hermes Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 hey people.. i'm building a small PC/media centre for the living room, but i've run into a weird problem.. the system comprises: Antec NSK1300 µATX case Asus A8N-VM µATX Motherboard AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 939 512MB Kingston DDR400 13.6Gb Maxtor UATA66 HDD Asus DRW-1608 DVD±RW i assembled it last night, connected the peripherals, then finally connected it to the mains.. the green "standby" LED on the motherboard (near the PCI-E slots) came on, signalling that power was being applied.. however, pressing the Power button appeared to do absolutely nothing.. not a sausage.. my first thought was that i had connected the Power button to the wrong pins on the mobo header, but i checked and rechecked it at least 10 times and it was definitely connected as describred in both the manual and as was printed on the board.. does anyone have any idea what might cause a complete failure to power-up like this? at first i thought it must be the PSU, but that can't really be the case as the onboard standyby LED indicates that power is being supplied.. i'm going to raise an RMA and get the case swapped out, but to avoid further delaying the project i thought i'd ask you knowledgeable bunch in case anyone else has come across a problem like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steev Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Check the clear CMOS jumper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hermes Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 Check the clear CMOS jumper? would that cause behaviour like this? sorry if that's a stupid question.. i've built a few machines before now (although this is my first µATX effort) and never seen an apparent complete lack of power like this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steev Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 I've had a few machines do that to me... Sometimes they ship the mobo with the jumper in the open position, & you have to close it. Sometimes it just needs clearing before it will boot, or it could be something else entirely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghozer Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 could be the power switch, use a small metal object (like a flat screw driver) and 'short' the 2 'Power' pins on the motherboard, (thats all the switch does) -- if this does nothing, then plug the power switch back on, and unplug it from the mains, press and hold the power button in for 30 seconds to 1 minute, and let go... plug back in the power cord, and try again... if this deosnt work, then take out (or rather, disconnect) everything (Hard drive, DVD rom, etc) and try it with JUSt the motherboard/GFX card, CPU and RAM, if this doesnt work still, then your getting closer to your problem, try the gFX card in another machine, and the ram, and CPU etc... and also try another PSU on the motherboard.... if all fails, then your motherboard is dead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hermes Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 if this deosnt work, then take out (or rather, disconnect) everything (Hard drive, DVD rom, etc) and try it with JUSt the motherboard/GFX card, CPU and RAM, if this doesnt work still, then your getting closer to your problem, try the gFX card in another machine, and the ram, and CPU etc... yeah, i already did this - still nothing.. tried to boot with nothing but the RAM and CPU (and HSF of course) installed, but still nothing.. as i say, it does absolutely nothing when i press the power button! of course, you could be right about it being a hardware fault with the actual button, but i doubt it.. i tried connecting the Reset switch connector to the Power switch pins, and pressing that, but still no joy.. and also try another PSU on the motherboard.... if all fails, then your motherboard is dead this is what i'm thinking.. the power switch has no direct access to the PSU innit, so presumably the PSU will only spring to life if the motherboard tells it to.. ergo, if it's not even getting as far as powering up the PSU, i can only assume the motherboard isn't sending the right signals.. i've still to try steev's cmos suggestion - fingers crossed with that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghozer Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Usually though, the Green light on the motherboard, ONLY illuminates when Its passed all the "main" things on the motherboard, and is ready, sort of like a diagnostic, mine has a RED light on it too (which I have NEVER seen on) that if there's a fault, or a short somewhere, and it wont power up, the red light will illuminate.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hermes Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 no go on the CMOS idea the reset jumper is in the correct, default position.. the only other position is to be used when reseting the CMOS settings.. Usually though, the Green light on the motherboard, ONLY illuminates when Its passed all the "main" things on the motherboard, and is ready, sort of like a diagnostic, mine has a RED light on it too (which I have NEVER seen on) that if there's a fault, or a short somewhere, and it wont power up, the red light will illuminate.. this LED is one of the old style "hard coded" green ones - as in the actual acrylic it's made of is green in colour (i.e. it is only able to shine green).. it is the only LED on the board, and the asus manual says that it indicates when the board is in "standby" mode.. it doesn't elaborate any further as to what this entails.. i've got a new case coming tomorrow, hopefully that will solve it.. if not, i can only assume it's the motherboard.. am i right in thinking that, even if (worst case scenario) all the components were fubared (CPU, RAM, etc), as long as everything was installed correctly the PSU should at least power up - even if the system never even got as far as POST? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghozer Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 not always, some mobo's wont allow you to power up if a component is dead, to protect the rest, and the mobo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghozer Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 try this tho, Unplug EVERYTHING, (Keyboard, mouse, etc from the back) Even unplug the PSU, and then the PSU OFF if it has its own switch on the back.. then, press in the power switch, and hold it for 1 minute, after the 1 monite, release the power switch, and plug in ONLY the PSU... and hit the power switch, see what happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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