4p 12v connector on board may be faulty?

[SinCrisis]

Hey guys,

I recently changed out my heatsink and psu. I changed from the intel stock cooler to a passive one by silverstone and a 500w silverstone psu to a 700 ocz psu. For some reason, everything in the case works except for when i plug the 4p 12v power connector in, its the one by the cpu. When that 4 pin plug is in, turning the computer on results in everything turning on and then shutting off immediately. Does anyone know why this is happening? is there a way to fix it myself?

[x88x]

So, just to clarify, you have everything hooked up normally but with the 12V MBB connection not plugged in, and it works just fine, but when you plug in the 12V MBB connector, it exhibits this behavior?
(just to make sure we're talking about the same connector):
http://www.pcguide.com/byop/diagrams/figure9.jpg

If that is correct, well, it's rather odd that it works without that power connector, but I would say that the 12V rail in your PSU that the connector comes off of is unstable/dying. You can get an adapter to pull off a molex rail, but if the PSU is under warranty, you really should just RMA it.
adapter:
http://pccableusa.com/Converter%20Cable/4pin-p4-cable.jpg

[SinCrisis]

I will go and order this adapter, but i feel that it may be the board since my other psu now exhibits this same behavior when i plug it in. Could it be something with the new heatsink? such as having it too tight?

also, is this what im looking for? http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1092/cab-08/ATX_201_-_203P4_12V_Adapter.html

I'm having trouble finding a short adapter that's 4pin to 4pin, everything seems to be 4pin to 6 or 8.

[x88x]

Yes, that should work just fine. The 6 and 8 pin adapters are probably for PCIe power feeds on GPUs.

Considering that your other PSU now does the same thing (I assume it didn't before), I wouldagree that it is probably a problem with the MBB. Tightening the heatsink could have done something, particularly if you tightened it to the point of cracking some leads on the MBB, but let's hope that's not the problem ;)

[SinCrisis]

how do i check if its damaged my motherboard?

[SinCrisis]

OK so i wondered if it was my heatsink being too tight and, possibly irrationally, i loosed one screw a little and turned it on and voila it works. Is it still my motherboard? Is something cracked and the loosened screw allowed the leads to touch again? If so should i get a new mobo to be safe?

Also, now that the psu turns on with the 4 pin in, nothing shows up on my monitor. It causes my monitor to wake from sleep but then it shoes no dvi signal and goes back to sleep, is this now a gpu issue?

[x88x]

Having the HS/F tightened too far may have just been bending something, or it may have cracked something. Either way, personally, as long as it's working I would leave it be.

Does your computer have a system speaker? If not, do you have one that you can hook up? (It connects to a header on the MBB, not the sound card, in case you didn't know.) The system speaker will usually beep if something is wrong, and depending on the sequence of beeps, sometimes it'll actually tell you what's wrong. Without that information, it sounds to me like you have some bad RAM in there. TBH, I wouldn't be too surprised if that were the case. It's not common, but not unusual, for some RAM chips to get fried when you switch PSUs. I'm not sure why exactly, it probably has something to do with irregularities in voltages that all PSUs have; the RAM becoming accustomed to one, and then switching to another fries them..or something along those lines. So, I would pull out all your RAM and try it one stick at a time. It is unlikely (though not impossible) that all of your RAM sticks got fried, so hopefully at least one should work.

[SinCrisis]

I do not have the speaker on the motherboard. However, since the board isnt event posting on my monitor could it be something with my gpu? I pulled out teh rams but they dont smell like they fried and look perfectly fine. Shouldn't my board at least post on my monitor and freeze if it was a ram or other hardware issue?

[x88x]

If you have bad RAM, your board will do..well, pretty much exactly what it's doing. I suppose I use 'fried' in a rather loose way; you generally will not see any physical difference, and there will not be a smell. It is entirely possible that there is a problem with your GPU, but imo the RAM is the more likely culprit. Though actually, it occurs to me just now...if your GPU has a dedicated power hookup on the board, make sure that is plugged in. That could also create the behavior you are describing.

[SinCrisis]

well the gpu fan comes on, ill try the ram see if one works. The new heatsink does push on the first ram bit a little, i really hope its not that, but then again i guess it would be cheaper and less work if its the ram and not the motherboard.

[x88x]

You might want to try (very carefully) filing down the heatsink, or maybe turning it 90 degrees, if it's touching the RAM at all. Worst case it could be bending the stick, best case it might just be making it run a bit hotter than it should.

[SinCrisis]

well since the mothboard ont even post on my monitor its probably the worse case if theres something wrong. I cant turn the heat sink, all other ways of installing it would put it in more contact with the ram. however, the ram is barely bent, just a little bit towards the other stick, roughly 5 degrees from the base. I tried starting up with both rams in or out in the second slot, and i got no luck.

[x88x]

however, the ram is barely bent, just a little bit towards the other stick, roughly 5 degrees from the base.
Yikes! Ok, yeah, that might very well have been the origin of your problem. If the stick is bent that much, it's likely not even connecting with all the contacts, and may have even damaged either the RAM stick, the slot on the MBB, or both. Have you tried booting with just the other RAM in just the other slot(s)?

[SinCrisis]

Sorry about the ultra delayed response, I live in DC and we got hit ahrd by the snow and i had to catch up on schoolwork cuz I ended up procrastinating and drinking my days off away. Anyway, it booted after i removed the bent stick. The cooler is pushing the stick to the right towards stick 2. They are touching, does that amtter?

[x88x]

Well, a couple of things could have happened. They could be touching and shorting something out (unlikely), the one stick may have a cracked lead or three from being bent that much, or it may have just been being pushed off of some of the contacts in the DIMM slot (let's hope for this one). Try this; take the stick that was next to the cooler and put it in the other slot by itself. If that works, then it was probably just pushing the stick off the contacts. In any case, it sounds like it would be a good idea to modify that cooler.

[SinCrisis]

would just chopping off the heat sink that's extended too far work? Or is it safer to just get new ram that doesnt have such a tall heatsink?

[x88x]

Could you post a picture of the heatsink in place?

[Luke122]

Yeah, lets start with pictures. It might be as simple as leaving the ram out of that one slot, or even just bending some fins on the heat sink.

Pictures will answer it, so try to post as many as possible of the motherboard, ram, cooler, cpu socket, and placement of everything.

[SinCrisis]

Sorry for the really delayed responses, ended up going on spring break. Anyway, a friend is offering to buy my current rams off me and I'm ordering new ones with a smaller heatsink so it will all work out i think. Thanks for all your help guys.