[SOLVED] New build can't get to BIOS! Please help!

Oct 24, 2020
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Please keep it to 1 thread
I recently Purchased a new build and upon assembling the part I can not even get display to my monitor or enter bios.

What I have tried so far:

  • Bare bones start - Nothing but 1 stick of ram (tried in each slot) Cpu and cooler, power supply connected
  • Resetting my Ram sticks and GPU and replacing the CMOS battery
  • Multiple displays and multiple HDMI cords
  • Checked connection for all power supply cables

Nvidia RTX 2070 super
AMD Ryzen 7 3700x
GAMEMAX RGB750 fully modular power supply
Corsair h150i Liquid cooler

The only things of note when I power up the PC
  • The LEDs on the motherboard (the RGB ones) briefly light up when I flip on power supply, but do not stay on even when I power up the computer
  • The VRAM Led on the motherboard lights up for an instant on startup but goes off and then the boot LED stays on (Makes sense because I cant even get to BIOS)


I am at a loss and desperately need help. Thank you to all in advance!
 
Solution
The AM4 socket only has two tightening screws, one on either side but I get your point.
Actually, there are a variety of different mounting mechanisms, and it depends completely upon what cooler is used. One cooler model may use the stock backplate and associated hardware, another may use the stock backplate with their own mounting hardware and others will require that you completely change the backplate AND the mounting hardware, which they will provide with their own versions. Too hard though to keep track of exactly what every cooler requires so as a general rule I just offer that as a general example. With only two mounting points, it's certainly LESS likely to have one point significantly off from the others, but still...

R_1

Expert
Ambassador
Welcome to the forums :D

What model motherboard do you have? my first thought is you might need a BIOS update as I do not know what board you have and the symptoms fit.

this is the new build troubleshooter and it usually does the job.
go down the list every step.
if you still need assistance post back here with the results and motherboard make and model
 

R_1

Expert
Ambassador
this is for step 17 if you need to make a speaker for diagnostic uses, a little creativity can get you there

canned diagnostic speaker rant: speaker making 101
The diagnostic speaker is the motherboards main diagnostic feedback device.
the motherboard may be telling you where the problem is.
my speakers have this plug
http://images.crutchfieldonline.com/graphics/infolib/homelib/hSpeakerSpringClip.jpg
I use lamp wire but any stranded wire will do. literally any stranded wires. strip one end like so
http://www.antiquelampco.com/Shades/CordColors.jpg
attach the stripped end into the speaker spring clips on the speaker.
the other end of the wire should be trimmed like so the semi strip, the blue one.
https://ampsic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Full-strip-and-semi-strip-300x300.jpg
by doing a semi strip the wire case is now the socket.
plug one wire to the first pin, and the second onto the fourth pin.
power on the system and listen for beeps
end canned rant
 
Oct 24, 2020
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I have a spare mobo Speaker, but I do not see a port for it on my mobo, the Debug LED for VRAM flashes on power up then goes off, the only LED on is the BOOT LED.

EDIT: It does seem like my BIOS might not support my CPU? Bu then wouldn't the CPU debug LED be lit?
 
Oct 24, 2020
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Update: After trying everything on that list I am still right where I was, can't get any display or reach BIOS, Also I do not see anywhere to plug in the diagnostic speaker but the mobo has 4 LEDs for seemingly the same purpose VRAM, GPU, CPU, and BOOT
 
Oct 24, 2020
15
0
10
I recently Purchased a new build and upon assembling the part I can not even get display to my monitor or enter bios.

What I have tried so far:

  • Bare bones start - Nothing but 1 stick of ram (tried in each slot) Cpu and cooler, power supply connected
  • Resetting my Ram sticks and GPU and replacing the CMOS battery
  • Multiple displays and multiple HDMI cords
  • Checked connection for all power supply cables
Nvidia RTX 2070 super
AMD Ryzen 7 3700x
GAMEMAX RGB750 fully modular power supply
Corsair h150i Liquid cooler
Gigabyte Aorus x570 pro WiFi

The only things of note when I power up the PC
  • The LEDs on the motherboard (the RGB ones) briefly light up when I flip on power supply, but do not stay on even when I power up the computer
  • The VRAM Led on the motherboard lights up for an instant on startup but goes off and then the boot LED stays on (Makes sense because I cant even get to BIOS)
I am at a loss and desperately need help. Thank you to all in advance!

