motherboard fastening (to case)
- Thread starter newguy5
- Start date
If you look in the box a video, sound card, or even hard drives come in at times you can find the small clear plastic packet with the same type of washers. The local hardware store will see a similar material when matching the correct size of non conductive material.
The harder plastic washers are not advised while the little brownish colored ones that come in the packet with a board maintain a degree of flexibility. Never use any metal type washers. Even a store like Radio Shack will have some small selection of fasteners and washers in their stores that can work.
The harder plastic washers are not advised while the little brownish colored ones that come in the packet with a board maintain a degree of flexibility. Never use any metal type washers. Even a store like Radio Shack will have some small selection of fasteners and washers in their stores that can work.
The motherboard holes are grounded around it, you do not need any washers
And that's why some people find that their boards are grounding out and won't see the system start because something is touching ground that shouldn't be?
Sometimes the supposed silver colored area surrounding the fastener holes lacks a little where a standoff is touching something live. When the old Socket A board won't turn on here I simply threw a set of non conductive washers underneath as well as on top to see that run normal again. Some leave one or more standoffs off due to misalignments at times.
WhiteFireDragon
New Member
wait... so do you need something non-conductive on the bottom of the board also? i don't have any on the bottom of mine and my mobo won't boot. is that possibly why?
No you dont, you just dont screw it down like your putting a tire on a car
. Ive been building computer since Socket 5 and have never used them and (never) had a problem. PC eye seems to have alot of computer problems. Boards dont always have holes where there are risers on the board plate, make sure you didnt put a riser on the plate where there is no hole in the board to cause it to short
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/145/2
Now you should lay down the motherboard on the metallic plate again, placing a screw on every motherboard hole that matches a nut that you've installed. There is a very important detail that a lot of people don't know, however. If you pay close attention to the motherboard's holes, you will find two kinds of holes: metalized and non-metalized. As the name implies, the metalized holes have a metallic contact around them. Pay close attention on Figure 6 to see the difference between these two kinds of holes.
click to enlarge
Figure 6: Metalized versus non-metalized hole.Metalized holes are meant to be directly screwed. So, on these holes go ahead and place a screw on them. But the non-metalized holes you cannot screw them directly.
One of the most common mistakes while installing a motherboard is using these washers on all holes. This cannot be done. The metalized holes were metalized to make the proper grounding with the system case.
The holes without the grounding strip are no longer used! The only time you use the washers are if you have some kind of weird layout case plate
. Ive been building computer since Socket 5 and have never used them and (never) had a problem. PC eye seems to have alot of computer problems. Boards dont always have holes where there are risers on the board plate, make sure you didnt put a riser on the plate where there is no hole in the board to cause it to shorthttp://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/145/2
Now you should lay down the motherboard on the metallic plate again, placing a screw on every motherboard hole that matches a nut that you've installed. There is a very important detail that a lot of people don't know, however. If you pay close attention to the motherboard's holes, you will find two kinds of holes: metalized and non-metalized. As the name implies, the metalized holes have a metallic contact around them. Pay close attention on Figure 6 to see the difference between these two kinds of holes.
click to enlarge
Figure 6: Metalized versus non-metalized hole.
One of the most common mistakes while installing a motherboard is using these washers on all holes. This cannot be done. The metalized holes were metalized to make the proper grounding with the system case.
The holes without the grounding strip are no longer used! The only time you use the washers are if you have some kind of weird layout case plate
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Again you're off there as far as having problems here. I always verify where the standoffs are placed. But sometimes a board will be the problem due to a flaw during manufacture. If something live is touching one of the grounding circles that wrap around the holes you will see a short there until isolating it.
For those in a rush and not paying attention to details then you can see how they will simply toss the standoffs in without looking under the board to see if one or more is misplaced. Then you will see a standoff get pressed again some component's lead seeing a direct short.
For those in a rush and not paying attention to details then you can see how they will simply toss the standoffs in without looking under the board to see if one or more is misplaced. Then you will see a standoff get pressed again some component's lead seeing a direct short.
One of the most common mistakes while installing a motherboard is using these washers on all holes. This cannot be done. The metalized holes were metalized to make the proper grounding with the system case
I,m not the one thats off. I never had problems with it, you seem to have.
I,m not the one thats off. I never had problems with it, you seem to have.
Your wasting your time. Some of the odd holes where left over from the AT cases day. At first people were stuffing ATX boards in AT cases and the extra holes where for the AT case board risers, but people didnt even used them then , most just use plastic standoffs
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I can readily disagree to some extent on that. How? For one thing one of the old Socket A boards refused to start when simply mounted on the 7 or 8 standoffs. With all later seeing isolating washers the system runs like brand new.
The board will ground itself through the supply and other hardwares like drives as well as through the standoffs. This is why many old cases could see plastic instead of metal standoffs used.
The board will ground itself through the supply and other hardwares like drives as well as through the standoffs. This is why many old cases could see plastic instead of metal standoffs used.
Your talking about (one) messed up old socket A board. I,m talking about building hundreds of computers with no problem.
No that's where you are off. As long as a board uses a common ground like hte case it will run. It's called basic electrical principles. If you "have to have" a board grounded through the standoffs you wouldn't be able to set a board on a non conductive surface with just a video card and supply! Gee? where are the standoffs there?
The common practice of using metal standoffs seen in most cases is to prevent breakage seen when plastic gets hardened up over a period of time from temp changes and simply breaks from being brittle. Metal standoffs will simply last longer then any system made as long as they are never exposed to the elements and oxcidize(rust away).
Forget it PC eye, use all the spacer washers you want doesnt really matter to me.
WhiteFireDragon
New Member
hmm ok in in summary, it wouldn't matter to have non-conducting washers between the stand offs correct?
Not if your using the standard ATX holes with the grounding strips around them. Thats what there for is to ground the board to the case correct. Just make sure you dont put any risers where there are no holes in the board.
You can also see it like this: the board touches the case many other places. At the PSU, harddrives, PCI cards, IO shield etc. So isolating the standoffs won't really isolate the board that much