Question Sometimes PC can boot fine, other times confronted with a black screen.. Help!

[jcoddington]

Hi there,

First time poster and PC builder - hope someone can help.

So I have a system based around an ASUS Sabertooth P67 motherboard, running an Intel i7 processor, Samsung Evo SSD, Nvidea GTX960, 8GB Vengeance RAM and Corsair TX850M PSU. The OS is Windows 10 Pro.

The confusing thing about it is that sometimes the computer boots fine and I can access the OS without any hitches, and other times I boot it and it confronts me with a black screen (no BIOS). The fans and hard drives sound like they're running but there is no video output.

When the screen is black the 'Boot_Device_LED' is red. I'm assuming this is the problem but can't quite put my finger on what is causing the issue. Any tips would be much appreciated! Let me know if you need more info.

Thanks!

 

[jcoddington]

Forgot to mention - I've replaced the CMOS battery but still to no avail.

 

[Jacozeelie]

Have you tried the gpu in a working system?
Have you tried a good working psu in your system?

Full system specs. Make model and age

 

[jcoddington]

Thanks for your reply.

I haven't tried the GPU in a working system and unfortunately don't have access to another system to try it. The PSU is supposedly brand new (I bought it second hand) and everything seems to power up ok (fans/HDD spinning etc). GPU is Nvidia GTX960.

The rest of the system (bar SSD and PSU) is a good few years old but and was dusty but I have cleaned it up using compressed air.

What's confusing to me is why it's so intermittant. Are these symptoms indicative of a hardware or software fault?

I was also wondering if it's possible to check the health of the hardware using the terminal console?

 

[Jacozeelie]

A faulty psu can cause many and strange problems and errors. Best to do a furmark stress test on cpu and gpu as the use the most power from your psu. Do you have a speaker installed on the mobo cause the beeps can give a indications to what the cause is

 

[jcoddington]

Ah I shall try that stress test the next time it manages to boot. Thanks! It's a bit of a bummer if the guy has sold me a faulty PSU because it "didn't fit in his case". It does seem pretty much brand new but didn't come with a box. (Corsair TX850M btw)

I'm not sure if there is a speaker on the mobo, how can I check? It doesn't beep when I turn it on, so I'm guessing it doesn't?

 

[Jacozeelie]

Check your front panel header on the mobo, either it will have a onboard speaker or you will have to plug one in

https://www.amazon.com/SoundOriginal-Motherboard-Internal-Speaker-Buzzer/dp/B01DM56TFY

 

[jcoddington]

Thanks - I'll have a look now. I just turned it on and it booted but I've now run into a windows error - "SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED" and a sad face :-( .... Are these things related do you think? Could it be my boot drive? It's an Samsung EVO SSD 860.

 

[Jacozeelie]

Samsung Magician Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Samsung Magician software is designed to help you manage your Samsung SSD with a simple, intuitive user interface. Download files & find supported models.

www.samsung.com

Run magician to test your ssd if you can get your system to boot.

 

[Jacozeelie]

How is your cpu and gpu temps?

 

[Jacozeelie]

Do you have 1 8gb ram or 2 x 4gb ram

 

[jcoddington]

Thanks for the helpful replies.

Windows ended up repairing itself and going back to factory settings (with my desktop background intact). Thankfully I don't have any files on this computer yet as I'm not finding it to be trustworthy, haha.

As for the things you mentioned... in regards to the SSD, I am unable to perform diagnostics on this specific drive via Magician software but the benchmark came back with 'Drive health: good Drive temp: 31 degrees Read: 347 Write: 255.#

Managed to run the Furmark GPU stress test for half an hour without any issues at all. Max temp was 80 degrees. I ran the CPU burner and monitored it using Core Temp software and each of the 4 cores went up to max 50 degrees. I have a lot of fans in the chassis FYI.

Currently I've only got 1 of the 4gb RAM cards installed as I was worried that one of them might be faulty (the outer case is slightly damaged).

Any other thoughts? I'm currently typing this on the PC we're talking about but I'm worried that I'll get the black screen again next time I turn on.

 

[jcoddington]

ps I bought one of the motherboard speakers so hopefully it'll arrive within a couple of days.

 

[Scotti69]

Did you fix it?