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#1
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basic power problem
How do you get a motherboard and an atx power supply to come to life?
I hope this is not too obvious a question. But basically I've never built a pc before so I don't have any experience. I've fitted extra memory, drives and cards but I've never built one from scratch. Anyway here is the background info. Recently I acquired a pc that had died. It wouldn't power up. There were no beeps or fan activity from the power supply unit. The computer uses a standard atx power supply and motherboard. It was taken to a pc repair shop and they tried it with a new power supply, which didn't work, so they concluded there was a deeper problem. Anyway I bought a new power supply and tested it with the new one, but nothing happened. I had the same problem. However the fan on the power supply came on very briefly (1 sec) then all activity would stop. To make sure the switch on the pc wasn't faulty I shorted the power jumper and nothing happened. So I thought the motherboard must be faulty. I bought a cheap similar motherboard off eBay and I cant get this one to work wither. My question is If you have got say just a motherboard and an atx power supply and nothing else, no hard drive, memory cpu etc. When you connect the power supply to the atx power socket on the motherboard should the power supply come to life with the fan spinning if the power connector jumper is connected to a switch on the front of a pc case? The motherboard I bought is a 'Gigabyte' GA-6WMM series Intel 810 AGPset. If that means anything. I placed it on a table (with nothing connected to it) and connected the power supply to it. Nothing happened (as would be expected) however I looked through the manual and found the PW(Soft Power Connector) jumper. Am I right in thinking this should connect to the pc switch? I shorted this with a screwdriver to simulate a switch action. But nothing happened. (I was very disappointed). I then attached various things (cpu memory, pci cards) and placed the motherboard in the old computer case and connected the switch connector to the PW jumper. But again nothing. Have I missed something. If you were building a pc from scratch and had just bought a motherboard (as i had) how would you tell if the motherboard was ok before assembling the entire thing? Thanks |
#2
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"BrianBloodaxe" wrote in message ... How do you get a motherboard and an atx power supply to come to life? I hope this is not too obvious a question. But basically I've never built a pc before so I don't have any experience. I've fitted extra memory, drives and cards but I've never built one from scratch. Anyway here is the background info. Recently I acquired a pc that had died. It wouldn't power up. There were no beeps or fan activity from the power supply unit. The computer uses a standard atx power supply and motherboard. It was taken to a pc repair shop and they tried it with a new power supply, which didn't work, so they concluded there was a deeper problem. Anyway I bought a new power supply and tested it with the new one, but nothing happened. I had the same problem. However the fan on the power supply came on very briefly (1 sec) then all activity would stop. To make sure the switch on the pc wasn't faulty I shorted the power jumper and nothing happened. So I thought the motherboard must be faulty. I bought a cheap similar motherboard off eBay and I cant get this one to work wither. My question is If you have got say just a motherboard and an atx power supply and nothing else, no hard drive, memory cpu etc. When you connect the power supply to the atx power socket on the motherboard should the power supply come to life with the fan spinning if the power connector jumper is connected to a switch on the front of a pc case? The motherboard I bought is a 'Gigabyte' GA-6WMM series Intel 810 AGPset. If that means anything. I placed it on a table (with nothing connected to it) and connected the power supply to it. Nothing happened (as would be expected) however I looked through the manual and found the PW(Soft Power Connector) jumper. Am I right in thinking this should connect to the pc switch? I shorted this with a screwdriver to simulate a switch action. But nothing happened. (I was very disappointed). I then attached various things (cpu memory, pci cards) and placed the motherboard in the old computer case and connected the switch connector to the PW jumper. But again nothing. Have I missed something. If you were building a pc from scratch and had just bought a motherboard (as i had) how would you tell if the motherboard was ok before assembling the entire thing? Thanks my first inclination would be to shunt the PSU to make sure it works properly...cqan't rememre off hand which pins it is you need to shunt tho... Then if PSU works I would try mobo with CPU and 1 stick of good ram ONLY! Make sure the heatsink is installed the proper direction, (alot of people install it backwards which can cause POST issues) try cleaning thermal grease from CPU, and reapplying a thin layer. See if that breathes any life into your sys... |
#3
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Did you jump pins 14 and 15, which is power on
