fresh system with an attitude that almost never powers up

[gameboy3800]

so i just built up an r7 1700x rig with a zotac 1070 mini and msi b350 tomahawk board with 16gb gskill memory. i've paired it with a not brand new but still very good confirmed working seasonic gold rated 500w power supply. the build went smoothly and looked very nice inside my recently acquired original Voodoo Rage D-100 case. i go to hit the power switch... nothing. sure enough the psu switch was turned off. typical. but even on... nothing. tried reset switch, still no. i've built and fixed many machines in the past. and i'm not sure what's up.

 

not everything here is new; the case is obviously older than most of linus's viewers, the hyper 212 cooler is an oldie with an ekwb vardar fan from a previous cooling setup. all the case fans are hooked up to an external molex powered fan hub for manual control. seasonic psu isnt brand new but i have confirmed its working condition setting up another machine recently. processor was brand new still sealed. the memory was used but i know that wouldn't keep it from powering up even if it was dead. hard drive and nvme boot drive are brand new. msi board was the cheapest b350 board with everything included at the time of my looking for parts on ebay, claimed it being 'like new with no signs of ware' from a user/store with over 200k feedbacks. so everything seems to check out; it should at least give a power cycle or a beep code. but it's like, 'nah'.

 

one thing not helping the whole situation is that msi boards are pretty bleh. this one in particular has a completely unlabeled front panel connections area, and the manual itself seems to just be for a generic board. eventually i gave up on trying using the normal power button and have now resorted to jumping it via screwdriver. still to no avail.

 

i tried unplugging one thing at a time; the molex powered original light tube, the new fan controller, the hard drive, the wifi card, and eventually found that unplugging the graphics card power and enough poking with the screwdriver at a very strange sideways angle did it power up. but of course, with the gpu power being unplugged i got no display. i've now hooked everything back up and it's being a pain again and has not shown life since.

 

is there a secret to this particular msi board or is it just trash? any sort of jumpers i should be worried about or anything like that that would keep it from even power cycling? and is there a special pinout for the front panel connectors that's different from the norm?

 

big thanks to anyone who can solve the mystery. 

[Stormseeker9]

Correctly connected the front panel connectors to the board? @gameboy3800

[gameboy3800]

Just now, Stormseeker9 said:

Correctly connected the front panel connectors to the board? @gameboy3800

i tried literally every combo, including jumping with a screwdriver which has worked only once.

[Stormseeker9]

Just now, gameboy3800 said:

i tried literally every combo, including jumping with a screwdriver which has worked only once.

I meant the on/off reset switch.

 

there must be in your manual somewhere a diagram showing where which connectors goes. Usually bottom row is uneven number top one even. 

[gameboy3800]

2 minutes ago, Stormseeker9 said:

I meant the on/off reset switch.

 

there must be in your manual somewhere a diagram showing where which connectors goes. Usually bottom row is uneven number top one even. 

i should clarify; i put the power switch header in every conceivable orientation on every single pair of pins. nothing did the trick.

[gameboy3800]

i can confirm that there is no problem with the front power button, as this case housed an older i5 system by its previous owner that powered up and worked fine.

[Stormseeker9]

3 minutes ago, starcoaster said:

start by offering at least three virgin sacrifices to the lord cthulhu, that might help

 

 

it sounds like your board's dodgy. rough handling and a broken trace perhaps. RMA it or return and get another brand of board if you're finding the MSI a bit "bleh". you can double check your switch is OK by putting a continuity test across the pins and actuating it but if the switch has recently been working then yeah it's probably fine

Agree here

[gameboy3800]

1 minute ago, starcoaster said:

start by offering at least three virgin sacrifices to the lord cthulhu, that might help

 

 

it sounds like your board's dodgy. rough handling and a broken trace perhaps. RMA it or return and get another brand of board if you're finding the MSI a bit "bleh". you can double check your switch is OK by putting a continuity test across the pins and actuating it but if the switch has recently been working then yeah it's probably fine

it is a voodoo... so that might just work.

 

i've been no rougher to this board than i have others; i built the board up on its mobo box and it installed in the case very smoothly. last thing i could try is a different power supply. seasonic's good but i have suspicions about this one. yea it did get a system up and running before. but i'm not totally convinced it's 100%

[GoldenLag]

29 minutes ago, gameboy3800 said:

very good confirmed working seasonic gold rated 500w power supply

dont think seasonic makes good 500 watt PSUs that i am aware of. 

29 minutes ago, gameboy3800 said:

s there a secret to this particular msi board or is it just trash?

shouldnt be causing issues, but it is a pretty darn bad board. they were the one lineup of B350 board that were known to be just bad. 

 

 

edit: in other words, what is the full name of the PSU?

