Board won't power PSU

I have an Epox 8RDA+ running a 1700+ AMD processor... or at least it should be.

It was a bad deal I got on the classifides (won't go into it at all). Needless to say, this board looked like it had soda sprayed onto it... and it shipped in peanuts without an Anti Static bag, with the memory, hard drives, CPU in similar condition... yeah, I wasn't holding out high hopes...

Plug everything into the case... no power. As in, the PSU won't turn on. Try the paperclip trick and the PSU is fine. Try plugging in JUST the motherboard to see if I can get the PSU to flip over... nothing...

fried motherboard? What else can I try?

Hook at least 2+ amps worth of devices on the psu in question then check rails with a multimeter. Also find a different psu to try on the board. Then post results.

JT

JTanczos said:

Hook at least 2+ amps worth of devices on the psu in question then check rails with a multimeter. Also find a different psu to try on the board. Then post results.

JT

Click to expand...

I'm working on it...

I don't have another PSU to try... and I don't know where the heck I put my multimeter!! Yeah, it is a bad day... I don't think I have quite 2 Amps to put on the 5 volt rail, but I got it close (plugged in two hard drives, cd rom drive, 3 fans) and it powered (using the paperclip trick).

I'll see if I can get you better results though...

Success, finally found the multimeter....

3.41
5.21
12.09

I lifed the whole motherboard out of the case, put a box between it and the case, and tried to power it...

It powered...

Now... where the heck was it grounding!?!? At least I know what the problem is.

I will continue to post if I have any additional problems...

Finished... although I'm not too certain I figured out all the grounding issues... I figured out that if I plug in the front USB ports I get a no boot due to grounding... which is odd...

Oh well, it is working now... which is always a good thing...

Good work! I am glad you figured it out.

The usb issue is actually not that uncommon. Check your case/usb panel manufacturer manual and your mb manual to make sure you have the correct pin layout. If that doesnt solve the problem you might just have a bad pcb for the USB header.

Generally I do a bare test before I put anything in a case. MB, PSU, CPU, Ram and video on the anti-static mb bag. Use a screw driver to short the power switch pins and away it goes!

JT

I hope what looked like soda wasn't electrolyte!!! If it's electrolyte, then there's bad caps, unless the caps were changed before obtaining the motherboard.

RJARRRPCGP said:

I hope what looked like soda wasn't electrolyte!!! If it's electrolyte, then there's bad caps, unless the caps were changed before obtaining the motherboard.

Click to expand...

The caps seemed, and still seem, fine. I still don't know what the heck that gunk was...