Can't boot. Mobo standby lights up. No fans. No beeps.

[Jmcgill82]

I can't get my Intel DP67BA to boot. The PC speaker never beeps. The fans at first "wiggle" a few times, but never come on. Later, they just never come on at all.

This is a new build, so the machine has never worked before. No software installed.

I've got everything seated properly and connected correctly. But I hit the power button and nothing happens. The motherboard standby light is lit up. I've reset the CMOS. Still nothing.

Intel i5-2500
Motherboard (Intel DP67BA)
RAM (G Skill 8 GB DDR3 1600)
CPU cooler (stock)
Video Card (Radeon HD 6670)
Power Supply (Antec Earth Watts 380)
Hard drive (Seagate 1 TB @ 7200)
Operating System (Windows 7, though it's obviously not installed)
Case (NZXT series 210)
Nothing else plugged in.

Here's what I've tried
1) I've put an old 20-pin psu in, but that didn't work either. Mobo standby light comes on, but can't get the fans to move. No beeps either.
2) I've used an old PC to ensure that the chasis power button works (it does) and I've tried to use my new psu to power the old PC (which, does work).
3) I've tried using the new psu as a 20-pin on the new build and as a 24-pin.
4) I've unplugged the HDD and optical drives as well as graphic card (Which doesn't require a separate power source), and still can't get the fans to turn.

Bottom line is: there's gotta be power coming from the psu because the mobo standby light comes on. But when I hit the power button, nothing happens.

 

[nuts32605]

Remove everything. Including CPU, hard drives, memory, and graphics cards. The BIOS should at least POST if it's not faulty.

 

[AdrianPerry]

Your motherboard requires a 24-pin power connector so using 20-pin simply wont work.

Also make sure you have connected the 4-pin power connector to the motherboard. (This is found on the top left corner of the motherboard, just above and to the left of the CPU socket)

Double check you have both the 24-pin AND the 4-pin power connectors to your motherboard.

 

[memadmax]

CPU seated properly?

 

[junnyeen]

I had a build with a similar issue. It turned out the G.Skill ram was defective (that's what that red light meant 😛 ). Remove one of them and try it out, or switch positioning. Good luck!

 

[Formata]

The whole fan 'twitch' thing is most likely your mother board tripping before going to post. You've got to isolate what is doing it. Could be a faulty component, maybe a standoff touching something it shouldn't, or something as unfortunate as a bad wire or cable. Is the CPU Cooler fan plugged in? Have you got the case fans plugged into the mobo and PSU? See this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-boot-video-problems

 

[Jmcgill82]

I've got the CPU power (2x2) plugged in, as well as the 24-pin. All fans are properly plugged into the mobo. There is no red light, but the green standby light stays lit up. I've tried using just one stick of RAM, then swapping that out.

With the fans twitching (some of the time), I'm inclined to believe there's my board may have been DOA. Any other advice?

 

[nuts32605]

I had something like this happen with a laptop. I removed one of the memory sticks and it booted just fine. Have you tried removing everything and attempting to boot it? The motherboard should attempt a POST (Power-On Self Test) even with nothing in it.

Wait a second... Are you saying that the standby light comes on as soon as you plug in the power supply? As in, without pressing the power button? You might have the front panel lights/buttons header wired wrong. Something dumb like a LED connected to the reset switch header or something?

 

[Jmcgill82]

Yes, the standby light comes on as soon as the psu is plugged in. The front panel buttons may be wired wrong. But assuming they're not, I've got them in the correct slots.

 

[AdrianPerry]

Ok well firstly then, double and triple check you've got that front panel wired up right.

 

[jsc]

The standby LED is supposed to come as soon as the PSU is plugged into the wall and the switch on the PSU is turned on.

The following is an expansion of my troubleshooting tips in the breadboarding link in the "Cannot boot" thread.

I have tested the following beep patterns on Gigabyte, eVGA, and ECS motherboards. Other BIOS' may be different, but they all use a single short beep for a successful POST.

Breadboard - that will help isolate any kind of case problem you might have.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboarding

Breadboard with just motherboard, CPU & HSF, case speaker, and PSU.

Make sure you plug the CPU power cable in. The system will not boot without it.

I always breadboard a new build. It takes only a few minutes, and you know you are putting good parts in the case once you are finished.

You can turn on the PC by momentarily shorting the two pins that the case power switch goes to. You should hear a series of long, single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence indicates a problem with (in most likely order) the PSU, motherboard, or CPU. Remember, at this time, you do not have a graphics card installed so the load on your PSU will be reduced.

If no beeps:

Check for line power at the PSU input. Extension cords, power strips, and power cords do fail.

