Maximum PC

Alright so this is the second PC that I am building and I have enough experience and knowledge to where I thought I could do this alone without help. I ordered the following parts from Newegg:

- SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16
- RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-630SS 630W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V
- HITACHI HDS721050CLA362 (0F10381) 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
- ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
- AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
- G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900)
- Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Upon arrival, I started assembling right away and once assembled, nothing worked. Back to the drawing board, I bench tested basic stuff by connecting the PSU to a fan and that worked. Added the dvd drive and HD and I could hear both gear up. But once connected to the motherboard, no reaction. Plugged in the front panel plugs for my case and the power button didnt work at all. GPU/Fan/Heatsink didnt turn on or anything so I ruled the motherboard as DOA. I am sending it back now and waiting for a replacement. The concern I had was that I made the wrong decision, even though I am still sticking with my original diagnosis. I feel like computers are so complicated, it could be anything from incompatible ram to short circuit in anything touching the MB. Please help, I really want to get this set up asap and I know you guys can help. Thanks a lot ahead of time.

A cheap PSU tester could rule out the PSU though the fact that you had power to other devices seems to rule it out in some ways. It is very possible the MB was DOA and since other device spun up that has the possibility of confirming it. When you get the new MB that will be the real test. How long do you have to wait?

Did you try a basic build outside the case? Motherboard on an insulated surface with one stick of ram, video card and all power supply connections, plus the plug for the start button. If you get a post after hitting the start button and it stays on and stable you would have known that you shorted the motherboard....usually on an extra standoff and caused you not to post in the box. Count the mounting holes in the motherboard, usually 9 and you should have the same number of standoffs in the box. When mounting the motherboard, first count out the 9 screws, that way you know when the last screw goes in you did that portion of the build correct. Next be sure to plug in the 24 pin and the 4 or 8 pin power plugs in the motherboard, some people forget to plug in the 4 or 8 pin connector....the system will not boot without it! Be sure the cpu fan plug is in the correct cpu header in the motherboard, some systems won't boot unless it is plugged in properly.

Nasty

Thanks for the replies, it just seems like anything connected to the motherboard will not start and i did try first without anything connected to it then connected it to the rest of the wires and now nothing worked.so im waiting about another 3 days plus or minus a weekend to get the new one. At first i didn't use the standoff but that was very early and i never turned it on or anything so idk if thatt could could have messed it up. Anyways thanks for the help and i will post back with results asap

I am sure you shorted the motherboard out not using the standoffs....I hope they replace it, they may not since it was installed improperly. They can tell...

Nasty

Yeah I agree. If he mounted that thing without the standoffs and then powered it up, it is in all likelyhood toast. To the OP, also, don't use plastic standoffs either, just brass or steel.

Well that's the thing, i didn't start it without the standoffs. I screwed it down then realized i needed them so i put them on and then started it up later. It looks like they're sending another so we'll see. Thanks for the help again, i hope that's the problem. Otherwise all the parts seem compatible?

Well the motherboard came in and I am still having the same problem. No response from the motherboard, cpu and/or fan, video card, etc. I can connect 3 fans to the PSU and those fire up. So i dont know what is causing nothing to work.

Did you ever test the PSU as Wiked_smart suggested? It is totally possible for the 12V side of the PSU to be fine and functioning, but the 5V and 3.3V could be bad. You have two options; get a PSU tester or swap in a known good PSU.

:EDIT:

I just noticed that your PSU has a single 4PIN CPU power connector and your motherboard uses an 8 PIN connector, are you hooking that up the right way? It should go on the first or last set of 4 connectors only, it depends on the socket, and I cannot tell from the picture which way it is keyed.

Im using the 24 pin and the seperate 4x2 pin. Im plugging in them both, should I not be? the manual says that if i only need to use 4/8, then it should be the first 4. I can try that, but is that really whats stopping me from using my motherboard at all? Ill try using only the 24 pin and first 4 pin to see if that works, update in the morning. Next step is to get a diagnose from pros :\ i wish pcs were a little more simple

One of the things I would do is get another PSU. It says it is "Up to 85% " efficient, but it is not certified. That tells me the PSU is unreliable and in all likelyhood does not provide a consistant supply of power. You should never cheap out on a PSU as that is probably the most vital part of any build. A bad PSU can and does kill other components.

