New Build - Need Help - No Power

[ErikAZ]

I'm working on a new build and am completely stumped. I have my new Corsair AX860 Power Supply but it doesn't appear to be working like the earlier one I RMA exchanged. This leads me to believe perhaps I'm doing something wrong in my hookup rather then the PS being defective. I've hooked up the big 24-pin ATX power connector to the motherboard. Both ends clicked in place and it seems to be good.

Here are pictures of the upper hookup with the 8-pin connector (this is the 12v hookup).

Picture upper hookup:
http://imageshack.us/a/img22/503/imagehtg.jpg

Picture power supply:
http://imageshack.us/a/img255/692/imagelmif.jpg

Note: I did have the panel connections hooked up when I tried and I unplugged them as pictured to try again thinking maybe that was wrong.

I was able to attach an old 300W power supply to test the motherboard and it did power up and flash error codes like its supposed to so I know the board is good. Since I was able to power up the motherboard with the old PS I had and since the big 24-pin connector is hooked up right I'm guessing I'm doing something wrong hooking up the 12V 8-pin connector. See the first picture above I'm using the 8 slot "CPU" cable that came with the sleeved set of blue cables I ordered from Corsair. The other picture shows the 24-pin connector and several six pin cables plugged in and me holding the 8-pin other end of the CPU cable. I've plugged this in both the top row and the end on the lower row (marked CPU 4+4).

1. Is this the right cable to use?

2. Which slot exactly should I use on the power supply for this cable?

3. I have the PS on "normal" mode (button on the back has normal and hybrid) is this correct?

I've checked to make sure it's plugged in well, I've checked my power strip, tried different cords for the power supply, made sure the power supply and strip were "on", tried it both with the RAM and without the RAM, standoffs were built in with case so its not that, I've tried everything I can think of and I'm completely stumped. Since I find it highly unlikely I have back to back bad PS and since the motherboard did come on and flash error codes with the old 300w PS I tired out its clear i am doing something wrong. I just can't figure out what.

One note the old PS I tried that did power the motherboard only had a 4-pin connector for the upper connection not an 8-pin but I followed the motherboard directions as far as plugging it in. Maybe one of those other pins is bad?

Any help would be appreciated. I have checked all the items in the post "Perform these steps before posting about problems" and think I'm OK with everything so I'm obviously missing something.

Erik

 

[TenPc]

If one end is marked "CPU 4+4" that end goes into the motherboard 12v socket and not the PSU.

You need to add your ram prior to powering on, some motherboards don't react if there is no ram installed. Even though you tried it with the ram, try it with a pair of ram rather than one module. The ram would have to be compatible with your motherboard, though.

What are the specs of all your other hardware (brand, model number)?

It looks like you got a 4 port usb card inserted, remove it, only have the video card.

You should not connect the PSU to anyting other than the motherboard and the video card during the build period until you can establish a decent "SUCCESS" message after the POST.

 

[ErikAZ]

If one end is marked "CPU 4+4" that end goes into the motherboard 12v socket and not the PSU.

You need to add your ram prior to powering on, some motherboards don't react if there is no ram installed. Even though you tried it with the ram, try it with a pair of ram rather than one module. The ram would have to be compatible with your motherboard, though.

What are the specs of all your other hardware (brand, model number)?

It looks like you got a 4 port usb card inserted, remove it, only have the video card.

You should not connect the PSU to anyting other than the motherboard and the video card during the build period until you can establish a decent "SUCCESS" message after the POST.

Thanks for replying.

The 4+4 is actually written on the PS itself that's where I was plugging in the 8-pin too, I had two sticks of RAM in slots 1 & 3 per the motherboard guide. I will remove the 4 port USB card and unplug everything else except the 24-pin and 8-pin and try again.

Specs:

Motherboard AS Rock LGA1155 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Quad CrossFireX and Quad SLI A GbE ATX Motherboard Z77 EXTREME4

Processor Intel Core i7-3770 Quad-Core Processor

Memory Corsair Vengeance LP Blue 16 GB (2x8 GB) DDR3 1600MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory

Video Card # 1 Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 DVI-I/HDMI/2x Mini-Displayport PCI-Express Graphic Card GV-R79

Hard Drive # 1 Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 256 GB SATA 6GB/s Solid State Drive MZ-7PD256BW

Hard Drive # 2 WD Black Desktop 1TB SATA 6.0 GB/s 7200 RPM 3.5-Inch Internal Desktop Hard

Power Supply Corsair Professional Series 860-Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Platinum Power Supply AX860

Case Corsair CC600TWM-WHT Special Edition Graphite Series 600T Mid Tower Gaming Computer Case - White

Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (Full) System Builder DVD

CPU Cooler Corsair H80i

Erik

 

[ErikAZ]

I just noticed something. The big ATX cable has one end with the 24 pin connector and the other end split in two with a 18 pin and a 10 pin. On the blue cables I ordered the smaller 10 pin one says "1200 ATX only" but on the black cables that came with the power supply the smaller one says "860 ATX only" (see picture). But the pin holes look identical. Mislabeled or is that blue cable incompatible? Or do I not use the 10 pin connection part? ( I hadn't tried it until now it was unplugged before).

http://imageshack.us/a/img441/7582/imageysl.jpg

Now on the power supply itself there is one connection with 18 pins marked "24 pin ATX" and on the row above there is a 10 hole connection also marked "24 pin ATX".

http://imageshack.us/a/img163/584/imageqwm.jpg

Earlier i didn't have both sections plugged into the PS earlier just the 18 pin part. Do I plug both in as the picture above? (That didn't work either).

I tried plugging in just the big ATX connectors (both 18 & 10 pin parts), the 8 pin CPU 12V ATX connection and the video card PCI-E connections and unplugged everything else. Still nothing. I find it impossible to believe I have had two bad PS in a row and now believe I am doing something wrong since the motherboard did power up with the other power supply. I just can't figure out what.

Erik

 

[TenPc]

I didn't even know that 10-pin cables existed! It's all rather confusing, isn't it?
I can't seem to find any reason as to why Corsair would include the 10 pin connector, it seems rather ubiquitous (useless).

If your PSU is an 860 then I would assume the cable marked 860 ATX would be the one to use.

The button "can be used to set the fan control to either "normal" or "hybrid". When in hybrid mode, the fan is generally quieter and will even stop when the unit's load is very low, while the normal mode is more aggressive towards cooling."
reference-
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2100/3/
Personally, I'd set it to normal mode to allow for proper cooling at all times.

As for the cable colour, the review sites all claim that they are all black cables, your blue ones might be for the AX1200, the cables (wires) also seem rather too thick.

Nope, not for the AX1200, they are black as well. You might have to RMA (again) stating that the wrong cables were sent.

This is a good example as to why wired PSU's are better.

 

[TenPc]

According to this image -
http://imageshack.us/a/img255/692/imagelmif.jpg
it appears that your PSU is rather too close to the motherboard and might be causing excessive heat with the hardware, the PSU does have an exhaust fan on its top, and there doesn't appear to be any proper ventilation as one would get with a full PC case.

Usually, with a full desktop case, with older ones, the PSU would sit over the CPU (which has its own fan) and not really have much affect on any of the hardware.

You should try a bench test of your parts otherwise try using the PSU outisde of the case and see if anything is different.