Black screen - dead motherboard or GPU?

[Cecil_C]

Hey guys,

Please move this to the right forum if it's in the wrong place, dear moderators.

Specs: https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856167149&cm_re=msi_trident-_-56-167-149-_-Product This model in particular: 6GB 1060 GPU, i7 7700 CPU. 65" LG OLED TV 4096x2160 display.

Everything worked smoothly for several months until one day, I was playing Dota 2 and I used the Steam overlay to reply to a friend who was chatting with me, and that's when the PC froze (the audio was looping non-stop), and I had to give it a hard reset. Upon doing that, there was a black screen (the PC fans and RGB lights would turn on). I cannot see if it's POSTing - no beeps or anything that would indicate faulty RAM. I have not been able to make any monitor display anything at all, so I cannot go into my BIOS settings, cannot reinstall GPU drivers, and surely cannot access anything in Windows 10.

I tried the following troubleshooting steps:

used different HDMI cables to my LG TV;
independently checked if the TV itself was working (it was working fine with my laptop);
used different HDMI ports on the TV itself;
used the DVI-D port from the GPU to a DVI-D-to-HDMI adapter; used the HDMI port on the Intel H110 motherboard instead of the Nvidia 1060 GPU (if it were a dead GPU, wouldn't this be working?);
tried to disconnect every single peripheral/hard drive but my wired keyboard, mouse, and a single HDMI cable in either the GPU port or the motherboard's own port;

I am at a loss. What could be causing this, and should I do next?

 

[electro_neanderthal]

Well, as a measure, I'd recommend trying one stick of RAM at a time, in each slot, to make sure it isn't a RAM module.

How dusty was the PC when you opened it?

I suspect either the CPU or Motherboard went kaput, but that's just a suspicion. Best bet is to see if it's under warranty; if not, see if a shop can test your CPU in another, working motherboard.

Also get your PSU checked, since a failing PSU can send the wrong voltage to the wrong component and kill things.

 

[Cecil_C]

Update: Reseated RAM and GPU - no difference.
Cleared CMOS - no difference.

PC was not that dusty - nowhere near to start thermal throttling.

Not sure if PC is still under warranty, as this was bought about 15 months ago. I'll check.

I'll try one RAM stick.

 

[Cecil_C]

There we have the culprit. There's a slot (the one closer to the CPU) that, if occupied, will not allow anything to start and the system will not POST.

Right now, everything actually works great with a single 8GB stick on the second slot. You were right, electro_neanderthal. Thank you!

 

[electro_neanderthal]

Glad I could help.