Is this a bad earthing issue ?

BeelzebubUK · 11 Oct 2012 at 11:20

Built a new PC yesterday :

Silverstone TJ08 case
MSI Z77MA-G45 MATX
Intel i5 3450S
Corsair TX550M PSU
2x 4Gb cheapo Kingston memory
Verbatim 64GB SSD

Connected it all up. Pressed the power button and nothing happened but I noticed that the power light briefly lit up and the fans spun up and back down. Pressed the power a couple more times and it sprang into life.

Was in the BIOS for a couple of minutes and there was a loud pop/bang from inside the case (side and top panels were still off) and the PC restarted itself. Turned it off and looked for the source of the bang. Couldn't see or smell anything obvious from PSU or motherboard (I was expecting a blown capacitor or something). So tried powering it on again. Had the same issue with having to press the power button several times before it would actually hold power.

It all seemed to boot OK and I was able to install windows to the drive so nothing appears to have blown ??

Still getting the issue with trying to power it on from cold though. It can take 10+ hits of the power button before it kicks in. I'm going to take it apart tonight and test the board out of the case as I'm expecting it to be an earthing issue somewhere.

Just wanted to know what else it could be so I'll be ready to try as much as I can as soon as I get home.

Edit - Guess it could be the power button on the case - i'll try shorting the power pins on the motherboard to see if that helps. Still worried about what caused the pop/bang though.

rishy · 11 Oct 2012 at 11:56

Power everything off and smell for any burning, i would suggest having a look at the power supply

arknor · 11 Oct 2012 at 12:00

sounds like the power supplt is faulty.

i had a similar issue with my last pc that i just lived with but when i fully upgraded i tested the new psu in that old pc just to be sure and it was indeed the psu causing the problems.

it was an enermax psu btw and more that enough watt/amps on the rails for what it was suposed to be powering

therealpieman · 11 Oct 2012 at 12:20

I believe the pop bang can be caused by the power protection circuit in the PSU

farlow2012 · 11 Oct 2012 at 12:24

power supply

unleashed · 11 Oct 2012 at 12:29

farlow2012 said:
power supply

+1 power supply
Earthing....no

farlow2012 · 11 Oct 2012 at 12:34

What psu was it ?

BuToNz · 11 Oct 2012 at 12:43

rishy said:
Power everything off and smell for any burning, i would suggest having a look at the power supply

farlow2012 said:
What psu was it ?

Really guys? Read OP.

OP - I think you are spot on with the grounding issue but try testing it like this outside the case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4

Leave it going for a good 20-30mins and listen for pops crackles or anything unusual.

BeelzebubUK · 11 Oct 2012 at 12:43

farlow2012 said:
What psu was it ?

Brand new Corsair TX550M.

BeelzebubUK · 11 Oct 2012 at 12:44

BuToNz said:
Really guys? Read OP.

OP - I think you are spot on with the grounding issue but try testing it like this outside the case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4

Leave it going for a good 20-30mins and listen for pops crackles or anything unusual.

Thanks for actually reading my OP

Thanks for the link.

farlow2012 · 11 Oct 2012 at 12:49

BuToNz said:
Really guys? Read OP.

OP - I think you are spot on with the grounding issue but try testing it like this outside the case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4

Leave it going for a good 20-30mins and listen for pops crackles or anything unusual.

my bad completely missed that.

BuToNz · 12 Oct 2012 at 10:54

Any luck with this buddy? Interested to see how it turned out

BeelzebubUK · 12 Oct 2012 at 22:19

BuToNz said:
Any luck with this buddy? Interested to see how it turned out

I didn't have time yesterday to get it out of the case. Although I did have it running for several hours on Windows Home Server 2011 with no problems at all with all cards and hard drives (6) connected up so doesn't look like a PSU issue.

Have now taken the motherboard out of the case and still have the issue with the power button. I've now noticed that if I just hold the power button down I can see the fans spinning and after about 5 seconds it powers up. It never powers on if I just press the button briefly.

I did send an email to Silverstone seeing if they could send a power button but they told me that I'd have to go back to the reseller so looks like the case may have to go back. Going to see if shorting out the motherboard power switch pins behaves normally to confirm its the case power button.

BeelzebubUK · 12 Oct 2012 at 22:26

Just thought of a better test. I connected the reset switch instead and voila it works perfectly. Powers on with a normal press of the switch. So looks like its the power switch on the case thats faulty

Really liked the layout of the case as well but might see if I can fit the system into something else non-Silverstone for wasting my time with shoddy goods

BuToNz · 12 Oct 2012 at 22:56

Don't suppose you can get to the power switch in that case? Could just be a simple matter of soaking it with some isopropyl and it will work properly.

BeelzebubUK · 12 Oct 2012 at 23:10

I did have a look to see if I could pop out the switch to get a better look and maybe clean it up but couldn't see a way without possibly breaking the housing so I've boxed it up and will get a refund or a replacement if I can't find anything else suitable.

BuToNz · 13 Oct 2012 at 05:41

BeelzebubUK said:
I did have a look to see if I could pop out the switch to get a better look and maybe clean it up but couldn't see a way without possibly breaking the housing so I've boxed it up and will get a refund or a replacement if I can't find anything else suitable.

Sounds good, glad you got to the bottom of it. Strange issue, my experience with switches has been - they work or they don't!

thenewoc · 13 Oct 2012 at 05:58

Some msi boards have a grounding issue where the motherboard screw nearest the rj45 port is too tight.