# ACER Mother Board Problem...



## oban (May 5, 2009)

HI there,

I recently bought a new motherboard, and tried to replace my Acer 946gzt-am. But after I opened the box I quickly realized that the orientation was wrong, and I had to reassemble my old motherboard. I plugged the cables as well as I remembered where I had taken them from, buut the machine does not power on. I think I made a mistake in assembling the motherboard. Can you help? Is there a diagram of this anywhere?


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## JMT21 (May 5, 2009)

make sure the small case cables (the ones coming from the front of the case) are plugged into the motherboard (these are very tiny cables, color coded probably).....you more than likely need to dig up your motherboard manual

the Power Supply is plugged in right? and the black switch on the back of the PSU is flipped to the "On" position?


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## oban (May 5, 2009)

Thanks for the quick response JMT21. 



JMT21 said:


> make sure the small case cables (the ones coming from the front of the case) are plugged into the motherboard (these are very tiny cables, color coded probably).....


I enclosed a photo of the motherboard with this post. So I assume the cables from the case are to be plugged into the purple one, orange one, second yellow one, and the black one at the very bottom -- but I'm not sure if this is right. The orientation of the cable holes led me to believe that the cable for the orange plug could also be fitted into the first yellow. I tried both, but they didn't work. 










I could probably post one where I highlight which plugs are plugged or empty. For instance, the long white plug at the bottom is empty, but the long blue one next to it is plugged. 



JMT21 said:


> you more than likely need to dig up your motherboard manual


Where can I find the manual? It's been such a long time since I got this computer that Acer doesn't carry this model anymore. And a google search didn't bring up anything. :4-dontkno



JMT21 said:


> the Power Supply is plugged in right? and the black switch on the back of the PSU is flipped to the "On" position?


I checked, but my PSU doesn't have a button on the back.


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## JMT21 (May 5, 2009)

check Acer's homepage and search by model number....
a support guide should pop up


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## JMT21 (May 5, 2009)

picture finally loaded.....let's see

right under the 4 orange SATA ports in the bottom corner is that black strip with the pins coming out of it.....that's where the case cables plug in.....one of the cables should have labeled on it: PS Switch or PS Power or something to that effect.

try this one first and guess and check with different pins......should post with some luck!


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## oban (May 5, 2009)

JMT21 said:


> one of the cables should have labeled on it: PS Switch or PS Power or something to that effect.


Couldn't find a labeled one, but I assumed that the shortest cable was the one that plugged in there because it couldn't get to any of the other pin strips. Ok...so that cable has 9 holes along two rows and the last hole space is closed. The black pin strip where it goes has 13 pins and there is one place where it's missing a pin, which is located in the third column from the bottom of the strip. So there is only 3 ways to plug the cable into the pinstrip, right? I tried 2 out of 3...will try the third way now. I think it might work...:smile:


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## JMT21 (May 5, 2009)

I'm trying to make sense of what your saying here. The cable with 9 holes? Might be for front USB ports, front Audio Ports, or front Power Button/Reset Button. Look at the end of each cable and determine what how many pin holes there are and match the cable configuration with the ports on the motherboard. Example: the purple pin strip on the mobo might be for audio, the orange pin strip on the mobo might be for USB ports, and the black pin strip will probably be for the power button.

Make sure that your memory sticks are seated firmly! And from your picture there is no heat sink and fan.....I assume you now this (that you need it attached)


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## oban (May 5, 2009)

Ok, my hunch didn't work. Here is an image of the pinstrip up close. 










The heatsink and the CPU fan are plugged in. 



JMT21 said:


> Look at the end of each cable and determine what how many pin holes there are and match the cable configuration with the ports on the motherboard.


So the plug for the pinstrip above looks something like this (sorry I can't take its picture because it's so short...)










All the other plugs go into pins that are made for them -- they can't go anywhere else, but this one is different. It's killing me. I looked up on Acer's suppor site. ALthough they have support manuals for this computer model they don't have one for the motherboard in it. So...it sucks to be me right now. :sigh:


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## oban (May 5, 2009)

I forgot to mention that only 1,2,3,4, 5, and 7th holes are connected to a cable from the front panel. And the cables from the power button are connected to 1st and 3rd holes.


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## JMT21 (May 5, 2009)

what if you plug it into the color coded areas?

is this an older computer?


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## oban (May 5, 2009)

JMT21 said:


> what if you plug it into the color coded areas


You mean like the orange or purple ones? I tried, but the cable won't reach there. I'm sure I took it from that one at the very bottom. I just wish I'd taken a picture first.



JMT21 said:


> is this an older computer?


Kinda. I got it...three-four years ago? They stuff PCs with all sort of crap software, but they don't bother to put up a decent manual for the internals of the computer. Man, what a crap deal. 

Anyhow...I guess I managed to screw this up pretty well. When you try putting the plug every which way and it still doesn't work, then you have to figure out, the computer is totaled, right? I did wear grounding wrist band the whole time, but you never know what can go wrong with sensitive equipment.

I'll probably have to get a barebone computer and plug in the hard drive. Damn it.


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## JMT21 (May 5, 2009)

sorry I wasn't much help

you can always post your question again on the forum and have somebody else answer it....I can't think of anything else

good luck with your PC!


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