[SOLVED] Pc posts but can't load into windows

[creatip]

Hi there.

So I assembled my system 1-2 years ago. It was working perfectly fine, until about a week ago.

First, it would black screen and sound stutter, then reboot when playing games. So initially I thought it was my old gpu (sapphire rx570 4gb). I opened it up, cleaned the dust, changed the thermal pads and paste (I've done this multiple times, and quite confident about the process). Problem still exists. Temps were a bit high but fine (below 80C).

Then, the problem escalated. About 50-50 chance I can boot to windows (but still always restarts after a few minutes of games), or I get a post beep and gigabyte splash screen, then the screen goes black with "DP no signal". Funny thing is, sometimes the hdd light still flickers like normal booting, but still no signal. At this point, I thought it was the gpu driver. So I DDU, and downloaded newest and older drivers from amd website. None of them solved the problem.

Now, there's only 10-90 chance it will boot to windows. I can get to bios/uefi screen and stay there forever (no restarts)

TLDR: pc posts but can't load to windows.

Things I've tried (and still failed):

• open, clean, and changed gpu's thermal pads and paste
• updated and rolled back gpu drivers to newest, and 2019 drivers.
• cleared cmos, took out cmos battery and putting it back in. Stock bios.
• swapped gpu and psu. The only other system I have is a mediocre office pc. Radeon 5450 and 400w psu, so it's not apple to apple swapping.
• ram sticks rolling, tried 1 stick, swapped sticks, swapped slots
• I even tried running 2 psus. Main psu for everything else but the gpu, and the 400w psu only powering the gpu (shorted the pin to turn it on externally)
• installed the radeon 5450 in the main system, everything was working fine
• installed gpu and ram sticks to the mediocre pc, and ran occt. Passed the 3d standard and mem test. Rebooted when testing psu (most likely because of lackluster 400w psu)
• using hdmi instead of dp.
• Restored to various restore points in the windows repair screen

At this point, my guess is either the mb, or a faulty windows installation (unlikely, because I didn't install or remove any programs when the problem started)

System:

• amd ryzen 5 3600x
• sapphire rx570 4g
• gigabyte b550m ds3h
• samsung evo 970 512mb boot drive + 2 WD hdd for data
• seasonic ss-750js 750w non modular
• teamgroup ddr4 8gb x2

What is the most likely culprit. I just don't want to replace the wrong part, especially with today's economy.

Thank you in advance.

 

[DavidM012]

Sometimes they play dead when the cmos battery is flat so take out the battery and put a new one in.

The battery should be lasting longer than 2 years but when it's on the shelf it drains a bit. If you are shutting down your pc when not in use it could also drain the battery faster.

If a part spontaneously died the pc likely wouldn't start at all. The board doesn't appear to have a lot in the way of diagnostic beeps or leds according to the manual. Or any.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550M-DS3H-rev-1x/support#support-manual

 

[creatip]

Sometimes they play dead when the cmos battery is flat so take out the battery and put a new one in.

The battery should be lasting longer than 2 years but when it's on the shelf it drains a bit. If you are shutting down your pc when not in use it could also drain the battery faster.

If a part spontaneously died the pc likely wouldn't start at all. The board doesn't appear to have a lot in the way of diagnostic beeps or leds according to the manual. Or any.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550M-DS3H-rev-1x/support#support-manual

Hi, thanks for the reply. Ok, I will order a replacement battery. It's a cheap diagnostic/troubleshooting solution.

Yes, the mb is basic stuff. I found gigabyte's basic mb (ud series) to be quite reliable, while their higher tiers not so much.

Nevertheless, I still suspect the mb's failing in my case, because of the elimination process, and the fact that the success boot rate went worse over time. But of course I'm still open to all suggestions and helps.

 

[creatip]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Ok, I will order a replacement battery. It's a cheap diagnostic/troubleshooting solution.

Yes, the mb is basic stuff. I found gigabyte's basic mb (ud series) to be quite reliable, while their higher tiers not so much.

Nevertheless, I still suspect the mb's failing in my case, because of the elimination process, and the fact that the success boot rate went worse over time. But of course I'm still open to all suggestions and helps.

Update: the cmos battery is still good. I just checked it with a multimeter, and it read 3.2 something volts.

 

[DavidM012]

Not really sure what's a definitive test for a cmos battery really it could just be a cheap mass market one rather than a duracell or something like that that they knock out in the factory in volume.

So next up try to isolate the gpu.

