# Help with setup



## ThatOneHax (May 1, 2007)

I apologize in advance if this is the wrong place to put this topic ( I just couldn't find another place to put it other then PSU >.< )

Ok well I got all my computer parts yesterday and I put everything into the motherboard ( CPU,CPU fan,RAM,PSU, and GPU ). And then I had my CD-Drive and HDD in already so everything is there.

And then I plugged all my headers into the motherboard and connected everything up with my PSU, but nothing happens when I turn it on, I can't even hear a current of electricity. So can someone tell me what are the possible things that could be wrong? Because I have my 24 pin ATX connector in and my 8 pin so I would think that would be enough to get a current, but I could be wrong. And also the power switch on the case is on ( l, not O ). So anyone have any suggestions?


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

This may sound silly but have you checked that power is getting to your PSU?


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## ThatOneHax (May 1, 2007)

Well thanks for actually posting something XD, but I did figure out the problem. The case that I'm using has a metal like plate that you put your motherboard on and screw to so it can hang basicly up and down. Well I figured out that was short circuiting everything. So I removed some of the screws and I only found 2 places where I could put screws without short circuiting it. So I did that and now everything runs XD! ( motherboard lights come on, fans spin, HDD spins, and CD-Drive opens ) But now I can't seem to get the mouse, keyboard, or motherboard to get recognized. Mouse don't light up same as the keyboard, and the monitor doesn't display anything. So I was wondering maybe it's still because of that plate thing. I'll see what happens when I completely remove it to see if things get recognized.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Yes completely remove the motherboard from the case, 

Try the bench test, lay the board only on a piece of cardboard and connect only

psu
cpu with fan&heatsink
video card
1 stick ram
mouse,keyboard, monitor
Case speaker

Clear the cmos, make sure the computer is unplugged from the wall outlet when you do, read your manual on how to do this.

Check all jumpers are set correctly, again the manual will explain these.

Make sure the aux 12V from the psu to the motherboard is connected.

To start touch the 2 pins that the case switch is connected to with a screwdriver.

Post back with results


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

At least something is happening now. When I get a problem like this I take the board out and put it on an insulated surface such as a piece of ply and gradually add components to see if everything works. Done_Fishin wrote an article about this. I'll see if I can find it and get back to you.

EDIT: It's been temporarily removed I'm afraid, but just be systematic and add one device at a time. That way you won't have any problems with short circuits and you'll spot any faulty devices. Once I find the article I'll get back to you. In the meantime ket me know how you get on with my suggestion.


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## ThatOneHax (May 1, 2007)

Ok thanks for your advice Doby and John. Right now it's almost 9 PM and I was just working on the computer for like the past 3 hours and I have school tomorrow. So I'll have to do it tomorrow, but check back here and i'll post an update about 5PM ( central time ). So just letting you know when to look to help you to help me XD.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

We will check in on you, I am normally on after 7pm edt


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

I've found a similar article. This one is courtesy of linderman. You may find it useful



lindermanThe purpose of this thread is to demonstrate an easy way to test your system prior to complete assembly. If you take the time to bench test your build prior to full assembly you will save yourself hordes of time in troubleshooting a faulty component.
The most efficient way to minimize lost time is assemble each part one piece at a time until operational stability is proven. The bench build is especially useful when troubleshooting a previously assembled system that has begun to show quirky instability problems said:


> Here we will get started with the steps of bench building & testing.[/B] only the bare essentials here, no cd-rom drives, hard drives, floppy drives etc
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If you still have problems get back to us.

Regards,
John.


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## ThatOneHax (May 1, 2007)

Ok well first let me say for some awkward reason, the whole thing won't start unless it's on that plate >.>. The motherboard light doesn't even come on. And I tried putting the motherboard on a piece of cardboard paper, but like I said it doesn't work. And btw, let me just say that so far these are the problems I have and what I don't have just to make everything clear.

*Things Wrong*
Mouse does not get recognized at all if plugged into the USB port ( I tried all of the ports ).
Same as keyboard but it's not a USB
Monitor does not display anything and says there is no signal

*Things Working*
All fans spin
All drives spin
Motherboard lights up
Case can be turned on to run everything

So the thing is that everything seems to be working but I'm getting no action going on. My dad thinks it might be the GPU put that only would solve the display issue, not the keyboard or mouse one. Not to mention why would the GPU fan spin but not work? And as far as that guide John I tried the whole RAM thing. And nvm I did manage to get the motherboard working on just a piece of cardboard but that didn't work anyways. I even tried putting the GPU in another place but that didn't solve anything either. And as for the rest of the guide I don't see how any of that could solve my problem with the display, mouse, and keyboard. So any suggestions


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

The later stages in the guide are once you've established everything else is working. In your case it's not. I don't see how you know the mouse and keybord are not working if the monitor is not working. I would tend to agree with your dad. Is there an onboard video socket? If so remove the GPU and try plugging the monitor directly into the board and try again.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

From ever thing you have described I think the board is bad because of a short, turn it over and inspect it very carefully, look for black marks on the solder traces, even if none are visible the board could still be bad.

You mentioned in post #3 that the board did short so that would explain the symptoms you are experiencing, time for a rma


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

I think Doby's right. If the monitor doesn't work when plugged directly into the mobo there's not much else can be wrong apart from the mobo itself.


