24-pin PSU connector absolutely will not latch/connect into the motherboard

[CptSupermrkt]

Here are my components:

PSU: CORSAIR CX 500W:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 ATX AMD Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130679

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The 24-pin connector under no condition will connect to the motherboard. I have tried...

1. Ensuring that I'm inserting with the correct orientation and that ALL 24 holes match, squares to squares, rounds to rounds.

2. Putting the motherboard on a workbench and applying what can only be described as an extreme amount of force.

3. Putting something under the motherboard to allow me to push a little bit harder.

4. Using a credit card to "re-align" the pins of the power cable.

5. Visually inspecting both the power cable pins and the motherboard socket pins to look for anything "bent".

6. Pushing down on the "clip" portion of the power cable to try to make it latch into the motherboard socket.

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* I do not have spare parts or other computers to experiment with, so I have no way (that I know of) of narrowing down the "bad" component, if one exists.

* There is no way that I can apply any more force to the motherboard. I have pushed with a vengeance to no avail.

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Any ideas? What can I try?

 

[wolverine96]

Does the cable fit into the motherboard's 24-pin socket, only it doesn't go quite all the way in? Maybe 1-2mm short, never clicks?

 

[CptSupermrkt]

Does the cable fit into the motherboard's 24-pin socket, only it doesn't go quite all the way in? Maybe 1-2mm short, never clicks?

Yes, that description fits exactly. On one of my strongest pushes it seemed like it got in there like 95-99% of the way. I thought "well maybe that's it, I just didn't hear the click." But, unfortunately, that wasn't the case when I tried to turn it on anyway.

 

[wolverine96]

You do have to push pretty hard. I push on one end, then the other, maybe trying to slowly wiggle it in. It hurts your fingers a little.

Just hope that once you get it on, you never have to remove it!

 

[wolverine96]

Sometimes its just almost on, and you can push down (toward the motherboard) on the little clip. Almost like you are trying to wrap it around the bottom of the little tab. It might pop in.

 

[CptSupermrkt]

Sometimes its just almost on, and you can push down (toward the motherboard) on the little clip. Almost like you are trying to wrap it around the bottom of the little tab. It might pop in.

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately I've tried pushing the clip already to try and wrap it around the bottom --- no go. I've also pushed as hard as I physically could.

 

[wolverine96]

Don't try to push it in with a screwdriver head or any other tool. It might slip and gouge your motherboard.

 

[CptSupermrkt]

I've continued looking around for clues, and found one other person's review of this board who said with this exact motherboard, that the 24-pin connector was "incredibly hard to put in this one, had to use a lot of force." Now in my previous posts where I said I used the maximum force possible, what that meant was, in a sitting position, using both hands, pressing down as hard as I physically could. This did not work. Given the other comment that this board is just hard to get the 24-pin in in general, should I try to apply MORE force than that, i.e. stand up and apply my body into pushing it in? That's the only other thing I can think of to try.

I've ripped out the PSU and am taking it to my place of work now, where I have access to other computers. I'm going to try connecting the 24-pin cable from the PSU to another random computer's board, and see what happens. If it slips right in without a hitch, then that will narrow it down to the problem being with the motherboard.

 

[Pondering]

putting it in is the same as pulling it out. have to wiggle it side to side

⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆
↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕| 24 pin connector|↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕↕
⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇

the clip never really clicks and it goes on the side with raised plastic

 

[CptSupermrkt]

Well, I went for it. I stood up and applied my body and forced that sucker in. It went in with an audible click! All seemed well! .......but now the PSU doesn't turn on at all, the motherboard receives no power. I DID try the paperclip test earlier, and the PSU fan did start spinning, but very lightly and slowly (not sure if that's normal or not).

 

[wolverine96]

You do have all the other components connected, right? CPU, heatsink, graphics card, RAM?

 

[CptSupermrkt]

Yeah, everything is connected. I brought the PSU to work today, and placed it in a known working PC. Not a single hint of life. No fan spin, no hum, nothing at all. I'm contacting Newegg now to ask about an RMA. It seems a little suspect though that this thread began as a "I can't get it into the motherboard" question and ended up with a dead power supply.

 

[wolverine96]

Can the 500-watt power supply handle your "known working PC"? What components are in that system?

 

[CptSupermrkt]

Yeah it definitely can. It's just a run of the mill desktop box for the average user to do daily tasks like word processing and e-mail (no video card, 4 GB RAM, i5, that's about it).

 

[wolverine96]

Yeah it definitely can. It's just a run of the mill desktop box for the average user to do daily tasks like word processing and e-mail (no video card, 4 GB RAM, i5, that's about it).

Okay. If you have it all hooked up right, and it won't work, then it's probably a bad PSU.

 

[donovansimpson55]

I have a MSI A78M-E35 motherboard and a Corsair CX430 PSU.
It was extremely difficult to get that last millimeter or 2 to close so it can latch.
I did the paper clip test to test my cpu and it runs good so I asked my stepdad because he knows about wires.
He wiggled the wires around to loosen up the 24pin, but make sure not to pull a wire out and then he tried with all his force to push in, but it didn't go.
So he put a cloth on the mobo and got some pliers and closed that mm gap and it clicked.
He also made sure not to put the pliers on the metal pins under the mobo.
I HOPE THIS HELPS! Be careful
Also can the fans power up if it is just the mobo and psu and processor connected?