PC does not start after upgrade 1

[pmonett]

Here I am again, doing the very thing I have grown tired of : upgrading my PC.
I had a Core i7-6700K on an ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6 with 32GB of DDR4 3200 and a sweet MSI GeForce GTX 980 TI LIGHTNING video card.
I've had that config since the last quarter of 2015, and it has not disappointed me.
But, being a gamer, I finally caved in for an upgrade. An i9-10980XE Extreme Edition on an ASUS ROG STRIX X299-E GAMING II with a NZXT Kraken Z73 360 mm for CPU cooling, and an MSI GeForce RTX 3080 SEA HAWK X 10G LHR for video. Oh, and 64GB of DDR4 4000 from Corsair.
It has been six years, right ?
So I remove the old motherboard and video card, and install the new. I look at all the documentation for the motherboard. I make sure and double sure I plug everything in the right place properly. I'm no beginner, I've done this a dozen times. Should be a cakewalk.
I have the proper 8-pin 12V connectors in place, all the SATA disks connected, the video card slotted in and the Kraken is ready for release. I watched 3 different videos to be sure I got all the connections right for the CPU cooler. One hell of a beast.
Finally, I'm ready for a test start. No keyboard or mouse or screen connected, I just want to see the PC start up. I connect the power cable, switch the PSU from O to I, and press the magic button.
The fans start to whirl, then stop. The PC fails to start up.
Undeterred, I try again. Nothing. Not even the fans.
I switch the PSU back to O, then back to I. Press the start button, the fans start to turn, then stop. It's a no go.
What did I do wrong ? Is it because I had to connect the CPU cooler to the CPU_FAN2 header instead of FAN1 ? What am I missing ?
Could someone point me in the right direction ?

I've got nothing to hide, and I demand that you justify what right you have to ask.

 

[Tele-tech]

Try taking out all the RAM, and see what happens when you boot up. If it boots up, great. Then try plugging RAM in one by one.

If no boot, unplug GPU and boot up, see what happens. If still no luck, make sure the mobo isn't making contact anywhere with the case(sometimes the solder points make contact)

Worst case, see if any of your friends have a compatible mobo and try your CPU in theirs?

I doubt it's because you plugged the CPU cooler into the wrong spot, but hey weirder things have happened.

 

[pmonett]

Okay, I removed the RAM and tried - no luck (I had no idea you could boot without RAM).
I then removed the video card (and unplugged the 12V leads) - still no luck.
Since I once again had an easy access to the innards, I plugged the CPU cooler into the FAN1 socket and tried again. Not better.
But I have now noticed that the CPU cooler fans do not spin up on startup. I'm wondering if that is significant.
I'm going to go view a few more Kraken installation videos. Maybe I missed something.
In any case, the motherboard seems to not be the problem. It has two LED screens that light up as soon as the PSU is switched to I, with a cute animation and zero error messages.
Once I get this baby running, I'll have to make sure that shut down means shut down.

I've got nothing to hide, and I demand that you justify what right you have to ask.

 

[Tele-tech]

Yeah you can boot without RAM, it'll just come up with an error on screen before POSTing.

On the LED screens on the motherboard, does it flash any codes? Usually newer motherboards will give you a code you can reference to see what the issue is. There may also be smalllllll little indicator LED's, and I mean small. These usually have print beside them indicating what they refer to.

Is there any beeping? If there is, beeping is essentially Morse code for motherboards that you can to look into.

 

[pmonett]

No codes from the motherboard, and no beeping. I know about those, if I had heard a beep, I would be all over the error codes.
That's what frustrates me the most. There is no outward indication of a problem. The case fans light up and start spinning, and then everything stops, silently.
Grrr.

I've got nothing to hide, and I demand that you justify what right you have to ask.

 

[Tele-tech]

Is it a new PSU? What's the wattage?

 

[pmonett]

Yes, it's a Corsair HX1000 Modular, 80 PLUS Platinum, 1000 Watt.
When I realized that the motherboard needed 2 8-pin 12V connectors and the video card did as well, I knew that I had to go and get a PSU that could give me 4 8-pin 12V connectors, which is something my trusty Silverstone 850W could simply not do.