with just a known good drive as load? "Chris Stolworthy" wrote in message ... "BrianBloodaxe" wrote in message ... How do you get a motherboard and an atx power supply to come to life? I hope this is not too obvious a question. But basically I've never built a pc before so I don't have any experience. I've fitted extra memory, drives and cards but I've never built one from scratch. Anyway here is the background info. Recently I acquired a pc that had died. It wouldn't power up. There were no beeps or fan activity from the power supply unit. The computer uses a standard atx power supply and motherboard. It was taken to a pc repair shop and they tried it with a new power supply, which didn't work, so they concluded there was a deeper problem. Anyway I bought a new power supply and tested it with the new one, but nothing happened. I had the same problem. However the fan on the power supply came on very briefly (1 sec) then all activity would stop. To make sure the switch on the pc wasn't faulty I shorted the power jumper and nothing happened. So I thought the motherboard must be faulty. I bought a cheap similar motherboard off eBay and I cant get this one to work wither. My question is If you have got say just a motherboard and an atx power supply and nothing else, no hard drive, memory cpu etc. When you connect the power supply to the atx power socket on the motherboard should the power supply come to life with the fan spinning if the power connector jumper is connected to a switch on the front of a pc case? The motherboard I bought is a 'Gigabyte' GA-6WMM series Intel 810 AGPset. If that means anything. I placed it on a table (with nothing connected to it) and connected the power supply to it. Nothing happened (as would be expected) however I looked through the manual and found the PW(Soft Power Connector) jumper. Am I right in thinking this should connect to the pc switch? I shorted this with a screwdriver to simulate a switch action. But nothing happened. (I was very disappointed). I then attached various things (cpu memory, pci cards) and placed the motherboard in the old computer case and connected the switch connector to the PW jumper. But again nothing. Have I missed something. If you were building a pc from scratch and had just bought a motherboard (as i had) how would you tell if the motherboard was ok before assembling the entire thing? Thanks my first inclination would be to shunt the PSU to make sure it works properly...cqan't rememre off hand which pins it is you need to shunt tho... Then if PSU works I would try mobo with CPU and 1 stick of good ram ONLY! Make sure the heatsink is installed the proper direction, (alot of people install it backwards which can cause POST issues) try cleaning thermal grease from CPU, and reapplying a thin layer. See if that breathes any life into your sys... |
#4
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Probably not. There is a wire that goes to the power supply that must be grounded to keep the power supply running. I don't believe that will be active without a CPU. With a CPU installed the power should stay on an you should get a beep code for no memory. BrianBloodaxe wrote: My question is If you have got say just a motherboard and an atx power supply and nothing else, no hard drive, memory cpu etc. When you connect the power supply to the atx power socket on the motherboard should the power supply come to life with the fan spinning if the power connector jumper is connected to a switch on the front of a pc case? -- When replying by Email include NewSGrouP (case sensitive) in Subject Mike Walsh West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A. |
#5
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"Mike Walsh" wrote in message ... Probably not. There is a wire that goes to the power supply that must be grounded to keep the power supply running. I don't believe that will be active without a CPU. With a CPU installed the power should stay on an you should get a beep code for no memory. BrianBloodaxe wrote: My question is If you have got say just a motherboard and an atx power supply and nothing else, no hard drive, memory cpu etc. When you connect the power supply to the atx power socket on the motherboard should the power supply come to life with the fan spinning if the power connector jumper is connected to a switch on the front of a pc case? -- When replying by Email include NewSGrouP (case sensitive) in Subject Mike Walsh West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A. I shorted sockets 14 and 15 on the power supply unit and it comes to life. So that seems to be okay. "Make Walsh" wrote 'I don't believe that will be active without a CPU. With a CPU installed the power should stay on an you should get a beep code for no memory. ' Is this true. Does the processor have to be attached to the motherboard for the power supply to be switched on. I thought that it didn't. I thought you could connect a good empty motherboard to an atx power supply, then short the power switch connectors on the board, and the fan would start up on the power supply. Anyway I attached a processor and tried it again but nothing happened. Does it look as if this new motherboard is faulty? I got it off ebay so I suppose I have to write it off to experience. |
#6
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The mobo has circuitry to keep the on line low, but that is
dependant on the power good line, so the only reliable test is with a cpu or by shorting out the on pins at the connector. "BrianBloodaxe" wrote in message ... "Mike Walsh" wrote in message ... Probably not. There is a wire that goes to the power supply that must be grounded to keep the power supply running. I don't believe that will be active without a CPU. With a CPU installed the power should stay on an you should get a beep code for no memory. BrianBloodaxe wrote: My question is If you have got say just a motherboard and an atx power supply and nothing else, no hard drive, memory cpu etc. When you connect the power supply to the atx power socket on the motherboard should the power supply come to life with the fan spinning if the power connector jumper is connected to a switch on the front of a pc case? -- When replying by Email include NewSGrouP (case sensitive) in Subject Mike Walsh West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A. I shorted sockets 14 and 15 on the power supply unit and it comes to life. So that seems to be okay. "Make Walsh" wrote 'I don't believe that will be active without a CPU. With a CPU installed the power should stay on an you should get a beep code for no memory. ' Is this true. Does the processor have to be attached to the motherboard for the power supply to be switched on. I thought that it didn't. I thought you could connect a good empty motherboard to an atx power supply, then short the power switch connectors on the board, and the fan would start up on the power supply. Anyway I attached a processor and tried it again but nothing happened. Does it look as if this new motherboard is faulty? I got it off ebay so I suppose I have to write it off to experience. |
