[SOLVED] Brand new computer wont boot. LEDs and fans turn on, but no display or usb activity

coltonAM

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Jan 2, 2014
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10,510
(Hi, not sure if this is the best place to post this. If not, please let me know)

Specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 2700
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060 Super (founder's edition)
MOBO: ASRock B450m Steel Legend
RAM: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400
PSU: Corsair CX650M
HDD: Seagate BarraCuda ST2000DM008 2TB 7200 RPM 256MB
SSD: Team Group GX2 2.5" 512GB SATA 3 Internal
Case: NZXT H510

Scenario: Won't Boot

Building a brand new PC with brand new components for a friend and I usually have no problems troubleshooting, but this one is beyond me. I turn on the PC using the button on the top of the case, and all fans and LEDs turn on. The only LED that does not light up is the RTX LED on the GPU (though the GPU fans where spinning at 100% you could hear them downstairs). So I decide to try the integrated graphics card and still nothing. Tried booting without the 2060 Super in the PCIe slot, nothing. Tried booting with only 1 stick of ram, nothing. Tried resetting the CMOS in every way conceivable (taking the battery out, jumping the two Clear CMOS pins, and doing both simultaneously), nothing.

So I take his non-bootable PC to my house and try swapping out the RAM from my computer, tried a new monitor, and a different HDMI but no luck. I put his GPU in my PC and it worked fine. I even took everything apart and double checked all cables/wiring just to be sure I didn't screw anything up . Upon taking off CPU fan/heatsink, the CPU was warm and the thermal-paste started to melt on. My guess is it's a bad MOBO since it can't seem to boot or even properly power the graphics card. Could it be a bad PSU? Let me know if you can think of any other remedies before I get an official diagnosis from my local PC shop tomorrow. Thanks :)
 
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Solution
You won't get any video output from the motherboard as there are no integrated video on the Ryzen CPU's unless you went with a Ryzen class APU. That being said, without the HDD connected, breadboarded(outside of case) see if you can get display to come up.

Also, why did you pick out DDR4-2400MHz rams, for that platform you should've gone with a DDR4-3200MHz ram kit. Speaking of rams, which two slots are you populating on your motherboard?

I'm leaning towards a faulty or failing PSU as opposed to a bad motherboard.

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
You won't get any video output from the motherboard as there are no integrated video on the Ryzen CPU's unless you went with a Ryzen class APU. That being said, without the HDD connected, breadboarded(outside of case) see if you can get display to come up.

Also, why did you pick out DDR4-2400MHz rams, for that platform you should've gone with a DDR4-3200MHz ram kit. Speaking of rams, which two slots are you populating on your motherboard?

I'm leaning towards a faulty or failing PSU as opposed to a bad motherboard.
 
Solution

coltonAM

Honorable
Jan 2, 2014
9
0
10,510
You won't get any video output from the motherboard as there are no integrated video on the Ryzen CPU's unless you went with a Ryzen class APU. That being said, without the HDD connected, breadboarded(outside of case) see if you can get display to come up.

Also, why did you pick out DDR4-2400MHz rams, for that platform you should've gone with a DDR4-3200MHz ram kit. Speaking of rams, which two slots are you populating on your motherboard?

I'm leaning towards a faulty or failing PSU as opposed to a bad motherboard.
Ram is just temporary until we wait for his actual memory to arrive. Didn't ship with everything else so I let him borrow these sticks I had lying around. His actual ram is two sticks @ 8GB each 3200MHZ DDR4. It is currently inserted in a dual channel config. Assuming 1 is closest to the CPU and 4 is furthest, the sticks are in slots 2 and 4.

Thanks for the suggestion! I will now reinstall the GPU and disconnect the HDD SATA and power and see what happens. Not sure why I forgot that you needed an APU for integrated graphics lol.
 

coltonAM

Honorable
Jan 2, 2014
9
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10,510
Ram is just temporary until we wait for his actual memory to arrive. Didn't ship with everything else so I let him borrow these sticks I had lying around. His actual ram is two sticks @ 8GB each 3200MHZ DDR4. It is currently inserted in a dual channel config. Assuming 1 is closest to the CPU and 4 is furthest, the sticks are in slots 2 and 4.

Thanks for the suggestion! I will now reinstall the GPU and disconnect the HDD SATA and power and see what happens. Not sure why I forgot that you needed an APU for integrated graphics lol.
Just tried again with no HDD or SSD connected to power and got the same result. Another thing to mention is that the white LED that circles around the power button on the case will not light up . So both the GPU and case power LED remain dim upon turning it on. I feel like this points to faulty PSU but could be wrong.
 

Olle P

Distinguished
Apr 7, 2010
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Before your last posting I wrote this:
To me the described problem is typical for what happens when the video card isn't mounted properly in the motherboard. It happened to me years ago when the card was slightly tilted relative to the motherboard. (PCIe slot wasn't properly aligned to the openings in the case.)
When you mounted the video card in your computer you got it right.


Now that you did remount the video card that should possibly have fixed the problem.
Do you get any video signal to the monitor?
 

coltonAM

Honorable
Jan 2, 2014
9
0
10,510
Before your last posting I wrote this:
To me the described problem is typical for what happens when the video card isn't mounted properly in the motherboard. It happened to me years ago when the card was slightly tilted relative to the motherboard. (PCIe slot wasn't properly aligned to the openings in the case.)
When you mounted the video card in your computer you got it right.


Now that you did remount the video card that should possibly have fixed the problem.
Do you get any video signal to the monitor?
Upon remounting the video card to the motherboard, no signal was emitted to monitor and no GPU LED. The the fans on the GPU do power however. The plastic switch that clicks when you insert a card did click. If the case is not properly aligned with the PCIe slot, what should I do to fix that? I already tried reinstalling the motherboard in the case and everything was aligned via standoffs.
 
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coltonAM

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Jan 2, 2014
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10,510
Upon remounting the video card to the motherboard, no signal was emitted to monitor and no GPU LED. The the fans on the GPU do power however. The plastic switch that clicks when you insert a card did click. If the card is not properly aligned with the PCIe slot, what should I do to fix that?
Not sure if these will help or not, but here’s what it looks like.
 

coltonAM

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Jan 2, 2014
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10,510
Sorry one more thing to add. We got the GPU a few days before everything else came and I put it in my PC straight out of the box to test if it worked and to see what temps looked were. I did update the driver from whatever it launched with to current driver using GEFORCE experience. Could this be the issue?
 

Olle P

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Apr 7, 2010
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For the mounting to be "bad" (resulting in poor connection within the slot) it must be fairly obvious that the card actually is tilting up or down. You do not have that problem!
My fix was to losen the screws holding the card in place and push the outer end of the card in the right direction before re-tightening the screws. Your case use anther arrangement to hold the expansion cards.