I finally got all the parts in today

specs:
nemesis black case with generic 350 watt psu
asrock pv88+ motherboard s478
2x corsair value ram 256mb pc3200
intel celeron d325
dvd rom and other lights/stuff

i build everything together and powered it up.
at first it didn't do anything but when i jiggled some wires it started powering up and after 5 seconds it powed down.

i had the feeling it was the power switch so i took that out of it's front socket and started wiggling with that,it powered up for only a second and you guessed it,i died again.

so i got my spare cpu and plugged that thing in just laying aside from the case(thinking it wouldn;t hurt)

i pushed the power button and this time everything powered up but a littlebit of smoke came from somewhere and it powered down again.

I already emailed the people for rmaíng the motherboard because obviously that thing was smoking and i am not sure if the psu is ok.

so what can this be? i know it isn't the power button because i could power it down once(with the new psu but it was even not a second on)

I was going to suggest making sure that the power wires for the motherboard were plugged in right, I beleive its black to black? But it wouldn't power on then. Check all the power connections, hard drives, floppys, everything. Make sure you didn't put the RAM in backwards. You gotta force it, but it could happen. Make sure none of the wires are stripped, and also see if anything is getting shorted out.

i did all of that

the motherboard does NOT have a chassis intrusion connection so that isn't it iether,i have a feeling that it is the psu and with me pulling the power wire and putting it back in backwards WHILE the psu had power is problably the stupidest i could do,i problably killed the motherboard with that little thing:(

What kind of PSU do you have?

I would suggest to plug in the power supply, 1 memory dimm and a gfx card. then turn it on with a screwdriver touching the two contacts. This will close out a lot of problems. buuuuuut you saw smoke, and that isn't a good sign.

Hmm also don't build it in a case, you never know. some people forgot to use the distance keepers and then you got a short circuit.

pulling the power wire and putting it back in backwards

In what?

sphere,i pulled the powerbutton wire and put it back in the other way (so + is - and - is + while the psu was on.

but i am really thinking it shorts out on the motherboard plate so i am going to get everything out of the case and check the bottom of the mobo and see if i see any burn marks,i have this feeling i have to rma something and i really don't think they will give me back a new mobo and problably the psu(which i think is dead)

thanks anyways:)

ok,so i got everything out again and counted 9 standoffs and 7 screws,i took the 2 standoffs off and it fired right up.

but now it won't post,i tried all the dimm banks(4)
it just doesn't want to post.

something strange happened too,the harddrive and dvd rom won't spin with the hdd wire in ide1 and the floppy doesn't work either,so it must be a deadio on the motherboard,or i am really too dumb to make computers anymore:)

hopefully they give me a new mobo,i don't think i killed it to be honest:)

There actually is no + or - on the power button. Its just a switch that connects both ends of the + together so it doesn't matter wich way. I'd try those lovely corsair mem on that motherboard. if there's something wrong with the memory it first looks oke, all the leds are going up and down and after a few seconds it stays orange (at the beginning where the green leds are). Also try it with 1 dimm and on all dimm slots. you never know.

it seems these motherboards like to die alot,mine died because i have tried every little thing so tommorow i will get a rma and problably have a new mobo by next saturday:(

(poor Sheila,still on the compaq)

it seems these motherboards like to die alot,mine died because i have tried every little thing so tommorow i will get a rma and problably have a new mobo by next saturday:(

(poor Sheila,still on the compaq)

It is a pretty much budget board uh, although i only have heard good from asrock. They are even pretty much used in low budget servers. Actually i was looking at buying the same model a few days ago, because i want to test a p4 3.06 that i got here. I might change my thoughts

well,i finally got an rma for it yesterday,they even called me to ask what went wrong.

well basically i screwed in 9 standoffs because the nemesis booklet told me too and the mobo has 7 holes,so you can guess where the other 2 screws were,well against the northbridge that went off in smokes,also it seems that it can be killed if you have 2 standoffs to against the motherboard,i also checked my computer and that one had 2 standoffs against the motherboard aswell,which i offcouse screwed out.

i don't know if they will give me a new mobo,the guy did say he felt bad for me and said not to worry about it,he did tell me if he found user abuse i had to pay for it,wonder if he will find out i did that screw thing,i am sooo ashamed of myself:(

well,i finally got an rma for it yesterday,they even called me to ask what went wrong.

well basically i screwed in 9 standoffs because the nemesis booklet told me too and the mobo has 7 holes,so you can guess where the other 2 screws were,well against the northbridge that went off in smokes,also it seems that it can be killed if you have 2 standoffs to against the motherboard,i also checked my computer and that one had 2 standoffs against the motherboard aswell,which i offcouse screwed out.

i don't know if they will give me a new mobo,the guy did say he felt bad for me and said not to worry about it,he did tell me if he found user abuse i had to pay for it,wonder if he will find out i did that screw thing,i am sooo ashamed of myself:(

I felt 10 times more ashamed when i shortcircuited my brand new laptop ;) luckily it had some sort of protection and after removing the batterij it booted back up (i found that out after three days of having in my mind that i killed my laptop)