Question Help! Think I Shorted Something. What do I do?

boosbear

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Jul 3, 2014
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Hi there I'm a beginner builder, and my parts list can be seen here:

CPU: i7-9700k
PSU: EVGA 750 GQ 80+ Gold
Mobo: Aorus z390 Pro Wifi
Cpu Cooler: EVGA CLC 240
Case: Lian Li O11 Dynamic
Case Fans: 5x RF120
SSDs: Samsung 860 + 970 EVO Plus
GPU: FE RTX 2070 Super

I put together my computer and when I flipped on the psu, my whole motherboard would light up very briefly with white light. (After some googling I think this might be a feature of the aorus mobo, but at the time I was concerned) I tried testing the Evga 750 GQ with the paperclip test and the fans turned on okay. Then I thought maybe something was wrong with the mobo so I proceeded to remove the CPU, GPU, NVME SSD, and RAM from the mobo so they wouldn't get damaged. I checked to make sure the motherboard was securely mounted on all the standoffs, and that no uninsulated wires were touching both the motherboard and case. I then tried flipping on and off my psu to see if the mobo would light up white again. I stupidly flipped on and off my psu switch in quick succession to try to see what exactly was lighting up and to verify that there weren't any sparks, and on the third time my mobo lit up with red lights briefly and would no longer light up at all when I turned on my psu. Then I smelled something burning coming from my motherboard. Did I mess up here? I thought it was okay to just connect the 24-pin from the psu to the motherboard and flip on the psu. If it makes any difference, I left the front I/O, cpu fan+pump, and case fans plugged in. I also accidentally left the sata power cable plugged in to my 860 EVO SSD, although I unplugged the sata cable to the mobo.

At this point I don't want to try connecting anything to the mobo again because I'm pretty sure I shorted something in there. I did the paper clip test on my psu again and it still turns on. Unfortunately I do not have a multi-meter to test the voltage. You think I got a defective mobo? Can defective mobos cause shorts? I think I will try seeing if I can return the mobo to microcenter.

*Oh I realized that when I unplugged most of my parts and cables from the mobo, I still left the motherboard in the case and it is possible some of the disconnected cables could have been touching the motherboard. I'm not sure if that is what shorted the motherboard.

EDIT I should add that when I first turned on my computer, it booted into my ubuntu boot drive just fine. Everything seemed to be working, although the LEDs on the motherboard would sometimes switch from lighting up only the BOOT LED to briefly lighting up only the VGA or CPU LEDs. Not sure if that's normal behavior when you boot up a new computer for a first time. Also, I just remembered that I connected the Wifi Antenna to the top of the case. Would that case the mobo to come in contact with the case and short?
 
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I admittedly did not read your entire post, But I strongly advise you to remove the motherboard from the case and test it.
You can set it up on the motherboard box, then connect the PSU and then install the CPU/cooler, RAM and GPU one at a time to see what is causing the problem.
This is called breadboarding and if you search these forums, I am pretty sure that there is a guide that you can follow.
 
I admittedly did not read your entire post, But I strongly advise you to remove the motherboard from the case and test it.
You can set it up on the motherboard box, then connect the PSU and then install the CPU/cooler, RAM and GPU one at a time to see what is causing the problem.
This is called breadboarding.
Here is a guide that you can follow:
 
I admittedly did not read your entire post, But I strongly advise you to remove the motherboard from the case and test it.
You can set it up on the motherboard box, then connect the PSU and then install the CPU/cooler, RAM and GPU one at a time to see what is causing the problem.
This is called breadboarding.
Here is a guide that you can follow:
Thanks for the tip, I didn’t know about the bread boarding. Is there any danger installing the cpu into my motherboard though? There was definitely a burning smell coming from my motherboard last night.
 
Without cpu (and cpu cooler), ram and 12v eps power connected that is pointless exercise.
Okay I did the breadboarding. Turns out it POSTS, and once I connect my SSD none of the debugging LEDs light up. I'm going to try to install windows now. I'm kinda concerned about the burning I smelled last night though, are there any tests I can run to make sure everything is okay?