# Help regarding wiring?



## HereticAlpha (May 6, 2011)

This (PC Wiring - Imgur) explains my situation pretty well.

I have tried a number of different wiring arrangements (all incorrect, apparently), and the most reaction I've gotten is that the PSU fan will sort of nudge itself and spin maybe a quarter rotation, but beyond that, there is no indication that the PC actually turned on. There is no visible LED on my motherboard that I can use to determine if it is powered, or not.

As mentioned in the imgur link, I can provide any relevant details regarding the additional components of my build.

Thank you all for reading.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

The CPU fan should begin to spin, your case should have a front status LED, and you should hear the hard drive working. That would show a running PC.

In terms of the PSU, it doesn't spin the fan if the load is very light. No reason to waste the energy.


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## HereticAlpha (May 6, 2011)

Masterchiefxx17 said:


> The CPU fan should begin to spin, your case should have a front status LED, and you should hear the hard drive working. That would show a running PC.
> 
> In terms of the PSU, it doesn't spin the fan if the load is very light. No reason to waste the energy.


Thank you, friend. The heatsink remains inactive when pressing the case's power button as does the hard drive, and the LEDs on the case are not lighting up. I had a feeling the PSU wouldn't need it's fan to be spinning, but I just wanted to post that to make sure.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

The you have the case connectors plug incorrectly.

The Power and Reset Switches can be plugged in either way, it does not matter. Plug the power switch into the red port and the reset into the green port.

Hard drive and status LED switches do matter. Plug the positive and negative cables into their corresponding port on the motherboard. Same place you took the picture.


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## HereticAlpha (May 6, 2011)

Masterchiefxx17 said:


> The you have the case connectors plug incorrectly.
> 
> The Power and Reset Switches can be plugged in either way, it does not matter. Plug the power switch into the red port and the reset into the green port.
> 
> Hard drive and status LED switches do matter. Plug the positive and negative cables into their corresponding port on the motherboard. Same place you took the picture.


Thank you again, friend! 

I'll try this out, and if it doesn't work, I'll edit my post along with pictures of the plug arrangement.


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## HereticAlpha (May 6, 2011)

HereticAlpha said:


> Thank you again, friend!
> 
> I'll try this out, and if it doesn't work, I'll edit my post along with pictures of the plug arrangement.


It won't let me edit my original response, so I'm making a second (I apologize if this is a violation of any rules.)

Unfortunately, the wiring arrangement did not work. I took a few pictures and posted them to imgur (Wiring Setup - Imgur).

Am I missing something here? I've been nothing but careful working with the motherboard and case, and I'd hate it if I had to return something because of some factory error.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Looking at the picture, I would have placed the Power LED leads on the bottom right connectors, marked PWR LED. + on the left Terminal, and - on the right Terminal, leaving the middle one vacant.
The Terminals with the black X are the Positive Terminals.


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

Follow the diagram on pg26 of your motherboard manual. For now connect only the power switch. The LEDs and Reset are irrelevant if the pc will not POST.










PS: Use the two pin at positions 2,4 for the PWR_LED. Don't worry about orientation. If the pc is running and the LED is off, reverse the connector.


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## HereticAlpha (May 6, 2011)

Panther063 said:


> Looking at the picture, I would have placed the Power LED leads on the bottom right connectors, marked PWR LED. + on the left Terminal, and - on the right Terminal, leaving the middle one vacant.
> The Terminals with the black X are the Positive Terminals.


Thank you very much for the suggestion, friend. Unfortunately, trying this yielded no positive results.



gcavan said:


> Follow the diagram on pg26 of your motherboard manual. For now connect only the power switch. The LEDs and Reset are irrelevant if the pc will not POST.
> 
> View attachment 181162
> 
> ...


While that seems to contradict what Masterchiefxx17 responded with earlier, I will definitely try this as soon as possible.


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

Thing is, if your PC will not even reach POST, then who cares if the hard drive activity light works?

If I'm reading this correctly, at this point, nothing works, correct? I suggest you take a step back and read through the following article, then proceed to do an out-of-the-case benchtest as he describes. Disassemble what you have as necessary.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f255/how-to-bench-test-troubleshoot-your-system-171424.html

PS: I have been assuming this is a new build and not a symptom which suddenly appeared in an existing system. Please correct me if I'm wrong.


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## HereticAlpha (May 6, 2011)

gcavan said:


> Thing is, if your PC will not even reach POST, then who cares if the hard drive activity light works?
> 
> If I'm reading this correctly, at this point, nothing works, correct? I suggest you take a step back and read through the following article, then proceed to do an out-of-the-case benchtest as he describes. Disassemble what you have as necessary.
> 
> ...


Yes, this is a new build. I AM taking a few parts from my old build (PSU, HDD, and RAM), but I don't think that's relevant (if so, my mistake on not mentioning it until now.)

Thank you very much for the article. I will definitely look into Benchmarking this build and update this once I do so (likely tomorrow, as 2am benchmarking is slightly frowned upon when you have roommates. )

Thank you very much for your help, and I'm looking forward to getting back to you with the results.