#7
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"BrianBloodaxe" wrote in message ... "Mike Walsh" wrote in message ... Probably not. There is a wire that goes to the power supply that must be grounded to keep the power supply running. I don't believe that will be active without a CPU. With a CPU installed the power should stay on an you should get a beep code for no memory. BrianBloodaxe wrote: My question is If you have got say just a motherboard and an atx power supply and nothing else, no hard drive, memory cpu etc. When you connect the power supply to the atx power socket on the motherboard should the power supply come to life with the fan spinning if the power connector jumper is connected to a switch on the front of a pc case? -- When replying by Email include NewSGrouP (case sensitive) in Subject Mike Walsh West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A. I shorted sockets 14 and 15 on the power supply unit and it comes to life. So that seems to be okay. "Make Walsh" wrote 'I don't believe that will be active without a CPU. With a CPU installed the power should stay on an you should get a beep code for no memory. ' Is this true. Does the processor have to be attached to the motherboard for the power supply to be switched on. I thought that it didn't. I thought you could connect a good empty motherboard to an atx power supply, then short the power switch connectors on the board, and the fan would start up on the power supply. Anyway I attached a processor and tried it again but nothing happened. Does it look as if this new motherboard is faulty? I got it off ebay so I suppose I have to write it off to experience. I've just read that this problem may be caused by a fault with the power supply connector that attaches to the motherboard. I've noticed that there is no Pin 18 http://www.jeae.dk/Computere/atx_-_psu.htm It is empty on my power supply. Might this be the cause? |
#8
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Pin 18 is the -5V line, and most recent boards don't use it.
Unlikely it would affect any board from turning on as it's not part of the power good signal anyway. "BrianBloodaxe" wrote in message ... "BrianBloodaxe" wrote in message ... "Mike Walsh" wrote in message ... Probably not. There is a wire that goes to the power supply that must be grounded to keep the power supply running. I don't believe that will be active without a CPU. With a CPU installed the power should stay on an you should get a beep code for no memory. BrianBloodaxe wrote: My question is If you have got say just a motherboard and an atx power supply and nothing else, no hard drive, memory cpu etc. When you connect the power supply to the atx power socket on the motherboard should the power supply come to life with the fan spinning if the power connector jumper is connected to a switch on the front of a pc case? -- When replying by Email include NewSGrouP (case sensitive) in Subject Mike Walsh West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A. I shorted sockets 14 and 15 on the power supply unit and it comes to life. So that seems to be okay. "Make Walsh" wrote 'I don't believe that will be active without a CPU. With a CPU installed the power should stay on an you should get a beep code for no memory. ' Is this true. Does the processor have to be attached to the motherboard for the power supply to be switched on. I thought that it didn't. I thought you could connect a good empty motherboard to an atx power supply, then short the power switch connectors on the board, and the fan would start up on the power supply. Anyway I attached a processor and tried it again but nothing happened. Does it look as if this new motherboard is faulty? I got it off ebay so I suppose I have to write it off to experience. I've just read that this problem may be caused by a fault with the power supply connector that attaches to the motherboard. I've noticed that there is no Pin 18 http://www.jeae.dk/Computere/atx_-_psu.htm It is empty on my power supply. Might this be the cause? |
#9
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Pen wrote:
Pin 18 is the -5V line, and most recent boards don't use it. Unlikely it would affect any board from turning on as it's not part of the power good signal anyway. The GA-6WMM is not a 'recent' board. It's about five years old. -- ~misfit~ |
#10
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On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 17:59:20 +0100, "BrianBloodaxe"
wrote: snip Is this true. Does the processor have to be attached to the motherboard for the power supply to be switched on. I thought that it didn't. I thought you could connect a good empty motherboard to an atx power supply, then short the power switch connectors on the board, and the fan would start up on the power supply. Anyway I attached a processor and tried it again but nothing happened. Does it look as if this new motherboard is faulty? I got it off ebay so I suppose I have to write it off to experience. The average motherboard from that era did not need a CPU installed to turn on the power supply, but some did... I do recall Compaq i810 chipset motherboards that did require CPU installed. However, eBay certainly is another variable, the board bought there may indeed be dead. I'm assuming the parts you're trying were all original, or at least did once work together. In other words, you're not trying to use a Coppermine Celeron on a board only capable of supporting older Celerons, or high-density memory since 810 chipset doesn't support it. |
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