r/pchelp Dec 15 '19

Perform these steps before posting about POST/boot/no video problems!

175 Upvotes

Link to original list from tom’sHARDWARE with pictures

"No POST", "system won't boot", and "no video output" troubleshooting checklist

This checklist is a compilation of troubleshooting ideas from many forum members. It's very important to actually perform every step in the checklist if you want to effectively troubleshoot your problem.

  • 1.Did you carefully read the motherboard owners manual?

  • 2.Did you plug in the 4/8-pin CPU power connector located near the CPU socket? If the motherboard has 8 pins and your PSU only has 4 pins, you can use the 4-pin connector. The 4-pin connector USUALLY goes on the 4 pins located closest to the CPU. If the motherboard has an 8-pin connector with a cover over 4 pins, you can remove the cover and use an 8-pin plug if your power supply has one. This power connector provides power to the CPU. Your system has no chance of posting without this connector plugged in! Check your motherboard owners manual for more information about the CPU power connector. The CPU power connector is usually referred to as the "12v ATX" connector in the owner's manual. This is easily the most common new-builder mistake.

  • 3.Did you install the standoffs under the motherboard? Did you place them so they all align with the screw holes in the motherboard, with no extra standoffs touching the board in the wrong place? A standoff installed in the wrong place can cause a short and prevent the system from booting.

  • 4.Did you verify that the video card is fully seated? (may require more force than a new builder expects.)

  • 5.Did you attach ALL the required power connector(s) to the video card? (some need two, some need none, many need one.) It is best to use cables connected directly to the PSU. Only use adapters if absolutely necessary.

  • 6.Have you tried booting with just one stick of RAM installed? (Try each stick of RAM individually in each RAM slot.) If you can get the system to boot with a single stick of RAM, you should enable an XMP profile or manually set the RAM speed, timings, and voltage to the manufacturer's specs in the BIOS before attempting to boot with all sticks of RAM installed. If your motherboard supports XMP profiles, that is the best way to get your RAM running at its rated specs. Nearly all motherboards default to the standard RAM voltage (1.8v for DDR2, 1.5v for DDR3, & 1.2v for DDR4). If your RAM is rated to run at a voltage higher than the standard voltage, the motherboard will underclock the RAM for compatibility reasons. If you want the system to be stable and to run the RAM at its rated specs, you should either enable an XMP profile or manually set the values in the BIOS. Many boards don't supply the RAM with enough voltage when using "auto" settings which causes stability issues.

  • 7.Did you verify that all memory modules are fully inserted? (may require more force than a new builder expects.) It's a good idea to install the RAM on the motherboard before it's in the case.

  • 8.Did you verify in the owners manual that you're using the correct RAM slots? The following image is just an example. Verify in the owners manual the recommended RAM slots to use for single, dual, triple, or quad channel applications. This will vary depending on motherboard manufacturer, number of supported RAM channels, and how many sticks of RAM are being used.

  • 9.Did you remove the plastic guard over the CPU socket? (this actually comes up occasionally.)

  • 10.Did you install the CPU correctly? There will be an arrow on the CPU that needs to line up with an arrow on the motherboard CPU socket. There may also be a notch that will only line up in one direction. Be sure to pay special attention to that section of the manual!

  • 11.Are there any bent pins on the motherboard/CPU? This especially applies if you tried to install the CPU with the plastic cover on or with the CPU facing the wrong direction.

    1. If using an after market CPU cooler, did you get any thermal paste on the motherboard, CPU socket, or CPU pins? Did you use the smallest amount you could?
  • 13.Is the CPU fan plugged in? Some motherboards will not boot without detecting that the CPU fan is plugged in to prevent burning up the CPU.

