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Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium Member
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL

Maxo

Premium Member

New computer does not try to boot.


Power supply on

Power button pressed
I am building a new machine and after assembling everything I cannot get it to power on.
The relevant components are:
Mobo: Intel BOXDP67BGB3 LGA 1155 Intel
Processor: Intel Core i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz
Power supply: APEVIA ATX-AS520W-BK 520W ATX Power Supply
I have the board has 2x4 and 212 connectors that are all plugged in. The power supply is set to 115 and it's switch is on.
This board seems to have a power button directly on it. When I first plug in the power connector and turn on the power supply switch the light goes blue on the power switch.
When I hit the power button on the tower or on the mobo a green led light is lit. None of the fans kick on, not even the fans inside the power supply.
I have unplugged and replugged in the power cables and also reseated the USB stick.

I'm not sure if these pictures demonstrate it well enough, but the first is with power supplied, and the second is after hitting the power button.

At this point should I be RMAing the board, power supply, or realizing I did something wrong?
asdfdfdfdfdf
Premium Member
join:2012-05-09

asdfdfdfdfdf

Premium Member

I'm not seeing the green led that you mention lighting.

You say none of the fans try to spin. I assume you are also getting no sounds from the hard drive spinning up?

I assume none of the HH(if you look at the location in your manual) diagnostic leds ever light? They would be, in your picture, at the lower right edge of the image near the pci-e slots.

Have you made sure that you used the standoffs properly so nothing could be shorting on the underside of the board?

It sounds as if you have no other power supply to test with?

Cthen
Premium Member
join:2004-08-01
Detroit, MI

Cthen to Maxo

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to Maxo
»Computer Hardware Help

Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium Member
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL

Maxo to asdfdfdfdfdf

Premium Member

to asdfdfdfdfdf
said by asdfdfdfdfdf:

I'm not seeing the green led that you mention lighting.

The flash kind of washes out the green light, but I promise it is there and lit.
said by asdfdfdfdfdf:

You say none of the fans try to spin. I assume you are also getting no sounds from the hard drive spinning up?

That is correct.
said by asdfdfdfdfdf:

I assume none of the HH(if you look at the location in your manual) diagnostic leds ever light? They would be, in your picture, at the lower right edge of the image near the pci-e slots.

Correct, the lights that are supposed to indicate the stage in the BIOS boot do not do anything.
said by asdfdfdfdfdf:

Have you made sure that you used the standoffs properly so nothing could be shorting on the underside of the board?

I have and they are.
said by asdfdfdfdfdf:

It sounds as if you have no other power supply to test with?

Unfortunately not.
Maxo

Maxo to Cthen

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to Cthen
Thanks. Hopefully a moderator will move it there.
asdfdfdfdfdf
Premium Member
join:2012-05-09

asdfdfdfdfdf to Maxo

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to Maxo
ok , since the power supply fan is not even turning on I would try disconnecting all the power cables and then try shorting the power supply to life. This isn't a definitive test that the power supply is working properly but if it continues to show no signs of life(i.e. even the power supply fan won't turn on by jumping it) then you have a dead power supply. What you would need to do is to disconnect all your power cables, then plug the power supply into the wall and short the green wire pin 16(which is power on) to one of the black grounds next to it on the 24 pin main power connector(both pin 15 and pin 17 are ground). This should bring the supply to life and the supply fan should start spinning. You can turn it off at the switch on the back of the power supply. If you aren't sure about what I am talking about you can either google "jump start a power supply" and find some walkthroughs or a video, or I will find some links for you.

If you do get signs of life with the power supply fan spinning then do you have a multimeter to do further tests with?

signmeuptoo94
Bless you Howie
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
NanoParticle

signmeuptoo94 to Maxo

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to Maxo
That Apevia power supply uses a voltage switch? So it isn't active power factor correction, and sounds like a pretty cheap unit. I'd get a good supply and hope that that unit didn't fry anything. I strongly suggest a good quality unit rather than risking everything to that. Jonnyguru, hardocp, hardware canucks, and other sites use professional SMPS testing units and review SMPSs that are of good quality.

In this day and age, I wouldn't make a build with a passive PFC unit, simply because, in general, most of them are also cheap and junky.

I've been through 5 defective SMPS units over the course of my building life, so I have experience with bad units.

Boricua
Premium Member
join:2002-01-26
Sacramuerto

Boricua to Maxo

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to Maxo
Have you tried installing the DIMM on DIMM slot 1 (or A). Usually the mobo won't boot up unless the memory is in the first slot. I noticed in the picture it's in the middle.

BK3
join:2001-04-10
Geneva, IL

BK3 to Maxo

Member

to Maxo
The very first and most simple thing that I would check first is this:

If your power supply has a 110 / 220 volt switch, is it in the 110 volt position?

Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium Member
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL

1 edit

Maxo to signmeuptoo94

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to signmeuptoo94
Pardon my ignorance, what is active power factor correction and what is passive PFC?
Can you reccomend a good unit off of Newegg?
Maxo

Maxo to Boricua

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to Boricua
According to the documentation that is DIMM 1. The installation instructions even show a picture of the memory going in that RAM slot. I thought it being in the middle seemed kind of weird, so I did double-check this.
Maxo

Maxo to BK3

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to BK3
said by BK3:

If your power supply has a 110 / 220 volt switch, is it in the 110 volt position?

Yes it is on 115.

Boricua
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join:2002-01-26
Sacramuerto

Boricua to Maxo

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to Maxo
I would try the other slots. I know some documentation (manuals) can be wrong especially when it is written from another language to American English.

Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium Member
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL

Maxo

Premium Member

said by Boricua:

I would try the other slots. I know some documentation (manuals) can be wrong especially when it is written from another language to American English.

The documentation is all pictures. The DIMMs are listed on the mobo too, which match the documentation.
However I will try the other slots and see if that makes a difference.

rolfp
no-shill zone
Premium Member
join:2011-03-27
Oakland, CA

rolfp

Premium Member

said by asdfdfdfdfdf:

google "jump start a power supply" and find some walkthroughs or a video

This would be a good thing to do to quickly identify the power supply as the culprit, in case the psu fan still doesn't spin with a jump-start.

Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium Member
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL

Maxo

Premium Member

I'm going to give jump starting it a shot as soon as possible. Since this is a birthday present, I have to wait until she is asleep to work on it. The last few nights I've just been too beat and went to bed early. Hopefully tonight I'll have the chance to jump start it, and if that shows the supply working fine, swapping the ram out to different slots.

signmeuptoo94
Bless you Howie
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
NanoParticle

signmeuptoo94 to Maxo

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to Maxo
Maxo, I'm sorry I didn't see your response and request.

Power Factor Correction involves alternating current and the sinusoidal wave. IOW, rather than explain it, and bore you with the details of AC Cicruits 101, Active PFC SMPS units "self adjust" (well, for all intents and purposes) to either voltage inputting, you can plug an APFC supply into either a 110 or a 220 VAC house current with no switch needed. Such units generally have more sophisticated and higher quality circuitry along WITH the power factor correction circuitry.

Sure, we can suggest a unit to buy, but rather than give you a fish, why not teach you HOW to fish? Go to jonnyguru, hardOCP, hardware canucks, and other sites for professional reviews by engineers that have the expensive and proper equipment to review the actual performance of units.

Some favored brands include Silverstone, Seasonic, Corsair, PCP&C, Antec, and Enermax. I favor units of those in approximately that order of liking.

Things to look for include stable voltages within better than 2% of expected center voltage (for instance, for 12VDC, withing the range of 11.76 volts and 12.24 volts (the actual spec is 5%, but good units are tighter than that). Low ripple/noise current (it can be damaging to motherboards and drives). Good and efficient cooling. Good parts such as Japanese capacitors (caps are one of the parts used in electronics and often fail). Things such as those things. I've made some lengthy submissions in this forum about what to look for in years past, if you find any of them you can go into more detail...

Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium Member
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL

Maxo

Premium Member

I guess the long and short of it is that the active PFC would give me voltage spike/lag normalization like a UPS does? I had always wondered why power supplies didn't come with that. I guess the answer was that I was just ignorant of it. Thanks for the information as I have had power spikes cause me great pain in the past.
Maxo

Maxo

Premium Member

A'ight. I jump started the power supply and it turned right on. Then I plugged the supply right back in and the PC boots back up. Sheesh, this isn't the first ghost I've hunted down this week. Now off to putting an OS on this thing. Thanks for all who chimed in and offered suggestions.
asdfdfdfdfdf
Premium Member
join:2012-05-09

asdfdfdfdfdf to Maxo

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to Maxo
Problem is probably going to return. Until it gives up the ghost it will be difficult to track down. If it happens again try the same test.

Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium Member
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL

Maxo

Premium Member

said by asdfdfdfdfdf:

Problem is probably going to return. Until it gives up the ghost it will be difficult to track down. If it happens again try the same test.

Thanks. I'll be on the lookout for such problems on this machine. If they do show up I'll take up signmeuptoo94 See Profile's advice. Had I known about active PFC I would have got a power supply with it in the first place.

signmeuptoo94
Bless you Howie
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
NanoParticle

signmeuptoo94

Premium Member

It's not that APFC is that important, but that such units are generally of better quality. What is more important is to get a honestly good unit if you can. Sure, sometimes a cheap one will work "fine", but it can be a gamble.