Newbie one here, I had no probs connecting mobo to psu last time cos it came with a schematic. This one didn't and I have the P1 and the square one (dunno what its called) plugged in and also CPU fan, I just can't determine where the power switch one goes in so I can't turn it on. I'm sitting here with a computer in pieces. HELP!
Hi What motherboard is it? Usually, in one of the corners of the board, there is a set of pins for all of your case cable terminators to plug into, if it doesn't have any writing next to it to show 'pwr' then you'll have to supply the motherboard details before I can help you anymore.
Cheers for replying so quick. It's an Intel D865 PERL but it didn't come with a manual I think I've been plugging the power switch lead (coming from the switch) into a front usb port (lol) and I've managed to get some schematics up but can't seem to find the right one. When I connected the lead before, an LED on the motherboard lit up? What does that mean? Etc, etc
You mean this one? This manual *might* be what you're after. If not you could try plugging the motherboard in and poking around on the pins with a flathead screwdriver. In theory, when you hit the right pins the machine will turn on though there is the possibility of damaging the motherboard by shorting something so I would only try this if all else fails.
No it's not that board, but cheers anyway I'm not getting anything from pressing the power switch. I have connected the motherboard, screwed in, connected to PSU via the rectangular big white block (nice terminology, is it P1?) and a smaller square connector, and the PCU fan too. What's the minimum further connections to see if the mobo will boot. I'd be happy if just the CPU fan came on. But nothing. What's the deal with the polarity of these connectors. If I HAD shorted something already how would I know?
For the bare minimum of connections needed to get your motherboard booted check out this thread especially post #7. If you had shorted something sometimes you can tell by a visual inspection of the part - does it look/smell burnt, are any parts out of shape or broken, etc. but often the only way to tell if a part is dead is by using the simillarly-specced computer that is known to work and switch parts from it for parts from the dead computer and see if the good computer will work with that part. If/when you put in the dead part the good computer will cease to function or won't work correctly.
cheers OK I've got it working barebones. It now turns on and even gets to telling me it can't start Windows. It also tells me theres a memory issue, can't remember what it said but something about pairing up something. But it then says it can't start Windows. Is this purely hard drive related then?
Good, you're making progress. Try and get exactly what it says. I've never seen this kind of error message so I don't know what to make of it. Possibly but it's hard to say at this point. Can you boot into safe mode (hold down the F5 key just before Windows starts loading)?
cheers penguin, I think the memory issue was that I had a DDR which was PC2100 and two which were 3200 or something like that. I'm running it on just one that is 2100 now so that message has stopped. Basically this is how it is now: Switch on, processor fan kicks in, POST test beep from internal speaker, Intel flash comes on screen, passes BIOS point (I've been into the bios, don't really want to mess around to much as obviously default settings are pretty normal) then tries to load windows. It can't. Then it gives me a prompt, try again, try in safe mode. I try in safe mode. It seems to list a few source files then just puts a flashy cursor at top left of black screen, then returns to the prompt. Also despite having two CD ROMS connected to power supply and via an IDE cable to the mobo, they don't seem to be detected. And I can't open the tray on either. Is this a power issue, or mobo? In the BIOS I looked through what it can see. So obviously processor, graphics card and memory now ok. What about mobo itself? PSU? Prolly definitlely the hard drive, you think? I just don't want to spend on things that are fine only to find it's something else.
At this point I wouldn't necessarily assume that you have a hardware fault. It's definitely a possibility but it may just as likely be a corrupt Windows installation. What I would do here is boot the computer from a CD and run a few hardware diagnostic tests to see if I can eliminate hardware issues but that's fairly advanced stuff and you need to have the correct tools (I use mainly Linux-based programs). In your case what I can suggest is to boot the computer from a CD, back-up any important files and try to re-install Windows. If it is merely a software issue then that should fix the corrupt programs and give you a working computer again.
Cheers But I can't as the CD ROM drives are not detected/powered. I was going to reinstall Windows as there was nothing special on the HD. Any ideas?
There's a difference between the CD-drives being detected and being powered. If Windows can't detect the drives and you can't open the drives when Windows is loaded it may just be a problem with Windows, not a hardware issue. On the other hand if there is no power getting to the drives at all then it is a hardware issue. The idea I had was to boot your computer directly from the CD and bypass the hard-drive altogether. Try putting a bootable CD into the CD drive and see if it boots from that. If not you may have to set-up the BIOS to boot from CD. The other test you should do is to go onto the BIOS screen and try to open the CD drive that way you won't have any software stopping you from opening the drive. If you still can't open the drive (and make sure you press the button only once and wait for the light to stop flashing - pressing it repeatedly often doesn't work) then you probably have a hardware issue.
cheers mate Sadly I can't seem to get power at any time (even within BIOS) on either of the CD ROM drives. There's no indication that they work at all (although they used to) - I have power from PSU firmly connected and IDE connected to motherboard. Any ideas how to establish if they're f**ked (or have I just done that )
You'd have to try them on a known working computer. I know this is a little late in the game, but could you list the specs of this system you're trying to get going. Please include specifics like the make and model. I'm not sure if the motherboard's at fault or that you don't have a strong enough power supply. I remember having to have a good 350W unit to get my P4 1.6A to power on and run. There's also a link to the PSU thread in my sig. I moved this thread to General Hardware since it is not appropriate for the New Build/Upgrade forum. It also appears that THG doesn't take kindly to hotlinking either.
I am using a 350W PSU, with an INTEL D865PERL motherboard, an Nvidia GeForce FX5200, and 1 PC2100 512 DDR RAM chip. The two CD ROMS are pretty naff, one is an old unbranded CD writer, the other a DVD rom. I haven't done any Master/Slave configurations but with power connectors plugged firmly in from the PSU and an IDE cable going from the motherboard to each CD ROM, I would have expected at least the eject function to work, but they are dead as doornails, even in BIOS. I would happily buy another Drive, I need a dual layer burner anyway, but the priority is just to get the system running as it once was. If the same thing happens with another drive, does that mean the PSU is powering the motherboard but somehow not the Drives, or is the output IDE from the mobo not working. I just don't get it. I am guessing though that the HD is f**ked, I just need to find out by getting a CD ROM to work Thanks for help everyone! Anymore ideas?
If you can get Windows to at least try to boot then you know at the very least that the power connector and the IDE cable work. In that case try unplugging the hard drive and using its power connector and IDE cable in the CD-ROM drive on the primary IDE channel. Also, try just one drive at a time and unplug any and all PCI cards (except the graphics card) to eliminate the possibility of a power shortage. If still no go then you'll need to find a known working CD-ROM drive and plug it into the computer with the same connectors and see if you get any signs of life. Noted, sorry.
I've sorted it. Thanks for all your help. If you look on other topics you'll see my barrage of whole new questions cheers
