[Joyce W.]

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ -- Processor
Asus K8N-E Deluxe -- Mobo
ATI Radeon All in Wonder x800xt -- video card
Corsairs XMS 2 sticks of 512MB (total 1GB) --RAM
Antec TrueControl 550W -- Power supply

This is the first computer I've built. I put it together and it was running fine but I never attached the front USB cables to the motherboard -- I didn't know how. SO about 3 days ago, I decided to go in and try to hook those up and rewire the power cables so it was neater in the case.
I rewired the cables and hooked everything back up. Since I didn't know what to do with the USB cables, I just started plugging them into USB 5, 6 (something like that). I also plugged the 1-hole plugs labeled "Ground 1" and "Ground 2" into pretty much random places. For instance, I removed some jumpers (didn't know they were jumpers until an hour ago) and plugged them in there. However, I never turned the power on (power cord was removed from the back) because I was scared it might mess something up. Finally I just unplugged the Ground 1 and 2 cables and just left the the larger cable in the USB 5, 6 spot. When I went to turn my computer on, all the fans started up (CPU and chassis fans), there were whirring sounds, the lights on the front of the case lit up and the HDD lights were flashing but the screen remained black.
I swapped out the video card with another one, tried 2 other monitors (another flat screen with DVI and then a CRT with VGA), took the MB out and placed it on the anti-static? bag it came in with only RAM, video card, and CPU & fan left on it -- all with the same blank screen.
The monitor blinks green. Only starts displaying "No Signal Input" when I unplug the cable from the video card. Also, there is no beeping at start up.
I'm leaning towards the MB being the source of the problem. My questions are: 1) Did my fiddling with jumpers, attaching things where they shouldn't be (even though I never turned the power on) mess the MB up? 2) Should I bring the MB in to a computer repair shop and have them take a look at it or should I just RMA it?
Also any thoughts about this will be helpful! Thanks!!

Edited by Joyce W., 17 May 2005 - 09:46 PM.

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you should put the jumpers back that could be the problem but it should work when they are back in the right spot. also if you motherboard has a built in monitor port try that instead of a pci video card. If you try this make sure that there are not even pci or agp or pci-e video cards plugged in. the only video card that should be in the computer is the onboard one. If you don't have one try contacting somewhere like a computer school or carrer center they usually do it for cheap or free so the people in the class can learn. If they can't fix it the teacher can so it is safe to leave it there.

[hudihoo]

you should put the jumpers back that could be the problem but it should work when they are back in the right spot. also if you motherboard has a built in monitor port try that instead of a pci video card. If you try this make sure that there are not even pci or agp or pci-e video cards plugged in. the only video card that should be in the computer is the onboard one. If you don't have one try contacting somewhere like a computer school or carrer center they usually do it for cheap or free so the people in the class can learn. If they can't fix it the teacher can so it is safe to leave it there.

[Samm]

You said you removed the ground cables but left the main usb cable attached. Have you tried unplugging this as well?

Either way, don't try & boot the system again until the jumpers etc are correct. I'll get back to you in a minute with the details on that.

Edited by Samm, 18 May 2005 - 10:51 AM.

[Samm]

Ok, managed to get into asus's site at last.

To sort out the jumpers, you need to do the following :

Remove the power cord from the back of the power supply.
Open up the case & locate the following usb power headers (ie pins + jumpers) : Each set consists of 6 pins & there should be 2 jumpers per set. The headers are labelled as follows :
USBPW12
USBPW34
These 2 are located between the CPU & the AGP slot. The pins are numbered from 1-3, the jumpers should be placed over pins 1-2, so that it looks like this :

USBPW12
USBPW34
[ . . ] .
[ . . ] .
1 2 3

Next locate the other set (USBPW56, USBPW78), They are located just beneath the where the floppy drive cable connects to the board.
Again these should be jumpered to pins 1-2

USBPW56
USBPW78
[ . . ] .
[ . . ] .
1 2 3


Make sure the internal USB cable is not connected at the moment.
Next in the bottom right corner of the board, next to where the front panel switches & LEDs connect, there will be a set of pins labelled CLRTC & CHASSIS that look like this

CLRTC
[ . . ] .
. [. . ]
CHASSIS

Make sure the jumper on the bottom row (chassis) is placed over the last 2 pins.
The jumper on the first row (clrtc) should be covering pins 1-2. I want you to move this jumper so that it covers pins 2-3 instead, like this :
CLRTC
. [ . . ]
1 2 3

Leave this in place for approx 10 seconds, then replace the jumper back over pins 1-2.

I am assuming you didn't move any of the front panel connectors (for the power, reset switch & leds), so these should be ok.

Try & boot the system up again & let me know what happens.

[Joyce W.]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I've already turned the computer on without the jumpers and also, with the jumpers on -- but I wasn't sure they were in properly.

When I get home, i will definately try those jumper positions. Thank you so much for the help! I'll update later.

Edited by Joyce W., 18 May 2005 - 12:38 PM.

[Samm]

That shouldn't matter - the only one you have to watch is the USB header itself because this is powered so connecting something to it incorrectly could cause damage.

Follow the instructions I gave you & let me know what the outcome is

[Joyce W.]

Everything works! It was the jumpers all along. Thank you so much for everything, Samm; your knowledge, patience and assistance has saved me from a lot of grief and time and most of all, money. I just bought all these parts for my 21st birthday. I thought it would be a good project. I'm so so so grateful. I can't thank you enough.

Edited by Joyce W., 18 May 2005 - 03:53 PM.

[Samm]

You are more than welcome, I'm just glad we got it working without too much hassle.

If you do decide to have another bash at connecting the USB up, here is the diagram for doing it :
(NB the 2 USB headers are in bottom right corner of mobo, do not confuse them with the 1394 firewire header which looks the same)



red white green GND nc
o o o o o
pin 1 o o o o
red white green GND

You have 2 usb headers on your board - USB56 & USB78 - this diagram will work for either of them.
By the sounds of it, you have got 2 connectors each with a red, white & green cable & 2 seperate blacks (Ground) connectors. Connect them up as shown (the diagram is the right way up for your motherboard, assuming its in a tower case), the last pin (labelled nc) stands for not connected, so you can ignore this pin altogther.

Hope this helps!

Samm