[SOLVED] New Build - boot loop, need confirmation

[Viorala]

Pros: I did my first new build, yay!

Cons: I gotta boot loop. Fans are the only thing that run. This is unlike the boot loop on my old used up PC. According to my fancy new mobo's diagnostic LEDs, the DRAMM lights up first for a couple seconds, then it switches back and forth from DRAMM to CPU for like a half second each, then it stays on DRAMM for a couple seconds, then it switches to VGA and promptly turns everything off. Three or so seconds later it starts up again and repeats the pattern.

So I guess this is a ram problem? The casings on the ram are a bit loose, one more than the other. I switched their placement, didn't help. Also my mobo instruction booklet says to put them in A2, B2 which I have done but maybe that's wrong. I wanted to check here before I bought more RAM.

Also I'm worried this is a CPU or mobo problem. I had issues putting in the cooler. However this ultra-durable mobo was living up to its name, I thought.

Specs:

GIGABYTE Z490 UD AC LGA 1200 Intel Z490 ATX Motherboard with Dual M.2, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.2 Gen 2, Intel 802.11ac

Intel Core i9-10850KA Comet Lake 10-Core 3.6 GHz LGA 1200 125W Desktop Processor w/ Intel UHD Graphics 630

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler, 4 CDC Heatpipes, 120mm PWM Fan, Aluminum Fins for AMD Ryzen/Intel LGA1200/1151

Refurbished: SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 570 DirectX 12 11266-04 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 CrossFireX Support ATX

GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel XMP 2.0 Desktop Memory

EVGA 550w PSU (a year old)

Please help.

P.S. I transferred my mobo speaker from my old one to my new one just fine but I'm not hearing any beeps at all.

P.S.S. The lack of beeps might be due to a mess of wires and little input thingies that are tied up with the Audio input on the mobo itself, not in the back. I only knew to connect the Audio, not SPDIF - that's the only place to connect them and I wasn't sure.

P.P.S.S. I tried one RAM in each slot - with one ram in B2, the cpu LED lights for a second, then moves immediately to DRAMM, no flipping between them. It stays on DRAMM for a few seconds then moves to VGA for like 7 seconds, then turns off. But yay, this means my CPU is fine, yeah? But could also mean it's not my RAM but my DIMM slots on the mobo, boo.

P.P.S.S.S. I swapped out the Sapphire RX 570 for my old GeForce GTX 1050ti and absolutely nothing changed, even with moving the stick of ram around.

P.P.P.S.S. I can hear my number 1 hard drive starting up, that's always been a loud one. This is another point in favor of the CPU being fine, yes?

 

[Viorala]

I unplugged all but one of the drives, I see now when the LEDs flash back to the cpu that means a drive is starting up.

So, with two ram in (2x8) the led stays on dramm quite a few seconds, but eventually moves to vga and shuts off, then on again. I've used two graphic cards and neither work. I dunno what to do. It still might be a ram problem or no?

 

[Viorala]

I tried what this guy did, https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/first-time-build.3662331/#post-22062591, putting the ram in the A1 and B1 slots, didn't work. However, without a video card in it at all, instead of stopping on VGA led it stopped on dramm, rebooted twice and then stayed on indefinitely with the led on dramm.

I switched the ram back to A2 and B2, swapped both graphics cards, and it stops on VGA and reboots.

I also reset the bios by taking the battery out. I switched the external power cord for one that I know works. Didn't help.

 

[Viorala]

I went and got some Corsair Vengeance ram (2x8), 16 latency, DDR4 3200 to replace the cheap ram and it didn't help. I tried just one in each slot: A2 and B2, the leds hang up on dram, A1 and B1 the leds hang up on VGA.

However, my mobo speaker is working now and when I try to boot up with no ram the mobo beeps at me that it can't read any ram.

I'm very frustrated so tomorrow I'm going to take the mobo out of the case and redo all the cables AGA then breadbox it or whatever, and if that doesn't work I'm packing it up to return to newegg.

@Darkbreeze

 

[Viorala]

I have made it to bios! I can't get past bios but it's reading my drives and gpus. The solution is that it didn't like the sata cords being folded up so tightly when the mobo was screwed into the case. Breadboarding got me into bios and all the sata cords work now.

So tomorrow I'm going to punch out some rivets holding the 3.5 casing in an inconvenient spot.

As for the boot loop into bios I have now...what forum would I post in? I am marking this solved because the thread is just me talking to myself but maybe it can help someone else.