[Chumara]

Yeah I needed a side computer to do some stuff on so I bought a new mobo and oem processor.. cheap ones.. nothing special and a stick of ddr333 ram and I had the erst of the parts laying around. so I put the mobo in the case and stuff and then booted it up at which point the heatsink fan came on but nothing else.. really nothing else had come on I hadn't put in the hd yet nor aer there any other fans in the case.. the video is onboard so I don't have a vid card in it but nothing displayed on the screen.. now.. my question is.. I dind't put on any spacers between the mobo and the case... which means the mobo is probably shorted.. but I question that because first off I don't have any spacers left over from when I switched my good comp to a new case which means that there were none to begin with in the old case i'm using now for the scrap comp.. I do have some spacers but they don't fit the holes which are rised up a bit from the flat part of the back of the case so they don't belong to it.. I believe they came with my new case and they're extras.. so.. is my mobo shorted or is there something else wrong? maybe i'm doing something stupid. and no.. this old case doesn't have a reset switch on the front panel and I'm not suer how to short between wires.. I'd need to see some pics on how thats done.. Please help and thanks for your time

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Oh god.. I forgot to add the new parts specs.. um.. mobo is sg-71 by abit.. discontinued product.. the processor is a celeron 2.66 ghz.. it was oem and I forgot to ask what the fsb was but i's guessing its 533 and the ram stick is ddr333 256mb and finally the psu is old but was working before I replaced it um... 250Watts made by Hipro.. yeah..

[Chumara]

Oh god.. I forgot to add the new parts specs.. um.. mobo is sg-71 by abit.. discontinued product.. the processor is a celeron 2.66 ghz.. it was oem and I forgot to ask what the fsb was but i's guessing its 533 and the ram stick is ddr333 256mb and finally the psu is old but was working before I replaced it um... 250Watts made by Hipro.. yeah..

[Doby]

Hi,

spacers (standoffs) between the mobo and case are critical, at no time can the traces on the bottom side of the mobo come in contact with the case.

Modern cpu's and mother boards require more than a 250w psu

Rick

[Samm]

I've come across those cases before - the screw holes for the motherboard mountings are raised up like flattened mole hills, yeah? (sorry, don't know how else to describe it!)

If so, then you're right, you can't put spacers in them otherwise the board is elevated too much to align with the rest of the case (PCI cards, rear panel etc).
However, to start with, I don't trust that design personally & secondly, each one of the raised mountings must align precisely with a motherboard screw hole, otherwise as Doby said, it will short the board out.

I agree with Doby about the psu as well, you want at least a 350W psu, preferably higher.

I suggest you try another psu but also remove the board from that case & lay it on a pile of paper or card instead, and test it that way.

[Doby]

If you do get it working outside the case I would suggest getting a new case a cheap one can be had for $25.00 US or less.

Rick

[Chumara]

thanks yeah i'll go to teh comp store tomorrow and get the parts.. I suspected the psu but it powered the old motherboard.. and a new case.. if I can get the money.. thanks again

[Chumara]

well I went out and bought a 400 W psu and attached it and all and still the fan just comes on but nothing else.. I wonder.. if the socket is 478 it should work with all 478 processors right? i'm using a celeron not a pentium 4 its still a 478 and installed perfectly and I think it should work. the mobo manual said I need to set the procs frequency settings but it does not say how to. This is causing too many problems.. also I think the case is alright because the mobo that used to be in there never shorted and the fan IS turning on and staying on so I doubt thats the prob. I think the mobo and processor aren't working well together. any other suggestions?? I will try putting a different ram stick in there as well.

[Doby]

if the socket is 478 it should work with all 478 processors right? i'm using a celeron not a pentium 4 its still a 478 and installed perfectly and I think it should work

Yes but you have to check the mobo manufactuers website to see if the board/bios supports a celeron, a Abit discontinued product most likely don't because the celeron is relativly new so this you must check out it could be the problem.

also I think the case is alright because the mobo that used to be in there never shorted and the fan IS turning on and staying on so I doubt thats the prob

Yes but this is a different mobo and will line up different, without seeing this case and mobo it is impossible to tell if this is the problem

If you cannot use standoffs for whatever reason I strongly recommend not using this case, do as Samm suggest and lay the board on a piece of cardboard to test.

Rick

[Chumara]

I checked the "mole rises" on the case and the holes in the mobo and they align perfectly so thats not the prob. um I think it should support the celeron because it supports pentium 4's as well and those are the only two processors that use the 478 socket right? did the celeron come out after the pentuim 4? Also when you guys say make sure the jumpers are correct, you mean that the cmos jumper is on 1 & 2 right? I'll check my manual but I believe the only jumpers I have are like the cmos clearing ones a cmos write protect jumper. those are both in the correct slot so maybe you guys mean some other jumpers I am not sure of.. i'll look at the entire mobo again and see if i'm missing any.

[Samm]

Hi there, gonna butt in again I'm afraid.

In answer to your question, Chumara, you're right, there are no other jumpers on the mobo, so check the bios settings as well. (more on that in a minute)

A few things occur to me that may or may not be causing a problem :

1. I noticed you have an OEM cpu. Are you certain that the heatsink/fan is of an adequate rating for your chip? Also, have you used a a good quality thermal paste or pad? nb, if you remove the heatsink at any point, you must clean it & reapply thermal paste.

2.I've checked your mobo manual and cannot find any mention of Celerons being supported. That doesn't mean they're not but you may want to confirm this for sure. It may simply require a bios update in order to have full celeron support.

3. Check you have the 4 pin CPU ATX connector plugged in.

4. Clear the CMOS (leave jumper on pins 2-3 for 10 secs then put back on pins 1-2)

5. If you can get the screen to come up, then in bios, make sure the CPU FSB is set to 133MHz

6. Like Doby said, if you do get the system functioning outside of the case, then I would recommend a new case. Even though the screw holes all line up with the bumps, the bumps are flattened out on top & often have a fairly broad diameter (compared to a spacer). If the boards circuitry runs close to any of the screwholes, this could be enough to short the board on the case.

NB when the board is out of case, and on pile of paper or card, (with no drives etc connected), when you plug the live power cord into the back of the psu you may find this alone causes the psu to power up.
If it doesn't, you need to start it manually. (This only applies if the soft power switch on front of case doesn't reach the mobo) :
Locate pins 6 & 8 on the PANEL1 header (bottom right corner of mobo). Make sure the PSU is plugged in & turned on. Then using a flat bladed screwdriver, just briefly bridge pins 6+8 with the screwdriver.

If you have any questions regarding this procedure, please ask!

[Chumara]

Ok I finally found out that the board only supports celerons up to 2 Ghz so i'm gonna go return the celeron and get a P4 which it supports up to 2.8 ghz so i'll try that and get back to let you know if it works or not.