Can't get new build to start

[SinerAthin]

Hey guys.

I'm currently building a new PC. I'm done assembling the parts, but I can't fire the bloody thing up

My MB is a MSI Z87 MPOWER (NEW)
PSU is a TX850 (OLD, BUT TESTED TO WORK YESTERDAY ON MY OLD COMP)
GTX 780 Nvidia GPU (NEW)
My CPU is a Intel Core i7 Processor 4770K (NEW)
16G of ram with two sticks. (NEW)
Case (OLD)

I am using my old Hard Drive and SSD, as I was Sysprep'ing the machine.

THE PROBLEM: I press the Power Switch(both on the case and the big green ON/OFF button on the motherboard itself) but the computer won't turn on. No fans spinning, no beeps, no reaction on my monitor. It's just dead silent and pushing the buttons have no effect whatsoever, even when I press the buttons on the motherboard itself.

What confuses me about this problem is that, even though my computer won't start; the lights, both on the case & the motherboard, are up.

When I plug in the power cable, the lights on my case light up and the buttons on my motherboard(to start it up etc) light up as well. When I turn off/remove the power, the lights disappear.


Do you guys have any idea what might be the cause of this?
I've been rearranging cables for the last 2 hours without any progress, switched GPU back and on multiple times(mostly so that I could get to some cables because it was blocking the way), switched the RAM cards from being one slot away from each other to being next to each other etc.

[irishron]

The last time I had this happen I forgot to plug the 4-pin plug into the motherboard.

[SinerAthin]

The last time I had this happen I forgot to plug the 4-pin plug into the motherboard.

Well, there's a lot of plugs with a lot of pins.

Which plug exactly are you referring to?

[irishron]

Misspoke. On my board it's 6-pin and the 12v plug.

[SinerAthin]

Misspoke. On my board it's 6-pin and the 12v plug.

Np.

Where on the card is the plug/receptacle usually located?

Above the CPU?

[irishron]

Mine's top, right between the peripherals and the cpu.

[SinerAthin]

Mine's top, right between the peripherals and the cpu.

I have two sockets above the CPU, each with room for 8 pins.

I only have 1 4x2 PIN cable, the rest is 6+2 PIN ( I believe these are for the GPU exclusively?).

This is my Mobo:

[irishron]

Check the plug on your 6-pin cable. If it says power of any kind, good chance it fits the 4+2 slot.

Your manual is online but I don't feel like downloading 812mb to look it up.

[Volound]

Have you tried just running a screwdriver along the power pins? That's what I and everyone I know does.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

his motherboard is an enthusiast board it has 2x 8pin EPS plugs

its possible his power supply only has 1x 8 PIN EPS in which case try each of those 8 pin connectors on the motherboard 1 at a time see if it boots

this not to be confused with 6+2 pin PCIe plugs your dumb enough to stick those in your gonna fry the system.

On the left is 4+4 aka EPS 8 PIN on the right is the 4 Pin Older or cheaper motherboards use 4pin expensive boards use the 8 PIN your motherboard has 2x 8pins to offer maximum amount of power possible for overclocking however what you got was an over hyped board as Haswell has a hard TDP limit of 154w a single 8 pin can handle 288w your board when setup right can give nearly 600w of power to the CPU which it cant really use.'

Regardless your TX 850 should have an 8 PIN EPS connector that is actually 2x 4pin EPS make sure they are side by side on the same wire just hold them together and push them into the plug on the motherboard try one then the other see if it boots if it doesnt board could be dead or your doing something wrong.

[SinerAthin]

I have attempted putting the 2x4 pin connector into each of the different CPU power slots, fully pushing it in. But neither have had any effects. Neither fans spin nor the CPU lights up.

I have not tried putting only 1 4 of the 2x4 pins into one of the sockets though, it seemed rather counter intuitive.

Have you tried just running a screwdriver along the power pins? That's what I and everyone I know does.

What would this achieve me?

[Crazyeyesreaper]

boardf probably DOA then get it replaced. regardless that board isnt that great to begin with extremely overpriced has bios issues and in general performs worse than MSI's cheaper gaming series motherboards.

[SinerAthin]

Yeah, I was thinking so as well.

I'll give it one last shot with a complete disassembly and reassembly. If that doesn't work, I'll take it to the shop and ask them if they can tell me what's wrong.
Having read a few articles, it seems that it could be anything from dead Mobo, damaged CPU or inadequate/poor/old PSU, or even faulty case(the case is more than five years old I think).

Hopefully they'll be able to troubleshoot it, and I'll return whatever parts that don't work.

I'm also considering, if I am to get a new mobo; to get the MSI Z87-G45 Gaming, Socket-1150 which is on sale at the moment with 12% off.




But one of the things that make me curious about the MPower Mobo that I am trying to get to work now is that the CPU power slot has two individual 2x4 pin sockets, but my PSU only has one 2x4 pin.
To make the mobo work, would I have to fill both of the slots? Or just one?

