Question 100% HDD/DRAM light - - - - now no display ?

[TonyCawk]

MSI bazooka b360m
GTX 1080
i7-8700
Xpg adata 1.35v ddr4 (4)
Windows 10

Hello, I've had this pc for 4+ years. In the last few months I've been experiencing random spikes in HDD usage. it can occur during heavy and light gaming sessions, sometimes even when im only browsing the web/youtube. I've tried all types of fixes from updating windows/disabling some windows search options to buying a brand new hdd. It isn't a problem that would happen daily, but they would happen atleast once or twice a week. whenever i would experience this issue, immediately rebooting would result in windows failing to load and "reboot and select proper boot drive" After several minutes of trying to restart, it would return to normal.

three days ago this issue happened again, and i figured while i was waiting to reboot, Id take the opportunity to clean and dust the pc. after the cleaning my pc would start but i have no display. my Dram light is on to show there is an issue with the memory. the mb turns on, gpu turns on, fans all start/ I've put everysingle ram stick in, in every possible combination in all the slots, including 1 by1 in each slot. every single ram stick has the Dram error. and sometimes, it would seem randomly to me, the error goes from a solid dram light displaying to the cpu and dram light flashing between eachother. I've tried pulling out the cmos battery for 5 minutes also. I also can not access the bios to try to update as i have no display.

I figured I'd make a post here before i resign myself to buying a new MB. any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Cyberat_88]

Your HDD has run out it's lifetime, time for an SSD.

 

[TonyCawk]

Your HDD has run out it's lifetime, time for an SSD.

Its brand new and this problem has happened to two different hdds

 

[Cyberat_88]

Tried replacing the CMOS battery ? Those do die out you know. And with that so do your HW settings thus the conglomerated problems.

 

[TonyCawk]

Tried replacing the CMOS battery ? Those do die out you know. And with that so do your HW settings thus the conglomerated problems.

I've only tried pulling it out for a few minutes and putting it back in. Im trying to pinpoint exactly whats wrong so i know what to order. idk if its all 4 ram sticks, something wrong with the battery or mb itself

 

[gggirlgeek]

What do you mean you can't get in the bios because you have no display?

Also, I agree with Cyberat_88. Check your SMART HDD readings with something like Crystal Disk info.

If you can get in the Bios make sure there are no auto-overclock settings enabled. My Asus board will try to automatically run my RAM at a higher rate if I let it. When it does this it reboots several times and flashes lights until it finds the right, optimal speed. That's what makes me think of your Dram lights and weird booting issues.
Set it to the lowest, power saving mode if your board has it, just to test. Then set it back to normal (not overclock, or turbo) after a reboot.

It also sounds like Windows might be trying to Defrag the drive or some other maintenance process is kicking in regularly. When it does, the HDD is running into problems. That's why I say check the SMART errors.

 

[TonyCawk]

What do you mean you can't get in the bios because you have no display?

Also, I agree with Cyberat_88. Check your SMART HDD readings with something like Crystal Disk info.

If you can get in the Bios make sure there are no auto-overclock settings enabled. My Asus board will try to automatically run my RAM at a higher rate if I let it. When it does this it reboots several times and flashes lights until it finds the right, optimal speed. That's what makes me think of your Dram lights and weird booting issues.
Set it to the lowest, power saving mode if your board has it, just to test. Then set it back to normal (not overclock, or turbo) after a reboot.

It also sounds like Windows might be trying to Defrag the drive or some other maintenance process is kicking in regularly. When it does, the HDD is running into problems. That's why I say check the SMART errors.

Thank you, ill make a note of crystal disk and look into that. when i say i have no display, i mean the mb powers up but my monitor doesnt display anything . it does it for both my gpu and integrated graphics.

 

[gggirlgeek]

Two different HDD's with the same Windows installation or a fresh one? Try a fresh one on a new partition. If it still does this then it's surely the motherboard. Probably the bios.

Have you checked the Event log? What errors start about the time this problem started?

 

[gggirlgeek]

The no-display-at-boot problem sounds completely different. You said that after your HDD started running hard you would reboot and then get a message on the screen, no boot device. Yes? That tells me there is a display. Yes?

When do you get the black screen and no display?

 

[TonyCawk]

Two different HDD's with the same Windows installation or a fresh one? Try a fresh one on a new partition. If it still does this then it's surely the motherboard. Probably the bios.

Have you checked the Event log? What errors start about the time this problem started?

Both installed with the same windows disc i bought years ago. the problem is very recent and have used the version of windows for 4+ years without issue.

i have not checked event log, when the hdd would get up to 100% the pc becomes pretty unusable until restart

 

[TonyCawk]

The no-display-at-boot problem sounds completely different. You said that after your HDD started running hard you would reboot and then get a message on the screen, no boot device. Yes? That tells me there is a display. Yes?

