installing nf7-s.

well im at work now but im in the process on installing my nf7-s v. 2.0 and i am just curious as to what the most common problems are when you first install the motherboard and how to fix it? besides the motehrboard being dead or stuff that you obviously cant fix.

One thing you need to do is make sure that all of the little screw mounts (the little metal studs that you screw into to attach the mobo to the case) line up with the holes in the mobo. You definitely do not want any mounts in the wrong location, or they could short out the backside of your mobo.

The big thing is simply take your time, don't get in a hurry, and double check that you have connected everything correctly before you turn on the power to your mobo (especially make sure that the CPU fan is plugged in).

I recommend that you always go immediately into the BIOS when you first power up your computer and check your CPU temp and voltages. You don't want to fry anything while you are installing Windows, or even just waiting on Windows to load.

what should my temp and voltages be at?

The CPU voltage will depend on what CPU you have (something like 1.50V, 1.60V, 1.65V, etc.). But I would also check the 3.3V rail, the 5V rail, and the 12V rail. Each of these rails should be close to the value listed.

The CPU temp will also depend on what CPU you have and what HSF combination you have, but I would make sure that it is at least less than 50C. It really should be less than 40C while you are sitting at idle in the BIOS. If you see it increasing to 50C or 60C, then you probably need to shutdown and try reseating the heatsink on the CPU. You may also need to reapply the thermal compound between the heatsink and the CPU.

If you intend to overclock the CPU, then you should really "lap" the heatsink. This involves sanding the bottom of the CPU with extremely fine sandpaper (600-grit to 1500-grit) to remove any roughness from the bottom of the heatsink. This will improve the performance of the heatsink, and help your CPU run cooler.

Double check that you put the heatsink on correctly as it can be easy if your not paying attention to put it on 180deg reversed. Talking from experience. I got in a rush and deep fried a very nice 2100 aiuhb.

Edward2 said:

One thing you need to do is make sure that all of the little screw mounts (the little metal studs that you screw into to attach the mobo to the case) line up with the holes in the mobo. You definitely do not want any mounts in the wrong location, or they could short out the backside of your mobo.

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my god edward, i never thought of that!i almost shrieked in horror as i read that, thinking to myself " you moron, how could you never check something so obvios!" guess ive been real lucky as its never happened to me, shorting the board via backside interference that is.

I have seen someone attempt to screw a motherboard directly to the case before, later he wondered why the hsf was too big for the nb

A friend of mine mounted his mobo to the case with 2 extra screw mounts behind the board. He was lucky that it did not fry his mobo. When he tried to power up the computer for the first time, it would not boot at all. He checked everything he could think of and then called me. After a while, we removed the mobo from the case and I noticed the 2 extra screw mounts. We removed them, and then the computer booted just fine.

thanks for the help guys. ive got everything installed and when i run the hardware doctor, it says the -12V is 13.18-13.26 (it moves within that range) and basically beeps. It also says the chassis fan is off and same as the power. but I check all of my fans and they are running? Im just curious how serious that voltage problem is, b/c i will be getting a new power supply this week and so do you think it is safe to still run my computer with that -12v? and what does it mean when the it says the chassis and pwer fans are off but i can see them spinning. thanks

No fan RPM means either two things. One, the fans don't have RPM monitoring via a yellow wire on the 3 pin connector; or two, the RPM monitors are dead in the fan and/or mobo. The 12v rail detector on the mobo might be off a bit, I'm not entirely sure as how to go about that, or if you should run it. People other than me should help you with that. But I would like to mention that my KX7-333R's voltage detectors for 12v, -12, -5v, and -3.3v are all broken and it detected -12v as 5v, and completely different other voltage rails, and my NF7-s detects them as well within tolerances and exceeding a few; so bearing that in mind, it could just be a misread.

Alright, and you are exactly right about the yellow connector not being plugged in b/c it is not long enough. Do you know of anyway or program where I can get an accurate reading of my voltage? and do you guys recommend to just unistall hardware doctor since its not that accurate or what.

Most of us use Motherboard Monitor 5, just do a google and you'll find it. It shouldn't be different from your current hardware monitor as they both read directly from the bios.

I wouldn't worry about the -12V rail or the -5V rail. They are not really used for anything. I think most people (myself included) do not even monitor them.