Dead motherboard?

C

CriminalCola

New Member
Hi,

Well, I recently purchased a barebone kit and put everything together (I've built a computer successfully before) and I ran into some problems this time around.

When I start the computer, it doesn't show anything. No beeps either. Just black screen. The fans spin and all, the hard drive clicks, dvd drive works. The green light on the motherboard lights up too. I tried switching out the AMD Phenom CPU I had in it with an AMD Athlon and I did not get any different results..

So, I'm just curious if it was indeed the motherboard? If it is any help in deciding, the keyboard (PS/2) didn't light up (the num lock, scroll lock, ect.)

I'm not sure if it was just DOA or maybe I had a grounding problem? The motherboard/case didn't have any washers to put on before you screw it in, but the motherboard has circles and smaller metal circles around the screw holes, which I assume act as some kind of washer...

Thanks. :)
 
The board isn't screwed directly do the case, is it? You should have little brass stand-off's that keep it off the bare metal. Now some cases do have essentially "built in" stand off's, but I don't always trust those. Aside from that, I'd tear the computer apart and start over, testing piece by piece. If you still get nothing with just a CPU (say no RAM beep) then you know you've got a motherboard or PSU problem.
 
I didn't screw it right into the case - maybe I should have been a little more clear on that. I did use the brass stand offs.

Well, I have sent the mobo back for a replacement. The PSU seems to be working fine. I mean the disk drive works, the hard drive clicks...CPU fan spins...light on motherboard lights up. Basically, the machine powers on, it just doesn't boot up (bios doesn't load...no video, regardless if I use a PCI-E vid card or onboard video) So I'm thinking the PSU is good - unless it can still be faulty even after I see all those other signs of the components getting power...
 
I wouldn't completely throw out the PSU as they can sometimes provide just enough power to get smaller components going. I've seem them do that before. I've also seen ones "power" everything but end up killing the motherboard :P
 
I tested the PS on a different machine. It worked fine so it appears to be okay.

I also was able to test the two DD2 800MHz 2GB ram sticks which also worked fine in another computer.

So I guess it was just the motherboard? The CPU could have been DOA, but I am thinking the mobo was defective. I'm going to try a new motherboard later today and see how it works.

Also, another question about installing the cables for the power/reset/internal speaker: does it matter which direction you face the plug-in? I know the correct area to plug each port in, but I was wondering it I plugged in the four pronged speaker cable the wrong direction and then rotated it 180 degrees if I would have a different result? The mobo manual didn't really specifiy on this...it just showed where to plug them in at.
 
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