Question Urgent help needed, elusive hardware issue.

[BonnieBart]

I've been having some elusive computer problems for a few days. It seems to have stopped working overnight as it was perfectly functional the previous day. It started with no POST, no signal to any of my peripherals.

I reseated everything and did a CMOS reset for good measure and when that bore no results I flashed a BIOS update.

I can now get it to POST, but it takes several minutes for it to do so. In the meantime I observed the Q-LED do the following: indicate an issue with DRAM for around 40 seconds, then jump to CPU for 1 sec, followed by VGA and then Boot. This cycled twice before I got a POST and boot normally, though after logging in it took several minutes for it to freeze and crash.

This same happens in BIOS, when I was trying to tinker with some of the voltages to see if I could get some stability, it took a few minutes before it froze and crashed. So far I think I narrowed the problem down to either the CPU or the motherboard, but I'd like to have a second opinion.

Just now I heard a concerning sound coming from somewhere near the CPU, a light crackling buzz I had not heard before and don't know what to do to identify the source.

I would love some help with this, I am at my wit's end and I can't do my work without this machine.

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My build:
ASUS ROG Strix B650-a Gaming WiFi
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
Kingston Fury Beast 64GB
Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe m.2 SSD
NZXT Kraken 360 Elite
Gigabyte Eagle RTX 3060 oc 12GD
Corsair RM850X

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

ASUS ROG Strix B650-a Gaming WiFi
What BIOS version are you on for your motherboard?

Kingston Fury Beast 64GB
Is this a 2x32GB kit or a 2x 2x16GB kit?

Corsair RM850X
How old is your PSU?

Just now I heard a concerning sound coming from somewhere near the CPU, a light crackling buzz I had not heard before and don't know what to do to identify the source.
Might want to roll up a sheet of A4 paper into a cylinder and hold it against your ear, while the other end is used to probe for the source of the sound. You might want to also inspect for any signs of burnt or blown capacitors/componentry, on top of that, might want to be on the look out for the smell of something burning.

 

[BonnieBart]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

ASUS ROG Strix B650-a Gaming WiFi
What BIOS version are you on for your motherboard?

Kingston Fury Beast 64GB
Is this a 2x32GB kit or a 2x 2x16GB kit?

Corsair RM850X
How old is your PSU?

Just now I heard a concerning sound coming from somewhere near the CPU, a light crackling buzz I had not heard before and don't know what to do to identify the source.
Might want to roll up a sheet of A4 paper into a cylinder and hold it against your ear, while the other end is used to probe for the source of the sound. You might want to also inspect for any signs of burnt or blown capacitors/componentry, on top of that, might want to be on the look out for the smell of something burning.

Thank you!
BIOS version 3222.
RAM is a 2x32 kit.
PSU should be around 2 years old, I've had this system for just less than that.

I'll try look for the source of the sound, I just hope it won't damage anything while it's running like that.

 

[BonnieBart]

New observation: monitor display connected to the motherboard HDMI is displaying white squares before the system froze. GPU was disconnected entirely.

No burning smells as far as I can detect, the exact source of the sound is still difficult to pin down. I've removed everything but the SSD, but I suspect the source is either the pump or the cpu.

Edit: if it's the pump I'm much less worried. I removed it to check on the cpu when I did my troubleshooting, I expect air got inside so I'm going to try flush it out of there.