I pretty much only got 6+2 pins left.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

on the Mpower it only needs 1 8-pin EPS plug or at oleast it should in all honesty like I said its a stupid gimmick

x79 3960x overclocked can draw 300+ watts yet my x79 board at $450 only has 1 8pin EPS plug no issues

Haswell has a hard limit at 154w half that so why it needs 2x 8 pins is just plain ignorance

the GD45 is a decent entry level board but the GD 65 is superior

I have the GD65 on hand so if u have questions about the BIOS etc I can help

The good thing about the gaming series of MSI motherboards is that on the GD65 at least and the GD45 altho less sure on that one it repeorts the Cache and CPU voltage of the chip in an easy to verify manner on first bios entry

But getting the proper info on that first boot you can actually grade you Haswell CPU on how well it will overclock

and again DO NOT USE 6+2 pin for power those are ment ONLY FOR GRAPHICS CARDS if you try to force those in you will kill the mobo cpu and ram.

[SinerAthin]

the GD45 is a decent entry level board but the GD 65 is superior

Why do you say the GD 65 is superior?

I thought the only purpose of the Motherboard was to serve as a carrier for your CPU, GPU etc. As long as it had the sockets it would be all right.

How is the GD 65 better than the GD 45?(besides probably being a newer version)

and again DO NOT USE 6+2 pin for power those are ment ONLY FOR GRAPHICS CARDS if you try to force those in you will kill the mobo cpu and ram.

Hah, don't worry. I don't feel like having a firework just yet xD

I intend to use my boards for a bit before letting them go up in smoke and fire!

[Crazyeyesreaper]

GD45 is entry lvl GD 65 is the next stage up

think of it like 1 2 3

use to be GD 45 GD 65 GD 80

each one signifies a step up

The GD45 is missing all the OC-oriented stuff the buttons, probe header, dual BIOS, OC Genie switch, and a SATA 6 Gb/s controller along with a less efficient VRM.

Essentially the price difference between the two the GD45 is overpriced while the GD65 is slightly lower priced vs its competition but choice is up to you really.

You originally had a mobo thats priced at $260+ board

MSI Mpower Z87 blah blah $259.99 MSRP
MSI GD65 Gaming = $189.99 MSRP
MSI GD45 Gaming = $159.99 MSRP

So I dont see why you would go from the $260 crap board to the $160 entry lvl board

the GD65 is one of the best balanced Haswell boards on the market Its up there along with Gigabytes Z87 UD4H\

BUt I digress if you really want to go that far back in price

the GD45 will suffice the Gigabyte Z87 UD3H is also a solid board as well for the entry level OC market. Both are the same price just as the UD4H and GD65 are the same price.


Considering the amount you have spent on other components I just cant see dropping all the way back to the Entry lvl OC boards.

[SinerAthin]

Those are good points.
The reason why I considered using a lower board was because I thought the difference would be negligible, and that the 45 was the first thing I found on sale


Do you have any GD 65 or even 80 cards that you would recommend? How big is the step between?


I've looked at the MSI Z77A-GD65, Socket-1155



What is the difference between switching between a Z77 and a Z87 Mobo?

Will doing so cause any problems with my current CPU?


I also considered the MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming, Socket-1150 as well. It's better and still cheaper than my current Mobo(albeit only slightly), and there is also a cheaper ASUS Z87-PRO, Socket-1150 but I don't know about ASUS boards.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

Z87 supports haswell ha Intel 4000 series CPUs 4670k 4770k etc you cannot use a z77 mobo with a Haswell CPU
Z77 supports Intel 2000 and 3000 aka 2500k 2600k 3570k 3770k

There is also the fact that in GAMING the GD45 and GD65 do slightly better than there competitiors altho only slightly aka youll never notice but I guess a feather in the cap is still a feather in the cap. If paired with an MSI nvidia gaming series GPU like the GTX 770 or 780 gaming their is a bios option to allow for higher voltage on the GPU which allows the GPU to BOOST its clock speed even further for higher peformance

[GrnEyedDvl]

I am going to throw something obvious out there that some people overlook when putting a new machine together because it hasn't been mentioned yet. Are all your standoffs in the right place? Those are the little brass things that keep your motherboard from actually touching the case. If you have one in the wrong place, it can ground out the board because a board trace or something else conductive is touching it and its transferring to the case.

[SinerAthin]

Good news!
The machine is up and running!

There were no malfunctioning hardware.
There were no missing or misplaced cables.
There were no screws missing/too tight/in the wrong place.
There was no bad PSU.

I simply removed one of the 8gb sticks of ram, and BOOM; the whole thing lit up like a christmas tree!(no, it didn't explode, the lights just came on)

I ran into some problems at the setup screen with "Windows could not configure the files" or something, but after some hardcore button-mashing and a couple of restarts; I'm finally in a (very slow) "Setup is installing devices" phase.

Now I choose to be optimistic and hope I don't run into yet MORE problems