[SOLVED] New build everything works but black screen

[gijsbartman]

Before everyone starts telling me I should go through the troubleshooting checklist. I already did but no luck.

When I try to boot everything turns on and seems to be working (all fans, also cpu cooler and gpu fans, are spinning) but I just have a black screen. The monitor does recognize there is a signal, but I just get a black screen.

When I boot with everything disconnected except the CPU and CPU cooler I get 3 long beeps. After adding 1 RAM stick and rebooting I get 1 long and 2 short beeps. After adding the second RAM stick still 1 long and 2 short beeps. After installing the GPU and rebooting, no beeps can be heard.
All of this without any display on my monitor.

All of these parts are new parts.

When booting I get no beeps but the boot led on my motherboard stays red.

I have literally tried everything I think. I have removed my components from my case and reassembled them outside of my case (on my motherboard’s box if you’re wondering). I have tried using a different GPU, and tested each in the 2 different PCIe slots. I have tried booting with 1 stick of RAM, I tried both. I put them in different slots (I did put the RAM in the correct slots according to the motherboard’s manual), still nothing. I have removed and reinstalled the CPU and CPU cooler.

As an inexperienced pc builder my ideas have run out. If anyone had any advice please tell me!

These are my pc specs
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
CPU cooler: stock cooler
MOBO: MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX
GPU: RX5700
RAM: G.Skill DDR4 Trident-Z 2x8GB 3200Mhz CL16 Black/White
STORAGE1: Kingston A400 240GB SSD
STORAGE2: "Seagate HDD 3.5"" 1TB ST1000DM010 BarraCuda"
PSU: Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 550W PSU

Thanks in advance!

Pictures can be made upon request

 

[Darkbreeze]

Are you using Displayport, DVI or HDMI?

Make SURE that you have the display cable connected to the video outputs on the graphics card, and not the motherboard. If you are connected to one of the motherboard video outputs, move the cable to the appropriate output on the graphics card. There will be no video output on any of the motherboard outputs as that CPU has no integrated graphics and I suspect this might be the issue, as it is for a lot of novice builders. If not, move along to the next section.

The memory does not need to be tried in various and different slots. There is only ONE way the memory should be installed, and most likely if you went by the text directive in your motherboard manual, you misunderstood it because every manual out there misrepresents how it should be installed although their images in the manual, depicting the proper population scenario, are accurate. That is to say, they should be installed in the 2nd and 4th slots over to the right of the CPU socket. As seen here:

If that is where you have them installed, then you are good. No need to move them around anymore. Ever.

If that is NOT where you have them installed, regardless of whether they DIMM slots are named A2 and B2 or whether on your board they are named DDR4_1 and DDR4_2 they are STILL the second and fourth slots over from the CPU, then you need to move them to those slots.

Moving along, with everything installed as it should be installed, I would try the following:

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

 

[gijsbartman]

Are you using Displayport, DVI or HDMI?

Make SURE that you have the display cable connected to the video outputs on the graphics card, and not the motherboard. If you are connected to one of the motherboard video outputs, move the cable to the appropriate output on the graphics card. There will be no video output on any of the motherboard outputs as that CPU has no integrated graphics and I suspect this might be the issue, as it is for a lot of novice builders. If not, move along to the next section.

The memory does not need to be tried in various and different slots. There is only ONE way the memory should be installed, and most likely if you went by the text directive in your motherboard manual, you misunderstood it because every manual out there misrepresents how it should be installed although their images in the manual, depicting the proper population scenario, are accurate. That is to say, they should be installed in the 2nd and 4th slots over to the right of the CPU socket. As seen here:

If that is where you have them installed, then you are good. No need to move them around anymore. Ever.

If that is NOT where you have them installed, regardless of whether they DIMM slots are named A2 and B2 or whether on your board they are named DDR4_1 and DDR4_2 they are STILL the second and fourth slots over from the CPU, then you need to move them to those slots.

Moving along, with everything installed as it should be installed, I would try the following:

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

EDIT2: I am a total idiot lol, there were plugs in the GPU’s video outputs for protection. That’s why I thought my gpu didn’t have any video outputs. I put my cable in the gpu and now it works! Thanks a lot for your help!

I use a HDMI cable.
I don’t know if I’m looking at the wrong place but my gpu doesn’t seem
To have any video output. Does every gpu have a video output and did I look at the wrong place or does the XFX RX5700 not have a video output.

I have my ram sticks in the correct place.

I also have hard reset the BIOS/CMOS

Edit: So the cable I use is actually an hdmi to DVI, my monitors don’t have an hdmi input. Could this be a problem?

 

[Darkbreeze]

No worries man. You are definitely not the first person who has mistakenly tried to use the motherboard outputs, that's for sure. Glad you're all sorted out now.