First build and computer won't start! Help!!

[bwidger]

I decided to build my first desktop computer; however, after putting in new hardware (mobo, psu, processor, heat sink, video card, RAM) I go to turn the power on and both the PSU and the heatsink fan spins half way then stops and computer doesn't start. I tried my old PSU from another desktop computer that I know works and the same problem: PSU and heatsink fan spins halfway then stops and computer doesn't start, so I'm fairly sure it isn't the new PSU.

Because I am new at building computers I hope I simply just didn't setup the harware correctly. Anyway, below I will list the products I bought for my new build and I will also show pictures of my new setup so you guys can possibly detect the problem.

Here are the components I bought and set up:

CPU:
i7-2600k (heatsink included)

Mobo:
ASUS P8P67-M Pro

PSU:
Corsair TX 750w

Video card:
Visiontek Radeon HD4350

RAM:
Crucial 8GB 1333MHz (2X4GB)

I followed all the directions for all the hardware listed when setting up. I first installed the mobo carefully and without any problems. Next I installed the cpu, added some thermal paste, and then installed the heatsink on top. I made sure everything was latched correctly with the heatsink and secured. After that, I then took out my old PSU (300w) and added the new Corsair PSU (750w) and bracketed it in the tower's casing slot. I then added the RAM to the appropriate slots and installed the video card to a PCIe slot.

Now, the next process is what I'm worried about because it involves me hooking up all the cables to the mobo, etc. I know little about hooking stuff up so of course I followed the directions to a tee. I have the 24-pin power cable securely fastened to the motherboard, as well as the 8-pin +12V EPS12V cable connected to the oppropriate 8-pin adapter located to the upper left from the heatsink. My old case has a hardrive already inside of it so I also hooked that up via SATA and the power from the PSU; then hooked up DVD drive similarly. One thing I was confused about was hooking up the LED wires to the system panel connector, but I'm pretty sure I got all the connections right on it, and I also don't think it'd affect the powering on because it is for LED lights mainly, or will it? I also hooked up the wire that goes to the IEEE 1394a connector as well as the audio wire to the front panel audio connector. Basically, that was everything I could hook up that needed to be hooked up and they seemed to go to all the right spots without a problem (not 100% positive though). I have heard the i7-2600k may be having issues. I hope it isn't that!

Here are pictures I took of my new build to possibly help you guys identify a problem:

pictures

I'm thinking I probably didn't set up the system panel connector wires up correctly, or it's a CPU problem, or a PSU problem. I'm not sure though...

Once again, my problem is that when I try to turn on my computer it doesn't turn on at all and the PSU fan and the heatsink fan spin maybe one cycle then stop. Interestingly enough, the mobo's standby LED glows green to show it is getting power but my computer just won't start. Please help! I'm new at this and hopefully it's something simple I missed or didn't hook up right. I'd hate to have to spend the money to take it to a shop! Thanks!

 

[-Tenk-]

I'm thoroughly inexperienced at this, but i'll do my best to help you.

You said your old Hard drive?

Would that have an old Operating System on it?

All those new parts are very decent... But you are using an old hard drive (that requires a SATA adapter, not sure about the compatibility of that)... In my thoroughly inexperienced, humble and possible useless opinion: i think your problem is there...

Either its trying to boot your old OS (and it can't because its linked to your old computer), or you're running into the 132gb problem... or soemthing else (which it might be, as mentioned, i've got no clue ).

In any case, using an old slow hard drive on that build is going to be a BIG TIME pain in the ***. It'll slow everything down....

EDIT: Reading through your post again,

With the wiring for the front panel stuff, check your mobo manual. it'll tell you what needs to go where in there. if you double check that and know it is right, you can tick that off as a possible cause (i wouldn't think it is though if power is going to the mobo and your front button works).

Its unlikely the brand new i7 is the problem... Not unless you've munged something up during the install. Did you touch the pins on the bottom of the cpu? Or when you put it on the mobo, did you twist or bend it overly much?

I'm thinking I probably didn't set up the system panel connector wires up correctly, or it's a CPU problem, or a PSU problem. I'm not sure though...

My thinking:
- The mobo has power and starts up, then your PSU & system panel wires are good
- If the CPU was installed properly it should be alright
- You are looking for something that stops the boot up procedure (POST?)

