What's wrong with my newly built PC? Only thing that turns on is a light on the motherboard, for a split second :(

[Manra]

Hello everyone,

So this afternoon, I recieved most of the parts I had ordered for my first gaming PC (I am still missing the graphics card). I was a bit overwhelmed when it came to the wires, but otherwise everything went ok. When I thought I had it almost sorted out, I decided to plug the PSU in and try it out.

And nothing. After close inspection, I noticed there *is* in fact a small light going on and off so fast you can barely see it, when I turn on the PSU (but I'm not sure it's even supposed to light up! photo below). But the PSU fan won't start, nothing else on the motherboard seems to work, and I'm really at loss because I don't know what I did wrong.

The power cables seem to be okay (24 pin and 8 pin), I checked them a million times. I tried plugging the PSU in different outlets with no luck. I tried the paperclip method, but I only have this kind of paperclips:

So I stripped off the plastic on the extremities, but I think it is still thinner than a normal paperclip. Of course, it didn't work, but I can't tell if it's because the paperclip is too thin or the PSU is faulty.

Now you might wonder why I don't just wait tomorrow and buy a regular paperclip, or ask a friend to let me try their PSU... well here's the sob story: I bought this PC with the money my parents and other relatives gave me for my 18th birthday, and they advised me to buy a pre-built PC so I don't mess it up.

Not wanting to get a shitty pre-built PC for that budget, I decided against it. Now I feel like a total idiot, and I'm really sad about it. It's midnight here and I want to try everything I can to get it to work until the morning, so I can tell my parents I figured it out. I'm not going to get any sleep anyway, so I'm willing to try anything you guys tell me to do.


Here are the 24 pin and 8 pin connectors:

They are both going into the PSU like they should too.

Here's a wider picture of the case:

And here is the little thing that lights up for 0,1 second, at the bottom of the mobo:

Soo... Could this be... a short circuit? Is that little thing even supposed to light up when I turn on the PSU? (it's a blue light). What could I be doing wrong, and what should I do now?

Thanks a lot if you took the time to read this,

 

[Paul NZ]

Whats the motherboard and what CPU did you install on it?

Did you connect the CPU fan?

The led maybe telling you theres power going to it. ASUS mobos have the same thing

 

[Manra]

Hey, thanks for the assistance! My motherboard is MSI Z97S SLI PLUS (I only have money for a cheap graphics card for now but I might go with two later down the road). The CPU is an i5-4690. My CPU fan is connected (you can check in the picture of the case).

And this LED is indeed my only glimmer of hope, too bad it only lasts for a tenth of a second

 

[Paul NZ]

Looks like that led is for debug. Which doesnt tell us much. Did you put standoffs in the case before you installed the mobo?

 

[Manra]

Yes I did put them, although I got one screw stuck and it's really loose (going to go buy needlenose pliers tomorrow...). Do you think it is a short circuit? I have really no idea of what might have caused it, other that the fact that I had put the LED connectors in the wrong direction the first time...

And also, I just remembered, when I first tried putting it on, I grabbed it by the CPU cooler like I saw in Youtube videos. It was locked and all but my cooler is 8 euros cheap, so it detached. my motherboard dropped from about 3 centimeters onto the case (I was only trying to align the holes, it didn't fall from high)... Maybe that's what damaged it.

Also, another detail I forgot to add, when I power on my PSU, I can hear electricity going up in the motherboard. It stops when I turn it off. So I'm really starting to believe the problem is with the mobo...

 

[Manra]

If the proble was with the PSU, the debug LED wouldn't light up on the motherboard, right? So the motherboard must be the faulty component, even though the paperclip test didn't work with my shitty paperclip, right?

I'm just speculating here, but damn, if it's the mobo, I will feel so bad for having screwed this up.

 

[Paul NZ]

I would take it out of the case bench it then see if it goes

 

[Manra]

I can't really do that because I have this stuck screw in its standoff, lol. But I just try removing all the cables but the 2 power connectors and the same thing happened. That damn light then nothing. I will try to make it work out of the case tomorrow i guess, do you think the case could be a problem?

 

[Paul NZ]

Well something maybe shorting. Best way to find out is to remove it then test it.

