My First Build ...need a bit of help

[dieselcat18]

I just completed my 1st system build and everythig seem to go fine till I powered it up. Everything works except my CPU fan. The LED light and fan will come on and run for several seconds then power down....In the builders guide provided from this site *which was pretty good to follow) it mentioned that after power was connected and the system is turned on for the first time, if the CPU fan does not spin it could be a result of a bad motherboard or PS.
If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions on what might be the problem and how to correct it, I would be very grateful....

Thxxx,
Diesel

 

[Laurijan]

First thing i would do is to put all things apart and build it again..

 

[fecklessbutfree]

Did you plug in the 4-pin/8pin P4 connector (often in the top left of the board)
Sorry if this seems obvious, but I have been known to do silly things like that then wonder why the board would not POST.

 

[orphy]

so is the computer staying on? it could just be the fan control in the bios. Often see this with amd builds.

 

[Laurijan]

Did you plug in the 4-pin/8pin P4 connector (often in the top left of the board)
Sorry if this seems obvious, but I have been known to do silly things like that then wonder why the board would not POST.

Really good idea

 

[freaksavior]

I just completed my 1st system build and everythig seem to go fine till I powered it up. Everything works except my CPU fan. The LED light and fan will come on and run for several seconds then power down....In the builders guide provided from this site *which was pretty good to follow) it mentioned that after power was connected and the system is turned on for the first time, if the CPU fan does not spin it could be a result of a bad motherboard or PS.
If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions on what might be the problem and how to correct it, I would be very grateful....

Thxxx,
Diesel

I agree with everyone atm.

Check all the cables, make sure its all plugged in. Sometimes you do have to rebuild it to work.. has happened several times with me.

 

[dieselcat18]

Thank you all for your input...sorry I didnt reply back sooner...just got home from work.

To answer some of your questions, I'm using the 8 pin connector (not the 4) off the power supply, plugged into the motherboard, just above the cpu and I did check that amoung my other connects and all seemed to be fine....Next I double checked the CPU Fan connection and ran the 3-pin connect from the fan to the plug from the fan speed control and the 3-pin connect fron the fan speed control to the cpu fan connection on the mother board.
When I power up, every thing comes on, including the cpu fan, but the fan only spins for several seconds then stops.
Also my burner doesn't power up at all and that plus the cpu fan are connected to the motherboard. Making me wonder if the mobo is bad.

The one other thing that is strange, after I shut it down (I've only left it running for no more than 30 seconds because of no cpu cooling) I'll let it set for a good 5 mins and try to power up again and I get totally nothing...no power anywhere.....After letting it sit for a really good length of time....30-45mins...it repeats the process of starting up (minus the cpu fan and DVD burner) again.

I was wondering if putting to much thermal-grease on the CPU and bottom of the fan would cause this, I was very careful to scrap as much of a thin layer using a credit card as I could. I did run out of artic-silver 5 with the cpu fan and had to finish up with the Zalman grease that came with the cooler.....don't know if mixing the two together would cause a problem.

Sorry this is so long a reply...but I'm a bit nervous I may have either screwed up a bit or got a bad part.....

I have been thinking of following the suggestions you all made of doing a disassemble and putting it all back together again to see if anything happens. If it did come down to a faulty mobo or possibly a bad PSU....any suggestions how I could be sure if I had to RMA it ?

Oh...and I haven't even started to do anything with the BIOS yet as I don't want to keep it running with no cooling on the CPU.

Again .... thanks for everyone's input....it is well appreciated....

Diesel

 

[fecklessbutfree]

Have you reset the CMOS using the CMOS reset jumper (You will need to look in the mobo manual for where this is). Its always advisable to clear the CMOS on a new build. As far as I know, using too much thermal paste should not cause this problem (unless you put a whole tube on and caused the CPU to overheat - unlikely)

 

[dieselcat18]

Have you reset the CMOS using the CMOS reset jumper (You will need to look in the mobo manual for where this is). Its always advisable to clear the CMOS on a new build. As far as I know, using too much thermal paste should not cause this problem (unless you put a whole tube on and caused the CPU to overheat - unlikely)

No, I haven't reset the CMOS, but I will give that a go tonight and see if it does anything.
When I applied the thermal paste, I used just a small droplet, enough just to cover the surface.

