Computer has been a nightmare this last 3 weeks when I replaced the motherboard and the CPU. Moved from a mATX to an ATX motherboard, AM3+ GA-78LMT-USB3 R2 with an FX-8350 CPU. Lets start from the start of my experience.
When I replaced my mobo and CPU, I tried to turn on my computer. Fans and lights turned on, but no POST. Was frustrated, dealt with this for about a week. If I moved the RAM around, it sometimes booted. From there I had the issue of grey screens. This is when I would load up any game, wait for about 10 minutes, and the screen would turn grey. Audio would play, cut out, screen would then turn off, mouse and keyboard LEDs would freeze, then it would reboot.
Luckily for me, during this phase, my PC would actually boot normally. It was just crashing every time I would open a game, kinda what I do on it. Replaced the PSU to see if that was the issue, but to my luck, no good.
Now I have a new issue. I one day thought maybe I could fix this issue by altering the BIOS settings on my CPU by undervolting it and seeing if it would not crash. No good. Tried again my altering the MHz of my ram down by one (1600 to 1333) and computer reboot. But, instead of a BIOS, I was met with no POST. The light on my motherboard flashes orange for about a millisecond, then off, wait for about 1 seconds, repeat. Fans and lights turn on like before, and you can kind of hear the PC reboot itself very quickly.
With my luck, I can occasionally get it to boot. When I had both of my RAM sticks in (4GBx2), it would never boot. Taking one out would sometimes POST and get to BIOS. Able to play CSGO by changing my global shadows to medium, but anything higher will crash the PC. Playing any game with graphics that meet up with my GPU and CPU usually crash it.
I have been able to avoid all out loss of computer usage by pressing the power button on the windows key and setting it to "Sleep". Everything turns off, but able to reboot it and get back to everything.
Just a note, possibly the problem, as I said before I had a mATX mobo before this change. This means my standoffs only were able to cover these sections. When I installed my mobo, I only had half of the necessary standoffs for an ATX mobo. I am really hoping this is the main issue, because otherwise this is going to be an expensive fix. And no, my case does not have any more standoffs as I bought this PC prebuilt.
Now, I just mostly need a diagnosis for this issue. I resat almost everything in the PC, including GPU, CPU, CPU Heat sink, all the cables, and finally the MOBO. I reapplied thermal paste on the CPU. I replaced all my GPU drivers by using DDU.
Now, for my view on this, I hope it is the standoffs. My gut says that it is my RAM due to it being about 7 years of age, used almost the whole 7 years on gaming. Another part of me wants to believe that it is the motherboard, which I hope it isn't. You can't really find cheap AM3+ motherboard these days that can support a FX-8350. Worse case scenario says that it is the GPU or the CPU. GPU is about 2 years old and the CPU is about 3 weeks old.
Finally, to avoid the repetition, I have ran all the other programs to test what the problem is, forgot the names. Only one I have not tested yet is memtest. Should test this ASAP.
PC specs:
MOBO: GA-78LMT-USB3 R2 (rev 1.0)
GPU: MSI XFX RX 470 4GB Armor Edition
CPU: AMD FX-8350
PSU: CX 550W Corsair
RAM: Crucial 8GB (4GBx2)
HDD: 1TB (as old as the original build below from 2014)
Original build is here:
https://www.amazon.com/CybertronPC-Patriot-Gaming-Desktop-Discontinued/dp/B00D1KX2M4
Replaced literally everything except the power buttons, the 1 case fan, and the case itself.
Any feedback would be great, just need to go in the right direction before I spend more money on something that doesn't fix it. The sooner the better.
When I replaced my mobo and CPU, I tried to turn on my computer. Fans and lights turned on, but no POST. Was frustrated, dealt with this for about a week. If I moved the RAM around, it sometimes booted. From there I had the issue of grey screens. This is when I would load up any game, wait for about 10 minutes, and the screen would turn grey. Audio would play, cut out, screen would then turn off, mouse and keyboard LEDs would freeze, then it would reboot.
Luckily for me, during this phase, my PC would actually boot normally. It was just crashing every time I would open a game, kinda what I do on it. Replaced the PSU to see if that was the issue, but to my luck, no good.
Now I have a new issue. I one day thought maybe I could fix this issue by altering the BIOS settings on my CPU by undervolting it and seeing if it would not crash. No good. Tried again my altering the MHz of my ram down by one (1600 to 1333) and computer reboot. But, instead of a BIOS, I was met with no POST. The light on my motherboard flashes orange for about a millisecond, then off, wait for about 1 seconds, repeat. Fans and lights turn on like before, and you can kind of hear the PC reboot itself very quickly.
With my luck, I can occasionally get it to boot. When I had both of my RAM sticks in (4GBx2), it would never boot. Taking one out would sometimes POST and get to BIOS. Able to play CSGO by changing my global shadows to medium, but anything higher will crash the PC. Playing any game with graphics that meet up with my GPU and CPU usually crash it.
I have been able to avoid all out loss of computer usage by pressing the power button on the windows key and setting it to "Sleep". Everything turns off, but able to reboot it and get back to everything.
Just a note, possibly the problem, as I said before I had a mATX mobo before this change. This means my standoffs only were able to cover these sections. When I installed my mobo, I only had half of the necessary standoffs for an ATX mobo. I am really hoping this is the main issue, because otherwise this is going to be an expensive fix. And no, my case does not have any more standoffs as I bought this PC prebuilt.
Now, I just mostly need a diagnosis for this issue. I resat almost everything in the PC, including GPU, CPU, CPU Heat sink, all the cables, and finally the MOBO. I reapplied thermal paste on the CPU. I replaced all my GPU drivers by using DDU.
Now, for my view on this, I hope it is the standoffs. My gut says that it is my RAM due to it being about 7 years of age, used almost the whole 7 years on gaming. Another part of me wants to believe that it is the motherboard, which I hope it isn't. You can't really find cheap AM3+ motherboard these days that can support a FX-8350. Worse case scenario says that it is the GPU or the CPU. GPU is about 2 years old and the CPU is about 3 weeks old.
Finally, to avoid the repetition, I have ran all the other programs to test what the problem is, forgot the names. Only one I have not tested yet is memtest. Should test this ASAP.
PC specs:
MOBO: GA-78LMT-USB3 R2 (rev 1.0)
GPU: MSI XFX RX 470 4GB Armor Edition
CPU: AMD FX-8350
PSU: CX 550W Corsair
RAM: Crucial 8GB (4GBx2)
HDD: 1TB (as old as the original build below from 2014)
Original build is here:
https://www.amazon.com/CybertronPC-Patriot-Gaming-Desktop-Discontinued/dp/B00D1KX2M4
Replaced literally everything except the power buttons, the 1 case fan, and the case itself.
Any feedback would be great, just need to go in the right direction before I spend more money on something that doesn't fix it. The sooner the better.