    1. If using a stock cooler, was the thermal material on the base of the cooler free of foreign material, and did you remove any protective covering? If the stock cooler has push-pins, did you ensure that all four pins snapped securely into place? The easiest way to install the push-pins is outside the case sitting on a non-conductive surface like the motherboard box. Read the instructions! The push-pins have to be turned the OPPOSITE direction as the arrows for installation. This means with the arrow pointing away from the heatsink.
    1. Are any loose screws laying on the motherboard, or jammed against it? Are there any wires running directly under the motherboard? You should not run wires under the motherboard since the soldered wires on the underside of the motherboard can cut into the insulation on the wires and cause a short. Some cases have space to run wires on the back side of the motherboard tray.
    1. Did you ensure you discharged all static electricity before touching any of your components? Computer components are very sensitive to static electricity. It takes much less voltage than you can see or feel to damage components. You should implement some best practices to reduce the probability of damaging components. These practices should include either wearing an anti-static wrist strap or always touching a metal part of the case with the power supply installed and plugged in, but NOT turned on. You should avoid building or working on a computer on carpet. Working on a smooth surface is the best if at all possible. You should also keep fluffy the cat, children, and Fido away from computer components.
    1. Did you check the debug LEDs, Q-code display, or install the system speaker (if provided) so you can check codes in the manual? Most modern motherboards come with debug LEDs or a Q-code display. A system speaker is NOT the same as normal speakers that plug into the back of the motherboard. A system speaker plugs into a header on the motherboard that's usually located near the front panel connectors. Debug LEDs, Q-code displays, or a system speaker are critical components when trying to troubleshoot system problems. You are flying blind without them. The motherboard owner's manual will have a list of codes you can reference. If your case or motherboard didn't come with debug LEDs, a Q-code display, or system speaker you can buy a system speaker for cheap here: http://www.cwc-group.com/casp.html
    1. Did you read the instructions in the manual on how to properly connect the front panel plugs? (Power switch, power led, reset switch, HD activity led) Polarity does not matter with the power and reset switches. If power or drive activity LED's do not come on, reverse the connections. For troubleshooting purposes, disconnect the reset switch. If it's shorted, the machine either will not POST at all, or it will endlessly reboot.
    1. Did you turn on the power supply switch located on the back of the PSU? The switch should be depressed on the side with an I, the O means off. Is the power plug on a switch? If it is, is the switch turned on? Is there a GFI circuit on the plug-in? If there is, make sure it isn't tripped. You should also make sure the power cord isn't causing the problem. Try swapping it for a known good cord if you have one available.
    1. Is your CPU supported by the BIOS revision installed on your motherboard? Most motherboards will post a CPU compatibility list on their website.
    1. Have you tried resetting the CMOS? The motherboard manual will have instructions for your particular board. User Darkbreeze also provided the following:

BIOS Hard reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases, it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. After the five minutes are up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset.

http://www.spotht.com/2010/02/reset-bios-clear-cmos.html

    1. If you have integrated video and a video card, try the integrated video port. Resetting the bios, can make it default back to the onboard video. If you are trying to use HDMI outputs, try using DVI or VGA instead. Sometimes, the HDMI ports won't work until the correct drivers are installed.
    1. Make certain all cables and components including RAM and expansion cards are tight within their sockets.

I also wanted to add some suggestions that jsc often posts. This is a direct quote from him:

"Pull everything except the CPU and HSF. Boot. You should hear a series of long single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence here indicates, in probable order, a bad PSU, motherboard, or CPU - or a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU.

To eliminate the possibility of a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU, you will need to pull the motherboard out of the case and reassemble the components on an insulated surface. This is called "breadboarding" - from the 1920's home-brew radio days. I always breadboard a new or recycled build. It lets me test components before I go through the trouble of installing them in a case.

If you get the long beeps, add a stick of RAM. Boot. The beep pattern should change to one long and two or three short beeps. Silence indicates that the RAM is shorting out the PSU (very rare). Long single beeps indicates that the BIOS does not recognize the presence of the RAM.

If you get the one long and two or three short beeps, test the rest of the RAM. If good, install the video card and any needed power cables and plug in the monitor. If the video card is good, the system should successfully POST (one short beep, usually) and you will see the boot screen and messages.

Note - an inadequate PSU will cause a failure here or any step later.

Note - you do not need drives or a keyboard to successfully POST (generally a single short beep).

If you successfully POST, start plugging in the rest of the components, one at a time."

If you suspect the PSU is causing your problems, below are some suggestions by jsc for troubleshooting the PSU. Proceed with caution. I will not be held responsible if you get shocked or fry components.

"The best way to check the PSU is to swap it with a known good PSU of similar capacity. Brand new, out of the box, untested does not count as a known good PSU. PSU's, like all components, can be DOA.

Next best thing is to get (or borrow) a digital multimeter and check the PSU.

Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU. You can carefully probe the pins from the back of the main power connector."


r/pchelp 10h ago

HARDWARE Please help me, Im giving up

59 Upvotes

I bought a fairly used 3070 on marketplace, the guy let me run benchmarks for hours on his pc and everything seemed fine. I had problems with my evga 1070 because it would randomly turn the screen off and the fans would start running at full power.

I tried another graphics card and the problem went away with a friend's 1050. So a bought a fairly used 3070 on MP. As i said the 3070 was working fine until i put it on my pc, everything ran fine until i got into read dead 2.

When i started story mode it would last 2 minutes before doing the same thing as before and i got really desesperated bc i thought this would fix it but in fact it did not.