One other concern I have is when I placed the CPU chip in the socket,
I made sure that it lined up correctly according to the install diagram.
Once the chip was in, I lowered the load plate and pushed the cpu socket lever back into the locked position....I had to excert a good amout of pressure to push the lever down, getting it to lock into place.....is this normal ?

THxxxxx

 

[Kenshai]

When it starts next time, go into the bios and check the health monitor or pc status. Should give you temperatures and rpm's of fans. The fan control part should be here. See if you turn it off if it turns the fans on as soon as you boot.

Now your DVD drive, check the power cable going to that. Even if it isn't plugged into the motherboard a light should still come on for it.

As long as it clamped down alright, I don't think there is an issue with over exertion on the chip. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't cause an issue like this.


Will you fill out your system specs in User CP at the top, on the left side will be edit your system specs. Just put them in there and make sure to save it.

 

[dieselcat18]

When it starts next time, go into the bios and check the health monitor or pc status. Should give you temperatures and rpm's of fans. The fan control part should be here. See if you turn it off if it turns the fans on as soon as you boot.

Now your DVD drive, check the power cable going to that. Even if it isn't plugged into the motherboard a light should still come on for it.

As long as it clamped down alright, I don't think there is an issue with over exertion on the chip. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't cause an issue like this.


Will you fill out your system specs in User CP at the top, on the left side will be edit your system specs. Just put them in there and make sure to save it.

I now have the DVD burner and the CPU fan running and staying on after start up....it's a bit odd but I kept looking at the CPU fan plug and on the Zalman cooler it has a 3-pin connect on both the fan and the speed control. The instructions say to connect the CPU fan to the CPU_Fan plug on the mother board, but that is a 4-pin connect. I switched the CPU fan connect over to the SYS_FAN1 plug on the MB, which has 3-pins, and BAMM !!!!....that CPU cooler fired right up and kept going this time.....
I am wondering if this will harm anything by using the SYS_FAN1 connection on the MB instead of the CPU_FAN connection ?
All seems to be running fine now...I get 1 beep when I power up and the Phase LED's are all on indicating the CPU loading ( guess that's a good thing ?

I'm assuming that I still need to do a CLR_CMOS, manual says I can use a screwdriver to touch the 2 pins for a few seconds with the power off and sys unplugged to clear the CMOS values before I head to the BIOS....If this is wrong can someone please let me know ?
One other question about BIOS settings...is it best for me to load optimized defaults or to manually configure the BIOS settings ?

Thxxxx again to everyone that took the time to help by responding with suggestions and tips....you all are great ! .....

 

[fecklessbutfree]

I now have the DVD burner and the CPU fan running and staying on after start up....it's a bit odd but I kept looking at the CPU fan plug and on the Zalman cooler it has a 3-pin connect on both the fan and the speed control. The instructions say to connect the CPU fan to the CPU_Fan plug on the mother board, but that is a 4-pin connect. I switched the CPU fan connect over to the SYS_FAN1 plug on the MB, which has 3-pins, and BAMM !!!!....that CPU cooler fired right up and kept going this time.....
I am wondering if this will harm anything by using the SYS_FAN1 connection on the MB instead of the CPU_FAN connection ?
All seems to be running fine now...I get 1 beep when I power up and the Phase LED's are all on indicating the CPU loading ( guess that's a good thing ?

I'm assuming that I still need to do a CLR_CMOS, manual says I can use a screwdriver to touch the 2 pins for a few seconds with the power off and sys unplugged to clear the CMOS values before I head to the BIOS....If this is wrong can someone please let me know ?
One other question about BIOS settings...is it best for me to load optimized defaults or to manually configure the BIOS settings ?

Thxxxx again to everyone that took the time to help by responding with suggestions and tips....you all are great ! .....

