New rig. Won't power up!

[Peter M. Hill]

I am building up a new rig. I decided to build up the basic system
BEFORE I bolted it down in the case so the board is on the bench.

Specs:
A7N8X
Athlon 2800+ Barton
Stock CPU/HSF
Crucial 512 stick in slot 1
ATI 9600SE
Antec Smartpower 350

The unit will not power up. Fans will not turn and no beeps.
The onboard LED is "on" when power is present.
I have jumpered the ATX Power Switch to simulate "being in the case".
The PS was tested ok with Antec ATX tester.
All parts are new.
I have removed the battery to clear the CMOS.
I have removed the memory stick - no beep codes.

Any ideas on how to isolate the problem?

Thanks,
PeteH

 

[Peter M. Hill]

It is necessary to "switch" the ATX Power Switch not just jumper it.
While power was on the board and nothing running, I pulled off the
jumper and it "jumped" to life.

All is well so far. I need to get better testing equipment or a
smarter brain.

Thanks,
PeteH

 

[Rob]

I am building up a new rig. I decided to build up the basic system
BEFORE I bolted it down in the case so the board is on the bench.

Specs:
A7N8X
Athlon 2800+ Barton
Stock CPU/HSF
Crucial 512 stick in slot 1
ATI 9600SE
Antec Smartpower 350

The unit will not power up. Fans will not turn and no beeps.
The onboard LED is "on" when power is present.
I have jumpered the ATX Power Switch to simulate "being in the case".
The PS was tested ok with Antec ATX tester.
All parts are new.
I have removed the battery to clear the CMOS.
I have removed the memory stick - no beep codes.

Any ideas on how to isolate the problem?

Thanks,
PeteH

Pete,
Now that jumper your using is only for momentary contact right?
Otherwise it will appear as a stuck case switch and once the PS trips
the first time it most likely won't reset until the short (jumper) is
removed and the input AC is recycled. The +5VDC that runs the Mobo
light will still be present though. It is smart to test outside the
case on a fresh build. If you have a meter you could check for the 5
and 12 volt supply lines on one of the drive cables to verify if the PS
is actually turning on. HTH.
Rob

 

[Wayne Youngman]

Any ideas on how to isolate the problem?

Hi,

can you check any of the components on another machine (RAM, VGA, PSU etc?)
really helps speed up the trouble-shooting process! I had a very similar
problem recently on a machine I built for a friend, during a game of
HALF-LIFE2 his screen went black and nothing!. He tried to reboot but was
greeted by a blank screen. All the fans were running and the motherboards
lights were on? Cut a long story short it turned out the RADEON 9800Pro had
completely died, to such a degree that it was preventing the system from
even booting.

I found this out by swapping out the 9800Pro with an older RADEON9000, and
everything worked fine. Just to be sure I tried the 9800Pro in another
machine and same thing, no boot!

This particular story had a happy ending as I was able to RMA the card back
to www.overclockers.co.uk and get a replacement back and installed in time
for xmas!

Hope this helps,

Wayne ][