[jamesgig]

I just go all of my parts and have never built a pc before. Do I need to elevate the motherboard off the back of the case or can I put it directly on the metal case? Thanks

[Avg]

There are some stand offs that come with the case that goes between the mobo and case, sometimes they are made of plastic and other times they are made of brass. The plastic ones usually come with cheaper cases. If you screw the mobo directly onto the case it will short out and not work or burn out.

[jivetrky]

Here's a guide that might help you along the way (I don't know , I've never read it). THe only thing is that it doesn't seem to have a lot of pictures.

But google is your friend if you don't understand something

[Jame Gumb]

The brass pegs screw into the ATX case, then the mobo lays ontop of them...then the screws are attached. Make sure you only use the brass pegs for the holse needed under the mobo or it could short the board.( if you have uneeded pegs under the mobo)






this guy shows some of the basics: http://www.rackmount.com/pcwsupport/...n-Sheet-v2.htm

Just ask us anything else and we'll walk you through it.

[jamesgig]

I have all of my hardware installed, but have a few questions.

1) I have a FSP Group 600watt PSU and it has 2 4pin connectors at the end of the same wire bundle (connected together but can come apart). Do I just take one and plug it into my motherboard? Does it matter which one?

2) The PSU has 6 periprial connectors. I need 7 (2 dvd drives, 5 fans). The fans that came installed in the case have a male and female connector on them. Can I connect two fans directly together and then connecnt that combination to one of the 4pin on the PSU, so I will only need 6 connections?

3) My case (tt armor) has an alarm with a 2pin wire. Where do I put this on an Asus M2N32-SLI motherboard?

4) The optical drives have an audio cable. What does this cable do, it is not mentioned in the instuctions execpt for a single picture showing where to plug it into the drive? If I am using an x-fi sound card, do I plug these connectors into it or the motherboard? I think each only has 1 plug for this cable, if so, should I plug the master drive in?

5) I have an X-fi Xtrememusic sound card. Can I use the front port headphone and mic connections on my case since I do not have the front panel specifically for that card? And if so, where do I plug in the connectors?

Thanks for your help.

[jivetrky]

1) I have a FSP Group 600watt PSU and it has 2 4pin connectors at the end of the same wire bundle (connected together but can come apart). Do I just take one and plug it into my motherboard? Does it matter which one?
You can use either one, does not matter.

2) The PSU has 6 periprial connectors. I need 7 (2 dvd drives, 5 fans). The fans that came installed in the case have a male and female connector on them. Can I connect two fans directly together and then connecnt that combination to one of the 4pin on the PSU, so I will only need 6 connections?
You can definitely hook the fans and opticals together. But I'd say put each DVD drive on it's own power, then stack 2 fans on one power and 3 on the other. (Don't you have hard drives to hook to these also?)

3) My case (tt armor) has an alarm with a 2pin wire. Where do I put this on an Asus M2N32-SLI motherboard?
Your manual will tell you for sure, but the motherboard probably does not have a connection for this. It would be by the other connectors, like power switch, reset, etc.

4) The optical drives have an audio cable. What does this cable do, it is not mentioned in the instuctions execpt for a single picture showing where to plug it into the drive? If I am using an x-fi sound card, do I plug these connectors into it or the motherboard? I think each only has 1 plug for this cable, if so, should I plug the master drive in?
Don't even worry about the audio cables. Audio is now transferred through the IDE connector...so there's no need for this extra cable anymore.

5) I have an X-fi Xtrememusic sound card. Can I use the front port headphone and mic connections on my case since I do not have the front panel specifically for that card? And if so, where do I plug in the connectors?
You cannot EASILY hook the XFi to the case's front connectors. You have to make a special adapter cable that hooks to the sound card. So the easy answer is no. (you can google to find info on making the adapter cable to be able to hook this up...like try googling X-Fi Front Audio or something like that.)

[Avg]

1. It depends on you mobo, if your mobo happens to have a 24pin connector then you use both plugs if it happens to only have 20pin then obviously you only plug the 20pin plug part. It's important to have all power connectors on the mobo plugged in as that will effect stability.

[jamesgig]

Since each cord has 3 connectors, do you mean I should plug 2 dvd drives and two connected fans into one and 3 fans into the other? I am using sata hdd so they have their own cables.

I already plugged in the 24pin connector to my motherboard, but there is another 4 pin (square). I have only 1 wire with a square 4pin connector on it, but it has 2 of them hooked together. So it does not matter which of these I plug in right (one has green wires, the other has blue)?

One more question, does it matter which fan I plug into which 3pin fan port on the motherboard? I put the CPU fan in the CPU fan slot but am unsure about the rest.

Thanks for your help.

[jivetrky]

Originally Posted by jamesgig

Since each cord has 3 connectors, do you mean I should plug 2 dvd drives and two connected fans into one and 3 fans into the other? I am using sata hdd so they have their own cables.

