[nursejess]

I recently bought all new parts to put together my first custom PC. My husband has done this for many years so it should have been a breeze but alas when we got it all together it does not boot. We trouble shooted the motherboard and sent it backt to the manufacturer who sent us a new one as a replacement but it still will not boot.

What is the most likely place to go from here trying to fix it?

Here are the specs.
Power Up Black mid tower case with 400w power supply
Asus A8N-VM socket 939 motherboard
AMD athlon 64 3200+ socket 939 CPU
Maxtor 160GB serial ATA Harddrive
512 RAM
Liteon 16X DVD burner.

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I recently bought all new parts to put together my first custom PC. My husband has done this for many years so it should have been a breeze but alas when we got it all together it does not boot. We trouble shooted the motherboard and sent it backt to the manufacturer who sent us a new one as a replacement but it still will not boot.

What is the most likely place to go from here trying to fix it?

Here are the specs.
Power Up Black mid tower case with 400w power supply
Asus A8N-VM socket 939 motherboard
AMD athlon 64 3200+ socket 939 CPU
Maxtor 160GB serial ATA Harddrive
512 RAM
Liteon 16X DVD burner.

Make shure that you plug in the 4 pin power connector commonly called the 4 pin p4 power connector....

Another thing try different sets of memory sticks if you have any around.

[jrm20]

I recently bought all new parts to put together my first custom PC. My husband has done this for many years so it should have been a breeze but alas when we got it all together it does not boot. We trouble shooted the motherboard and sent it backt to the manufacturer who sent us a new one as a replacement but it still will not boot.

What is the most likely place to go from here trying to fix it?

Here are the specs.
Power Up Black mid tower case with 400w power supply
Asus A8N-VM socket 939 motherboard
AMD athlon 64 3200+ socket 939 CPU
Maxtor 160GB serial ATA Harddrive
512 RAM
Liteon 16X DVD burner.

Make shure that you plug in the 4 pin power connector commonly called the 4 pin p4 power connector....

Another thing try different sets of memory sticks if you have any around.

[nursejess]

We checked that. the power supply is plugged in to the right place.
Could the power supply be faulty? since we can pretty much rule out the motherboard since we already replaced that.

[jrm20]

We checked that. the power supply is plugged in to the right place.
Could the power supply be faulty? since we can pretty much rule out the motherboard since we already replaced that.

The powersupply definately could be a problem.


Explain what happens when you hit the power button..


Does anything at all turn on or run??

[nursejess]

We checked that. the power supply is plugged in to the right place.
Could the power supply be faulty? since we can pretty much rule out the motherboard since we already replaced that.

The powersupply definately could be a problem.


Explain what happens when you hit the power button..


Does anything at all turn on or run??

Nope it just sits there. it sounds like the fan is cicking on but that is about it. no error beeps(when the speecker is attached) or anything. That is why we though the motherboard but two bad ones in a row?

[jrm20]

We checked that. the power supply is plugged in to the right place.
Could the power supply be faulty? since we can pretty much rule out the motherboard since we already replaced that.

The powersupply definately could be a problem.


Explain what happens when you hit the power button..


Does anything at all turn on or run??

Nope it just sits there. it sounds like the fan is cicking on but that is about it. no error beeps(when the speecker is attached) or anything. That is why we though the motherboard but two bad ones in a row?

Yeah you can get two bad motherboards in a row especially asus.. Asus are fine boards when they do work that is. They do have a pretty bad failure rate over other boards.

Are you shure if anything comes on at all?? Do you actually see the fans running constantly?
Did you use esd (electro static discharge) precaution and keep your body grounded to the metal of the case or wear a anti static wrist band while installing and handling the motherboard??

Double check these items... My only suggestion is to check all the wires once again. The power button wires that plug into the motherboard. Check to see if the power supply is infact in the ON position with the switch on the back of the powersupply.

Try taking out the motherboard and putting it on some cardboard with minimal hardware installed on the motherboard and try turning it on again. Sometimes a faulty piece of hardware can cause a system not to boot up at all. Also try putting the memory in different slots. This is all trial and error or Troubleshooting.

If you try all of this and still no luck then its either the power supply or the motherboard.

Try a new powersupply next.

[ultimateslacker2]

I dont know if this will help but I'll give it a shot.

make sure the wires (lights, hd light, power light, etc) If those arent plugged in, than the system wont boot. I accidently unplugged all mine trying to find the mobo speaker as it was driving me nuts with beeps because I didnt have a soundcard installed.

[jrm20]

I dont know if this will help but I'll give it a shot.

make sure the wires (lights, hd light, power light, etc) If those arent plugged in, than the system wont boot. I accidently unplugged all mine trying to find the mobo speaker as it was driving me nuts with beeps because I didnt have a soundcard installed.

actually the system will boot up only with the power button wires pluged in. **Keep in mind we are not talking about the main atx 20 or 24 pin power connector** **we are only talking about the area of pins where you plug in the Hdd light, power light, reset button sw and power button sw, and speaker. You dont need the led wires pluged in for a system to boot. LED's are the activity lights. You dont even need the reset button wires pluged in for a system to boot. All it needs is the power or power sw button to complete the circuit.

Just teaching you something..

[nursejess]

I double checked and the powesupply is plugged in right so i know it is not that. i thought the fan in the powersupply was coming on but it didn't when i just tried it. So we will try the powersupply next to see if that is it.

I am not sure what precautions my husband used when installing the motherboard but he is pretty good with these things he has built them for years and they have always worked before and he does it the same way each time.

Thanks for the help. I'll let you know the results after we try a new powersupply.

[nursejess]

Well we tried a new powersupply and no luck. it still does not run so that was not the problem. We are going to go to FRYS a local computer store and buy a new motherboard and see if that works.

[Kurenai]

How many risers are you using between the motherboard and the case?

[nursejess]

what do you mean by risers?

[nursejess]

Well we went to Fry's today and bought a new motherboard and a video card. So now it is working. We are pretty sure it was the motherboard.

[mpfeif101]

Glad the problem is solved

For future reference, risers (aka spacers) are the screw type things that keep your motherboard from touching the metal case. I usually recommend 6 risers, but as long as you had at least 4 I doubt that it would have been a problem.

[Kurenai]

You'd be suprised how often the answer to that question is, "Oh, that's what those little copper thingees are for..."

hehe.