Question My PC does not turn on, is it the CPU? (Only shows life with Q-Flash+)

[Yozuru]

Hello beautiful folks, hope everyone is well!

So I had helped out a friend with building his a computer, everything worked for a little over a month until one day the PC no longer wants to boot when the power button is pressed. Please see below for the complete build:

CPU		Intel Core i9-12900K 3.2 GHz 16-Core Processor
CPU Cooler		Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard		Gigabyte Z690 AORUS MASTER EATX LGA1700 Motherboard
Memory		Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory
Storage		Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card		EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB LHR 10 GB FTW3 ULTRA GAMING LHR Video Card
Case		Thermaltake View 71 TG RGB ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply		Corsair RMx (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Case Fan		Corsair LL120 63 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack

Below are some more details:

Overall details:
1) PC will only power on briefly/show lights when Q-Flash+ button is pressed. Pressing the power button on the MB or the computer case does not do anything.
*** CPU error light on the MB shows briefly once this is done.

1. Only light that shows up is the power button on the MB.
2. Ruled out the RAM, MB, and PSU are not the issues.

Solutions Tried:

1. RMA the motherboard, board was determined to be fine and had no issues. Gigabyte even sent a picture of the board with the SN in working condition.
2. This stickied guide has been followed: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/no-post-system-wont-boot-and-no-video-output-troubleshooting-checklist.1285536/ (no luck unfortunately)
3. Have the board on a cardboard box incase it was sorting, only have the power cables from PSU onto there.
4. Boot the PC without the CPU, does not turn on.
5. Removed all the wires except the power cables to the MB, no startup still when hitting the power button on the board itself.
6. Removed the CMOS battery, for 5-10 mins, put it back in.
7. Moved around the ram sticks, tried 1 ram stick.
8. Tried to power on the MB with another PSU that is confirmed to be working, no luck.
9. Tried jumping MB with a screwdriver.
10. Flashing the BIOS with Q-Flash+ using this guide: https://glennsqlperformance.com/2020/12/22/how-to-flash-a-gigabyte-motherboard-with-q-flash-plus/

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As of now, the only thing I can think of is it's the CPU? Do I have a dead one that's causing this issue? Usually I would imagine a PC will always boot and give error messages for RAM, CPU on the board itself. But I am not getting those lights? The only time I can boot the PC briefly is with Q-Flash+, the lights and fanturn on, but turns off shortly afterwards (I know its used to flash the BIOS, but I find it really weird it doesn't work)

Would love some folks inputs on what to do next, I'm planning to RMA the CPU next. Thanks so much for your time in advance!

 

[Cem Goker]

Really sounds like a CPU issue to me. Excellent way to troubleshoot the way you did by the way. If the hard drive was at fault, you would have been greeted by the BIOS screen. If it was RAM, you would have seen the motherboard debug code or LED indicator. The PSUs you tried on that motherboard still show the same result so it can't be that. Maybe you can try checking the motherboard for any bent pins on the CPU socket? If there aren't any, then just go ahead and RMA the CPU as it's likely the culprit.

 

[Christophe516]

Really sounds like a CPU issue to me. Excellent way to troubleshoot the way you did by the way. If the hard drive was at fault, you would have been greeted by the BIOS screen. If it was RAM, you would have seen the motherboard debug code or LED indicator. The PSUs you tried on that motherboard still show the same result so it can't be that. Maybe you can try checking the motherboard for any bent pins on the CPU socket? If there aren't any, then just go ahead and RMA the CPU as it's likely the culprit.

Yozuru, I would agree with Cem Goker's reply, except. When you RMA'd the motherboard, did you remove the CPU before you sent the motherboard back? Because, If you didn't. The response to your RMA, would include the CPU. Meaning the motherboard and CPU are good.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Hello beautiful folks, hope everyone is well!

So I had helped out a friend with building his a computer, everything worked for a little over a month until one day the PC no longer wants to boot when the power button is pressed. Please see below for the complete build:

CPU		Intel Core i9-12900K 3.2 GHz 16-Core Processor
CPU Cooler		Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard		Gigabyte Z690 AORUS MASTER EATX LGA1700 Motherboard
Memory		Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory
Storage		Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card		EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB LHR 10 GB FTW3 ULTRA GAMING LHR Video Card
Case		Thermaltake View 71 TG RGB ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply		Corsair RMx (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Case Fan		Corsair LL120 63 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack

Below are some more details:

Overall details:
1) PC will only power on briefly/show lights when Q-Flash+ button is pressed. Pressing the power button on the MB or the computer case does not do anything.
*** CPU error light on the MB shows briefly once this is done.

1. Only light that shows up is the power button on the MB.
2. Ruled out the RAM, MB, and PSU are not the issues.

Solutions Tried:

1. RMA the motherboard, board was determined to be fine and had no issues. Gigabyte even sent a picture of the board with the SN in working condition.
2. This stickied guide has been followed: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/no-post-system-wont-boot-and-no-video-output-troubleshooting-checklist.1285536/ (no luck unfortunately)
3. Have the board on a cardboard box incase it was sorting, only have the power cables from PSU onto there.
4. Boot the PC without the CPU, does not turn on.
5. Removed all the wires except the power cables to the MB, no startup still when hitting the power button on the board itself.
6. Removed the CMOS battery, for 5-10 mins, put it back in.
7. Moved around the ram sticks, tried 1 ram stick.
8. Tried to power on the MB with another PSU that is confirmed to be working, no luck.
9. Tried jumping MB with a screwdriver.
10. Flashing the BIOS with Q-Flash+ using this guide: https://glennsqlperformance.com/2020/12/22/how-to-flash-a-gigabyte-motherboard-with-q-flash-plus/

---

As of now, the only thing I can think of is it's the CPU? Do I have a dead one that's causing this issue? Usually I would imagine a PC will always boot and give error messages for RAM, CPU on the board itself. But I am not getting those lights? The only time I can boot the PC briefly is with Q-Flash+, the lights and fanturn on, but turns off shortly afterwards (I know its used to flash the BIOS, but I find it really weird it doesn't work)

Would love some folks inputs on what to do next, I'm planning to RMA the CPU next. Thanks so much for your time in advance!

10:1 CPU issue, but your motherboard has a 2 digital diagnostic code in the upper right. It will flash a number telling you what stage it gets stuck in during the bootup process.