UPDATE: I found and plugged in a mobo diagnostic speaker and get no beeps of any kind on power up, to test I put it in my current PC and get the standard 1 short beep on boot. The Aorus mobo has 4 diagnostic LEDs, the only one that stays lit is the BOOT indicator

I have tried all 23 steps in https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq...deo-output-troubleshooting-checklist.1575220/

I am at a loss for what to do to proceed, is there a savior lurking?

Thank you in advance for any assistance

EDIT: Could I need to update BIOS? it has a flash bios button and USB slot dedicated for that, could my CPU be DOA? I checked and there are no broken pins =/
 
GAMEMAX RGB750 fully modular power supply

THIS, is easily your MOST likely problem. Total garbage PSU model AND brand. Should be returned and a quality, non-dumpster fire model should be sourced.

 
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Oct 24, 2020
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I will contact vendor and request a return, is it worth testing my new parts with my old PSU in the mean time to troubleshoot?

Also, the computer turns on and stays on, just nothing past the initial power on. Still likely PSU?
 
Oct 24, 2020
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Ok UPDATE!

I returned the previous PSU and purchased a Seasonic Prime 600w Titanium Fanless

Problem persists, working diagnostic speaker installed, no beeps at all, only Diag. LED lit on the mobo is the BOOT light. Even barebones with just PSU, cpu, cooler, mobo and 1 stick of ram same thing.

Could the BIOS be not compatible with my CPU? Do I need to flash update the bios? it has a dedicated USB port for doing just that but I have never done anything like that before.

Also, would a video of the build powering on be at all helpful in troubleshooting?

EDIT: Is tit time to RMA some parts? What could be the culprit if something was DOA?
 

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
A BIOS update wouldn't hurt. Shouldn't be necessary, but it wouldn't hurt if done correctly.

Do you have any drives connected? If so, disconnect them. If you don't, connect one (m.2, SATA, whatever).
It's extremely rare, but I have seen one board that wouldn't boot unless it had a drive connected.... never did find out the 'why'.
 
All X570 motherboards came with support for the full range of Zen 2 CPUs out of the box. I don't see any way for it to be possible that your CPU is not supported, regardless of BIOS version.

The only CPUs that had support for them added later, after the initial BIOS release, were the Raven ridge APUs (2200G, 2400G) and now, the 5000 series CPUs.

I think I would pull the CPU and take a much CLOSER look at the pins on the CPU. This really sounds exactly like just about every bent CPU pin situation I've seen.

I'm going to assume that you DO have the display cable connected to the graphics card, and not the motherboard, right?

And, that you do have the graphics card installed in the primary x16 slot, which is the long slot closest to the CPU, and not one of the secondary x16 slots further down the board.
 
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Oct 24, 2020
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I have tried every possible combination of GPU slot, GPU in, GPU out, cable to MOBO, cable to GPU, each port on the GPU, tried it all.

Tomorrow I will remove my CPU cooler and take another look at the pins on the CPU.

EDIT: Wouldn't the CPU diag, LED on the mobo be lit if there were a bent / broken pin on the CPU?
 
Not always. There are over a million (Literally, probably FAR more than a million) different bent or damaged pin combinations considering there are 1331 pins on a Ryzen CPU. That's a lot of ways things can go wrong if any one pin is bent, or any combination of one plus another, or one plus two others, and so on. And sometimes it doesn't take much bend for it to cause a problem. In fact, it's such a precision design that even a CPU cooler that has one push pin or clip that isn't seated, or one side or corner that is tighter or looser than the others, can cause anything from a failure to post to memory problems, to a corrupted or lack of display, to storage device issues and on down the line.

In some cases the problem can be bad enough that there is not an adequate power good signal and the board simply refuses to power on or boot at all, and this can happen with some shorted conditions with other hardware as well.

You'd THINK that WOULD be the case, and often it is, but I'd never say it CAN'T be, whatever, because I've seen more things that shouldn't be able to happen, happen, than you'd believe. Electronics are fickle that way and they don't always do what you'd expect or believe them to, and won't always conform to expected behaviors.

I'd recommend that you SPECIFICALLY follow my guide on bench testing the motherboard, and if at the end of it you still don't have an answer then you can USUALLY be pretty sure that it's the motherboard. But not always. There are very seldom any guarantees when troubleshooting PC hardware until you know for sure something was the problem because you replaced it with something else and the problem went away. You can certainly narrow things down though.