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## ThatOneHax (May 1, 2007)

I forgot to mention that the motherboard doesn't have on board video, I forgot to mention that:

Its an EVGA 680i SLI Motherboard. And so yeah, and if it does I don't know where it's at

And the sad thing is I ordered all of these parts online....And I REALLY don't want to have to go through sending it back and having the chance they won't do **** and I'm stuck with a broken motherboard. But I just hope it doesn't come to that.

But I did not find any black marks or anything. But I'm kinda confused as to why lights would come on and things would start spinning but yet no visual or USB ports would work. That just doesn't make sense to why it would do that.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

> But I did not find any black marks or anything. But I'm kinda confused as to why lights would come on and things would start spinning but yet no visual or USB ports would work. That just doesn't make sense to why it would do that.


Thats common for a bad motherboard to do that.



> Ok well first let me say for some awkward reason, the whole thing won't start unless it's on that plate >.>. The motherboard light doesn't even come on. And I tried putting the motherboard on a piece of cardboard paper, but like I said it doesn't work


This is why I think the board shorted and is bad, because when it was mounted on the plate it touched some metal that it was not suppose to then when you removed it and placed it on cardboard it would not work at all


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## ThatOneHax (May 1, 2007)

> Thats common for a bad motherboard to do that.


>.<;; well I hope the thing is fine because as I said I REALLY don't want to have to wait another week to get it replaced or run into any problems having to get it replaced. So hopefully it works.


> This is why I think the board shorted and is bad, because when it was mounted on the plate it touched some metal that it was not suppose to then when you removed it and placed it on cardboard it would not work at all


If you didn't see what I said later in that post I does work on the cardboard XD! I don't know why it didn't at first but it does now. And as before I still get the same results no matter where its at >.<


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## mattlock (Dec 28, 2005)

ThatOneHax said:


> The case that I'm using has a metal like plate that you put your motherboard on and screw to so it can hang basicly up and down. Well I figured out that was short circuiting everything. So I removed some of the screws and I only found 2 places where I could put screws without short circuiting it. So I did that and now everything runs XD! ( motherboard lights come on, fans spin, HDD spins, and CD-Drive opens ) But now I can't seem to get the mouse, keyboard, or motherboard to get recognized. Mouse don't light up same as the keyboard, and the monitor doesn't display anything. So I was wondering maybe it's still because of that plate thing. I'll see what happens when I completely remove it to see if things get recognized.


Hello Hax. I have to agree with Doby's assessment here. I believe that you have fried the motherboard by mounting it directly to the motherboard tray in the case. 
When you mount the motherboard in the case you must have a "Standoff" for each mounting hole in the motherboard. If you don't use them you'll short out the board, if you have one where there is no mounting hole in the board you'll also cause a short. The standoffs are pictured below.










So as Doby stated, you'll need to RMA the board and wait for the replacement.

Matt


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

In the meantime, you could try getting hold of another video card and trying that.


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## ThatOneHax (May 1, 2007)

Well I also did forget to mention something, if this matters or not. But my brother has an MP3 Player that I use and when I turn on the computer and plug the charger into the USB port, it will actually charge ( in other words it works ). Sooo does that still mean it's "broken" >.<?


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## minster9 (Jun 8, 2006)

my condolences. And I'm sure somebody was there to say "no,you didn't listen,blah,blah,blah. In my screwups,I never had a helper. They're naught to be found when u need them. They better be quiet when they see what happens when u really need them & they're out lollygagging about. Sorry,but I've had similar catastrophic failures. Live & learn,dude. Think at least 3 times about anything you've cobbled together before applying power.You came to the right place,dude. TSF helped me out muchos grandes!:wave:


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

ThatOneHax said:


> Well I also did forget to mention something, if this matters or not. But my brother has an MP3 Player that I use and when I turn on the computer and plug the charger into the USB port, it will actually charge ( in other words it works ). Sooo does that still mean it's "broken" >.<?


The answer is I don't know. :grin: Seriously, any short may have damaged just part of your mobo and other parts could still work. That's why I say, try using a different video card and even a different monitor. If none of these combinations work, it's not looking good for your mobo. 



minster9 said:


> my condolences. And I'm sure somebody was there to say "no,you didn't listen,blah,blah,blah. In my screwups,I never had a helper. They're naught to be found when u need them. They better be quiet when they see what happens when u really need them & they're out lollygagging about. Sorry,but I've had similar catastrophic failures. Live & learn,dude. Think at least 3 times about anything you've cobbled together before applying power.You came to the right place,dude. TSF helped me out muchos grandes!:wave:


That's why it's a good idea to build a new system up in stages as in the guide above.


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## 8210GUY (Aug 29, 2006)

mattlock138 said:


> So as Doby stated, you'll need to RMA the board and wait for the replacement.
> 
> Matt


I concur, the 680i is problematic at best, I've had a few now with very weird issues which although you can't see any other problem apart from the board itself, you still can't prove it outright, got one here right now I have that problem with, I know the board is faulty, but proving it to evga is another issue, I am currently working with them to this end, so definitely RMA the board and omit the bit where you shorted it because technically it isn't their fault.

*edit
Make sure you replace the CPU guard when you return it, if you do not it WILL invalidate the warranty so take care.


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## minster9 (Jun 8, 2006)

:wave:good people here,we won't let you get gypped.ray:


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## JohnthePilot (Mar 30, 2006)

@ ThatOneHax. minster9's post has just reminded me that we haven't heard from you for a while. Any further developments?


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