[gameboy3800]

3 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

dont think seasonic makes good 500 watt PSUs that i am aware of. 

shouldnt be causing issues, but it is a pretty darn bad board. they were the one lineup of B350 board that were known to be just bad. 

 

 

edit: in other words, what is the full name of the PSU?

box pic

[GoldenLag]

Just now, gameboy3800 said:

box pic

drain the PSU capacitors as good as you can by unplugging it from the wall and attempting to turn on the system. 

 

try again then. 

 

otherwise im suspecting the PSU OCP triggering. those PSUs are wellknown to do so. 

 

@Stefan Payne any ideas?

 

 

does it attempt to powercycle and shuts of?

or does it do nothing at all?

[gameboy3800]

Just now, GoldenLag said:

drain the PSU capacitors as good as you can by unplugging it from the wall and attempting to turn on the system. 

 

try again then. 

 

otherwise im suspecting the PSU OCP triggering. those PSUs are wellknown to do so. 

 

@Stefan Payne any ideas?

 

 

does it attempt to powercycle and shuts of?

or does it do nothing at all?

nothing at all until i started unplugging stuff. i will try to drain the caps next time i am able to.

[Stefan Payne]

What USB Devices do you use? Any (cheap/old) USB Enclosures?
In some times they might hinder the Boot.

 

Even if its new, its possible that something is not right.

 

But I'd start with removing and inserting the Memory...

[gameboy3800]

2 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

What USB Devices do you use? Any (cheap/old) USB Enclosures?
In some times they might hinder the Boot.

 

Even if its new, its possible that something is not right.

 

But I'd start with removing and inserting the Memory...

only thing hooked up to the board was a keyboard. no sort of external storage or anything like that. the memory should be fine. even if its not, it shouldn't keep it from power cycling.

[gameboy3800]

1 hour ago, GoldenLag said:

drain the PSU capacitors as good as you can by unplugging it from the wall and attempting to turn on the system. 

 

try again then. 

 

otherwise im suspecting the PSU OCP triggering. those PSUs are wellknown to do so. 

 

@Stefan Payne any ideas?

 

 

does it attempt to powercycle and shuts of?

or does it do nothing at all?

So good news and bad news...it does reliably power on with the button now, but only with the GPU power disconnected. 

 

Good news is I've narrowed it down to either GPU or psu. Bad news is...I've narrowed it down to either GPU or psu... cant win em all i guess. 

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, gameboy3800 said:

Good news is I've narrowed it down to either GPU or psu. Bad news is...I've narrowed it down to either GPU or psu... cant win am all i guess. 

does it attempt to post with the GPU connected and then fails or does it not try at all?

[gameboy3800]

1 minute ago, GoldenLag said:

does it attempt to post with the GPU connected and then fails or does it not try at all?

nothing at all with gpu connected. i can try different gpu power cables from my 1200w prime series if that will make a difference?

[GoldenLag]

4 minutes ago, gameboy3800 said:

i can try different gpu power cables from my 1200w prime series if that will make a difference?

dont. 

 

mixing cables is not something you should do at all unless you are 100% sure it has the same pin layout. 

6 minutes ago, gameboy3800 said:

nothing at all with gpu connected

do you have the possibility to test another GPU?

[JCP]

8 minutes ago, gameboy3800 said:

nothing at all with gpu connected. i can try different gpu power cables from my 1200w prime series if that will make a difference?

Let's hope it works this time!

[gameboy3800]

1 minute ago, GoldenLag said:

dont. 

 

mixing cables is not something you should do at all unless you are 100% sure it has the same pin layout. 

do you have the possibility to test another GPU?

well it wouldnt have the same pin layout because the other gpu cables are 8+8, not the 8+6 that i have for this 550 unit.

 

the only other gpu that requires external power that i have is my radeon vii that's currently in a water loop that i'd really rather not undo.

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, gameboy3800 said:

well it wouldnt have the same pin layout because the other gpu cables are 8+8, not the 8+6 that i have for this 550 unit.

identical connectors might have different pin layouts. dont mix cables between PSUs. 

 

you can test another PSU. just dont put those cables on to another PSU

[gameboy3800]

2 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

identical connectors might have different pin layouts. dont mix cables between PSUs. 

 

you can test another PSU. just dont put those cables on to another PSU

the molex cable i'm half sure is from the 1200w and it works fine to power the fan hub and lights.

 

sadly the 550 unit is the last psu i have that's not already fully integrated into a system already. 

 

guess i should start looking for an actually new unit. big sad.

[gameboy3800]

On 6/18/2019 at 7:59 AM, GoldenLag said:

identical connectors might have different pin layouts. dont mix cables between PSUs. 

 

you can test another PSU. just dont put those cables on to another PSU

So I just traded out the GPU power cable with one from my 1200w psu box and lo an behold it boots right up. Gg original owner who sold me the 550w unit for including the wrong cables.