Problem Powering Up new GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 rig

[Blakark]

C/Master HAF X USB 3 Case, C/Master Silent Pro 1000W gold, GA-Z68X-UD7-B3, Noctua NH-C14 Cooler, i7 2600K, kingston 16GB DDR3 1600, Quadro 4000, WD VeloRaptor SATA3 600Gb, Seagate SATA3 1TB. All components are new.

Hi folks I need help with this dillema please: I have just finished puting my new rig together but I cant seem to power up the system !!  The system momentarily starts when I press either the power up button on the case front panel or on the mobo but as as soon as I release my finger power dies off without starting. The Red LED and blue [power button] on the mobo are on as to be expected when there's juice in the system, but both these
LEDs I noticed still light up briefly even after turning off juice @ the psu or mains switch !! As you can imagine it's a bit fraustrating not been able to get to do BIOS setup after building a new system.

I have noticed there's colour code mismatch between the mobo's front panel connection port and the HAF X front panel wire connectors [labeling] e.g.  The mobo connection expects [blue wire] for HDD LED whereas the HAF X blue wire connecteor is tagged "PWR RESET'. I have swapped and experimented this connectors without solving this power up issue. Has anyone out there came across this issue or have I just  bought a dodgey Gigabyte mobo?  Thanks for your time with this bizare issue.

[Aussie Allan]

 Blackark........welcome to the forum

 " Bought a dodgey Gigabyte mobo? " .........I highly doubt it!...Putting together a new PC from scratch rarely goes as planed with a perfect lift-off every-time.........1 in 50 I find can be attributed to hardware failure of the ones that make it to this forum.........the rest usually fall under "Pilot Error"

  From what you described there could be a short somewhere...........first off you could try stripping the front panel header on the board and short the power pin/s to boot the motherboard and see if it boots to the splash screen.

 2) you might have a short on the motherboard mounting legs........did you put in all the legs required for your form-factor?....are they tight?

 3) check for any loose FMO (Foreign Metal Object) that could be shorting something on the motherboard and or PSU .

 4) you can hot wire your PSU to check the basic operation of the SPU is functional and see if power is getting to your fans as well......here's the link...........http://www.overclock.net/faqs/96712-how-jump-start-power-supply-psu.html

 5) a bent pin in the CPU nest although hard to pick-up can cause this and many other faults.....but is fixable!.....Macro photo's are good for this blown up on a monitor

   This should you give lots of tools to go and have a good hunt for the problem

 Aussie Allan

 

[Blakark]

Thanks 4 a prompt response Aussie.. much appreciated!
Preamble: In my experience [14+ yrs] MOST system i've built to date have gone flawless - particularly @ the Hw stage of the building process.
I'm sure most will agree that this is usually the case - particularly if you've done your homework on the components one wish to deploy in the build.
For the record, I've built an identical system to the one in this discuss about a month ago [Only difference is that it's a P67 Chipset on an ASUS workstation mobo] and without any pesky drama.  As a rule, one tend to stay away from component OEMs whose product/s have caused one grief
through past experience.  Gigabyte [motherboards] unfortunately is one of those in my book - but those bad XP was over a decade ago. Yes, I've
turned prodigal on this occassion - [1] This is an expensive Flagship product for Gigabyte & with a better than average universal tech review.
No offence intended, but why should anyone spend a small fortune on [any] brand new product and then expect to spend TIME troubleshooting trying to make the darn thing work? I do most of my troubleshooting on old gear not one I'm just building straight  out of the boxes.

Sorry, I had to get that offa my chest.. back to the issue in discuss: No shorts discovered on Chassis front panel wires ... Mnt-pegs for ATX are enough & are fine. No rattling or loose FMO's in this rig ... PSU [New] fully independently tested ok ... dont forget I mentioned that all the components come alive momentarily [1-2 secs]  i.e. the CPU Fans, all the chassis fans [back, side, front [LED] & top], VGA LED  when I apply juice to the rig via either of the power buttons. I removed & tested the mobo away from the chassis with the minimum on board & even  shorted the pwr pin on mobo as you've suggested & mate I got the same results ... The mobo just wont power up to boot but there's evidence of power on the board with the usual LEDs on as expected.  I'm told that this particular issue is a known issue with this model Gigabyte mobo... obviously u not aware of this.
     

[Aussie Allan]

 Blackark

   Good!...........your comfortable around PCs!............you seemed to have covered most things so far.........have you done an extended Bios reset

  As in power down........Pull the Button battery...........cycle Bios button but leave battery out at least one hour..........also cycle power button from header (front power button)...........this should /will drain any and all power left in the system (Capacitors ) cycle Bios button just before re-assemble and power-up.........once you get back in ,fingers crossed..... The goal is to get back in the Bios setup...........if you can get this far...........hit "Optimized Defaults" and reboot...........if this still fails........send me a personal mail (PM)

 Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

I would suggest Allan that the next stage would be to build it outside the case and make sure there is no short anywhere. Please follow these instructions exactly.


Make sure that you observe anti-static precautions.

Lay some cardboard or use the motherboard box that is non-conductive on the worktop and remove the motherboard/CPU/heatsink/fan/buzzer/one stick of memory in the first slot and PSU from the case and put it on the cardboard. Add the keyboard and now try and boot. The system should try and then fail emitting a series of beeps. Please post what sounds it makes.

Please not to that on these new boards the memory module numbering system has been altered. It now starts from the furthest away from the CPU as DDR3_1.

[blink]

Are you saying that you have never been a able to get you rig powered up from the initial build, no beeps, no error code on the board, nada, ever?  The reason I'm asking is because this definitely sounds like either a short of some kind or a bad power supply- unless the board itself is defective, there aren't too many other possibilities.  Have you checked your power supply connectors being sure the unused ones aren't touching any part of the case and board?  I shorted out my system the other day when I removed the side panel and fan from my case and the naked three prong fan connector from my power supply touched the bottom of my case.  When I removed the contact, and re-applied the power button, the rig started right up.  And if you've covered everything connected with the possibility of creating a short, if you have another power supply at home I would try that just to be sure you don't have a defective power source, new or not.  And I'm sure you connected the eight prong 12V at the top of the board, correct?  That's not meant as an insult but we can occasionally overlook the obvious.  I did a Google search concerning this particular board and boot-power failure and didn't come up with any hits, but I can understand your frustration; good luck with this.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes I agree that you have to check the obvious as I had a member a couple of months ago with a similar problem and in the end I found he hadn't used any motherboard posts and just screwed it down to the back panel.   Never take anything for granted.