Dead board or just wrong power supply?

[real_ki]

Hi. I had a dead power supplies and replaced it with another one.
However, I think I might have bought a wrong kind.

This is my motherboard:
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Pro...D=0#Download-3

This is the power supply that I bought:
http://us.startech.com/product/ATX2P...press-and-SATA


Looks like I need one with "Auxiliary 8-pin +12V connector" which I see a 6-pin power connector(for PCI-express) with my PS. And so I tried with just the main power and nothing showed up on screen and no beep or anything. I see fan running, keyboard lights, but see nothing on screen and no beep.
So I tried (probably was a bad idea) plugging in the 6-pin PCI express connector to the 8-pin connector (it fit on one end) and same thing.
Would this have caused my mobo to blow up and go bad?

Or is there still a good chance that my mobo is OK and it's just my PS that I need to get the right one? The one with 8-pin 12V?
Please help. A quick reply would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Paul Komski]

If I'm not mistaken your PSU has a 4 pin ATX 12V connector and you can obtain 4 to 8 pin converters (or obviously a new/different PSU).

4 pin ATX and 8 pin EPS have the 12V connectors on the side of the clip and the returns on the other side. 6 pin, 6 + 2 pin and 8 pin PCIe have the return on the clip side and the 12V ones on the other side. That may seem daft but its the way its done.

You will only know if you have done harm when you able to power things correctly.

All about the various PC power supply cables and connectors

[jlreich]

What are the rest of your system specs? 400w is very low for a modern system. Though you would think you would at least get POST even if it crashed from low power later on.

The 8pin CPU power is only needed for more powerful CPU's such as high wattage quad cores and probably some of the high performance dual cores. Though it doesn't hurt anything if you use an 8pin even if the CPU doesn't need the extra power.

I will say this, if your system is powerful enough to require the 8pin connector then 400w is without a doubt too low. And if it does actually require the 8pin power then it most likely will not POST without it.

As Paul said there is no way of knowing if damage was done until you know you have proper power. I would think it depends on how the wires lined up that you put in there. But I would also expect that it would have caused some sparks and smoke if you crossed some lines. I have crossed DC lines before and it will let you know when it happens.

However with all this being said are you sure the PSU was the issue? Is it possible your board and/or CPU was bad?

[real_ki]

Well.. it's really my brother in-law's computer and I am visiting them now and he mentioned that he didn't set the PS voltage properly initially that there was some spark and someone got this PS for him and unfortunately we don't have the dead PS. So based on his words, PS is more than likely bad and it might have caused the mobo to go bad too, but not certain. Plus with the trial of 6-pin PCI Express into the 8-pin plug could have added damage.

At least we are thinking we would hear the beep even if the other extra power isn't plugged. So, we are trying to figure out if it's going to be worth trying out the the new PS with proper power connectors or the mobo is already dead with initial problems.

This computer is Intel DualCore 6400 I believe. Fairly old (but better than my P4-3GHz which is what I am used to on mobo config and power and this board is bit different and have different connector and etc.), but not too old.

I guess a simple question to start with really is..
If mobo is at least some what functioning, should we at least hear the beep when only the main power is connected? Or would the other aux. power need to be connected for us to even hear the beep?

[jlreich]

The E6400 is only a 65w CPU. No need for the 8pin, 4pin will do just fine. The 4pin connector is keyed so it will only fit on the proper side of the 8pin connector on the board.

he didn't set the PS voltage properly initially that there was some spark

Not good. Not good at all. That could have blown the entire system. No way to tell what it damaged without trying parts in another system or new parts in this one.

If mobo is at least some what functioning, should we at least hear the beep when only the main power is connected?

Not necessarily. The mobo could be perfectly fine, but if the CPU is not functioning you will get nothing but running fans. If you don't have the 4pin CPU power connector the CPU will not function and the system will not POST.

So try the 4pin CPU power. If you still get nothing the mobo and/or CPU is likely bad. You can also remove all ram from the system, turn it on and if the system is functioning to some degree it will give you an error beep. If you still get nothing with ram removed and CPU power plugged in then one or both of the CPU and mobo are bad.

Just to be sure you can unhook any hard drives and optical drives. Bad drives can cause the system to not POST.