , gpu power cables . pressed the power button and nothing happened .What?????????????Again i removed to mobo , ram , graphics card and tested them one by one on another pc. they were fine . So i assembled everything but i didn't put the computer in a case. used a screwdriver to turn it on and everything was fine, so i put everything in the case but before doing the cable management , decided to see if it turns on again . pressed the power button and nothing happened . I was in a "What ????It's impossible " moment . So i removed everything again and everything was ok and worked fine out of the case so i decided to put it in my case. this time i did the cable management first .As my routine , the last step of cable management is connecting the front panel stuff . While i was connecting the f.panel cable , i realized that the last times , i didn't connect the f.panel cable and that was the reason that the power button didn't work and computer worked fine out of the case because i used a screwdriver to turn it on out of the case!!!!!!!loool . I wasted 10 hours on assembling , unassuming and testing the components . only because of a tiny f.panel cable . well that was my story . I hate front panel !!!!!"

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