Gentlemen, Please Help! (MoBo Woes)

[Scorpiоn]

Okay, last night I actuallt had my computer running, imagine that!  There it was, in all its' heap o' junk glory, running its' 64-bit heart out!  But this morning, I go to screw it in, and when I turn it back on...

Black screen.

I doubt it's anything but the Motherboard, and it happened after I screwed it into place.  What could I have done?  My dad says it shorted itself out.  All the little metal things on the back (solder points, I guess) touched the case, and my dad says that should be so.  Then again, my dad said I'd have to guide every pin on the processor with a pair of ultra-high-small tweezers.

I think I might've overtightened a screw. One thing I do know however, is the board seems to keep restarting by itself.  If I eject a CD tray, it retracts after a second or two, just as if I had hit the restart button.  Also, if I turn the PSU on, the computer doesn't start; only by the ATX button will it start - so I know the MoBo isn't completely fudged.

Is there a restore defaults button? I wish...

[Jared]

Do you have a reset cmos option with the mobo?

alos sure does sound like a short to the mobo....usually happens like you have described, and in some cases does no lasting damage...

[Gixer]

R u sure you mounted it correctly?  My case came with little bits to bolt on so the Mobo is well away from the case.  The only points that touch are where you do it up.

I would go with unbolting it and trying it not in the case again! if that doesnt work then try clearing BIOS and re-starting. If that doesn't work  :(

Doesn't sound like your having much fun setting up this rig  :(  Still at least everything you will learn of this one you will know for the next!

[Ivan]

did you use the spacer things?

Restore defaults... the hard way if the BIOS can't be opened: remove battery for half a minute, then put it back in

[4_Series_Scania]

Sounds like an earth problem to me, get the board out and re-fit it, make sure everything is where it should be, nice and tight (but not too tight as to damage the pcb... ) and try again......

Oh, Less of the "Gentlemen" if you don't mind! - It's just not me!  ;)  ;D

[Scorpiоn]

Good to know it can probably be fixed!

I took the battery out for awhile, and I did a CMOS jumper thingy.  I switched the jumper, turned it on for a second, and switched it back.  Now it just turns on as soon as I apply power to the PSU.  The ATX switch has no effect whatsoever.

No fun at all!

Spacer things?  Umm, I never knew of the like...

[Iroquois]

Scorp, I think it's time you took it to a licenced repair shop. Sometimes we just have to admit that there are some things we can't fix.

[Jared]

[quote]Good to know it can probably be fixed!

I took the battery out for awhile, and I did a CMOS jumper thingy.

[Hawkeye313]

Scorpion, if I read your post right, then you have the mobo actually touching the wall of the case.  That should not be so.  Your mobo came with some small plastic/metal things called standoffs.  These screw into your case and the motherboard sits on top like these are little legs supporting it.  The standoffs are screwed into the case, the motherboard is put on top, and the securing screws pass throught the mobo into the standoffs (if the standoffs are plastic they probably just push throught the board w/ no securing screw).  Do a Google search for "PC standoff", that should produce some pics.   If you have a Lian Li case it may be a "U" shaped piece of metal that secures to the case with little tabs.  If the mobo is touching the case then it is shorting and that is what happened.  If I read you wrong and the board is secured correctly, then try this.  Secure the mobo with the processor, hard drive, and memory (no other drives etc.) and see if it will boot.  I've had this happen before and sometimes it can be the weirdest thing.  Computers are moody at times.  Good luck and welcome to PC building.  It can be both trying and addictive.    Let us know how it goes.

[congo]

Here, I drew you a pic,

I will draw pics of evrything if thats what it takes!

[congo]

[quote]
I took the battery out for awhile, and I did a CMOS jumper thingy.

[Ivan]

reset switch doesn't matter how you connect it
Power switch possibly... haven't had any problems with that one...

[Scorpiоn]

DON"T TURN THE PC ON during that phase

Uh oh...

What happens if I do?

Many thanks for that picture Congo, it turns out I have a bunch of them.  I couldn't quite figue out what they were for...

[Hawkeye313]

I've never seen anything really go wrong.  Remember the black wire is usually negative.  If you don't have black, your predominant color is negative.  Way to go on the artwork Congo  ;D

[congo]

Scorpion,

I don't really know what would happen if you power on while the CMOS reset jumper is on, you are a pioneer in this procedure.  ;)
If you get the case wiring wrong, it shouldn't cause any problem other than incorrect operation as you had.

However, there is a pretty good chance that you may have already permanently damaged several components by letting the mainboard pins short out onto the PC's metal case. The damage could be minimal or widespread to involve the CPU, addon cards, mainboard chips and circuitry, and possibly IDE, USB or SATA devices.

If your PC ends up working, consider yourself VERY lucky.

If it doesn't work, take it back, and try not to explain anything using a blank and extremely vague look.