Monitor reports no display detected but computer boots fine.

[Shredergenetix]

Hello all, I have a problem that I will try to make as clear as possible

Specs
i7 4770k was at 4.5ghz with an h100i but if the bios reset it should be at stock at this point
16gb Corsair Vengance ram
Sapphire tri-x r9 290x
CoolerMaster 1050w power supply
Asus z97 Deluxe mobo
Windows 8.1

The problem
As Described in title, my monitors no longer recieve an output from my pc but everything else on it is fine. Allow me to describe what happened at the time of the error.

I was playing Aliens isolation this morning when all of a sudden my screens went black, I could tell the game was still running because I could still hear myself walking around, and the background sounds etc. I thought initially that it was the r9 290x infamous black screen issue but its not (more on that later) I so then had to restart my computer by holding down the power button and upon next boot nothing appears on screen. I do know however that the computer is booting fine, because I can hear the sound windows makes when it boots up, I also have a razer deathstalker ultimate or whatever its called, that rediculous keyboard that has the touchscreen on it, eventually loads the little apps on the touchscreen interface.

So heres what I have tried
Removing/reseating RAM
Several different cables to my monitors including displayport, vga, hdmi, and this strange hdmi to dvi I had laying around
4 DIFFERENT graphics cards, the 290x a 7970 and two different 6850s none work
Different power cables to gpu
Inspecting all wires on mobo to make sure theres no loose ones
Resetting cmos memory
Resetting bios
Removing cmos battery for one hour
Trying the onboard graphics
Leaving the computer off and unplugged for about 5 hours
Leaving the computer running for an hour or so to see if it magically fixed itself
Two different PCI-E slots

Additional information
I tested both monitors with my ps4 via hdmi and they work fine, no keyboard button or mouse press magically waken the screen, no prior issues on the computer, was running fine until this.

TL;DR
Monitor not recieving display and Im frustrated.

 

[Quaiden]

Just want to clarify. You get no video from any gfx card you put in your computer or the onboard video? Not even the post screen for your mobo?

 

[Shredergenetix]

Correct no POST, no windows logo, nothin

 

[Quaiden]

Okay, here is what I suggest you do. I am assuming you have multiple sticks of RAM? Remove them all, put one 1 stick back and try to boot the computer, if you do not get video remove it and put in the next. repeat this until you are out of RAM or you get a picture.

Let me know your results.

 

[Quaiden]

Hey, one more addition to this. If none of the sticks work make sure you try each of your RAM slots when you do this.

 

[Shredergenetix]

I tried both sticks individually in all 4 ram slots and unfortunately no change.

 

[Quaiden]

The symptoms really make me think there is an an issue with the mother board. I was hoping it would be an issue with the RAM which is why I asked you to try the RAM swap. You might want to reach out to Asus tech support and see if they can suggest anything to assist you with your issue.

Additional things you can try on your own are:
Hard reset your BIOS (if the mobo does not have a clear CMOS button remove all power and the mobo battery for 30 seconds, but Asus boards should all have a clear CMOS button)
Remove all attached devices from the MOBO with the exception of 1 stick of ram and the CPU, remove even the gfx card
Boot the computer with your monitor connected to the onboard video
If this works try to add the video card back into the mix

Eliminating all attached devices can help you narrow down where the faults are going to be. If you cannot get onboard video with your CPU, RAM, and MOBO then one of those three is at fault and my money would be on the mobo.

 

[Shredergenetix]

I will give this a try, but can I ask why would a mobo that is only a little bit more than 3 months old, that has not had any problems, suddenly go bad like that?

 

[Shredergenetix]

I GOT BOOT! /on onboard graphics holy hell I am so happy to have made progress!! I take it next step is to add things one by one to single out the culprit

 

[Shredergenetix]

ok so at first the culprit seems to be one stick of ram which makes absolutely no sense because I had already tried that 3 times, twice on my own and once when you asked me to, however, when I put in the graphics card and connect to it, it continues to boot without a diplay on the screen, any thoughts?