I've got some ideas of what I would do. But i'm not going to suggest them because i'm not experienced enough to say that my "ideas" would further root your build

 

[adzz111]

it could possibly be a loose/dead ram chip causing the problem why dont you try taking one out and trying the other and vise verser or it could be a jumper in the wrong place

 

[-RockMan-]

Make sure you take the green POWR LEd wire and match it to the right color of the mobo which is green.
Pay attention when it says +- and make sure the wires are not backwords.
Do a power up test by turning on the power briefly, if you heat everything come on and your monitor flicker, Hoorago!
You've just built your first pc, shut it off manually and finish doing the wires accordingly.
Becarefull of the case lights as that can get you confused sometimes like my aercool vx-e did me for awhile.

 

[bwidger]

Hi guys, thank you for your responses!

I think I fixed the problem. Remember me mentioning hooking up the IE1394 wire to connector? Well, I guess I connected that wire to the wrong connector because as soon as I disconnected that wire and tried to turn on the system it worked fine! Not even sure if that wire I had connected to the IE1394_1 connector was even for that part but figured it was since it was in the same location as my old mobo and the pins matched as well. To be more precise, that "wire" I speak of was coming from memory slots (?) from the front of the computer (see the black strip right above power button? The wire was coming from there, and I connected it to the IE1394 connector and power wouldn't start). To be honest, I still don't really know where that wire is supposed to go on my new mobo. I was so happy it was that I just didn't care lol.

On a side note, I'm curious as to why having an older hard drive would slow down my new build? As far as I understood, I was under the impression hard drives simply influence load time, or is there more to it? I think my old hard drive ran in the 5000rpm range with 60 gigs. The reason I built this new computer is for producing music, and so I figured having a slower hard drive would only affect loading projects with conjunction to speed? Would it have a more broad effect?

Btw, the IDE/Sata adapter I had on my hard drive didn't work in the way I wanted it to. When trying to install Windows 7 (32bit [want 64 bit for 8 gigs RAM but don't have CD just yet]), it did not locate the hard drive nor would it recognize my external 2tb WD hard drive connected through a USB port. I went to the BIOS to configure the computer to boot first from the external hard drive and the internal HD second, but still the boot cd did not recognize the drives, even though BIOS recognized them as present, so I don't know what's up with that? I read up on partitioning the external drive and got so far only to realize that windows 7 boot CD rejects any installation via USB or IEE way (frusterating). Long story short, I ended up just going online and ordering a new internal SATA HD for my system: here. Do you think this was a good HD to select for my new build? Do you think it will fit my music production needs well? Currently, I'm waiting for the new HD to arrive in the mail so I can continue windows 7 install.

FYI: From BIOS i7-2600k temp is stable at 53C. Sweet!

Once again, thanks guys!

 

[fairfieldfalconsfan]

Ok I don't know much about where the temps should be but 53C seems a little hot to me. Especially for a Sandy Bridge CPU. What cooler are you using? I may be wrong so wait until the real experts on here chime in but this was just my thought.

 

[-Tenk-]

I think I fixed the problem. Remember me mentioning hooking up the IE1394 wire to connector? Well, I guess I connected that wire to the wrong connector because as soon as I disconnected that wire and tried to turn on the system it worked fine! Not even sure if that wire I had connected to the IE1394_1 connector was even for that part but figured it was since it was in the same location as my old mobo and the pins matched as well. To be more precise, that "wire" I speak of was coming from memory slots (?) from the front of the computer (see the black strip right above power button? The wire was coming from there, and I connected it to the IE1394 connector and power wouldn't start). To be honest, I still don't really know where that wire is supposed to go on my new mobo. I was so happy it was that I just didn't care lol.

So this is the connector for your front panel USB.

If you look closely at the mobo instruction manual it will tell you where each of the wires needs to go. It might be a bit hard to find. Look through it, and find the wires you are talking about then find where they need to go.

I'm not sure what you are talking about, or where this extra wire is coming from... Could you explain it better? Or if someone else knows what you are getting at???

On a side note, I'm curious as to why having an older hard drive would slow down my new build? As far as I understood, I was under the impression hard drives simply influence load time, or is there more to it? I think my old hard drive ran in the 5000rpm range with 60 gigs. The reason I built this new computer is for producing music, and so I figured having a slower hard drive would only affect loading projects with conjunction to speed? Would it have a more broad effect?

