Question Can't get "new" system past POST

[dlwIrma]

Hey! Story may turn out a bit long since I've tested quite a bit already.

Components:
NZXT N7 B550
AMD Ryzen 5 5600
(ZOTAC GTX 560 Ti OC temporarily)
Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO SL (CMH16GX4M2D3600C18W)
Samsung 980 Pro M.2
Corsair CX750F
Fractal Design Pop Air RGB

I'll try to keep it short: I got all the mentioned parts, put everything together (made sure everything is connected properly - after reassemling a few times I'm sure even the RAM is slotted in correctly). Everything is supplied with power but it won't get past POST. At 1st CPU and DRAM light up for a bit, then they turn off as the Power and Reset buttons of the Board light up, then Boot lights up followed by VGA. These two stay on from there.
The screen initially turns on, but at no point shows any picture before going back to standby.

Things I have tested:

• I read that the BIOS out of package might not support the CPU, so I tried the BIOS Flashback function - but no matter how closely I followed the manual or yt guides the light always stays red after blinking 6 times indicating it failed.
• I tried all RAM slots with 1 or 2 sticks and tried another set from a friend as well
• I tried both Slots for the SSD, and also another SSD from a friend
• I checked if I I installed the CPU properly, with nothing seeming wrong / bent
• for the Flashback: at first I formatted my 128GB stick to have 120GB of unallocated space and 8GB being FAT32, and after that didn't work either I tried with a smaller one with the same result.

I'm way past my knowledge here tbh, in my mind the Mainboard is either faulty or I'm somehow being extremely stupid ^^"

Thanks for reading!

 

[Darkbreeze]

It's not the BIOS version, because that board supports the 5600 since ALL BIOS versions according to the CPU support list.

I think the chances are good that your 560 ti is the culprit given it's age. Have you tested the graphics card, since having this problem, in another system or tried a different graphics card in this system? If not, I think that's where I'd start.

 

[dlwIrma]

It's not the BIOS version, because that board supports the 5600 since ALL BIOS versions according to the CPU support list.

I think the chances are good that your 560 ti is the culprit given it's age. Have you tested the graphics card, since having this problem, in another system or tried a different graphics card in this system? If not, I think that's where I'd start.

Ty for the reply! I don't have any graphics card to test in the new system unfortunately - but the 560ti is running properly in my old one (which was built from leftovers ^^)

 

[Darkbreeze]

You've tested this card SINCE trying to use it with the new build, in the old build? Meaning, after you realized the new build wouldn't POST, you pulled the card and put it back in the old system and tested it to be sure? Because I've seen a LOT of hardware that between being removed from one build and being put into a new build, just suddenly from out of nowhere decided to not work anymore. It's totally not uncommon especially with older hardware.

And that graphics card is 11 years old, so I'm sure it's been around the block plenty of times.

Is all of this hardware ACTUALLY new, or just new to you?

 

[dlwIrma]

Yup, since I need one I put it back after testing and it works as it did before ^^

Everything else is completely new yes.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I know this might sound like a stupid question, but I always have to ask because of how many times it has turned out to BE the problem. You do have the display cable plugged into one of the graphics card outputs, right? Not the motherboard outputs?

What kind of cable are you using? Have you tried a different port on the card or a different TYPE of cable? As in, DVI or VGA instead of HDMI or DP, or visa versa.

You might also try doing a hard reset of the BIOS. Sometimes even brand new boards come with settings configured in the BIOS that don't work properly with the installed hardware.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the BIOS to fully reset and force recreation of the hardware tables.

 

[dlwIrma]

I have tested both HDMI ports (MB and GPU), but the 1st attempt and any after the HDMI ones were the DP port of the GPU - I figured since the POST LEDs were consistent it shouldn't matter whether it's HDMI or DP as long as it's on the GPU.

I haven't tried a reset as described, I've only tried the built-in CMOS reset Button, but it's kinda hard to know if it actually worked since there isn't an LED or smth ^^"

The CMOS battery is not as accessable unfortunately so I didn't want to try so far, but since I'm running out of options I guess it will be the next thing to try 😅

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, while it's possible that it's a motherboard issue, it's a lot more likely to be a graphics card issue and the one thing I can think of off the top of my head is the possibility that the board comes preconfigured with CSM (Compatibility support module) disabled in the BIOS due to recent BIOS default settings being geared towards having Windows 11 support by default, which means legacy non-UEFI hardware might not be supported by default. You may actually need to consider getting a newer card. Not sure that this is the relevant problem, but it's certainly potentially one.

From what I've seen and read the 500 series cards are not compatible with most UEFI BIOS, even in some cases WITH legacy options enabled, so a newer card might just be a necessity.

 

[dlwIrma]

If the graphics card turns out to be the issue I'd be rly happy. I was planning to get a 3060/3060ti soon-ish in the new year. The I'm honestly not willing to spend that much without knowing it will work / knowing what needs to be done to get it to work ^^"
Maybe I can convince a friend to bring theirs over for a quick testrun

 

[dlwIrma]

I'm not too sure how the POST LEDs work, but is it possible for an incompatible graphics card to also result in the initially described behaviour? It just doesn't make sense to me considering the Boot LED from what I understand refers to the storage and for them as well I tested 2 different ones 😅

 

[Darkbreeze]

The "initially described behavior" says that both the boot and VGA lights stay on, so yes, I believe it IS still possible that it's the graphics card, but of course I can't guarantee anything.

Try disconnecting all the storage devices and see if it will at least boost into the BIOS.

 

[dlwIrma]

Update on this: seems like you were right!
But either I [mess] up or I don't know why, but I'm still having issues.
A friend lent me his RTX 2060 to test, and I got past post. I installed windows, did all the Windows updates - restarted for them to finish - updated the NVIDIA driver - restarted into BIOS to enable XMP. Aaaaaand now I'm stuck in POST again. The VGA LED is back to lighting up.

1st thought was that it may be driver related, so I tried booting into BIOS without the SSD connected - but even then I can't get into BIOS, the VGA LED is still lighting up.

 

[dlwIrma]

Hey!

So basically I solved an earlier issue (maybe) just to run into another one 😓

Parts used:

NZXT N7 B550
Ryzen 5 5600
Zotac RTX 2060
Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO SL (CMH16GX4M2D3600C18W)
Samsung 980 Pro M.2
Corsair CX750F

A friend lent me his RTX 2060 to test if my outdated Graphics Card was the issue with my previous problem - and it seemed like that was the case. After switching them out I finally was able to see something on the screen: a "fTPM/psp nv corrupted" notification. After a quick search I reset ftmp, and from there everything seemed to work.

I booted into BIOS to make sure everything was recognised, booted from the flash drive, installed windows, did all the windows update with restarts when asked for. Then I installed the newest driver for the RTX 2060. When restarting I booted into the BIOS to enable XMP. There I noticed in the boot options I still had the Flash drive connected, so I disabled the boot option 2 with where the flash drive was (I figured since option 1 was the M.2 SSD it was fine to do so).

Then I saved and quit out of BIOS just to be greeted with a black screen yet again. The VGA POST LED is lighting up and I don't get past POST anymore.

I'm a little desperate at this point since I was hoping my struggles are finally over, I'd really appreciate any help! 🥲
Thanks for reading!

 

[Lutfij]

Stick to one thread, please!

 

[dlwIrma]

Sorry, wasn't sure if the new situation would qualify for a new post - won't happen again!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Have you ever managed to get the BIOS updated to the latest version?