 

[Quaiden]

Ok, let me break down what you wrote and make sure I got this correct. You are able to boot to BIOS with CPU, Processor, and 1 stick of RAM? Did you try to swap out the one stick for the other in this configuration to make sure it is the actual RAM and not the RAM slot that is the issue? I would try that if you have not. Additionally, if both work solo have you tried different slot combinations with them to see if you can get both to boot even if they are not in a dual channel configuration? If you can get both sticks to boot in any configuration but just not in a particular configuration this will confirm (99% probability in my mind) that the issue is the mobo. If you are not able to get both sticks to boot to BIOS solo then the stick that will not boot is probably bad.

Next, you are adding the gfx card back into the mix with the 1 stick of ram installed? If you have 2 monitors I would suggest setting 1 up with the onboard and 1 up on the card until you can get the card working, if you can. This will let you work in bios to change any setting you might be able to find to modify the way the mobo prioritized display adaptors. Basically there should be a setting on your board which says when it boots which display will get the information first, the onboard or the PCI-E slotted card. Try changing this setting to see if you can get the card to boot. If you cannot, then once again, this is telling me the mobo has died.

As to your question a few posts back, what can make your mobo suddenly go bad? Several things...

The most likely being overheating. Looking at what you said your set up is and what your issue is I am going to guess the passive heat syncs on the mobo did not get enough cool air passing over them to keep the mobo temp down in the safe zone while you were playing your game. This would cause different components on your board to fail but not all of them to fail (ie no display but you are getting sound). The reason I assume this to be the case is you are using a h100i self contained water cooler for your CPU. This is fine in most cases but it robs the mobo of needed air flow it would normally get from the bit air CPU cooler as a by product of it moved air over the CPU head sync. I suffered this same issue with an asus mobo. Luckily I was aware this might be an issue when I created the build and was watched system temps with a third part program. Once I confirmed my system temp was idling at 60C and sitting around 90-95C under load I quickly rigged up a few small 40mm fans on my mobo to blow air across the passive heat syncs. This resulted in a 20-25C drop in temps at idle and my load temps fell to 75C.

The second most common issue which will cause mobo failure is inconsistent power or over power from the power supply. This can be caused by poor connections, poor grounding of your case, poor wall outlet, etc. Additionally, The power supply on your system is about twice as much as you need. With your setup I would guess you will pull about 470-500 under full load which means you should have between a 550-600watt max output power supply. If you were planning on having 2 of the r290s I would bump that up another 150-200 watts max on your power supply. This additional power is not going to result in problems but I just wanted to provide a little info for you.

 

[Shredergenetix]

I tried both sticks but not in any particular slots just the one I had the one plugged into.
I never thought about the h100i disrupting airflow of the mobo, i would certainly hope this isnt the case i have a cooler master haf x case and in total theres 6 fans in the case, ive never monitored my mobo temps before but hopefully its bad ram or messed up drivers, i really dont wnt to have to disassemble my whole computer just to replace the mobo. I will continue to try things throughout the night, and once a solution, or a brick wall has been hit I will post again, Thank you so much for your help so far

 

[Quaiden]

I hope you find your solution even though I believe the odds are against that. From everything you have tried I am more than certain, at this point, your mobo has failed. The Asus support hotline should be 24/7. I would give them a call and speak to one of there reps. Explain to them what happened and what you have tried. I am sure they will agree the board has failed and they will work with you to get it RMA'd. If you explain to them you really need this computer running ASAP they will often offer to send you the new mobo at the same time you send them yours. This will cut down on your downtime.

I feel for you on this one man. I have had the same thing happen to me before.

Some tips for your case. You need to have MORE air coming INTO your case by fans then you have fans blowing air out of your case. When you do get your mobo up and running I would suggest you download open hardware monitor (google it, it is free) and monitor your temps. Even if you do have good air flow in the case you may find, like I did, that you need some small spot fans in on your mobo to blow air across those passive heat syncs. Overclocking causes a big increase in heat generation on all your parts but it is especially hard on your mobo when passive heat syncs are involved.

I wish you all the best in this issue. Good Luck!

 

[Shredergenetix]

Nothing else seemed to work, I called ASUS up and the guy didnt argue with me about the mobo. Going to ship it to them tomorrow, luckily I still have my old desktop that I can use in the meantime, just got to pop in the gpu and the harddrives, thanks again for all your help. If I get the mobo back and the issue isnt fixed, Ill update this thread to include that information.