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General discussion

Power Failure on Self-Built P4 Rig

Nov 16, 2004 11:14PM PST

I just put together a new gaming rig Monday night (specs below) and when I went to power it up, the PSU lights flashed, the fans spun a little, and then the thing shut off. The power indicator (green light) on the motherboard stays on after this, but I have to completely shut off the PSU to try again (always with the same results). I'd hate to think it was a bad Mobo or PSU, but the connections all look good to me (I've tried starting it with all the PCI/AGP/drives disconnected and it didn't make a difference). Can anyone suggest a different possibility/solution?

Specs
-------------------
P4 3.0E w/HT
ASUS P4C800-E Mobo
1GB Kingston PC3200 DDR
Aspire 520W PSU
Seagate 80GB SATA HD
Lite-on DVD+/-RW
Lian-Li PC-6077 Case
Albatron GeForce 6800GT
SB Audigy ZS 7.1

Discussion is locked

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Self-Built = Self Support.
Nov 16, 2004 11:20PM PST

Here's the trick.

Place the power supply and just the motherboard on a chunk of cardboard. If it can't properly power up and down, then you are looking at the two possibly bad parts.

YOU get to call the vendor of each to exchange.

That's just the motherboard without any RAM, CPU, etc. And the PSU.

If it works, you build up till you find the bad part.

Bob

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Re: Self-Built = Self Support.
Nov 16, 2004 11:26PM PST

OK - I'll give it a try. Also, I've been poking around the forums a bit and was wondering if it could be that my Mobo is grounding out because it's touching the case? When I was screwing it into the mounting brackets, I had a bit of trouble lining it up with the holes and needed to fiddle with it a bit before it would fit (it didn't want to go flush against the faceplate on the back of the computer).

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Grounded?
Nov 16, 2004 11:36PM PST

You are a master at this and wouldn't do that...

(Hint: I did it again last month...)

Bob

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Re: Grounded?
Nov 16, 2004 11:39PM PST

Just a thought, though - If I did leave the Mobo touching the case thereby causing the power failure, could that conceivably cause permanent damage to any of the components (including said Mobo)?

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(NT) (NT) Yes, but cardboard test will tell.
Nov 16, 2004 11:42PM PST
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Results of Troubleshooting
Nov 17, 2004 9:39PM PST

It turned out that the power failure was caused by contact between the Mobo and the case. Once that was corrected, everything went (more or less) swimmingly. My thanks to R. Proffitt for the help.

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Re: Results of Troubleshooting
Nov 17, 2004 9:51PM PST

Though, I didn't help you in your problem solving, I just wanted to mention just FYI, the best advice I given people though it may not seem like it at the time, "don't take anything for granted, check it". Regardless of experience or talents, too often I've found the smallest things over-looked cause big problems. -OR- once you look beyond the typical the next area is at fault.

I'm glad you resolved your problem. I'm not picking on you just my 2-cents pass on. Grin

good luck -----Willy

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You're welcome.
Nov 17, 2004 9:54PM PST

And I think your next build will go even more smoothly!

Bob

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Re: Self-Built = Self Support.
Nov 22, 2004 10:09AM PST

I just did this. The power supply stayed on and smoked a brand new motherboard faster than I could turn it back off. Got any more good ideas?

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Smoked = It was bad.
Nov 22, 2004 10:33AM PST

You found a faulty board of a faulty power supply. To rule out the power supply you would use your VOLTMETER and see if the supply levels are at nominal levels.

Bob