I built my first computer last night, using a Gigabyte Motherboard, Intel Core 2 Duo w/ After-market heatsink, etc, and when I went to start it up, nothing happens. My guess is that I accidentally did something wrong with the FPanel hook ups. The Rosewill case has different color wires than the motherboard suggests (red is going to orange etc). I hooked up the wire that said PWR SWITCH to the one on the FPanel that says Power + - , but the wires have no indication of + or -. I do have the 20 + 4 pin connected to the Motherboard, and everything else seems to be ok. One other thing I thought of, how do you know whether to have the power supply at the higher (I think 230 or 250? or 130 or 150?) switch. I am at work so don't have the computer right in front of me, but if you need any specs, I can look at my invoice from Newegg to tell you what parts I put in. Thanks to anyone that can help, this is my first build!!

I would like if someone could give me some troubleshoting tips to go through to try and find the problem. Thanks!

Hi Nick, welcome to PCHF.

What ever you do, don't touch that red switch at the back of the PSU, it will pop, and you'll end up with a dead power supply! If you have done this already, then this will be the reason why your PC is not starting up.

The + and the - onboard the motherboard for the power button, doesn't matter which way around that goes, since all you have between them is a microswitch. With a microswitch, all it does is make contact between the two wires so it doesn't matter which may it is plugged in. What we tech's sometimes like to do (if we think that the microswitch/power button may be faulty or broken, is to make contact between those two pins with a screw driver, but you need to be absolutely sure of the two pins your touching before you do it.

And finally, make sure that you have enough power (wattage) in your power supply by using: eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite v2.5 (click goLite).

I did mess with the red switch on the back, that probably why. I appreciate your help, it was a powerful PSU, i think 400+ and I am not putting that much into it.

Thanks a lot, hopefully I will be posting here soon that a new PSU fixed the problem, for future reference when SHOULD you use the red switch in the back?

The only time you would ever check voltage on the red switch at the back is if you move to a different country, or have bought the Power Supply Unit from a different country.

If your in a country that supplies 230v (220-240), then the switch should be set to 230. The PSU will be fine on 115v (110-120) but most likely won't start.

If your in a country that supplies 115v and the switch is set to 230, the PSU will pop and you won't be able to use it again. You should be around 115v the U.S. just like in the UK.

Marked as Answered Nick.