Building My First PC Today! Advice please!

You should have got the cardboard washers in the bag with the motherboard screws, iv never risked putting the motherboard screws in without them maybe someone else has and can answer that for you.

I'd forget about the cooler until you have the motherboard in securely.

I'd start with taking out the motherboard then take out the IO Guard.

Then try setup your stand-offs to the proper positions then try put your motherboard in again.
 
You should have got the cardboard washers in the bag with the motherboard screws, iv never risked putting the motherboard screws in without them maybe someone else has and can answer that for you.

I'd forget about the cooler until you have the motherboard in securely.

I'd start with taking out the motherboard then take out the IO Guard.

Then try setup your stand-offs to the proper positions then try put your motherboard in again.

Ok, cheers, will try tomorrow
 
Brfore you remove the board try to see where the holes in your board line up with the holes in the case so you can move the unused screw to those holes i.e the ones next to your ram and the one next to the i/o plate seem to match there may be more.

Also the screw are screwed all the way down as there seems to be something in the way in the corner near the fan or if need be remove the screw.
 
The washers aren't really needed on modern motherboards. All the ones I have fitted have had the screw holes completely isolated from any important bits on the board, and been reinforced with what looks like solder "washer".
 
Taken the motherboard out - the problem is that there are more than three holes that match up with the motherboard but only 3 standoffs!!
 
There aren't only three standoffs, I can already see from your picture there are 5, and I reckon there are a few more lurking about underneath your motherboard which are causing the problems!

Just in case it needs to be reiterated, the standoffs can be moved around... if the motherboard tray came with standoffs pre-installed then you can unscrew them and put them where they need to be, i.e. to line up with your motherboard.

5 standoffs highlighted in your picture below...

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No, you're right - there's 9 possible connections and I think 7 will fit
The problem is that Overclockers won't send any out and have advised me to go to my local computer store or contact Antec direct
I live in a rural area so nearest local computer store is 90 min drive and Antec are shut - frustrating!!
 
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Why won't overclockers send them out? You out of warranty or something? They must have a skip load of spares.

In the meantime, it might be worth fitting the motherboard with 5 standoffs just to confirm the alignment issue has gone away.
 
just a suggestion, but I think if you take out the screws that you have used to secure your motherboard where it is you will find that underneath are other stand offs intheir default position. I would hazzard a guess that one of these at least is abutted against something probably your CPU mount under the board and causing the board to be lifted in that area, causing the whole board to flex (which is bad) and the I/O ports not to line up.

Might be wrong, but I think at this point it's worth having a look underneath.

to answer the question of the cardboard washers...never used them, didn't even know they existed and have never had a problem. Also last two builds have never included an I/O port and also not been a problem.

Just looking at your pics and am finding it hard to orientate the images, particularly to work out why I can see green in the back ground? Is that the anti stat mat??? could you please add some more wide angled photos so as to work out what's going wrong, as something looks very odd here. Am I right???
 
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hitman said:
Not sure - I've only had the case 4 days!
I have only 3 standoffs so not sure I can fit 5
Click to expand...

Stupot has identified 5 standoffs. I take it the 3 screws you screwed onto the motherboard screw into standoffs underneath (that will make 3 standoffs).

Plus you've got the standoffs at the top (as highlighted by Stupot), so 5 in total.
 
I'm going to make this very easy for you. Remove the motherboard from the case completely and remove all the standoffs you can see. screw stand-offs in where I have put red rings. you need six so either find six or be patient and order some more. Then you can screw the motherboard in taking care to line it up nicely with the I/O shield plate. Good luck with your build mate and always ask here first, we will be happy to help.

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You may even get away with just 5 standoffs. I forgot to screw one in once on an AMD rig after a cooler upgrade, and was way too lazy to strip everything out just to put it in. Went for months without issue. Then I upgraded to C2D :D

I do have to ask though, are you sure you didn't get all the standoffs? As pointed out there are at least 5 that can be seen in your own photographs but you are adamant there are only 3...:confused:
 
hitman, you may want to post in the OCUK Customer Service forum for some more standoff's. I'm sure they'll help you out if you point them in the direction of this thread.
 
Good news - rang overclockers again tonight and explained my situation and they agreed to send me some more stand offs, so will wait for them to arrive and then I can continue with this.

In the meantime maybe I should change the title of the thread to "building my first pc this month"!!
 
Haven't been able to touch this til today
As an update - managed to work out how to fit the motherboard - I think!
Now struggling slightly to fit the Akasa Nero to the processor and have posted for some advice in the cooler forum
Will get there in the end :)
 
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