When do you get the black screen and no display?

It would normally display after i restarted until recently. now the pc screen does not turn on at all. i would get the "boot device message" now, as of 3 days ago i get nothing, mb lights up, gpu lights up, dram lights up, but i can no longer get a display on my monitor no matter what ive tried. ive tried testing all 4 sticks of ram 1 by 1, and always have the "dram" led light up. tried both gpu and internal graphics, nothing.

 

[gggirlgeek]

Are you hearing anything when it boots? Any beeps? Is the hard drive spinning and acting like it's booting into Windows? What happens if you wait a while and then type your Windows password? Can you hear/see the drive LED working and booting up?

Post back any beeps or sounds or screen flashes/messages. Also are you using an SSD, HDD or both?

To eliminate all possibilities, go back to the beginning. Unplug the PC and unplug the monitor from it. Unplug all USB devices, speakers and peripherals. Move the mouse and keyboard to a different USB port (don't use a USB hub either.) Now hold the power for 30-60 seconds.

Now open it up and unplug the HDD from the SATA and the power. Unplug your SSD too if you have one. Press down on both the GPU and the RAM sticks and make sure they're seated tight. Check all other connectors while you're in there, especially the Power Supply and the little tiny ones on the side of the motherboard. Also, double check that the monitor is plugged in and turned on. 90% of computer troubles are because something simple is unplugged or loose.

Plug it in and plug in the monitor. Turn it on without the HDD or SSD plugged in. Do you get a display message? If so, reboot and press the Delete key (or whatever) to get into the Bios. Reset the Bios to default (usually F5) and press F10 to save, press yes and turn it off. Plug your HDD/SSD in 1 at a time and reboot. Post back with your results.

I normally get no display when some stupid USB device is freaking the motherboard out. This is usually an error in the Bios program. All you can do is eliminate the culprit until a new Bios update fixes it.

If your HDD really is the problem it should still boot to the Bios and have a display, even if the HDD is not connected. So your HDD running at 100% needs to be dealt with separately.

If you get no display again, try the onboard video connector again -- remove the video card first. (Make sure you unplug and do the 30 second power button-press before touching anything each time.)

Sorry if I'm over-explaining. Don't know your skill level.

Post back your results.

 

[TonyCawk]

Are you hearing anything when it boots? Any beeps? Is the hard drive spinning and acting like it's booting into Windows? What happens if you wait a while and then type your Windows password? Can you hear/see the drive LED working and booting up?

Post back any beeps or sounds or screen flashes/messages. Also are you using an SSD, HDD or both?

To eliminate all possibilities, go back to the beginning. Unplug the PC and unplug the monitor from it. Unplug all USB devices, speakers and peripherals. Move the mouse and keyboard to a different USB port (don't use a USB hub either.) Now hold the power for 30-60 seconds.

Now open it up and unplug the HDD from the SATA and the power. Unplug your SSD too if you have one. Press down on both the GPU and the RAM sticks and make sure they're seated tight. Check all other connectors while you're in there, especially the Power Supply and the little tiny ones on the side of the motherboard. Also, double check that the monitor is plugged in and turned on. 90% of computer troubles are because something simple is unplugged or loose.

Plug it in and plug in the monitor. Turn it on without the HDD or SSD plugged in. Do you get a display message? If so, reboot and press the Delete key (or whatever) to get into the Bios. Reset the Bios to default (usually F5) and press F10 to save, press yes and turn it off. Plug your HDD/SSD in 1 at a time and reboot. Post back with your results.

I normally get no display when some stupid USB device is freaking the motherboard out. This is usually an error in the Bios program. All you can do is eliminate the culprit until a new Bios update fixes it.

If your HDD really is the problem it should still boot to the Bios and have a display, even if the HDD is not connected. So your HDD running at 100% needs to be dealt with separately.

If you get no display again, try the onboard video connector again -- remove the video card first. (Make sure you unplug and do the 30 second power button-press before touching anything each time.)

Sorry if I'm over-explaining. Don't know your skill level.

Post back your results.

There aren't any beeps, I have one HDD. A friend loaned me a spare MB he had that was compatible. I've just installed it into the PC and it now boots normally(bios issue most likely?). I had a solid 15-20 minutes of the hdd running at 100%on startup(perhaps normal when a new MB is in?), but it looks as though it has returned to normal. I have downloaded crystaldiskinfo and will monitor it and hope I do not run into the same issue again. Also a fresh install of windows couldn't hurt and i will do that tonight.
Thank you so much for all your help and advice, and no need to apologize my skill level is very low.