Can't align motherboard in case (possible I/O shield issue ?)

[Bulby]

I decided to go ahead and build my first pc today. 

Everything was going well until I had to fit the motherboard on the standoffs in the case. Out of the 9 holes, I can only get the 3 on the bottom to align. The others are all slightly off. The motherboard has an integrated I/O shield that seems to be causing this issue.

 

From what I understand the outward metallic parts of the I/O shield in that board are just made to rest on the inside of the case but here it seems like this is what is preventing me to align the MB. However, the I/O shield is just too large to make it go through the outside of the case. 

 

There is also a very small space between the back of the case and its side (https://i.imgur.com/VvBYNfY.jpeg) where the I/O shield (https://i.imgur.com/JxhFT04.jpeg)sometimes gets stuck, preventing me from manipulating the board. I’m being careful since I don’t want to scratch the board but I’m also starting to get desperate. I'd take it to a shop to help but carrying all that there without a car would be a huge pain.  

 

Here is how misaligned some of the standoffs look : https://i.imgur.com/r2jxF3g.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/SmyMZ1y.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/cxUzAtu.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/7MmtQRm.jpeg 

 

From the outside the I/O shield seems seated fine https://i.imgur.com/bXxSWrm.jpeg 

 

The case is a be quiet pure base 500DX and the Motherboard a MSI MAG Tomahawk B650.

 

I'm not sure what to do at this point so any advice is appreciated. 

[TatamiMatt]

Im not sure how to help your issue currently but ill send you photos of my i/o when im home, ive also got the same motherboard and a sort of similar case

 

Gut feeling though, give it a good wiggle and it might just click into place and line up with standoffs

 

I/O shield will need a little pressure and it should click into place and give you a few extra millimeters and the standoffs should line up then.

The same way a unconnected I/O shield needs to be pushed in til it clicks into place if youve ever fit one of those

[OhioYJ]

That looks about normal. I wouldn't say it's abnormal to need to apply a gentle amount of pressure sometimes to get things to line up. 

[kitnoman]

Looking at your I/O, I'm pretty sure it's not fully inserted yet. That's why it doesn't align with the crews. What I would do is to remove those fans first and take you time sliding the board into place. If possible,  you can also include a quick video. Also don't be afraid when you hear a click, it should snap into place.

 

 

[Bulby]

44 minutes ago, TatamiMatt said:

Im not sure how to help your issue currently but ill send you photos of my i/o when im home, ive also got the same motherboard and a sort of similar case

 

Gut feeling though, give it a good wiggle and it might just click into place and line up with standoffs

 

I/O shield will need a little pressure and it should click into place and give you a few extra millimeters and the standoffs should line up then.

The same way a unconnected I/O shield needs to be pushed in til it clicks into place if youve ever fit one of those

Oh so it should actually snap into place ? In the videos I watched of the people installing that board it seemed like they had no need to push it hard or anything. I noticed those dents around the back of the case. Would those prevent me from snapping it to the case ?  

[TatamiMatt]

Those seem like the "latches" that grab onto the I/O shield, you should see the silver part of the shield kind of have a lip and should work something like this, excuse the bad drawing

 

The red is the silver part of the I/o shield, the yellow is the little tabs youve shown above

[Bulby]

53 minutes ago, kitnoman said:

Looking at your I/O, I'm pretty sure it's not fully inserted yet. That's why it doesn't align with the crews. What I would do is to remove those fans first and take you time sliding the board into place. If possible,  you can also include a quick video. Also don't be afraid when you hear a click, it should snap into place.

 

I'll try snapping it later, the fans you see are from the CPU cooler, I already removed the back fan from the case. Thing is, at a slight angle it's quite hard to get a grip to push it in place, even when I angle the board a bit. It also feels like I have more chance of scratching the board that way. 

[Bulby]

4 minutes ago, TatamiMatt said:

Those seem like the "latches" that grab onto the I/O shield, you should see the silver part of the shield kind of have a lip and should work something like this, excuse the bad drawing

 

The red is the silver part of the I/o shield, the yellow is the little tabs youve shown above

Just tried it, the little space on the side of the case I talked about is what's preventing me to push it in it seems. The I/O shield keeps getting stuck in it...

[TatamiMatt]

7 minutes ago, Bulby said:

Just tried it, the little space on the side of the case I talked about is what's preventing me to push it in it seems. The I/O shield keeps getting stuck in it...

You can probably bend those little tabs out of the way with some pliers if theyre getting in your way, if thats what youre talking about

 

Do you have your standoffs in the back of the case for the motherboard to sit on? If not, thats might be the extra bit of height that you need, another option is to look up how to install I/O shield on your case, the I/O shield that comes stock and unattached should have the same dimensions as the pre-installed one

 

Just found this, this may help

 

[Bulby]

No my issue is that space circled in blue 

Part of the I/O shield gets stuck there when I try to snap it into place. 

I also found this reddit thread (and many others lol) but sadly it did not help. I wasn't trying to really snap it in place though so I should try again. 

Standoffs are here (8 + the one in the middle that is just to "sit" the motherboard) they are all screwed tight, I tried loosening them a bit to gain some height in my first attempts yesterday but decided against it as they ended up too loose for only a few millimeters. 

 

Edit : just tried again after removing the screw on the side of the I/O shield and that doesn't change anything. No matter how hard I press the shield against those dents, it won't go in.

Edited December 5, 2024 by Bulby

[TatamiMatt]

Could try bending that outwards a little to get it to sit in, screw it into place and bend it back as flush as it will go? Im not too sure other than that

[Bulby]

So I decided to screw the holes that were aligned at the bottom and by doing so it turns out it moved the MB just enough for the remaining holes at the top to be aligned. 

The I/O shield is just resting against the case, I did not need to snap it into place. 

 

Thank you everybody that tried to help.