3 Mobos, 2 CPUs... all the same problem

[NickTheBiz]

Afternoon boys, help me out here I've got a confusing one.

I've got 2 CPUs and 3 Mobos I've saved from PCs that have kicked the bucket and I'm trying to put together something usable from the spares.

All 3 Mobos are H61M chipset, 1 MSI and 2 Gigabytes. The chips are an i3 and i5 (2500 I think).

I'm basically trying to power the components up (with memory therein) and hard drive connected to start building them and see if they still work. But any combination of the CPUs and mobos (and trust me I've tried all of them) result in the same thing... Initial power to the case fan and PSU, but the chip's stock cooler struggles to spin. Might spin for a few seconds, then stops and then starts again.

What am I missing here? Surely it's user error but I've built a few PCs in my time and can't recall such a problem before.

 

[NickTheBiz]

Tried different memory and different PSUs to no avail.

 

[L0stpr0phet]

I'm certainly no expert but few things i'd try

Is the 4pin power to the mobo connected up ok?
Do you have the case usb headers etc connected if so maybe try removing as much as you can and go back to single stick ram and try each slot
Maybe build outside the case maybe there's a weird short?

 

[NickTheBiz]

Yes, I'm building outside the case so have the bare minimum setup.

Incidentally I've just chucked together a 5800K AMD CPU I had lying around wiht a cheapie FM2 socket mobo, with the same PSU and memory I was trying without any issue at all. Booted straight up. All very odd.

I've read elsewhere about the mobo battery needing to be popped out and reinserted which I've done without any change. Yes, the 4 pin power to the mobo is connected as well as the long main connector.

 

[Reality|Bites]

all three boards are dead then?

 

[zola25]

Probably a stupid question, have you reset the CMOS on the boards?

 

[NickTheBiz]

Probably a stupid question, have you reset the CMOS on the boards?

Can you do this from a jumper setting?

 

[zola25]

Some boards also have switches, but most have jumpers. Unplug the board and move the jumper or bridge the pins for a few seconds - the manual will give instructions specific to the board.

TBH this is a bit of a long shot as it's been three different boards and you've already tried removing the batteries, but worth a try in my view.

 

[dreamcat4]

* Not enough volts from ring mains? i.e. too high load for the mains.

* All 3 mobos have dead CMOS battery? (unlikely)

Do any of the mobos work / came from other working systems? Where did the parts come from? Same source?

* You are using a screwdriver on bare power header to turn it on yes? (eliminates faulty power switch).

* Did you also plug in supplementary 4 or 8 pin CPU power connector? Answer should be yes.

* Are you using the same set of cables across all 3 hardware configurations? Then one of those cables is either faulty or mis-wired. E.g. With modular power supplies, you may have used the same mobo power cable(s).

* Is the reset button also plugged in at the same time. Is that faulty?

 

[NickTheBiz]

* Not enough volts from ring mains? i.e. too high load for the mains.

* All 3 mobos have dead CMOS battery? (unlikely) No

Do any of the mobos work / came from other working systems? Where did the parts come from? Same source? One motherboard and CPU came from a working system but no longer seems to work

* You are using a screwdriver on bare power header to turn it on yes? (eliminates faulty power switch). No

* Did you also plug in supplementary 4 or 8 pin CPU power connector? Answer should be yes. yes

* Are you using the same set of cables across all 3 hardware configurations? Then one of those cables is either faulty or mis-wired. E.g. With modular power supplies, you may have used the same mobo power cable(s). No

* Is the reset button also plugged in at the same time. Is that faulty? Nope, not plugged in

Cheers for the response. Might have a look at the original (was previously working) system again today.