Question PC won't boot: black screen and no beep – seeking diagnostic help

[Michelino77]

Hello everyone,

I'm experiencing an issue with an old PC that occasionally stops working. To elaborate: when I press the power button, the screen remains completely black, with no text displayed, making it difficult to identify the cause of the problem.

Here's what I've checked so far:

1. Graphics card: I suspected the issue might be related to the graphics card, so I connected the cable to the motherboard's video output. Initially, this seemed to work, but shortly after, the problem reoccurred in the exact same manner.
2. PC not visible on the network: I've noticed that when the issue occurs, the PC doesn't boot properly. It doesn't appear on the network, and I can't access it remotely as I usually do because it appears completely off.
3. Diagnostic speaker: since the motherboard doesn't seem to have any LEDs for this, I purchased a speaker to connect to the motherboard, hoping to receive diagnostic beeps, but unfortunately, no sound is emitted.
4. RAM and other components: I haven't yet tried removing or replacing the RAM sticks, but if I'm not mistaken, in case of issues with the RAM or the hard drive/SSD, some messages should still appear on the screen, which doesn't happen in this case.

At this point, my hypotheses are narrowed down to:

• Power supply
• Motherboard
• Processor

The motherboard is an ASRock H97 Anniversary with an Intel Core i5-4460 (socket 1150) CPU. When I press the power button, the fans seem to start, but I'm not sure how a faulty power supply behaves. If it's the power supply, is it possible that it provides partial power without being able to boot the system?

Before purchasing any replacement components, I'd like to avoid mistakes and unnecessary expenses. Does anyone have suggestions on how to more precisely identify the problem?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

Just as a check, did you get the polarity for the speaker on correctly? The red sire on the speaker is meant to go on the +ve terminal on the motherboard's front panel header. The pinout for the speaker header can be found on page 20 in your motherboard manual;
https://download.asrock.com/Manual/H97 Anniversary.pdf

If it's the power supply, is it possible that it provides partial power without being able to boot the system?
If you have a discrete GPU and you're yet getting a black screen it case be due to:
a| the GPU is dead
b| the PSU is incapable of delivering power to the GPU
or
c| the motherboard's BIOS is corrupt

 

[Michelino77]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

Just as a check, did you get the polarity for the speaker on correctly? The red sire on the speaker is meant to go on the +ve terminal on the motherboard's front panel header. The pinout for the speaker header can be found on page 20 in your motherboard manual;
https://download.asrock.com/Manual/H97 Anniversary.pdf

If it's the power supply, is it possible that it provides partial power without being able to boot the system?
If you have a discrete GPU and you're yet getting a black screen it case be due to:
a| the GPU is dead
b| the PSU is incapable of delivering power to the GPU
or
c| the motherboard's BIOS is corrupt

Hi, and thanks for the reply, well:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460
CPU cooler: i5-4460 stock
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary
Ram: DIMM DDR3 Crucial 1600Mhz Ballistix Sport 4x4GB CL9
SSD/HDD: Samsung SSD 870 EVO 500GB
GPU: nVidia Gigabyte GTX950 WF2 2GB OC
PSU: 500W Evga 500B (80+Bronze) | Age: 9 years
Chassis: Thermaltake Versa H23
OS: Windows 10
Monitor: a 21' VGA Philip

About the speaker, yeah I think I put it good, for security I also tried to invert poles, but nothing.

About your hypothesis:
a| the GPU is dead - Well I moved the video from GPU to motherboard, but still same problem, even if I remove the GPU
b| the PSU is incapable of delivering power to the GPU - same as before
or
c| the motherboard's BIOS is corrupt - about this I don't know, what can I do? trying to update it?