I want to keep this gpu but wtf can i do


r/pchelp 13h ago

OPEN what is up with my monitor

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25 Upvotes

hello, i just encountered this problem of having the purple lines covering my screen. how do i fix this? ive had my monitor for at least 3 years.

i just had my gpu changed a wk ago so i dont think it might be the problem


r/pchelp 1h ago

SOFTWARE Bluescreen

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Upvotes

I often (every 30min to 1h) get a bluescreen with different error Codes. After that i think my pc reboots itself and the text schown on the picture Pops up. I dont really know what to do. Pls help!


r/pchelp 1h ago

HARDWARE PC won’t turn on (NZXT H5 Flow)

Upvotes

Seems I have connected everything right. It won’t budge. Any help would be appreciated 😊


r/pchelp 2h ago

Network Why does this happen

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2 Upvotes

A little while ago my internet would just not connect to my pc and it would literally not let me connect anything to it, but it eventually resolved itself randomly, but now it’s doing the exact same bs.


r/pchelp 8h ago

HARDWARE Any ssd recommendations for my a68hm grenade?

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7 Upvotes

Upgrading from a failing hdd, 1tb or higher is preferable idk or mind about its speed too much.


r/pchelp 3h ago

HARDWARE I'm about to replace my PC's power supply. Any tips/advice?

2 Upvotes

That's basically it. I would like to know if there's anything I should be aware of before, during and after the process. It's my first time, besides the usual "check if the connectors are fully seated". Thanks guys


r/pchelp 3h ago

HARDWARE Need Help regarding Built

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2 Upvotes

Max budget is 60k rupee Don't know if it's good or not, just did this squeezing everything in budget.


r/pchelp 5m ago

HARDWARE Freezing in bios and crashing during windows install.

Upvotes

Hello, I'm having trouble with a pc build. During windows install, it will get to the point where you choose a drive. After choosing it will blackscreen (though sometimes bluescreening). The bios environment will also only work normally a minute after startup but will then freeze after i try to exit or change something.

CPU: ryzen 5 7600x
MOBO: gigabyte b850m D3hp
RAM: Corsair 32gb 6000MT/s 36


r/pchelp 7m ago

HARDWARE My second monitor started doing weird things

Upvotes

I had this setup for months without problems, but suddenly this monitor started to connect and disconnect like every couple seconds. Usually when both are on but also sometimes when only this one is on. Unplugging and replugging the DP cable might work but not always. It is suspicious that it started shortly after i did that secure boot stuff for Battlefield 6...


r/pchelp 13m ago

HARDWARE Some weird sticky substance on my CPU fan and it won't spin

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Upvotes

It was working fine when I left for vacation but when I came back I started getting CPU fan errors and I took it apart to find out the CPU fan has this sticky stuff inside it and on the casing that doesn't let it spin on its own power


r/pchelp 15m ago

SOFTWARE What on earth could cause this among us guy to follow my mouse

Upvotes

All I did was open an opra gx tab to watch some YouTube and I noticed my mouse looked wierd and then I sall the amoung us and when I clicked on opra to see if it was something with that it went away

Is this a virus or an easter egg or something else


r/pchelp 16m ago

SOFTWARE (TECH) HELP AGAINST WHITE/BLANK SCREEN BIOS ISSUE!

Upvotes

Recently, I updated the BIOS of my MSI B760M Bomber Wifi (DDR5) And now when I Try to get into BIOS it Shows me a White/Blank screen and the windows 11 startup icon has also disappeared. BUT When I remove my DEDICATED GPU From my system and plug my monitor into the Motherboard it works fine, BIOS Gets back to Normal. [My CPU is i5 13400 (with integrated graphics) & MY GPU Is RX 580 8GB]. I have 2 monitors in which I keep 1 plugged into GPU and 1 into Motherboard (TO USE MY INTEGRATED GRAPHICS AS WELL) But no matter what I try when the GPU is plugged in BIOS just isn't working. I tried clearing the CMOS and it didnt help, tried Using 1 monitor but NOPE. IS THERE ANY SOLUTION PLS REPLY!


r/pchelp 18m ago

HARDWARE Helppp

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Upvotes

Just pick this thing up I have no idea besides, I need an SSD and a GPU. If anybody could help me get an idea of the ones that would be best for this that would be awesome. Also one of my biggest concerns there’s a lot of wires I don’t know what they all go to


r/pchelp 20m ago

Network Ethernet connected but no internet

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Upvotes

hi, ive been having this problem with my pc for a while now. ive tried connecting it to my router, tried connecting it to both my phone’s hotspots and it wouldn’t work. please help


r/pchelp 20m ago

PERFORMANCE Micro Stutters in League of Legends 9800x3d rtx5070ti

Upvotes

Hey guys,

I recently bought a new pc - 9800x3d, rtx 5070ti and every game works like a charm - warzone, marvel rivals, poe 2 - no stutters etc.

However... League of legends performance is weird? i capped fps at 240 with ingame fps limiter and while playing arams i have really weird stutters, basically the game performed better on my MSI handheld in docked mode :D

Fps is constant 240-239, the game also changes monitor refresh rate from 360 to 240 which is weird. However in teamfights sometime i have this 20 or 40 fps drop which is causing microfreeze... this is very weird, Cause even when i cap fps at 200 i have 20 fps drop to 180 which cause micro freeze and when i cap at 144 i have microstutter to 120. LOL

When i used nvidia settings frame limiter it seems to be okay so far? however i feel like it causes some input lag.