• installed the radeon 5450 in the main system, everything was working fine

That could be it.

The problem is a hardware one not with windows or drivers.

Putting a low powered gpu in is exactly what I'd do next.

So then you tested the rx 570 in the other system and it appears to work? But it doesn't seem to be working with your b550 board?

Well it's on the fritz and confusing that it works somewhat in the other board. Probably not a good idea to stress test it in that other system with the old 400w psu because that 225w rx could kill it and the system especially if it's fritzing.

don't do that.

So I suppose you don't have any warranty options for the rx 570? Can the manufacturer service it for a fee?

 

[DavidM012]

In other words then it's just use the radeon 5450 until you obtain another gpu.

 

[DavidM012]

There is a question of why the gpu fritzed so if you're handy with the multimeter you can check the voltages of your psu. The pci-e socket on the b550 'seems ok' with the low powered radeon 5450, but that isn't exactly the same as having a high powered gpu in it.

So maybe there's something more involving power going on. You can't use the 400w psu on that b550 system. It could go out and break it more.

So it could be new psu & gpu. At the moment the mobo, cpu & mem seem fine but it's not being stressed either.

 

[creatip]

There is a question of why the gpu fritzed so if you're handy with the multimeter you can check the voltages of your psu. The pci-e socket on the b550 'seems ok' with the low powered radeon 5450, but that isn't exactly the same as having a high powered gpu in it.

So maybe there's something more involving power going on. You can't use the 400w psu on that b550 system. It could go out and break it more.

So it could be new psu & gpu. At the moment the mobo, cpu & mem seem fine but it's not being stressed either.

I was planning next on taking out the 750w psu and swapping it with the office pc's psu.

So my plan is to put the main pc's psu, gpu, and ram stick in the office pc, and run some stress tests. If they all pass, then it'd have been either the mb or processor of the main pc. I'm not sure if the office pc's mb supports the 3600x. Might have to do a bios update on the office pc, to ensure compatibility tho.

 

[DavidM012]

no that's not the move to make. You can't rely on a 400w psu for stress testing. The only thing you will learn is how to die a 400w psu. It isn't capable of supplying enough power.

Stop messing with that.

You might be right about your b550 mobo sagging after 2 years since it's in the cheaper range.

But there is no way to test the Rx 570 gpu with this setup. Since there's more than one problem. The CPU I think is fine and the memory is fine.

It's just that you had that fritz and the rx 570 gpu doesn't work with the b550 any more.

So you would just have to work with the radeon 5450 with your b550 motherboard and ryzen cpu because that's the configuration that's working at the moment.

There is also no way to definitively test your seasonic 750.

It should be ok since they have some years of warranty but there's been a glitch somewhere like maybe a power surge that caused this.

So the situation is dubious. If you buy another psu it might cause the b550 board to finally fail. If you buy another gpu it might cause the board to finally fail.

If you buy another board your rx 570 might still be defective.

If you buy another board and gpu and your seasonic psu has developed a defect, it could cause the new components to fail too.

 

[DavidM012]

Then if you buy another different model of mobo thinking to get something more durable, it might change the parameters of compatibility with your current memory and not work properly.

 

[DavidM012]

and since there might've been a power glitch you need to think about preventing it from recurring with a reliable surge protector.

 

[DavidM012]

It could also be that the VRM power phases on the b550 declining after 2 years.

The review suggests the board was solid enough to overclock a 3900x

https://www.tomshardware.com/features/cheap-AMD-b550-motherboards-tested

But I didn't really see any clues about it's longevity in there. They do a review, see if it goes bang or not but that isn't really a definitive long term test either.

 

[DavidM012]

and then since the more durable motherboards in the upper mid range is what people tend to go for that'll just work for years well you aren't getting the same thing from the entry level range. When you think about the amount of not working pc doesn't boot any more threads it's because the gpus are very power hungry these days and it's a lot of load on the gear. Carnage is a word I suppose.

 

[creatip]

no that's not the move to make. You can't rely on a 400w psu for stress testing. The only thing you will learn is how to die a 400w psu. It isn't capable of supplying enough power.

Stop messing with that.

You might be right about your b550 mobo sagging after 2 years since it's in the cheaper range.

But there is no way to test the Rx 570 gpu with this setup. Since there's more than one problem. The CPU I think is fine and the memory is fine.

It's just that you had that fritz and the rx 570 gpu doesn't work with the b550 any more.

