Question CPU EZ Debug LED is on with no display on monitors

[ChoppedRamen]

Hello! I built my first PC around 4 years ago now and I’m now having some issues with it and have no idea what else to do.

So this started a couple days ago when I left my pc on for about 30 minutes and when I came back I noticed it had went into the Bios. I exited and when it booted again it came back into bios. I did a bit of looking around and I noticed that it no longer recognized one of my m.2 drives and I ended up shutting off the power and disconnecting.

After trying to reseat the drives, I plugged everything back in and now the CPU ez debug led is on and I can’t get back on the bios screen. All fans are blowing but the CPU fan is the only one that has no longer has RGB.

Since then, I’ve tried:
- reseating/cleaning out the CPU, fans, RAM, and various cables on the mobo
- swapped the SSD’s and used only one instead of both
- swapped the RAM sticks and used one instead of both
- Removed all the RAM (and only the DRAM led comes on, so I think the mobo isn’t damaged)
- taking out the CMOS battery and put back in after 10+ minutes
- verified that the CPU pins do not look bent and I’ve cleared the dust around the connector

Maybe about a month ago, I was changing up some settings in the BIOS including the boot priority so I’m worried that might’ve messed some stuff up, however I have shut down and booted up successfully several times since I did that. I want to try to reset/flash bios but I already tried taking out the cmos battery for 10 mins and i don’t have a spare pc or USB drive to flash the bios.

I’ve also heard that the power supply or other parts could be an issue but I have no idea how to test that since I don’t have spare pc parts and I would have to buy a brand new part to test it out and then return it if it doesn’t fix anything.

My specs are:
- MSI B550 Gaming Edge
- RYZEN 5600X
- Ventroo v5 fan
- Zotac 3060 Ti
- 2x8 XPG Ram
- 1x1TB XPG m.2 SSD
- 1x2TB XPG m.2 SSD

Can anyone help me out with this issue? I’m worried that all my data on the SSD’s are gone randomly so I’m hoping that’s not the case!

Let me know if I missed anything or need to provide any other information. Thank you!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

You forgot to mention the make and model of your PSU and it's age.

MSI B550 Gaming Edge
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-B550-GAMING-EDGE-WIFI
Is this your motherboard? if so, what BIOS version are you on at this moment of time? You can use this video;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNi0Y0CFDEI

to guide you through the Flash BIOS process in conjunction with the button on the back of the motherboard.

i don’t have a spare pc or USB drive to flash the bios
You will need to rely on a friend or neighbor in order to reflash your motherboard, this way you can see if the drives aren't dead in the water or if the BIOS was what needed a reflash.

Just to bring something to light, both M.2 drives aren't showing up in BIOS? That would mean a BIOS or motherboard issue since one is wired to the chipset while the other is wired to the CPU. If it was a CPU issue, you'd lose out on one of the drives, not both.

 

[ChoppedRamen]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

You forgot to mention the make and model of your PSU and it's age.

MSI B550 Gaming Edge
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-B550-GAMING-EDGE-WIFI
Is this your motherboard? if so, what BIOS version are you on at this moment of time? You can use this video;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNi0Y0CFDEI

to guide you through the Flash BIOS process in conjunction with the button on the back of the motherboard.

i don’t have a spare pc or USB drive to flash the bios
You will need to rely on a friend or neighbor in order to reflash your motherboard, this way you can see if the drives aren't dead in the water or if the BIOS was what needed a reflash.

Just to bring something to light, both M.2 drives aren't showing up in BIOS? That would mean a BIOS or motherboard issue since one is wired to the chipset while the other is wired to the CPU. If it was a CPU issue, you'd lose out on one of the drives, not both.

Thanks for the reply!! I appreciate it! And yes, that’s exactly the motherboard I have! I’m not positive what BIOS version I had, but based on the link you provided I think I was on version 7C91v17. I had to look through my photos and found a pic of the pc when it was newly built on Aug 21st 2021 so I’m assuming I was on the latest version at that time.

My PSU is a NeoEco Gold Zen700W. It’s about 3-4 years old now as well. I don’t think it’s having issues but to be honest I have no idea how to troubleshoot the parts without any spares.

Also, before everything stopped working, I could only see my secondary M.2 drive, so it sounds like it really is a CPU issue. Is it possible that it just bricked randomly?

The resting temp was usually around mid30’s low 40’s, but I think I remember seeing it spike a bit to 50’s when it was on the bios screen a few days ago. Maybe I didn’t put enough thermal paste when I first built it or something, but I feel like it would’ve overheated much earlier if that was the case.

Thanks again for your help, let me know if you have any more suggestions! I’ll try to find someone else with a spare USB drive/CPU in the mean time.

 

[ChoppedRamen]

UPDATE: Figured out it was a motherboard issue! It looks like the connection to the first m.2 slot is bad. I tried running my pc with no SSD’s and found out I was able to load into BIOS and see that the cpu is running fine.

After that, I installed the SSD back in the first slot and it stopped working, so I tried again in the second slot and it’s good to go! However, as soon as I put any SSD in the first slot, it fails to boot.

Since I have 2 SSD now, will I have to buy a new Mobo or is it somehow possible to boot from the second “working” SSD slot and use my extra SSD on first “broken” one?

 

[lava2]

there is a problem with the CPU or its power supply, Remove the SSD and reinsert it