[m33e]

hey all,

i am sorry this isnt a report about my finished build per se, as i am struggling getting it to work on the hardware-side, and dont know what might possibly be wrong. so im hoping that somebody has an idea, because i am about to give up >.<

my hardware list:

CPU: Intel Core i3-3225
MoBo: ASUS P8H77-I
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP Series Arctic White DDR3-1600
Case: Streacom FC8-Evo
PSU: Streacom ST-NANO150 (150W)
SSD: Crucial m4 2,5" SSD, SATA 6G - 64 GB
BluRay: Sony BD-5850H

now I never even put the whole thing together (as in fitting everything into the case). i breadboarded it first, then even going back to a minimal configuration. result is always the same: the motherboard standby LED is always on, so i guess there is power.
i connected everything exactly as its supposed to be, but when i hit the power button the power LED only flashes briefly, CPU fan tries to spin up, fails, tries again, fails again. sometimes it succeeded and went on spinning, but that was very rare.

i tried 2 different PSUs (300& 400W), results exactly the same. i eventually RMA'ed both CPU and motherboard, since one or both of those components were possibly to blame. however, it didnt get much better. the first boot with the new hardware actually reached POST (speaker beep) & the power LED was lit the whole time, however no video (first try with new hardware was with the more powerful PSU). the PSU & CPU fans did the try-to-spin-up-then-stop-then-spin-up-again thing again, though. next i tried the streacom PSU & again no boot, fans try to spin but only succeed occasionally.
removed & replaced CMOS battery, did the jumper thing, but nothing helped. after several failed attempts, the fans gave up altogether, too. so now im left with a motherboard that only shows a working standby LED, thats it.

i tried with 2 ram sticks, switched ram slots, with 1 stick, switched slots, no RAM at all, no CPU, the result is always the same, so i guess something must be faulty...

i dont really know what went wrong. i want to rule out the PSU(s) since I have 3 of them. but may it have been possible that the small one is broken and kind of fried board/cpu along the way?

some other questions came to my mind, like does the ASUS P8H77-I ship with a BIOS that supports the I3-3225? although im pretty sure it does. still i cant really confirm since i cant reach the BIOS/EFI, google brings up nothing related to factory version and ASUS did not yet respond to my email.
but maybe one of you guys has the same board & cpu & could rule this out?

its really frustrating....

[MediaPlayer]

My first thought would be to check compatibility of all your hardware. I have bought a few barebones kits online and had to trade out some parts because they will not work together. Memory is one of the bigger problems but CPU and MOBO need compatibility. I see CPU/MOBO kits online that are sold that will not work yet they are sold. This is why manufactures have compatibility charts to look at.
I would start by looking at the MOBO chart for RAM and CPU compatibility.

[solamnic]

Tried different RAM?

[m33e]

i actually tried different RAM (from my desktop PC), that didnt help. my RAM does not show up on the compatibily sheet (not the low voltage version at least), but i found some configurations online with same RAM & the asus board, thats why i bought the two.

as for the CPU, as i mentioned, the i3-3225 is compatible with BIOS revision 0307 and above. yet i dont know my boards version for sure.

unfortunately i dont get any beeps from the speaker (except for one single time, but that was just the 1-short everything ok beep), so i cant narrow it down to a certain component.

[eskro]

have you plugged your PSU's CPU P4 POWER CONNECTOR to you motherboard's cpu p4 socket??

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/12v4pin.jpg

[PatrickVogeli]

eskro got a very good point... are you sure you are fitting everything together as supposed Are you putting the CPU how it is supposed to be inserted? The socket has 2 latches which have to be aligned with the processor. Maybe you are not placing the cooler correctly and it shuts down because of excessive heat?

Also, make sure that you aren't shorting out the motherboard. Have you placed it onto some non conductive surface?? That's very important.

About the processor vs bios issue, I think we can rule that out, since it seems that bios 0307 is the initial Revision, so you should be good.

Basically, there's 2 options: either you are trying a bunch of defective hardware (including your rmas and/or the components you already have), which I think is unlikely, or you are doing something wrong. How experienced are you assembling computers?

[DavidT99]

On the ASUS P8H77-I the 4pin CPU power connector is blue, make sure that is connected to the PSU.

Also check you have wired the front panel header correctly.