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

Ummm . . . I understand how your eyes can play tricks on you this late at night but that article has nothing to do with Benchmarking. 

It describes a method to bench*test* a new system using the minimum components necessary for successful POST (power on self test). It allows one to more confirm components are functional before installing them in the case.


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## HereticAlpha (May 6, 2011)

gcavan said:


> Ummm . . . I understand how your eyes can play tricks on you this late at night but that article has nothing to do with Benchmarking.
> 
> It describes a method to bench*test* a new system using the minimum components necessary for successful POST (power on self test). It allows one to more confirm components are functional before installing them in the case.


Sorry. That was a typo. I will be bench*testing* my components tomorrow. My mistake.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Brand & Model number of the Brand & Model of Mobo-CPU-RAM-Graphics-PSU.
Bench test as listed below.
Remove EVERYTHING from the case.
Set the motherboard on a non conductive surface. The motherboard box is perfect for this. DO NOT PLACE THE MOTHERBOARD ON THE STATIC BAG! It can actually conduct electricity! 
Install the CPU and heat sink. 
Install 1 stick of RAM.
Install the video card and attach the power supply connection(s) to the card if your card needs it.
Connect the monitor to the video card.
Connect the power supply to the motherboard with both the 24pin main ATX Power connection and the separate 4 pin (Dual Core CPU) or 8 pin (Quad Core CPU) power connection.
Connect power to the power supply.
Do NOT connect ANYTHING else. Make sure you have the power connector on the CPU fan connected.
Use a small screwdriver to momentarily short the power switch connector on the motherboard. Consult your motherboard manual to find which two pins connect to your case's power switch. Then touch both pins with a screwdriver to complete the circuit and boot the system.

If all is well, it should power up and you should get a display. Then assemble the parts into the case and try again. If the system now fails to boot, you have a short in the case and need to recheck your motherboard standoffs.

If the system does not boot after this process, then you most likely have a faulty component. You'll need to swap parts, start with the power supply, until you determine what is defective.


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## HereticAlpha (May 6, 2011)

Thanks everyone for the help! I'm currently in the process of bench testing my components. As of now, I was able to add the PSU, CPU, heatsink, motherboard and RAM. The only issues I'm having are with the HDD and the GPU. When using them together, Windows will briefly start the Windows 7 intro screen (the four colored or a turning into a Microsoft logo) but will suddenly restart after a second, or two. I was able to get to the BIOS while using the GPU, but I am considering the idea that I may need a stronger PSU. I will update as soon as I have some more conclusive results from the bench test. Thank you all!

Edit with update: I tried bench testing the motherboard, RAM, PSU, CPU/Heatsink, Monitor, Keyboard and HDD
The HDD definitely had enough power, but did not load Windows 7.

I am using the HDD from a previous rig, so it still has all of the software from another brand of motherboard, CPU, and GPU. I can understand how that could easily be a problem and would like to know if there is a way to format the HDD from the BIOS, or if that would not help my situation.

Once again, thank you all, friends. I'm also looking into why the case was not transferring power to the motherboard when I pressed the power button.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

This may help you How To Clean Install Windows 7 (Part 1 of 3)


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## HereticAlpha (May 6, 2011)

joeten said:


> This may help you How To Clean Install Windows 7 (Part 1 of 3)


 Thank you very much, friend! However, as of right now, I'm currently without an internal disc drive, as my previous drive from my previous build uses an IDE connector, which my new motherboard is not compatible with. I've chosen to reformat my drive and order a new Disc Drive compatible with more modern connectors. Once again, thank you all for your help and patience with my problems.


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

Think nothing of it; glad to be of service. We've all been in the same circumstance at one time or another.

Not that it really matters now, but I probably should have asked you early on, what specific components are you using? ie motherboard, proc, memory, power supply and graphics. Also sound card or other discrete interface card if used.


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## HereticAlpha (May 6, 2011)

gcavan said:


> Think nothing of it; glad to be of service. We've all been in the same circumstance at one time or another.
> 
> Not that it really matters now, but I probably should have asked you early on, what specific components are you using? ie motherboard, proc, memory, power supply and graphics. Also sound card or other discrete interface card if used.


 Most of the components are listed on the imgur page linked to in my initial post. What my principal error was concerned with was my PSU and how I hooked it up to the motherboard/case. After attaching the molex plugs to the case fans, I used the "SysFan" 4-pronged plugs on the motherboard and connected them to what I thought were corresponding plugs at the end of the molex cables of my PSU. After removing them, and leaving the molex plugs intact with the case fans, the power button worked without a hitch, the system received power, and while it took a reformatting of my old HDD, that's not something I mind in the slightest. Call me weird, I like the freedom of starting from scratch. xP


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Knowing precisely what we're working with will help us to assist you effectively.
PC Specs & age?
Pre- Built Brand & Model Number
Custom Built- Brand & Model of Mobo-CPU-RAM-Graphics-PSU.
If you're testing properly on the bench, no case fans are involved.


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