Ok, so I am building a secondary computer with some slightly ghetto parts but for the most part they are decent. We installed the power supply plugged everything in.

We turn the POWER SUPPLY on from the back and everything powers up that is governed by the PSU (fans, LEDS, and CD drive) but the hard drive is not spinning and the power LEDs in the front of the case are not working , and we are obviously not getting any monitor input (rather it be onboard or through video card)

We messed around with some stuff and now the POWER SWITCH on the front of the computer and now THAT is what turns the things mentioned above ON and not simply the PSU switch (keep in mind, before this ONLY the PSU switch could turn anything on)

So this is pretty weird so far....

we have tried just about everything, resetting BIOS via battery, and plugging wires in differently, securing wires, ect...

So overall...

when power is turned on EVERYTHING REMAINS OFF besides the fans, cd drive, and LEDs

What is wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated me and my friends are sitting here spamming f5!

Speccs
----------------------

AMD +3800 X2 939socket

Motherboard is UNKNOWN though it came with an acer comp originally and is somewhat recent since it has a PCI-E slot and several SATAs and such

Seagate 7200RPM HARD DRIVE 80gb

Antec Truepower 2.0 380watt PSU

xfx Geforce 8500 GT

Cooler than the other side of the pillow.

this just in... power switch CANNOT turn anything off and it must be turned off via PSU (weird?)

however! HARD DRIVE , MOBO CHIPSET are heating up so thats a clue, however we are still unsure about the CPU

still far from monitor input however

Cooler than the other side of the pillow.

pull the board, do a bench test.
start with a new power supply first.
then, power up with just video and 1 stick of memory. make sure no pins on the cpu are bent. make sure the memory is seated firmly.
then, add the cdrom. then hdd.
make sure the jumpers on the cdrom and harddrive are set correctly.
if there is a cmos reset jumper on the motherboard, set the jumper on pins 2-3 for a few secs. then set back to pins 1-2
in the bios, reset it to factory defaults
post back

Get a manual to learn which wires go where. You don't have the case to MBoard wiring correct. The power switch in the front is a momentary contact switch.

If it still doesn't work properly after you have confirmed you have the switches connected to the right pins, your power supply may be defective.
Defective or failing power supplies are common and can cause your symptoms.
Check your PS.
See response 4 in this:
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

It is very rare for a power switch to fail, but in a small number of cases the button that pushes on it may stick or otherwise not be right, or a wire may have been broken off on the back of the switch, if the front of the case has ever been removed (you often can't see a wire is broken off until you remove the case front).
The reset switch if you have one is the same type of switch when you have an ATX power supply and ATX case - momentary contact - on only when you press it - for t-shooting purposes you can connect the reset switch to the power switch pins and use it as the power switch, and visa versa.