[SOLVED] No signal coming from computer after M.2 switch (and same after switching back)

[superbubbles]

Hi,

I purchased an EVO 970 Plus 1TB to replace an EVO 970 Plus 500GB. As system drive, to make a fresh Windows install.
My computer has been working fine for 1 year, no issues.

• Today I open my case, make the switch (unplugged power, removed and put cmos battery again).
• I have 4 other hard drives, that I disconnected.
• Unplugged everything else (external hard drives, keyboard, mouse, ethernet)
• Computer starts (fans, leds, everything as usual)
• But there is no signal on my monitors and it won't even display the motherboard logo or BIOS, nothing.
• I tried 3 screens using displayport, hdmi, vga.
• One by one, 2 screens, 3 screens (same as my usual configuration), in different orders on the GPU card and also on the motherboard DP/HDMI inputs. And picked the right source on the monitor every time
• I tried a different graphics card
• I tried to place the new EVO on the other M.2 slot of my motherboard
• Still nothing...
• And when I switch back to the previous EVO 970 with my current Windows Install, nothing either
• Q-CODE says 0d (according to the manual stands for ”Reserver for future AMI SEC codes”)

Do you have any idea why this is happening?
I'm going nuts

--------------

Config:
ROG Strix X570-E Gaming
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Wraith Prism LED RGB (3.8 GHz / 4.6 GHz)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
32GB RAM DDR 4 Corsair (2x16GB) 2.12GHz
Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B
be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 550W 80PLUS Platinum


(Ryzen 9 3900x has no GPU chipset, so I think plugging DisplayPorts or HDMI to the motherboard directly wouldn't work anyway?)


Thank you for reading

 

[sds20020024]

Okay looks like your windows bootloader was in one of the drives that you disconnected.
This apparently happens pretty often , because windows is funny like that.

When you installed windows on your older m.2, it could be that windows placed the bootloader on one of your other drives, even though the OS got installed on the m,2 itself.
So when you take out the other drives, the system becomes unbootable.

Maybe try plugging in the other hard drives you had connected to the system before, and see whether the system boots with your old m.2.

If you see that the PC boots with the old m.2 and all the hard drives plugged into the system, then the windows bootloader is on one of those drives.

Reset the BIOS by clearing the CMOS again, and then install windows on the new m.2 withought any other drives plugged into the system.

And also after windows is installed, delete the bootloader partition from the hard drive it is located on, go take a look in disk management.

 

[superbubbles]

Okay looks like your windows bootloader was in one of the drives that you disconnected.
This apparently happens pretty often , because windows is funny like that.

When you installed windows on your older m.2, it could be that windows placed the bootloader on one of your other drives, even though the OS got installed on the m,2 itself.
So when you take out the other drives, the system becomes unbootable.

Maybe try plugging in the other hard drives you had connected to the system before, and see whether the system boots with your old m.2.

If you see that the PC boots with the old m.2 and all the hard drives plugged into the system, then the windows bootloader is on one of those drives.

Reset the BIOS by clearing the CMOS again, and then install windows on the new m.2 withought any other drives plugged into the system.

And also after windows is installed, delete the bootloader partition from the hard drive it is located on, go take a look in disk management.

Thank you for your reply!
So, I tried to put everything back the way it was (old M.2 and all my internal hard drives as when it was working), but nothing appears on my monitors either.
Even if the bootloader is misplaced somewhere on a different drive: shouldn't the monitor turn on and at least show me the motherboard logo and keyboard keys to open BIOS?
Because I can't even see that 😵 it's pitch-black and I get a DELL monitor message 'there is no signal coming from your computer ...."

 

[sds20020024]

Okay have you tested the monitor?
Maybe try a different port on the monitor/ different port on the GPU/ different HDMI or DisplayPort cable.
Maybe try another monitor or TV if you have one, just to see that it's not the monitor that's broken.

If it's not the monitor, try clearning the CMOS and resetting the BIOS once again, and try to get into the BIOS.
If you can't get into the BIOS even after resetting the CMOS, chances are that something inside your PC became faulty.
Did you take precautions for static discharge when you took out your m.2?

 

[Dragos Manea]

Okay looks like your windows bootloader was in one of the drives that you disconnected.
This apparently happens pretty often , because windows is funny like that.

When you installed windows on your older m.2, it could be that windows placed the bootloader on one of your other drives, even though the OS got installed on the m,2 itself.
So when you take out the other drives, the system becomes unbootable.

Maybe try plugging in the other hard drives you had connected to the system before, and see whether the system boots with your old m.2.

If you see that the PC boots with the old m.2 and all the hard drives plugged into the system, then the windows bootloader is on one of those drives.

Reset the BIOS by clearing the CMOS again, and then install windows on the new m.2 withought any other drives plugged into the system.

And also after windows is installed, delete the bootloader partition from the hard drive it is located on, go take a look in disk management.

This has nothing to do with bootloader, bios is not dependent of bootloader, actually the motherboard is giving a q-code which tells us that is a hardware issue, the motehrboard is not fully initializing WHICH IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BOOTLOADER. Check the power cables really well, if that si not working try to reseat the cpu, if that is not working try with only 1 dimm of ram and change slots every boot, if that is not working try another motherboard.

 

[superbubbles]

Thank you for you messages @sds20020024 and @Dragos Manea
As Dragos Manea said, this was not Bootloader related. I finally succeeded by unplugging everything from the motherboard except: 24 pin for m/b, 8 pin for cpu and F_PANEL.
I suspect it was the plugged SATA cables or some USB front connector cables that kept the computer from starting and reaching POST.

(And thanks again really, I'm always amazed by the helpfulness from people on hardware forums, it's very appreciated)