I've got nothing to hide, and I demand that you justify what right you have to ask.

 

[Tele-tech]

At this point, I'd be tempted to lay the mobo out on a piece of cardboard, plug the CPU in(no cooler), no RAM, no GPU, and power it up and see if it boots. Your motherboard may have a manual start button beside the LED lights at the bottom, however here is a guide on how to start it up without a button from Gamers Nexus:

Here

 

[pmonett]

Yeah, it has a manual start button.
I was rather surprised by that.
I really don't want to risk frying my I9 though, so without a cooler is a no go.

I've got nothing to hide, and I demand that you justify what right you have to ask.

 

[Tele-tech]

Well it won't fry it. There are built in safeties where it will shut down before doing damage, it will thermal throttle long before any damage is done. Plus, you're just turning it on for a few seconds to see if it's POSTing. Shame Intel doesn't come with stock coolers anymore.

Edit: That being said, I totally understand the hesitation about starting with no cooler.

 

[pmonett]

Okay, a smidgen of progress.
On the 5th Kraken installation video I am viewing, the demonstrator plugged the fans into the Pump header, not the Fan header.
I raced back to the motherboard manual and located said Pump header, and plugged the fans in.
When I next switched on the power, the LED panel on the CPU watercooler played a brief animation for the first time . . . and then everything shut down.
I did have the time to witness the CPU cooler fans revving up as well.
So I guess I'm on the right track.

I've got nothing to hide, and I demand that you justify what right you have to ask.

 

[pmonett]

Problem solved.
After a lot of searching, I had a chance call with an ex-colleague and told him about my woes. He volunteered to come and take a look. This guy has years of hardware experience behind him, so I gladly accepted.
He came in, took one look at the PC lying on the dining room table, and pointed to the PSU. "Are you sure all the cables you have there are from the same kit ?" he asked.
So here's the deal : after having connected all the required power leads for HDDs & SSDs, after having plugged in the motherboard and video card, I dealt with the CPU cooler last (note to future self : always check CPU cooler attachments before slotting in the motherboard to the case). I got lucky, and the motherboard was pre-installed with the required backplate, so I didn't have to undo everything to attach the cooler.
Except that, when going through the install process, I found out that this model requires a SATA power connection. I didn't feel like getting out another, rather bulky, lead from the kit that came with the PSU, so I went and got a much slimmer power lead from another modular cooler that I had stored away.
Bad idea, as it turns out. My friend told me, over a beer (of course), that modular connectors are almost never compatible between different brands, and most often not even between different models of the same brand. So what was happening was that the PSU was detected an irregular power draw and shutting down to protect itself and the equipment.
Ok, that's all fine and dandy, but now that the PC is working and properly installed, I have one remaining question : given that a SATA disk requires exactly the same amount of power, how is it that the connectors don't function in the same way across different PSUs ?
I'd like an explanation on that.

I've got nothing to hide, and I demand that you justify what right you have to ask.

 

[Stephen_Hawk]

Try connecting a monitor to check any error message that pops up.
Finally, look at the motherboard itself to check the debug LEDs on the motherboard. I once had a similar problem while trying to overclock my RAM.

 

[goombawaho]

Don't bump old threads to life.

 

[Andrzejek]

Some people, like Stephen, like to sign into TT and provide their $0.02 to any thread, old or new.


---- Andy

"Hmm...they have the internet on computers now"--Homer Simpson

 

[goombawaho]

Yes, I know, but what is their motivation??? To impart their great knowledge or is it something more sinister.

 

[strongm]

What's worse is they generally seems to simply regurgitate answers from earlier in the thread, so not actually adding any real value ...

 

[goombawaho]

I think it is to appear like a legitimate poster and then you will soon see a post touting their product or their web site. So sorry to be so skeptical and suspicious.

 

[Andrzejek]

Those people who are "touting their product or their web site" usually don't bother to appear as "legitimate poster". Right from the start, the very first post, they go: Having XYZ issues? Click here, download this.


---- Andy

"Hmm...they have the internet on computers now"--Homer Simpson