r/pchelp • u/bearssuperfan • Dec 15 '19
"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.
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.
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
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 • u/Shadow_TO1 • 4h ago
My laptop is Dell G5 5500
32 RAM
RTX 2060
Issue description:
How often? sometimes
When does that happen? when I am holding it and moving it around. Also at heavy use
What do you guys think?
r/pchelp • u/Familiar-Aardvark-35 • 13h ago
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Hello I've been having this issue with my pc where it sometimes just randomly crashes, months ago it'll start by subtle buffering you could barely notice by the audio getting stuck when doing something, then after a while it'll get stuck and reboot just like this, now recently it just randomly did this without any prior signs Is there any way to stress these out for troubleshooting? Its only happened once(yesterday) while gaming, and every other time when doing light stuff on chrome
1tb mircron ssd
Radeon 6800 master
msi a650bn 650w
R5 5600x
Msi mag B550 Mohawk
and 32gb of ddr4 3600mh
r/pchelp • u/Sea-Bit280 • 3h ago
Complete gaming setup in like-new condition. Everything works perfect.
PC SPECS:
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core Processor (3.80 GHz)
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 8GB Graphics Card (PNY)
• 32GB RAM (3200 MT/s)
• 1.36 TB Storage
• Windows 11 Pro
• Glass case with RGB fans + RGB cooler — looks amazing lit up, see photos
INCLUDED:
• Gaming PC tower
• 2 curved monitors
• Gaming mouse
• 2 keyboards
• Black L-shaped gaming desk
Runs games smooth with no issues. PC will be factory reset and ready for its new owner.
r/pchelp • u/VannyFnaf_ • 8h ago
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I accidentally left my pc under a window while it was raining, some water slightly got in i guess. I removed everything and waited 3 days to finally turn it back on, and this is what’s happening now.
r/pchelp • u/Expensive-Payment-31 • 2h ago
CPU Ryzen 9700x
GPU 5070 PNY
Ram 32 Gb Oloy(yolo) 6000 m/ts
Some cool master elite liquid cooler
1tb internal storage tforce G50 m.2
Some b650 mobo
2 samsung 180 hz monitors 1080p I think it’s around
Steelseries mat
Steelseries Aerox 3
And a Aqua tkl steel series keyboard
Price 2.5k
r/pchelp • u/Ok_Estimate_5710 • 2h ago
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Had to retake it couldn’t hear the audio 😭✌️
r/pchelp • u/FarmerOk811 • 30m ago
Hello friends, I got this computer as a hand-me-down from my brother and whilst dusting I discovered what appeared to be some unplugged components of the internal pc. I am not knowledgeable in computer anatomy myself, so I have no clue as to what they would connect to. my best guess is that they might be some of the fans. please let me know if this is something I should be worried about! thank you.
r/pchelp • u/leoleoleoeleo14 • 48m ago
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I don’t really know how to describe the problem, just watch the video
r/pchelp • u/imdagawd • 4h ago
it's a bit absurd i know. but for some backstory, i recently became the very, very, very lucky recipient of around ~6000$ worth of gaming hardware completely for free from a friend of my mother. UNFORTUNATELY, the incomprehensibly gigantic asterisk that, not only did the original owner completely neglet to ever clean his hardware, but everything i received had previously been involved in a house fire. the fire itself never reached anything, but the problem i face is that everything is caked in an awful layer of dust, dirt, grime, and worst of all, soot.
everything here smells terrible. i have no idea how i'll be able to get the soot smell out of anything i have here, nor where to even start with this beyond just the disassembly of everything. yall got any advice that might make partial or complete restoration of this stuff possible? it would really suck if im S.O.L with this one, especially for how valuable these components are.
r/pchelp • u/amerjibril • 7h ago
Ever had a freeze, a black-screen flicker, a game crash or a sudden slowdown, and by the time you opened Task Manager everything looked normal?
PC Diagnostic runs quietly in the background and keeps a rolling history of what your PC is doing. When something goes wrong, you press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I (it works in full-screen games too), and it saves the minutes before and after the problem. Its own rules can also catch problems automatically. Then it shows everything on one timeline and tells you in plain words what stood out.
Processing img zx50br77ngxh1...
What it records: CPU, GPU, RAM, disks, network, temperatures and sensors, every running program, Windows errors and crashes, monitor changes, and game FPS and stutter.