There is a known fault where if automatic fan control is set to 'on' the system will not boot. You should do no harm using Sys_fan1, but you may get a warning every time you boot saying no fan is plugged in (this can be turned off in BIOS I believe)
What I would do with the BIOS is to load optimised defaults, then tweak the settings you think you would like to change (for example boot settings or overclock settings)

Just one other check, when you installed the mobo, did you use the brass (or plastic) standoffs supplied with the case, I know this may sound daft asking, but you would be surprised how many people forget.

 

[dieselcat18]

There is a known fault where if automatic fan control is set to 'on' the system will not boot. You should do no harm using Sys_fan1, but you may get a warning every time you boot saying no fan is plugged in (this can be turned off in BIOS I believe)
What I would do with the BIOS is to load optimised defaults, then tweak the settings you think you would like to change (for example boot settings or overclock settings)

Just one other check, when you installed the mobo, did you use the brass (or plastic) standoffs supplied with the case, I know this may sound daft asking, but you would be surprised how many people forget.

Thxxx feck,

I used brass standoffs...lol....they came with the mobo....after all the warnings in the different install guides about short circuiting the motherboard it made me very paranoid.

I connected the mobo to my monitor, keyboard and mouse to boot and got nothing...screen stayed black and keyboard and mouse don't power up.
I read a few post about this board and a few people were having problems with no booting or if it did, getting a endless system booting loop.
One person suggested that the memory dual channel slots were a problem and to remove all ram except for 1 channel. He was them able to get the MB to boot....but only being able to run 1 channel on this board is a problem too.
I did try running just the one stick of ram and took everything out except for the cpu, VGA and memory, but got no results....still would not boot. So I'm stuck...can't boot and can't access the BIOS.

I was in COMPUSA this afternoon and spoke with one of their tech people and he said it looks to be a defective MB if I was getting a blank screen and no connection on the USB ports.
So now I'm thinking, do I go the complete breakdown and rebuild route 1st to see if that makes a difference, or do I just RMA the board back to Newegg for a replacement ?.....DAMM !....that machine looks so nice all put together and turned on.
I double checked all connections on MB, PS and PCI & memory slots...all seems good.
Anymore tips ?

Thxxxx guys....appreciate all the help.

 

[fecklessbutfree]

Thxxx feck,

I used brass standoffs...lol....they came with the mobo....after all the warnings in the different install guides about short circuiting the motherboard it made me very paranoid.

I connected the mobo to my monitor, keyboard and mouse to boot and got nothing...screen stayed black and keyboard and mouse don't power up.
I read a few post about this board and a few people were having problems with no booting or if it did, getting a endless system booting loop.
One person suggested that the memory dual channel slots were a problem and to remove all ram except for 1 channel. He was them able to get the MB to boot....but only being able to run 1 channel on this board is a problem too.
I did try running just the one stick of ram and took everything out except for the cpu, VGA and memory, but got no results....still would not boot. So I'm stuck...can't boot and can't access the BIOS.

I was in COMPUSA this afternoon and spoke with one of their tech people and he said it looks to be a defective MB if I was getting a blank screen and no connection on the USB ports.
So now I'm thinking, do I go the complete breakdown and rebuild route 1st to see if that makes a difference, or do I just RMA the board back to Newegg for a replacement ?.....DAMM !....that machine looks so nice all put together and turned on.
I double checked all connections on MB, PS and PCI & memory slots...all seems good.
Anymore tips ?

Thxxxx guys....appreciate all the help.

Did you try to clear the CMOS.
If you have the time to spare, rebuild the entire system outside of the case on a piece of cardboard or antistatic foam (don't use an anti-ststic bag - they are actually conductive). Then start it up outside of the case. If it doesn't work then, I don't think it will ever work .

 

[hat]

Plug the CPU fan connector into the CPU_Fan labeled header on the mobo. I know you said it's a 4 pin. Mine is too and my 3 pin cooler worked just fine. The 4th pin is PWM, a feature on some coolers. The 4 pin header is designed to be perfectly compatable with regular 3 pin fans.

 

[dieselcat18]

Did you try to clear the CMOS.
If you have the time to spare, rebuild the entire system outside of the case on a piece of cardboard or antistatic foam (don't use an anti-ststic bag - they are actually conductive). Then start it up outside of the case. If it doesn't work then, I don't think it will ever work .

