System won't boot in new case

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sam
  • Start date Start date
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Sam

I had a perfectly fine working system until yesterday (Asus A7N8x-E Deluxe,
Athlon XP3200+ with 2-512meg sticks of Crucial RAM and ATI Radeon 9500). I
took out my motherboard and installed it in a new all-aluminum case. Now it
won't boot past the opening splash screen.

I've tried the following:

Swapping the motherboard for another identical one, changing the video
card, changing the cables and the power supply. I've disconnected all my
optical drives and the floppy, leaving nothing in the machine but the video
card and my primary hard-drive. I reset the CMOS, and tried booting with
only one of my memory modules at a time. Finally, I put my hard-drive in
another machine and it booted just fine.

The only thing left is the CPU... is this possible? If the CPU fried, I
wouldn't expect to see anything at all. But I"m open to ideas. Is there
anything different in an all aluminum case that would be different than the
standard ones? I sort of doubt that, since I tried to put everything back
into the original case too.

Nothing I've tried works... I've built about 12-15 computers before and
never had this much trouble before. Thanks for any help.

Sam
 
Possible the board is shorting out to the case. Try removing it from the
case (with power connections, etc intact) and see if it will boot outside
the case.

Fitz
 
Possible the board is shorting out to the case. Try removing it from the
case (with power connections, etc intact) and see if it will boot outside
the case.

Fitz
Click to expand...

Thanks. That's my next step... nothing that I can see, but it's worth
trying at least.

Sam
 
Possible the board is shorting out to the case. Try removing it from the
case (with power connections, etc intact) and see if it will boot outside
the case.

Fitz
Click to expand...

I just tried the board outside the case and insulated from below. It
worked!!!! <tah-dah!> So there's something about the case itself that's
causing a problem. Can't see anything wrong, though... there's one standoff
for every hole in the motherboard (I can see them through the holes when I
insert the screws). I'm thinking that I should use insulated standoffs
instead... sort of strange since the standoffs that came with the case are
metal. The case is a Lian-Li PC-V1200, just in case anyone has had any
specific experience with these before.

Sam
 
Now you have tried the mother board outside the Aluminum case and it boots
successfully, the problem now is 100% due to the short between case and
motherboard.

As my experience goes, the standoff is always made from metal, the isolation
is not depended on non-metal standoff, it is depended on the screw and screw
holes on mother board never contact any other working part of the mother
board. You have to check carefully how you screw you mother board to the
aluminum case.
 
Sam said:
I just tried the board outside the case and insulated from below. It
worked!!!! <tah-dah!> So there's something about the case itself that's
causing a problem. Can't see anything wrong, though... there's one standoff
for every hole in the motherboard (I can see them through the holes when I
insert the screws).
Click to expand...

But is there one hole for every standoff? A standoff without a hole can
cause a short.
I'm thinking that I should use insulated standoffs
instead... sort of strange since the standoffs that came with the case are
metal.
Click to expand...

Metal standoffs are fine.
 
Sam said:
Sometime on, or about Sat, 20 Nov 2004 00:07:17 -0900, Fitz wrote:




I just tried the board outside the case and insulated from below. It
worked!!!! <tah-dah!> So there's something about the case itself that's
causing a problem. Can't see anything wrong, though... there's one standoff
for every hole in the motherboard (I can see them through the holes when I
insert the screws).
Click to expand...

The question isn't whether there's "one standoff for every hole"; the
question is if there are any standoffs located where there *isn't* a hole
(so that it would touch the motherboard in the wrong place and short it out).
I'm thinking that I should use insulated standoffs
instead...
Click to expand...

No need to.
sort of strange since the standoffs that came with the case are
metal.
Click to expand...

Almost all are, nowadays.
 
The question isn't whether there's "one standoff for every hole"; the
question is if there are any standoffs located where there *isn't* a hole
(so that it would touch the motherboard in the wrong place and short it out).


No need to.


Almost all are, nowadays.
Click to expand...

I've triple checked... there are 9 standoffs and there's one below each of
the 9 holes in the motherboard.

Sam
 
Sam said:
Sometime on, or about Sat, 20 Nov 2004 16:45:41 -0600, David Maynard wrote:




I've triple checked... there are 9 standoffs and there's one below each of
the 9 holes in the motherboard.
Click to expand...

Assuming the standoffs are correct then it could simply be you
inadvertently made a cabling error.

Now, something else I've seen is front panel wires pinched by a mounting
plate, panel, or bezel so that they became nicked and shorted to the case.
 
If you can't find any obvious problems with the case/motherboard mounting,
then try changing the power cord (from power supply to wall socket), and try
using a different wall socket (try one in the kitchen, since they are
usually GFI)- one not on the same circuit breaker as the one you've been
using. The object is to see if it is a problem with the outlet ground.

Fitz
 
If you can't find any obvious problems with the case/motherboard mounting,
then try changing the power cord (from power supply to wall socket), and try
using a different wall socket (try one in the kitchen, since they are
usually GFI)- one not on the same circuit breaker as the one you've been
using. The object is to see if it is a problem with the outlet ground.

Fitz
Click to expand...

It wasn't the cord, since in the process of testing things I used two
different ones. I never thought of using a GFCI type circuit though. We
have an older home and only the two bathrooms have them (since I remodeled
them). I should see about a portable GFCI gizmo though... I think I've seen
them in the store.

Sam
 
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