David

[GortWillSaveUs]

and another question,...are you running these tests with a CPU Cooler installed?
A CPU will go into thermal shutdown very quickly without the cooler installed,...and,...

even with a cooler installed, if the CPU Cooler's fan is jammed (won't spin), that will also cause a shutdown.
I know since an errant wire dislodged on me and found it's way into the CPU Cooler's fan.

I'd also recommend in the future that you assemble in the case,...
This will keep the MOBO from getting shorted underneath, force you to examine every wire, and is probably what most builders do.

[awp0]

I had a problem like this when I jumped the power switch header with wires instead of using a real case power switch. I didn't realize that you just want to touch the wires momentarily rather than tie them together. The resulting behavior was similar to what you're describing.

[m33e]

thanks for all the responses so far

have you plugged your PSU's CPU P4 POWER CONNECTOR to you motherboard's cpu p4 socket??

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/12v4pin.jpg

yes, of course I know people forget to do so quite often, the web is full of issues like this. but at no time I had forgotten to plug the cpu power connector.

eskro got a very good point... are you sure you are fitting everything together as supposed Are you putting the CPU how it is supposed to be inserted? The socket has 2 latches which have to be aligned with the processor. Maybe you are not placing the cooler correctly and it shuts down because of excessive heat?

Also, make sure that you aren't shorting out the motherboard. Have you placed it onto some non conductive surface?? That's very important.

About the processor vs bios issue, I think we can rule that out, since it seems that bios 0307 is the initial Revision, so you should be good.

Basically, there's 2 options: either you are trying a bunch of defective hardware (including your rmas and/or the components you already have), which I think is unlikely, or you are doing something wrong. How experienced are you assembling computers?

the CPU is seated fine. latches align, and the triangle mark is at the bottom left. its designed to only fit one way
I can rule out overheating, too. after testing, I disassembled everything, and I think the cpu didnt even get that warm, if at all.
the board was always placed on a clean cutting board, 100% wood. and yes, ASUS confirmed to me that the i3-3225 is supported out of the box.

even with a cooler installed, if the CPU Cooler's fan is jammed (won't spin), that will also cause a shutdown.
I know since an errant wire dislodged on me and found it's way into the CPU Cooler's fan.

I'd also recommend in the future that you assemble in the case,...
This will keep the MOBO from getting shorted underneath, force you to examine every wire, and is probably what most builders do.

CPU fan should be fine. there were some very rare tests where it did actually spin for more than 2 seconds. PSU fan behaves the same way btw, and I tested 2 different CPU fans and 3 different PSUs.

I had a problem like this when I jumped the power switch header with wires instead of using a real case power switch. I didn't realize that you just want to touch the wires momentarily rather than tie them together. The resulting behavior was similar to what you're describing.

hm. I always used the power switch & its cables from my case. maybe there is something wrong with the wiring within the isolation/plastic plug-wrap....

[awp0]

Well you might try a different power switch, if possible. Of, if you have header wires, then you could connect those to the switch header and just touch them together momentarily to turn the computer on, I would unplug all of the header connections that are not necessary. In fact, I could be wrong but I think all you need is the power switch and the CPU fan. I don't think you need reset/USB/audio/alarm/etc or anything else. Keep it as basic as possible and see if anything changes.

[bluray]

You can start a computer without a power swtich. I usually uses the tip of flat head screw drive as it show in Newegg video "Newegg TV: How To Build a Computer - Part 2 - The Build" (you can forward it to about 14.50). Sometime, I uses wire by keeping one side of the wire connect to one lead and another end tough/release action.....all you're doing is trying to mimic the Momentary Switch of the power button.....

[m33e]

i just bridged the switch header pins with a screwdriver for a brief moment. absolutely nothing happens (as with the power switch). as i explained, the first few trys showed at least some response from fans & stuff, but I think some component fried the other somewhere along the way and now its senseless to try anything..

i was running the system with just PSU, CPU & heatsink fan. so I would rule out the RAM completely, since the board should do something and then beep for not having any RAM plugged (thats what ASUS said, too). so my last & best guess is the PSU is bad and fries my board/cpu each time. probably I have to RMA again, this time + PSU.

what do you think?

[bluray]

No beep code is a very good sign of having bad PSU......