So you would just have to work with the radeon 5450 with your b550 motherboard and ryzen cpu because that's the configuration that's working at the moment.

There is also no way to definitively test your seasonic 750.

It should be ok since they have some years of warranty but there's been a glitch somewhere like maybe a power surge that caused this.

So the situation is dubious. If you buy another psu it might cause the b550 board to finally fail. If you buy another gpu it might cause the board to finally fail.

If you buy another board your rx 570 might still be defective.

If you buy another board and gpu and your seasonic psu has developed a defect, it could cause the new components to fail too.

Ah sorry, I didn't make myself clear in the previous post. What I meant was, I'm still at the elimination process, and I'm planning on taking the 750w psu, and put it in my office pc, along with the gpu and ram sticks. So the psu, gpu, and ram are from my main pc, but the mb and processor are from my office pc. That way, I'm hoping to rule out (or pinpoint) the psu as the culprit. If the system passes stress tests, then the only things left to blame are the mb or the 3600x.

I was reluctant to do this until now, because my main pc was packed with cables (non modular psu) and cable managed (best I could). Removing the psu needs a bit of work, and reinstalling it later needs more work. But, that's the only thing left to do now, after trying the gpu and ram sticks in the office pc earlier....

I'll report back when I finish doing this.

 

[DavidM012]

Yeah no you don't want to be doing any stress tests.

The result of stress tests on dodgy equipment is only failure and they go bang short out and maybe even cause you harm somehow.

The idea was NOT to stress your b550 system with the 750w psu just by using the Radeon 5450 in because it's a low powered card the cpu won't work so hard and so you aren't pulling the max current like you would with your Rx 570.

the older mobo in your office PC is unlikely to be up to scratch either. The whole situation is dubious.

You need to be thinking along the lines of what it's going to take to repair your b550 system.

That, to circumvent the dodgy suspect untestable components is to buy a new PSU, new motherboard and new gpu.

Why? Because we don't know if there wasn't a power surge.

We simply do not have the equipment that is needed to test the seasonic 750 comprehensively.

You don't want to be testing a suspect power supply with new hardware either.

You don't want to be testing a suspect GPU with a new motherboard.

So you are at the point where you have to spend money but also learn a bit about the products you need to buy and make sure your ram is compatible because your PC had an event and failed.

Not easy but that's all you can do.

If you want to use your OLD office pc just use it in it's original old configuration and don't add any of your ryzen system parts to it.

You can use the 5450 radeon on your b550 ryzen system for now so long as it doesn't finally go kaput. because that card won't stress the system as much the rx 570.

 

[DavidM012]

The only thing you're likely to be able or should use on your old office pc is your 2 WD hdd for data if you want to access it.

The old system might not even have an nvme socket for all I know. So you couldn't move your boot drive from your b550 system to it probably anyway.

The area of these boards that isn't the strongest on the range is the VRMS. That's the power delivery system to the cpu. We can surmise that your old board is equally not high end.

putting your zen 2 on it, if it's even an am4 socket motherboard? You didn't list the specs of the office pc. It's likely to be a weak board for that too. Another one bites the dust. So don't. Hopefully you can't because it's a totally different pc.

 

[creatip]

The only thing you're likely to be able or should use on your old office pc is your 2 WD hdd for data if you want to access it.

The old system might not even have an nvme socket for all I know. So you couldn't move your boot drive from your b550 system to it probably anyway.

The area of these boards that isn't the strongest on the range is the VRMS. That's the power delivery system to the cpu. We can surmise that your old board is equally not high end.

putting your zen 2 on it, if it's even an am4 socket motherboard? You didn't list the specs of the office pc. It's likely to be a weak board for that too. Another one bites the dust. So don't. Hopefully you can't because it's a totally different pc.

Oh dang it, I checked back too late. Already did the "procedure"

My office pc's mb is gigabyte a320m-s2h v2, which is, yeah, bottom tier.

So I ended up putting the 3600x to the a320 (which worked, after updating the bios), along with the gpu, ram sticks, 750w psu, and even my evo nvme (not as the boot drive, but just to see if maybe it was the culprit). The only thing that's left behind on my main pc was the b550 mb.

Ran occt psu test, and it ran without any errors for 19 minutes. Had to stop the test because the mb vrm's temp was reaching 100C, which was inline with what you said (the vrm sucks on low tier mb). Everything went smoothly on that pc, so I'm confident it's the b550's fault all along. I'll order a replacement later.

Thank you for all the time and patience with me and my problem. Cheers.