Any idea what could be causing this?

btw. i already made sure that im running on high performance mode etc.

Could it be mobo or cpu issue? this is so weird.


r/pchelp 4h ago

OPEN What is this red line in the corner of my screen ?? I have 2 monitors and its only on the first monitor, Its not from the wallpaper and i can't click

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2 Upvotes

r/pchelp 33m ago

HARDWARE Foifkin F1 PC Case Help

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Upvotes

r/pchelp 36m ago

HARDWARE How do I fix this?

Upvotes

What's the main problem of causing this?


r/pchelp 37m ago

HARDWARE Why is my ASUS G551JM 1. using so much space when I have nothing installed & 2. sometimes won't turn on.

Upvotes

Honestly, I don't have a lot of hope left. I have also changed this laptop's booting HDD to an SSD at some point, then changed it again to a 1TB SSD because the 1st SSD was pooping. With this new SSD, as nincompoop-y as I am, I at least intentionally stopped installing anything on it, even at least knowing to change a lot of pathways like C://Music to my larger USB-plugged external HDD 3.0. But I'm just confused as to why the storage on the Settings section is pretty much used up while on Disk Management I just don't have anything on it?

Another very important thing, and this is the hopeless and sad part for me: Does this have to do with my laptop... not booting correctly? After maybe 2 years of peace after the last 1TB SSD change, like, I'm typing here normally, but sometimes, just sometimes, I get this problem with this laptop where it just freezes. Then when I force it off and turn it on, the screen won't turn on, the fan runs on high, and there's this light representing the cylindrical shape on the laptop (which I learned means the hard drive) keeps blinking with the caps lock light, alternating between them. I have to switch it off forcefully again. Then, after a day or two of not turning it on, it may turn on fine again, but of course, the anxiety of when it'll happen again is there, and I'm already stressed out as it is, I don't want to spend another however much monies only to be told by those computer guys inconsistent things like "we don't know", or "you just didn't use it for too long", or something-something "your motherboard is fused to your laptop & the motherboard is dying; just get a new one from our shop." Can this even be fixed? I don't know. This laptop was bought by my parents way back when and even replacing parts were very difficult for me financially, so needless to say I don't think I can afford a new one that's comparable to what I have now. As worse depression sets in, I games I used to love just became flavorless and I swear I'm just using this laptop to listen to Youtube podcasts or songs with my headphones now. And this happens. I swear I can't get any peace.

Does anyone know what issues these have? Thanks in advance.


r/pchelp 37m ago

SOFTWARE Computer freeze

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Upvotes

r/pchelp 18h ago

HARDWARE Issue with eBay used pc

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24 Upvotes

Bought a “fully functional” iBUYPOWER PC on eBay. It booted fine at first, but when I swapped RAM later the system became unstable. Pulled the GPU and found old dried liquid damage—now the card won’t work. Seller never mentioned this—can I get a refund through eBay? Images show the gooey and gunk stuff.


r/pchelp 1h ago

OPEN PC won‘t boot with USB stick?

Upvotes

Hey hey everyone I’ve finished building my own pc (woohoo) but now i’m stuck at the „american megatrends“ screen. i can enter BIOS or windows installation, where it tells me that my pc isn’t compatible with windows 11 though (it is). I‘ve tried creating a windows boot stick specifically for windows 11, but no matter what i do or change in the settings, it won’t boot through the usb stick. I‘ve been using chatgpt for the past 2 hours and i did everything such as turn secure boot on, prioritise the usb stick, enable cpu ftpm and so on. it won’t work though. am i doing something wrong? help would be much appreciated cause i feel like i‘m losing my mind here.


r/pchelp 1h ago

Discussion PC bricked

Upvotes

So i was on Discord on my pc last night and the screen froze so i powered it off thinking that would help, plot twist, it didn’t. Then i thought it would be the power cable so i changed it out due to the port sparking and the new cable worked then i tried turning it on again this morning and the RGB lights come on as well as the fans but now the monitor will not come on and i checked the ports and they are all fine. How do i get past this?


r/pchelp 1h ago

SOFTWARE Dll file problems

Upvotes

How can i solve Dll problems i tried everything. Deleting Dll files that doesn't work and installing new ones ,that worked on some Dll files . After almost a month i played Pubg almost every day without problem today i tride to play and i have again problems with some Dll files. Can i do something like deleting everything and installing new Dll files ore what ever i need to delete reinstall windows deleting everything i don't care just to fix it. Im on windows 11 if that's help.

Thank you and sorry for my bad engleski.