 
Oct 24, 2020
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Hmm, interesting, I will update tomorrow with a picture after I remove and look at the CPU pins if you are around Darkbreeze. If the pins all look fine, when I reseat it and reapply thermal paste+cooler should I err on the looser or tighter side when tightening the CPU cooler back onto the bracket?
 
LOL. Well, neither actually. The "right amount" is what it should be at, which is pretty much generally "snug" plus about a 1/8 turn. You don't want to have to actually put any serious effort into tightening the retention hardware fasteners but you also don't want to leave it loose AND probably the MOST important thing (In addition to not being TOO tight) is that they are EVENLY tightened. This generally means using an X pattern, in stages, to tighten. I'd usually recommend no more than one turn per fastener then move to the next one for coarse threaded fasteners and two turns per fastener then move diagonally to the next one for fine threaded fasteners.

Like so:

2loQ8hg.jpg


That stepped process will help to ensure the water block is seated uniformly all the way around. Again, this is probably not your issue, but it's still good information to know just for general awareness.
 
Oct 24, 2020
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Sigh....After very careful inspection there are 2 bent pins on the CPU indicated by the red dots, I made sure as I removed the CPU, it was oriented correctly in the setting. Is there any chance of repairing this myself or should I send it back in and eat the loss?


x1YJP2k.png
 
The AM4 socket only has two tightening screws, one on either side but I get your point.
Actually, there are a variety of different mounting mechanisms, and it depends completely upon what cooler is used. One cooler model may use the stock backplate and associated hardware, another may use the stock backplate with their own mounting hardware and others will require that you completely change the backplate AND the mounting hardware, which they will provide with their own versions. Too hard though to keep track of exactly what every cooler requires so as a general rule I just offer that as a general example. With only two mounting points, it's certainly LESS likely to have one point significantly off from the others, but still possible. Also possible that it's the brackets to the backplate attachment fasteners that might be unevenly tightened in some cases rather than the actual heatsink or water block to bracket fasteners.

Either way, a moot point since you have bent pins.

So, here is my thought on the bent pins. Those will not be covered by warranty, no matter what (In my experience. I have seen a couple of people who've been lucky enough to get them replaced by the retailer after claiming they received them that way but I would never count on it AND if you know it was you, it then becomes somewhat of a moral consideration, for some anyhow. LOL.), in most cases. So you really have very little to lose by trying to straighten them IF they are only slightly or partially bent. There are a good many tutorials and guides out there on straightening AMD pins. If they are completely bent over, you can still try, but it is very unlikely to successfully straighten a fully bent pin without it either breaking externally OR breaking below the visible surface of the CPU back where you can't see and it is soldered to the internal circuitry.

Since it doesn't have much value with bent pins, you can either try to fix it and live with whatever the results are, or you can try to get it replaced. There is really very little I can offer you there in that regard in terms of useful advice. Fortunately, bent pins on an AMD CPU are often easier to fix than bent pins on an Intel motherboard, which are a bit more delicate. In both cases though, it is thoroughly a "bad day scenario" and certainly it sucks to find that is the case but as I said earlier, given the circumstances and symptoms, I was pretty sure this was going to be what you found. Sorry that I was right. I'd have rather been wrong.
 
Solution
Oct 24, 2020
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I gave them a gentle nudge back to plumb with a toothpick, they did seat easily back into the mobo. I am waiting on a tube of thermal paste to arrive then I can re-secure the cooler and test. Hopefully I was able to correct the pins, they were maybe bent 15-20 degrees off of vertical.
 
That's definitely enough to cause them to not make contact where they are supposed to, or make contact where they are not supposed to.

If that is all they were bent, then straightening them should hopefully correct the problem. Make absolutely sure when reinstalling it that it is 200% oriented and aligned correctly with the socket alignment marks and that the lock lever is FULLY OPEN when you insert the CPU. It should drop easily into the socket with no need to force or push it down.

Be sure to clean off both the cooler and CPU heat spreader with isopropyl alcohol before applying fresh paste, and use either a lint free, microfiber cloth, or a paper coffee filter, so that it does not leave particles on either surface. Microfibers are enough to diminish the effectiveness of the mount and paste job believe it or not. Usually not by a great deal, but anything is unwanted.