If you have power and no beeps, suspect components in likely order are PSU, motherboard, and CPU.

Running fans and drives and motherboard LED's do not necessarily indicate a good PSU. In the absence of a single short beep, they also do not indicate that the system is booting.

At this point, you can sort of check the PSU. Try to borrow a known good PSU of around 550 - 600 watts. That will power just about any system with a single GPU. If you cannot do that, use a DMM to measure the voltages. Measure between the colored wires and either chassis ground or the black wires. Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

A way that might be easier is to use the main power plug. Working from the back of the plug where the wires come out, use a bare paperclip to short between the green wire and one of the neighboring black wires. That will do the same thing with an installed PSU. It is also an easy way to bypass a questionable case power switch.

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU.

If the system beeps:
If it looks like the PSU is good, install a memory stick. Boot. Beep pattern should change to one long and several short beeps indicating a missing graphics card.

Silence, long single beeps, or series of short beeps indicate a problem with the memory. If you get short beeps verify that the memory is in the appropriate motherboard slots.

Insert the video card and connect any necessary PCIe power connectors. Boot. At this point, the system should POST successfully (a single short beep). Notice that you do not need keyboard, mouse, monitor, or drives to successfully POST.
At this point, if the system doesn't work, it's either the video card or an inadequate PSU. Or rarely - the motherboard's PCIe interface.

Now start connecting the rest of the devices starting with the monitor, then keyboard and mouse, then the rest of the devices, testing after each step. It's possible that you can pass the POST with a defective video card. The POST routines can only check the video interface. It cannot check the internal parts of the video card.

 

[glhoffman]

I have had the exact same problem with the following configuration:

Processor: Intel i7-3770K
Motherboard: Intel DZ77GA-70K
Hard Drive: Intel 520 series SSD (240gb)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts 650W
Case: Cooler Master CM Storm Scout 2
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

All peripherals are unplugged as is the video card. There is no problem with the case's power switch because the motherboard also has an on button that lights up when the power supply is turned on. Using either one creates the same effect: external fan spins briefly as does the power supply fan. The processor's fan does not move. There is an internal reset button that lights up immediately after the on button is pushed.

I removed the memory sticks with only one remaining. No change.

I checked with G.SKILL to determine if there was a compatibility problem with respect to the memory sticks and the mother board. Its technical person replied that he did not know of any.

So, I would appreciate knowing what the ultimate solution was.

I can't get my Intel DP67BA to boot. The PC speaker never beeps. The fans at first "wiggle" a few times, but never come on. Later, they just never come on at all.

This is a new build, so the machine has never worked before. No software installed.

I've got everything seated properly and connected correctly. But I hit the power button and nothing happens. The motherboard standby light is lit up. I've reset the CMOS. Still nothing.

Intel i5-2500
Motherboard (Intel DP67BA)
RAM (G Skill 8 GB DDR3 1600)
CPU cooler (stock)
Video Card (Radeon HD 6670)
Power Supply (Antec Earth Watts 380)
Hard drive (Seagate 1 TB @ 7200)
Operating System (Windows 7, though it's obviously not installed)
Case (NZXT series 210)
Nothing else plugged in.

Here's what I've tried
1) I've put an old 20-pin psu in, but that didn't work either. Mobo standby light comes on, but can't get the fans to move. No beeps either.
2) I've used an old PC to ensure that the chasis power button works (it does) and I've tried to use my new psu to power the old PC (which, does work).
3) I've tried using the new psu as a 20-pin on the new build and as a 24-pin.
4) I've unplugged the HDD and optical drives as well as graphic card (Which doesn't require a separate power source), and still can't get the fans to turn.

Bottom line is: there's gotta be power coming from the psu because the mobo standby light comes on. But when I hit the power button, nothing happens.

 

[Jmcgill82]

I apologize for not updating this sooner. The resolution turned out to be so incredibly dumb, I feel bad for having bothered the community over it.

Here goes.

I had the psu connected to a chassis fan, which was then plugged into a spot on the mobo that apparently effed everything up. In other words, this chassis fan was bad news for mobo.

Everything posted correctly once I unplugged the chassis fan. The original suggestion to make sure everything is plugged into the proper spots was spot on. My problem was that even after I took the psu out, my chassis fan was still connected to the mobo. So, when someone says take everything out and re-do it, take EVERYTHING out and re-do it. I hope that helps, and again... it's such a silly thing to screw everything up... but, well, there you have it. Thanks Tom's community for the prompt, thorough, and expert responses.

TL;DR - Only have the psu connected to the mobo and nothing else. Oh, and don't plug a chassis fan into the mobo where it's not necessary. Duh. 🙂