PC failing to boot up

[Guydude]

After building a new PC for my brother every time I try to boot it it makes a click sound and nothing happens? Does anyone know what causes this?

GPU: GTX 550 Ti
CPU: i3-3250
Mobo: Biostar DDR3 1600 Intel LGA 1155
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16 GB

 

[alexoiu]

Try starting the board outside the case. Test also the power supply, to make sure that it does work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4

 

[Guydude]

Try starting the board outside the case. Test also the power supply, to make sure that it does work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4

Hi thank you for the reply, I have done this test and confirm the power supply works. I went further to see if it was the front panel connectors preventing the boot so I used the old flathead screwdriver trick and they seem to work fine but it still just makes the click sound and won't boot.

 

[alexoiu]

I suggest taking the board outside the case, for ruling out a short.

 

[Guydude]

I suggest taking the board outside the case, for ruling out a short.

Still nothing

 

[jmferris]

It's a stretch, but if you have your HDD connected, try unhooking it and starting up. Never would have thought that before yesterday, but I had a similar scenario to you, and after breadboarding (again) with every possible combination of two motherboards/processors/power supplies/memory that I had laying around. I also was testing with the HDD attached. As soon as I disconnected the SATA power, it would post. Without it, with some combinations I was getting partial a fan turn on the PSU and CPU cooler, and then nothing but the standby light.

For me, it was specficially the SATA power cable from the PSU, itself. Swapped out to the other one that came with the PSU, and it started right up. Unfortunately, the presumed short that started all of my troubles (a pop and a whiff of smoke), was elusive to me for a couple of days, as it was after burn-in and hooked up in my entertainment center. Started getting on the right track with that yesterday when I hooked up a "burner" (pun intended) HDD from an old system pull that was ready for the trash pile. As soon as I hit power, I actually saw a spark and a small flame at the junction where the power cable is attached to the drive. Thankfully, the new drive is under warranty.

 

[alexoiu]

I suggest taking the board outside the case, for ruling out a short.

Still nothing

Then it might be a faulty motherboard. If unplugging the 8 pin power cable, connecting a fan to the motherboard and starting the board, does the fan spin?