890GPA-UD3H: Won't Stay Powered Up.

[45-Dub]

890GPA-UD3H: Won't Stay Powered Up.

I just put together a new system. When I press the power button the power light comes on for only about a half a second and then goes out. The CPU and case fans spin for the same amount of time and then stop. Basically I get a flash of power and then nothing.

Pressing the power button again does nothing until I turn the power supply off and then turn it back on. Same results after that, though. Just a flash of power. This makes me think my power supply is bad but maybe something in the motherboard is causing this.

Here are the specs of my system. All components were bought brand new by me from Newegg and are previously unused.

890GPA-UD3H REV 2.1
AMD Phenom II X4 965
8 GB Kingston (KHX1600C9D3K2/8G)
Antec Earthwatts 650 Power Supply
No Video Card
Nothing in any expansion slots
One HDD and one Optical drive connected by SATA

I disconnected and reconnected all cables and connectors. Reset my CMOS. Disconnected front panel USB and audio.

Any ideas? I checked the FAQs and searched the forums but I didn't see this exact problem.

Thanks.

[malum]

I would try the power supply with another computer. If that works then rule out the power supply.

Make sure that the motherboard is not being shorted out as well.

[45-Dub]

I would try the power supply with another computer. If that works then rule out the power supply.

Make sure that the motherboard is not being shorted out as well.

Unfortunately, I have only have my laptop available right now so I can't test anything on another computer. I suppose I could buy a PS tester.

There is nothing that is obviously shorting out on the mobo. There are no loose screws or wires touching the mobo or anything like that. I was very careful when building this system and it's not my first build so I don't think it's anything like that that I may have done.

The ATX 12V power connector on the Power Supply is actually split into two connectors (marked as "CPU") which are zip-tied together. I believe this means it is split on two rails. Is it possible that this motherboard requires a single 8-pin connector for the CPU? There is no recommended power supply chart on the mobo page.

[malum]

Hmmm...That maybe your problem...Make sure you have it plugged in.

[45-Dub]

Hmmm...That maybe your problem...Make sure you have it plugged in.

I do, of course, have the CPU power connector plugged in (both connectors). The question is about compatibility, not whether or not it should be plugged in. I don't think that is the issue anyways as the PS specs say the connector is EPS 12V but I thought I would throw it out there since this is probably the only place that could tell me if my power supply is somehow not compatible with my Gigabyte mobo.

I disconnected all drives (power and data), no mouse, minimal front panel connectors, tried different slots for RAM, tried just one stick of RAM, tried a different power cord and outlet. All I have hooked up right now is a monitor and keyboard and I still get the same result.

I appreciate your help, malum, but I need a much more thoughtful feedback then that. This seems to be a rare issue and something that is very difficult to diagnose and troubleshoot over the internet. I think the only way I will get an answer is if someone else has had this exact problem. My gut feeling is that this is a mobo issue but I am going to run to Fry's and buy a new power supply. I can always use it on my next build.

[malum]

I'm newbie here as well. 

As far as I can tell that power supply should be good enough for your system.
I would def try another power supply though. Or you could bring the
 power supply to a computer shop to have them test it if you don't have
the means to do it yourself. If it is not the power supply I would also see about
bring the processor to a computer shop to have it tested.

Maybe Absic or Dark Mantis can give you better advice. They are a bit more
knowledgeable about troubleshooting than I am.

[45-Dub]

Yeah but none of the experts seem to want to touch this.   That's OK though because fortunately my gut feeling appears to wrong. I just got a new power supply from Fry's, a 430 Watt Antec Earthwatts and I've got the BIOS screen up now. Thanks for trying malum.

P.S. Wow, you guys should really have the email addresses of members hidden by default. That is not cool.

[malum]

430 watts is a bit low...Do you plan to add a video card or more hard drives in the future?

Don't forget to run memtest for a bit to make sure your ram is good to go.

Wha are you tring to hide your email addy from?

[absic]

Hi there,

I have been following this thread and the advice being offered by Malum is pretty much the same as I would have been giving, which is why I haven't posted.

As Malum has said, the 430 Watt PSU is a little on the low side but at least it has been able to get you moving forward and to the BIOS screen.

[Dark Mantis]

I too would agree that the PSU is on the small side. Don't forget even if it works fine now and you don't intend to upgrade at all with more components the power supply is new now and outputting it's full designed amount. In future though the ability to supply the specced power will reduce even further because of capacitor droop mainly and you may find that it won't even be enough to run what you have now. I would advise something more along the lines of what you had previously, 650W.

[malum]

Well its nice to have that reassurance on my part. As far as giving advice.

Although the slight misunderstanding about the 8-pin power connector is a
bit embarrassing on my part.

How is everything running 45-Dub?

[45-Dub]

New system is up and running great now. Don't worry about the connector misunderstanding, malum. You were just trying to help. Sorry if I sounded like an ass.

I did some power calculations before buying the original PS and that's how I ended up with the 650. There was really only 3 things that could have been bad; PS, mobo, or CPU. I had to start replacing things somewhere to figure out which one was bad and the PS is the cheapest component so that's were I started. Since I wasn't sure I went for the cheapest PS I could find that looked decent and had the connections I needed. That was the 430. A friend of mine has the same mobo but with a AMD PII dual core, vid card that gets it's power from the mobo only, an SSD, and at least one other expansion card and he uses the same 430 so I figured it would be good enough to get me going. I do plan on expanding but it might be awhile so it will do for now. I can play Unreal Tournament 2004 on it so I'm content for now.

Who am I hiding my email address from? Everybody that I don't know.  

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Go buy the best game ever made, UT2K4, and join us online. Thanks to it's modability there are still a few servers that get a full 32 player count on the weekends. Fragalicious.

Gigabyte Rocks! I love the new mobo.

[malum]

No prob...RMA that defective power supply though and then replace the 430 with a
working 650 pwr_supply replacement from either newegg or antec. And you will be set.

You could keep the 430 for an htpc later on. or you could sell it to get a couple dollars
back in your pocket.

I don't game too much myself...The most recent game I played was Dragon Age 2.
That was pretty awesome. Other than that I still play Age of Empires or Sid Meiers
Civilization V.