I have a HP xt933. I bought a new case to put all of the HPxt933 components into. The old hp case is way too small and impossible to upgrade. I switched everything over into the new case, and got everything setup and plugged in. Once i booted it for the first time, it came on for 5 seconds and shut itself off with the error message cpu fan not on. So at this point i kept trying different settings to try to get the fan to work but nothing. Now when i hit the power button, nothing happens and the bios wont even turn on. Absolutly nothing. Its almost as if i dont have the pc plugged in. The powersource light comes on when i plug it in but when i hit the power button on the front of the case the light switches back off. Im sure the power source is good becuase i tried another power source and the same happens. Im positive the CPU isnt fried cause i took off the heatsink and looked. Please help im out of ideas.
Hmm...check to make sure all of the mounting studs line up with the holes on the motherboard. (you did use those, right?)
like Big B said make sure you have used all the mounting studs, that way the motherboard doesnt touch the case, I've had this problem in the past!
ok, i totally removed the motherboard from the case and booted it. It seems that B was right and that it wont boot when the mobo is touching the case. My new problem is that i cant get the CPU fan to work. I put the CPU fan in question into my other PC to see whether or not the fan was burn out, and it worked. This means that somehow the fan is not getting power, but when i transferred the mobo, i never disconnected the CPU fan from the motherboard. i have all of the plugs connected, but i still cant get the CPU fan to turn on. Would the motherboard touching the metal frame of the case short out something on the motherboard that prevents it from working. THanks in advance.
Things you can try: attaching the fan to another fan header if there is one with in reach, buying a 3-pin to 4-pin adapter so you can run the fan directly from the power supply, or replace the fan. Could be the fan died or that particular header has gone bad.
A little off-topic, but in the event that the MB is touching the case, like what happened with him, will it always just not turn on? Or can it sometimes turn on, short circuit, and then kill itself? Same question for the heatsink and fan. If the fan and heatsink are not working properly, will it just not run like what happened with him? Or could it keep running and then the CPU melt?
It'll short circuit and not power on. The motherboard should be fine. This happnes alot and I haven't heard of people frying a motherboard. If you have no cooling whatsoever on the CPU, you will fry it, and possibly the motherboard as well. If you have a heatsink on it that can prevent a fried CPU---for a little bit, but don't rely on that soley. Unless it's a special laptop-specific CPU, a pre-Pentium II, AMD K6, or other similar chip, you pretty much need a heatsink/fan combo to keep the chip running very long. Lemme tell ya this: a burnt CPU smell is not cool, and you will know it if you fail to have properly installed and/or sufficient cooling.
Well, I've read a ton of guides on heatsink installation because it is so imperative to get right. They say make sure it's plugged in - well, I think I can manage that. They say make sure it's clamped down - okay, got it. And that it's on all four pads on the processor - okay, got that, too. The parts that I'm afraid of: making sure not to hit the motherboard when securing the clamps, and making sure that the heatsink does not touch the socket anywhere. In the event that any of those went wrong, is there a chance that the motherboard would recognize this and not power on? Or would it not be able to tell and just turn on and burn it up?
The motherboard will power on---however, you'll probably get some beeps indicating an issue with the CPU. You'd have to do a very poor job installing the heatsink to short anything though. It's best to install the heatsink with the motherboard outside the case...some larger heatsinks, especially those with mounting posts that use holes around the motherboard, like Swiftech and Alpha coolers and water blocks, require it--at least for the mounting posts. The 2 biggest dangers during a heatsink installation are having the screwdriver slip and destroying a surface mount component and cracking the CPU die enough to render the CPU useless---which is usually accompanied by a crunching sound. Back to the topic @ hand: OJ: how's the PC going? Had time to work on it any yet?
