Just built new system, won't boot.

[Con]

First of all my new hardware set up:

Asus K8N Socket-754 nForce3 ATA - Sound Lan USB2 800FSB SATA

2*512MB Kingston DDR400

AMD (Newcastle) Athlon 64bit 2800+ 754pin 512kb L2cache

Maxtor 6B200M0 Diamondmax 10 200GB 7200rpm Serial ATA150 8mb Cache

I've eliminated it down to just CPU mobo ram and grafx card.

The PSU is a chieftech item, and wsa working flawlessly with my Nforce2 setup.

Now, when I press the powre button, I get a faint clicking from the PSU, the case fan tries to spin up (it moves slightly but doesnt actually rotate).

the green power LED on the mobo is on.

Faulty motherboard i'm thinking.

Is it worth building the system external to the case? or would the green LED not light up if it was shorting out?

Con

[dsio]

Test the DDR in the NF2 system to make sure its good, and test the PSU again in the NF2 machine to be sure. What 3D card are you using in this machine, and just what is this chieftech PSU rated for and how old is it.

[Con]

its a Geforce 2 MX, i dont do games.

will the NF2 platform support DDR400

[danrok]

The faint clicking might be the protection on the PSU kicking in because it is unhappy about something hooked up to it.

[dsio]

Originally Posted by Con

its a Geforce 2 MX, i dont do games.

will the NF2 platform support DDR400

NF2 was designed with DDR400 dual channel in mind. Go ahead and please test it, using the chieftech PSU.

Also I really need to know about that powersupply and its ratings. What power rating is it, and what power rating does it have on its 12V rails?

Thirdly, Does the power supply have the ATX+12V connector on it?

and if it does, is the ATX+12V connector plugged into the motherboard correctly?

[Logan]

Had two do that to me this weekend.

Try a different power supply.

[Con]

PSU is known good. Its 500w I think. yes it has the 4 pin connector, and that only fits one way - impossible to install it incorrectly.

I'm gonna rebuild my old system then i can test ram and PSU but i'm pretty sure its the board thats fubar

[Aedan]

Green light on the Mobo means that the PSU is providing the +5V stand by power. The symptoms you're describing generally indicate that the PSU has hit an overload after it's soft startup.

What rating does the PSU have on it's 12V line?

[Con]

I'm using the PSU in my old system again now, and the 1GB of ram is working fine.

OK 340W MAX

+12v 204W 17a

It can't be the PSU, it just can't.

[danrok]

A fault with the equipment attached to it may be causing the PSU to think it is overloaded.

[danrok]

Also, very carefully inspect all connectors to make sure there is no dirt or minor damage. A bad connection will ramp the loading up.

[Con]

I stripepd it down to just CPU mobo ram graphics card, and still nothing, removed graphics card still nothing.

It is NOT the PSU or anything attached to it.

[cadaveca]

hosed bios?

[Con]

yep.

[cadaveca]

i'll tell ya what tho can....i had a string of 3000+ A64's that did the same thing...turns out that the thermal paste was not good under the IHS, and the mem contrllers baked under the lid. On one of the 3000's, you could actually see the heat damage on the cpu core once the lid was pulled.

BTW, 17a on the 12v rail is VERY VERY low for 500w....and in A64, cpu is powered from the 12v line.

[Con]

Its not 500W, its 340W

[Daishi]

340 is kind of low it may be your problem. Even though it worked on your nforce 2 setup an a64 will drain more juice do you know the raiting on your 12v line? I would recommend an enermax psu might as well get a 500 watt plus psu so you wont have to change it for a while. 99% of the time the generic psu's will say 340 watt and it wont actualy be able to run 340 watt reliably it will run less more like 300 watts.

[noorman]

And an equally important point (was mentioned) is the power output on the +12V rail(s) !

It could be 340W, but if the share of that total (340W) on the +12V rail isn't big enough, you don't get enough current output on +12V and it will fail or give out LOW voltages (or even output with low dipping voltages) ...

[jimbobaggies]

I had the exact same problem of a quick spin from the fans, flash of the LED, found that to turn my system on I had to hold in the case switch, and then switch on the power supply, the initial surge causing the system to start.

At the time I had an 18month old Antec TruePower 380W, I then upgraded to an Antec TrueBlue 480W, problem solved!!

Before you say that the PSU is known working, my old 380W is still running my old system fine (8RDA+, xp2500@3200, 2*512Mb etc) but a number of people upgrading to A64 systems have been having these problems!!