I already plugged in the 24pin connector to my motherboard, but there is another 4 pin eatx. I have only 1 wire with a square 4pin connector on it, but it has 2 of them hooked together. So it does not matter which of these I plug in right (one has green wires, the other has blue)?

One more question, does it matter which fan I plug into which 3pin fan port on the motherboard? I put the CPU fan in the CPU fan slot but am unsure about the rest.

Thanks for your help.

basically you just want to balance your power lines. With DVD Drives and fans, you aren't putting tremendous strain on them, so it doesn't make a big difference. But you could put one DVD drive on each line and then put the fans on however works best. Or if, for the sake of keeping things neat you just want to put both DVD drives on one line, it should be just fine.

AS far as the 4 pin connector. You most likely have 2 of the hooked together because you have an EPS or EPS compliant PSU. EPS motherboards use an 8 pin connector, but many/most PSU's split these into 4's so that you can use it with an ATX 12v.

As far as plugging fans into the motherboard. I would recommend that you only hook the CPU fan to the motherboard. The others you should try to hook to the PSU. fans on the motherboard sucks extra power from it. And if you plan to overclock at some point, you'll need that power. If you are trying to be able to monitor the fans RPM's then you can get a power adapter that goes from 3pin to 4 pin molex and then has a single sire that goes to another 3 pin connector. This allows you to power the fan with the Molex (PSU conenctor) but still hook it to the motherboard to monitor the fans RPMs

[jamesgig]

I have everything plugged in. I connected the keyboard, mouse, and monitor, but when I turn it on the PC seems to be running (fans spin, LEDs on), but I do not see anything. I only hear 3 beeps. From what I have read, a screen should just pop up. Do I need to put my OS into the CD drive or do something else? Thanks

[jivetrky]

The continuous beeping is your BIOS telling you something is wrong. And I believe the continuous beeping gnerally means there is a problem with either Vido or Memory. So try removing and reseating your video card. And do the same with your memory.

If it does it again, try just putting one memory module in DIMM slot 1 (should either be marked on the motherboard, if not, check the manual)
If it still does it, try the other memory module in the same slot.

hopefully one of those will ix it.

let me know!

[jamesgig]

It went to 1 long 2 short beeps which is video issue. I took the card out and put it back in. Now there are no beeps, but nothing is being displayed on the monitor. Is there anything else that I should try? Thanks

[jivetrky]

make sure you hooked your Monitor back in (I don't mean to make it sound like your dumb, just that I've done that before )

Otherwise, maybe try resetting your CMOS?

Do you now not even get a single beep? (which you should, to indicate a successful boot)

Try the CMOS clear and try reseating the Vid card again to be sure. Also try unhooking everything from the motherboard besides PSU, CPU, RAM, Motherboard, keyboard

And see if that works....then plug things in one by one and see if one causes the problem to come back. Then it's possible that component is causing the problem. (You can then try testing it in another computer to be sure)

[jamesgig]

I took everything but the main parts off (if I take the video card off, how will I know if the system is working), only 1 stick of ram, reset cmos, plugged in monitor (I did that too), but nothing happens (no beeps, nothing on screen) other than that the same as last time. Unfortunately, the only other computer I have does not support any of the hardware. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

[jivetrky]

hmmmm....try removing power from the power supply (let it's capacitors drain) then plug it back in and give it another shot?

I'd say if it's not even beeping at all, something with the board or power may be screwed up.

Try removing the vid card and then try it, see if the MB beeps.

I'll be back in a while, I have to goto the post office and store

[jamesgig]

It still does not work. When I remove the vid card, I hear the 1 long 2 short beeps which signifies a video problem (which is expected). Do I need to put a disk into the cd drive? Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks.

[jivetrky]

Originally Posted by jamesgig

It still does not work. When I remove the vid card, I hear the 1 long 2 short beeps which signifies a video problem (which is expected). Do I need to put a disk into the cd drive? Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks.

Well getting the non video beep was what I was hoping for. Gives a good sign that your motherboard wasn't just dead. What then happens when you put the video card back in? does the board not boot again and not even beep?

The video card that you are using, does it have it's own power connector? maybe make sure that is plugged if it does.

Something else that would be good for testing would be if you could get an old PCI video card. IF the board still doesn't boot with your vid card (not the PCI, but the original one) then maybe the vid card is bad or maybe the motherboards PCIe port is bad.

Let me know!

[jamesgig]

I have power to the card (the fan spins), so I am guessing that I might have a bad video card. I am going to RMA my current one and hopefully that will fix the problem, if not, I will get a new motherboard. Thanks for your help.

[mkorpal]

If your board has two pci-e slots, maybe try the other one.

[jivetrky]

Originally Posted by jamesgig

I have power to the card (the fan spins), so I am guessing that I might have a bad video card. I am going to RMA my current one and hopefully that will fix the problem, if not, I will get a new motherboard. Thanks for your help.

What I meant by power to the video card was that you had the power connector hooked to the video card from your PSU. (The PCIe power connector on your power supply)