The anti-static bag is conductive ?....I did not know that and it's funny you mentioned that because I did lay the MB on the anti-static bag with the piece of anti-static foam under the bag that it came wrapped in inside the box while installing the ram, cpu and cpu cooling fan on the dining rm table before I installed it into the case.
I also did attempt to clear the CMOS. I didn't have room to place one of jumper clips on the MB, could not fit my fingers in there. The manual said I could use the tip of a screw driver to touch the 2 cmos pins for several seconds and that would cause it to short out and reset......I did that, but whether or not it did anything I'm not sure.

So I will be taking your advice to rebuild it again and try to start it up outside of the case....I guess that means I will need to arrange the MB outside of the case while attached to the power supply and plug in my monitor and other USB items to see if I get a boot up on the screen ?

I'm wondering if this still does not work and the MB appears to be dead, could that have been a result of my laying it down on the anti-static bag to assemble, in which case would have possibly been my fault ?.....
My wife even told me before I started to use some cardboard or get a piece of poster matboard to lay down....guess I'll listen to her next time.

Also the other poster that mentioned about my question earlier concerning the connection of the 3-pin cpu fan plug to the 4-pin cpu fan header on the MB. I just could not get the cpu fan to run with it plugged into that 4-pin header...tried several times and no luck.
When I tried switching the 3-pin connector to the 3-pin sys-fan1 header, it turned on and kept running fine.
My concern was, would it be a problem running the cpu fan this way which might cause some damage ? Or must it only be connected to the cpu_fan header ?

One other question (really sorry if I'm getting to be a pain in the 'ars')
When I disassemble, does that mean I need to take it apart right down to the cpu chip out of the MB ?.....and if that is the case, do I need to remove any and all thermal-grease from the chip and bottom of the cpu fan and then reapply new grease before reinstalling it ?

Thxxxxx everyone......

 

[Silverel]

Also the other poster that mentioned about my question earlier concerning the connection of the 3-pin cpu fan plug to the 4-pin cpu fan header on the MB. I just could not get the cpu fan to run with it plugged into that 4-pin header...tried several times and no luck.
When I tried switching the 3-pin connector to the 3-pin sys-fan1 header, it turned on and kept running fine.
My concern was, would it be a problem running the cpu fan this way which might cause some damage ? Or must it only be connected to the cpu_fan header ?

One other question (really sorry if I'm getting to be a pain in the 'ars')
When I disassemble, does that mean I need to take it apart right down to the cpu chip out of the MB ?.....and if that is the case, do I need to remove any and all thermal-grease from the chip and bottom of the cpu fan and then reapply new grease before reinstalling it ?

Thxxxxx everyone......

Generally you need a fan plugged into that 4-pin CPU_FAN header. I've had a couple boards that wouldn't allow you to boot without it. It's the only way the board knows that something is cooling the processor. If you only have a 3-pin that's fine. 1+2 are the 12v and ground, 3 is fan speed, and 4 is fan control. Just plug it in where it fits (it should only fit one way), and have a go at it.

If you're removing the HSF from the proccessor, it's best to reapply, but I don't do it. Just smooth it back out with a credit card, and check temps after you get it running.

 

[dieselcat18]

Generally you need a fan plugged into that 4-pin CPU_FAN header. I've had a couple boards that wouldn't allow you to boot without it. It's the only way the board knows that something is cooling the processor. If you only have a 3-pin that's fine. 1+2 are the 12v and ground, 3 is fan speed, and 4 is fan control. Just plug it in where it fits (it should only fit one way), and have a go at it.

If you're removing the HSF from the processor, it's best to reapply, but I don't do it. Just smooth it back out with a credit card, and check temps after you get it running.

Thxxxx Silverel....and also to 'HAT' for bring this cpu fan issue back to my attention again.....

My plan now is plugging the cpu pan back into the cpu_fan header, make sure it's connected properly and see if it keeps the cpu fan running this time.
I'm wondering, you mentioned that some MB's will not boot unless the cpu fan is connected into the cpu_fan header....if mine still does not work connected like that, could it be an indication that there is something wrong with the MB ?

