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Building my own computer but it doesn't want to turn on

I have an MSI RS480M2-IL motherboard which has a 24-pin power connector and an Antec True 380 PSU which has a 20-pin power connector cable. The manual says that it will work with 20 pin power though. With everything correctly connected, I push the power button and the Power LED lights up and all the fans (PSU, CPU, and front and rear fans) start to move for less than a second and then shuts down. I push the power again and again and it does nothing. If I unplug the power from the mobo for about 30 sec and reconnect it and push the power again it will do the same thing where everything starts to start but doesn't.

I put that psu in another computer. When I pushed the power button, the fan on the PSU started but nothing else was going on. The fan for the CPU didn't start. It was putting power through all the cables though. I tested it with a multimeter and connected it to a hard drive. The hard drive started spinning.

Thanks in advance.

Tatsnice

Try reseating your ram. If its not fully seated it will cause the sys to stop.
Also make sure the cpu is fully seated as well.
To eliminate the possibility of faulty add on cards, remove every piece of hardware except for video, keyboard, ram, cpu.

Add one piece of hardware after each successful startup.

Tatsnice

In addition to first post, if you cant get past the post, and get a video screen , you may have faulty ram ( it does happen,) or a faulty Motherboard.

You can take them back to where you purchased them, and they should be able to test them for you.
You may have to get a replacement stick of ram, or cpu or motherboard if that is the case.

wingatesl

I would be betting more on a bad power supply in this case
(pun intended)

Shawn

nobus

did you connect the 4-pin power plug to the motherboard? you should !

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nobus

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IanTh

the quick fans spin and led flash and mobo lock are all indicators to a bad cpu

can you try onother cpu

mysticaldan

Are u putting the 20 pin connector the right way in?? From left to Right or Right to left depending on how its given in the manual? Leave the Hard disks and other things unpowered and then try. If it starts maybe its the PSU and u wud want to get a bigger PSU. Also try and remove the CMOS battery and see if that helps, you can put it back in after a few mins.

Also the CPU that ur putting in the board. Is it fully compliant with ur Motherboard? Is the RAm proper? You might need to check individual componenets on another system just in case one of them is faulty.

Also hope the Reset button on ur cabinet is not stuck. Try to start the system with just the POWER ON connector attached to the motherboard and see.

Dan

WEINBERGER

Try different ram , preferably a different brand.
I have come across this problem on 4 separate occassions and each time it turned out to be memory.

jarich

Did the second computer you tested the power supply in, work before the test and after the test? If the answer is yes it looks like the power supply is the problem. Try another power supply in the new computer.

Shane Russell

Like the above suggestion(s) I would Personally suggest getting another power supply that is good enough ie 400 watt power supply or something to that extent. Also when you get the new power supply only have bare minimum ie one stick of ram, cpu ( obviously with heat sink and fan, dont remove that ) and graphics card check to see if that works , if so then add other items one by one to see if you come across any problems, if so then you can determine what is faulty, if anything. Good luck with it :) Basically process of elimination :)

Diane258

Along with the above suggestions. it is possible that you connected the cpu fan to the motherboard? and if so, did you plug the cpu fan into the point nearist the cpu?

i had a problem like that once, the reason the motherboard quit everytime is because the motherboard thought that i didn't have my CPU fan installed and shut its self down. after re-plugging in the cpu fan, started up like a charm.

Shane Russell

That is a great suggestion Diane258, I have never had that problem before because I have always hooked it up correctly and didnt think of that :) I will have to keep that in mind for future reference in case there are other questions like this :)

lpse2000

ASKER

The mobo was shorting out because it was touching the case. Now everything powers up but doesn't respond to the power switch. But I'll post this problem in another question.

Thanks for all your help.

nobus

>> Now everything powers up but doesn't respond to the power switch << how did it start up then??

Shane Russell

Have you got the power switch wire connected to the motherboard to the correct part of the motherboard, If I was you I would refer to the motherboard manual, if you do not have a paper copy of it or did not get one with your motherboard then go to the manufacturers website and search for the manual on there website making sure you know the motherboard(s) make and model. If you do not know how to get this I suggest you use wcpuid or belarc advisor or something to that extent.

You can get this from here:

http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002374/src/download.html

FYI You do not need to install the language.

Shane Russell

Other then that I have the same question as nobus

lpse2000

ASKER

Thanks for your responses. To award points for further helping me, I've posted a second question about the power.

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21356670/Computer-components-powers-on-but-doesn't-respond-to-the-power-switch-and-nothing-really-happens.html

Thanks again for the help.