PC won't start

hyip001 · 13 Dec 2011 at 17:26

I've put together the following parts:

i5 2500k
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3
8GB DDR3
1TB HDD Sata6
Corsair SSD
Corsait TX750W PSU
Antect 920 cooler

After building the computer a few weeks ago, I had a problem where only the fans connected from the psu molex cables would only start up, nothing else would start. Then the PSU went faulty, or I thought it was faulty so I RMA'd it.

Now the new PSU has come, it still won't start, nothing this time not even the fans. If I press the power button on the motherboard, the led fans will light up for a split second, then turn off.

All the cables are correctly inserted so I am lost what to do. Is the motherboard faulty too? No light comes on like other motherboards on the led screen either.

Any help much appreciated.

shadow_boxer · 13 Dec 2011 at 19:58

Try building it outside of the case and using the stock cooler. Could be a short circuit somewhere. Use just a single 2GB RAM stick and only the SSD, no other drives and try booting.

Do you have another system you could test the PSU with, to rule out another faulty one (however unlikely it maybe)?

CinderzFTW · 14 Dec 2011 at 15:54

Sounds like a motherboard problem, similar to what I had, fans would load up and nothing else and it turned out to be the board.

Deception · 14 Dec 2011 at 15:57

shadow_boxer said:
Try building it outside of the case and using the stock cooler. Could be a short circuit somewhere. Use just a single 2GB RAM stick and only the SSD, no other drives and try booting.

Do you have another system you could test the PSU with, to rule out another faulty one (however unlikely it maybe)?

As above, a lot of problems with new builds is they get shorted out by the case becase of stand-offs etc. Build with the bare minimum (CPU, PSU, Mobo, Stick of RAM, Video output and power switch)

honosuseri · 14 Dec 2011 at 16:50

You can use a bent paperclip to trick the psu into starting. Google it as i can't remember off the top of my head which two pins you bridge. If it doesnt power on from the wall socket switch......this replacement PSU is dead too

I dont want to insult your intelligence but double check the power cables connected to the mobo. You have the 24pin block and another 4 or 8 for aux power. It's also worth checking your case cables are linked to the mobos header correctly.

Trying to post the mobo bundle on the box it came in also removes the case shorting out as being the cause.

Hope this helps

hyip001 · 20 Dec 2011 at 17:12

Thanks for the replies. I did a basic setup and it booted! Now to add parts one by one and see which is the culprit. Many thanks again.

hyip001 · 20 Dec 2011 at 17:42

I've added everything apart from the antec cpu cooler, and it's still booting but I can't seem to get a display up. I've tried all the onboard display ports including HDMI, DVI-D and VGA but none worked. I also tried installing an old 9600GT gfx card and tried from there but still no display.

Any wonder why?

I have noticed on my motherboard it has the Dr.Debug code 0x38 which in the manual says:
Post-Memory North Bridge initialization (North Bridge Module Specific).

What does that mean?