Your OS will take a while to load. It will take a long time to save any files of serious size. Not sure of the size of music production files (surely not too big)... Pretty much anything that involves the hard drive (which is virtually everything) will be slow.

Btw, the IDE/Sata adapter I had on my hard drive didn't work in the way I wanted it to. When trying to install Windows 7 (32bit [want 64 bit for 8 gigs RAM but don't have CD just yet]), it did not locate the hard drive nor would it recognize my external 2tb WD hard drive connected through a USB port. I went to the BIOS to configure the computer to boot first from the external hard drive and the internal HD second, but still the boot cd did not recognize the drives, even though BIOS recognized them as present, so I don't know what's up with that? I read up on partitioning the external drive and got so far only to realize that windows 7 boot CD rejects any installation via USB or IEE way (frusterating). Long story short, I ended up just going online and ordering a new internal SATA HD for my system: here. Do you think this was a good HD to select for my new build? Do you think it will fit my music production needs well? Currently, I'm waiting for the new HD to arrive in the mail so I can continue windows 7 install.

This is where i say, told you so . Actually I'm fairly surprised I was right . I reckon that Hard drive is pretty good. It'll make a good improvement.

FYI: From BIOS i7-2600k temp is stable at 53C. Sweet!

I'm going to assume you don't have that overclocked.... So 4 cores at 3.4GHz... That does seem hot. My phenom II (6@3.8ghz with turbo boost) runs stable at about 30... I think i read somewhere Intel actually runs cooler than AMD... So something is going on there...

You're using your old case right? The stock cooler should be enough to get a decent temp, but if the airflow out of the case or in the case is poor, then that isn't going to matter.

Have a look at the wires inside the case and how the airflow might work. The airflow in my case goes in through two fans on the front panel and one on the side of the case and then out a fan at the top of the case and one at the top and rear of the case. If you've got a bunch of wires blocking stuff up, try and move them flush to the case so the air can move.

That having been said, if you've got one of those cruddy generic 1 fan cases, i think you are going to struggle with getting the heat out of the case...

Once again, thanks guys!

No worries, rep those that were helpful. We learn as you learn The rep button is the little star button

 

[bwidger]

Hey guys, long time no report back yet. Unfortunately, I was sent in some bad hardware parts so had to send them back and wait. I got my computer running now (finally) and wanted to do some cpu temperature testing.

First my specs:
CPU: Intel i7-2600k 3.4GHz ([stock fan] not being overclocked!)
RAM: 8.00GB (2.99 GB usable)
System type: window7 32bit
Mobo: ASUS P8P67-M Pro

OK, so I ran two temperature reading programs and got two very different results. The first program I ran was the latest speedfan. The results looked like this:
System: 36C
CPU: 90C
AUX: 63C
SMIOVT4: 36C
SMIOVT5: 36C
SMIOVT6: 36C
HD0: 35C
Core 0: 30C
Core 1: 30C

(Obviously, there are more cores but that is as far as the list goes..)

So, wow, 90C for CPU at not even 1% usage (idol)! WTH!? So, I'm worried...

I then do some internet searching and am recommended Real Temp 3.65. I install it, and these are the readings running the cpu idol:
Temperature: 30C, 30C, 30C, 30C
Distance to TJ Max: 65, 65, 65, 65
Minimum: 24C, 25C, 25C, 25C (after 30 mins)
Maximum: 39C, 39C, 39C, 43C (after 30 mins)

OK, so why the CPU rating of 90C on Speedfan 30C average on Real Temp? Should I only pay attention to the core readings or should I focus on the large CPU reading on speedfan? Which programs are accurate for my specs? Also, do they look OK? ANy concerns or comments?

Thanks!

 

[-Tenk-]

farenheit and celcius???

Just checked, holy **** i'm good.

90 degrees fahrenheit is 32.2222 degrees celcius

That seems pretty good to me. My build runs at about 38 degrees (bout 45 under load). But AMDs run hotter than Intels.

 

[bwidger]

farenheit and celcius???

Just checked, holy **** i'm good.

90 degrees fahrenheit is 32.2222 degrees celcius

That seems pretty good to me. My build runs at about 38 degrees (bout 45 under load). But AMDs run hotter than Intels.

No, it said on speedfan it was 90C on my computer, not 90F! Once again, my question was why does it say 90C on speedfan but 30C on Real Temp? I thought maybe speedfan was adding the cores up giving 90C because each cores says 30C...but I don't know and really wish I knew!