That MB needs a 8-pin CPU power plug and the regular 24-pin main power plug to work properly.

So its too weak to power up anything else? Seems possible. Got any recommendations for power and brand?

Depending on who you ask, If JBaz was here he would say OCZ though I believe Corsair or Seasonic would be the way to go. Considering what you have a 650W would be fine and still give you plenty of headroom.
Here is a Corsair TX650 there is also a modular version if you want but it's a little more expensive at least for now, Corsair TX650M, either way its your choice.

I will also add that I don't think that your PSU is too weak more like it may be having some problems. Whether its a defect or otherwise is still up in the air.
If you have gotten the second MB in try first making sure you have the stand-offs in the ATX MB configuration or test it outside of the case on a piece of cardboard. after you have installed the CPU and heatsink, making sure the fan is plugged into the CPU_FAN1 header.

1)Install RAM in slots DDR3_A2 and DDR3_B2
2)Connect a HDD with the SATA data and power plugs
3)Put your GPU in PCIE2 slot and insert the 6-pin PCI power plug.
4)Hook-up the 8-pin power for the CPU, it should be in between the CPU socket and your PS/2 ports labeled ATX12V1.
5)Connect your 24-pin power cable labeled ATXP1 right next to your RAM slots
6)Connect the power switch for the case onto PWRBTN and GND pins on the area labeled PANEL1 next to your SATA connectors.
7)Plug in your monitor, mouse, keyboard.

Once you do all that plug in your PSU and turn the power switch on the PSU to the on position then press the power button on the case.
If your system boots your should be good to go if not let us know what happened and we can go from there.

Corsair, Seasonic, OCZ, and PCPower & Cooling are all good. I do tend to go with Corsair, but that is a personal choice, as there are other good choices out there that can fit most budgets. As wicked has said, if the Motherboard has an 8 pin CPU connector then use 8 pins. I have heard that 4 pins was sufficient, but from my standpoint, I can't reconcile that. Just like some Video cards take a single 6 pin PCIe connector and others two ( and you wouldn't want to run one ) and some older cards, none ( 8600GT for example ). Some will take more ( 8 pin PCIe connectors ) than I've used as an example as well. Most if not all ATX mountings have 9 mounting points ( 3 rows of three each ).

I went and got a 750w Corsair psu and that works great now. Still running into minor problems but ultimately the computer wont boot when motherboard is in the case. So everything runs outside and I need to figure out what is shorting out the mb. Thanks for all the help, changing the psu definitely helped my build.

Also as I am trying to install windows on here, my keyboard is being strange. I cant use it for the installation screen which means I gotta get a ps/2 mouse or wired usb to navigate. I am just running into every road block I can along the way

well... replace case with cardboard box... since you know the box works... lol

You can go to a hardware store and pick up some rubber washers that has the same hole size or make your own. Anything really would be a good insulator like a think cardstock paper cut to size or even thick plastic.

You have to have a standoff in the wrong place, you should have nine of them, I would check the case, count the standoffs, count the screws, install the board into the case and then put each screw in. If you have any left over you have a standoff in the wrong place. Also make sure that when you are hooking up the front panel connections you have them attached right. If you do and it still wont work, swap the power and reset switch wires, and use the reset switch to power it on, could be a bad switch.

Yeah. Most ATX Mobos have 3 rows of 3 mounting holes for a total of 9. Make sure you have them all and they are snug ( I use a 3/16" socket on a nut driver to snug them down ).

There are actually 7 holes for my motherboard + 2 more that aren't the same and shouldnt be screwed down (also no holes in case for them) But when i looked at how many standoffs I had, i counted 8. So i was using one that wasnt screwed down and indeed shorting the mb. So that fixed that problem and computer boots up in case. Now I set things up minimally in and the UEFI/BIOS replacement utility and then proceed to install windows. After it 'loads files', it comes to the language selection screen and none of my devices work. I have a USB Keyboard and USB mouse, as well as a PS/2 keyboard. Their lights turn off after the loading screen and are of no help. I can use the PS/2 keyboard during the BIOS setup but once windows handles the rest, all fails. I tried messing around with the settings and in the special BIOS setup for the mb, I didnt find anything that would help. How do I access the regular BIOS screens? F2 is for the ASROCK BIOS Utility. Thanks for all the help, this is the last roadblock to my dream computer. This site has been great so far