Even if I don't get the cpu fan running from how it's suppose to be connected, I'll still disassemble and rebuild everything again to see what happens......at that point if nothing works is it safe to say the MB is dead or was bad in the beginning ?

Also any comments about the suggestion made in my MB manual about clearing the CMOS by using a screwdriver to touch the 2 header pins .....is this a good idea ?


THxxxxxxx

 

[fecklessbutfree]

Thxxxx Silverel....and also to 'HAT' for bring this cpu fan issue back to my attention again.....

My plan now is plugging the cpu pan back into the cpu_fan header, make sure it's connected properly and see if it keeps the cpu fan running this time.
I'm wondering, you mentioned that some MB's will not boot unless the cpu fan is connected into the cpu_fan header....if mine still does not work connected like that, could it be an indication that there is something wrong with the MB ?

Even if I don't get the cpu fan running from how it's suppose to be connected, I'll still disassemble and rebuild everything again to see what happens......at that point if nothing works is it safe to say the MB is dead or was bad in the beginning ?

Also any comments about the suggestion made in my MB manual about clearing the CMOS by using a screwdriver to touch the 2 header pins .....is this a good idea ?


THxxxxxxx

It should clear the CMOS but the issue is keeping the screwdriver steady enough to succesfully clear it (usually about 10 secs)
You wouldn't have killed it by putting it on the anti-static bag - It wouldn't do any damage, but it is not reccomended.
Try the CPU fan around the various sockets just to eliminate that as an issue. 3 - pin should work in a 4-pin no probs. I would take out the CPU and reapply thermal paste - just in case.

 

[dieselcat18]

It should clear the CMOS but the issue is keeping the screwdriver steady enough to succesfully clear it (usually about 10 secs)
You wouldn't have killed it by putting it on the anti-static bag - It wouldn't do any damage, but it is not reccomended.
Try the CPU fan around the various sockets just to eliminate that as an issue. 3 - pin should work in a 4-pin no probs. I would take out the CPU and reapply thermal paste - just in case.

Thxxxx again feck.......I'll rotate the fan connection around the different sys_fan headers to make sure they all work and then try reconnecting the cpu fan back into the cpu_fan header to see if it works....

 

[dieselcat18]

I disassembled and reassembled everything, double checked all connections and now I'm able to get MB to post and access the BIOS. It also seemed to resolve the cpu fan connection problem...all is running fine.
I want to thank everyone for their input and suggestion in helping me solve my posting problem.
System temps running @ 38C
CPU temps @ 29C

CPU Frequency is running at 2.66GHz, needs to be at 3.16GHz, so I'll need to adjust that...Mem Frequency @ 1066MHz, so that is fine....
All in all.... considering this was my 1st build, I really didn't have to many problems except for not getting the MB to post first time around.

Again...a big thanks to everyone....

 

[paybackdaman]

So your E8500 is at 2.66Ghz? That doesn't sound right. If the CPU spec is for 3.16Ghz it should be 3.16Ghz in Bios. something sounds fishy there. You shouldn't have to OC a processor that is rated for a certain GHz it should just be.

 

[dieselcat18]

So do you think the cpu that came in that retail package might not be an E8500 chip ? The side of the Intel box has the certification stamped on it...have any idea what might cause it to show below spec. in the BIOS ?

 

[paybackdaman]

I have no idea. The only processor in the E series that should run at 2.66Ghz is the E8200. When you get into windows go to computer properties, and check to make sure it is an E8500. If it is an E8500 then you may have a setting in bios that is set different or it might be defective. If it isn't RMA it.

Edit:

Check to see the multiplier is set to 9.5 x 333. that will get you your 3.16Ghz. If this is the solution it should be set to 8 x 333, right now to get 2.66Ghz

 

[fecklessbutfree]

The probable reason for the wrong speed is that the BIOS does not support the multi of the e8500. You need to update the BIOS to resolve this. (Or just raise the multi manually). Also check to be sure that the board is not incorrectly giving the chip over 1.365v (the absolute max for 45nm) - 1.15v is possibly the VID (default voltage).

Glad you got it sorted finally. Have you re-assembled the mobo in the case yet?