Use a screwdriver and short the pwr pins on the connector you connected the front pwr wires to.

See if it turns on. If it does then you've connected the front wires to the wrong pins

 

[Manra]

OH MY GOD okay. The CPU fan (that I forgot to unplug, luckily) started when I did that. Oh lord it's not the motherboard. I'm going to try to rearrange the front wires looking it up online, I'll update in a few mins. Thank you SOO much.

 

[Paul NZ]

Dont remove the cpu fan. leave it in the header on the mobo.. Otherwise it'll turn off

Read the manual, that'll tell you what wires go where

 

[Manra]

Alright, I just "shorted" my whole room. I'm not trolling, I think it might be from turning on and off the PSU too many times and too fast to try it. I also had a lot of other shit plugged in that 5x outlet adaptator, and the other outlet next to it (there are only 2 but with an adapter, I turned 1 into 5, maybe not the best idea). My lights started flickering, I smelt burnt, and then everything that was on the side of my room where my desk is (where I am working) turned off: my laptop charger, desk LED, external monitor, speakers...

I still have stuff connected in other outlets at the other side of my room that work fine, but I guess the light bulbs in my room must be connected to the wall that just short circuited cause I can't turn them on anymore. Sorry for being so bad, I'm going to try to get this to work in another outlet cause I don't want to give up just now that you gave me hope! It'll probably take a bit longer cause I need to work under my phone flashlight. Thanks again.

Oh for the manual, well it says that I should connect these wires using the "m-connectors" which are supposed to make it easier, but my motherboard didn't come with these (no I didn't lose them), so I just tried watching a video online. But there are not 100 ways to do it so I'm gonna look it up in more detail. Updating in a few minutes

 

[Paul NZ]

So whats the mobo?

Dont touch the PSU on/off switch then.. All you had to do was short the pins. And see if it turned on or not

 

[Manra]

God... I just plugged my PSU in a working outlet, and now guess what? not even the blue light turns on anymore when I power it (with the power connector put like before, and then I tried upside down). Also, when I do the little trick to short the 2 pins, it doesn't do anything anymore.

The outlet is working cause I can plug other stuff in. Even my laptop charger works so there's that. Is the PSU fried?..... I turned it off the moment the lights started flickering, could it have affected the motherboard too?

I don't get it, I didn't expect that... Why would it fry just because the electricity turned off? Sometimes I just hate life

 

[Manra]

Yeah it was dumb to keep turning the switch on and off. I did it because I was trying to see if the power connector worked (so I couldn't short it), but I shouldn't have done it so quickly. My motherboard did turn on when I first shorted though, and the CPU fan started working, so I guess it would have been fine if I didn't fry it

 

[Manra]

Oh, the mobo is msi Z97S plus. I was trying out that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPELIdVNZUI because my power connector was upside down I think, but didn't get to see if it worked since it immediately short circuited. So now I buy another PSU and go from there trying not to blow up my house?

EDIT: and by the way, THANKS AGAIN for helping me. It's really nice since I would have certainly went to buy a new mobo otherwise, and I was really depressed because I didn't know what was wrong. Now what happened is my own fault, but I appreciate your patience very much

 

[Paul NZ]

Only way to find out replace the PSU. If that doesnt work the mobo maybe dead

And dont plug too many things into a power strip. Or a power point.

The manual should have come with the mobo. Everything inc how to connect the front wires to it are in it

 

[Manra]

Sorry for yesterday, I fell asleep... My local electronics shop opens at 3 (it's noon now) so I'll buy a new PSU then, and pray the motherboard survived.

As for the manual, well my manual shows how to connect the front wires with "m-connectors", but these didn't come with my motherboard (either they've been stolen, or they don't come with that model and MSI didn't change the manual). So that's why I'm looking online. But I think I had just put them upside down. Oh well, I'll see in a few hours...

 

[Manra]

Alright, I got another PSU and, thank god, it worked. The whole PC turns on and all now, so I'm positive. I had screwed up the power cables.

It hasn't been easy but I finally did it. Thanks a lot PaulNZ for your help, you immediately figured it out

 

[Paul NZ]

Excellent !