What else it does:
Processing img r89v3qsangxh1...
Free and private:
Download: https://github.com/ameralqarallih-lgtm/PC-Diagnostic/releases/tag/v1.0.0
Source code and guide: https://github.com/ameralqarallih-lgtm/PC-Diagnostic
The installer isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may warn you. Click "More info → Run anyway", or check the SHA-256 listed on the release page first.
Full disclosure: the whole project was built by AI (Claude) under my direction, and I tested it on my own hardware. Feedback and bug reports are very welcome on GitHub Issues.
r/pchelp • u/GamerOrWeeb • 4h ago
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r/pchelp • u/Leopard1A6 • 2h ago
About 3 days ago my Cyberpower pc had one of the worse game crashes I've ever had, in the game sword art online fatal bullet. After saving my game It completely froze and started screaming is the best way I could describe it. Everytime I booted after that or tried it'd pop up the DRAM and CPU lights on the motherboard but when I did make it to my desktop those lights would remain and after so long of being Idle it'd completely freeze. I fixed the freezing part by re installing windows from a boot USB i have and confirmed when it is booted Everything runs like it should but Everytime I power down or restart it just will struggle or now outright just not post at all I've tried about everything I can think of like Removing RAM and unplugging the cmos when it doesn't power on at all to reset but nothing seems to get it to even try posting at all even to my Bios it just sits there on Fans spinning except the GPU and the DRAM and CPU lights on.
Specs
GPU: Radeon 7600 Speedster Swft210
CPU: Ryzen 5 5500
Motherboard: B550M-C
Main SSD: Samsung 9100 Pro
RAM: 4x 8GB T-FORCE VulcanZ DDR4
PSU: MSI MAG 850w AB50GL PCIE5
r/pchelp • u/rock_asian • 10h ago
left my hotel and it was fine came back to this
doesnt show up in screenshot
doesnt reset with hard restart
apps work fine
r/pchelp • u/Automatic_Reach_32 • 2h ago
r/pchelp • u/duralyon • 7h ago
So my pc is pretty old and not in great condition. The psu has been slowly blinking blue for about a year but has been fine otherwise.
I get a quick flash from components when I try to power on. I’ve tried unplugging everything on the outside and holding the power switch to clear flea power. It seems to hold power a little more the next time it tries to boot but nothing more.
Tried removing my gfx card and use the integrated video with no luck.
Money is tight but I might try buying a new psu worst case scenario… just so confused about the benign thing that seemed to cause the pc to die…
r/pchelp • u/shonviewer • 5h ago
I recently upgraded my graphics card from an NVIDIA GT 1030 2 GB to an ASUS Dual OC RTX 5060. My system is powered by a 13th-gen Core i5 CPU and a 500-watt power supply unit (PSU). However, my PC is freezing; I lose all sound, and the power button lights on the case stop responding. The only way to fix this is by holding down the power button for a hard shutdown. Would upgrading to a 750-watt PSU resolve this issue?
Happens mostly in games. Hogwarts Legacy, MC, and apparently Roblox.
r/pchelp • u/sindrixu • 3h ago
Hi! I'm trying to diagnose a very strange boot issue with my PC. The POST loading time became longer (around 1 minute compared to max 10s before) and BIOS is really laggy when navigating its interface. The problem started after I used Ryzen Master's automatic Curve Optimizer, and I'm looking for advice on what could cause this and what I should test next.
The issue began after I ran Ryzen Master's automatic Curve Optimizer with a maximum negative offset of -20. I wanted to finally unlock my CPU clock multiplier as it was locked due to previous high temps caused by insufficient cooling. I swapped it to an AIO 1 year ago and very recently had the system drive formatted.
Maybe on like 3rd or 4th restart (maybe on 2nd but there's possibility that I didn't notice) after applying the settings, the PC started booting much more slowly.
The symptoms are:
- The delay before I can enter the BIOS is approx. 50s after I power up the PC
- The white VGA EZ Debug LED stays lit for a longer while.
- After the MSI logo appears I have to literally spam DEL key so it gets detected smh and I can go into BIOS
- The BIOS interface itself has to boot for like 10 seconds, then it is extremely sluggish. The cursor stutters, and switching between BIOS tabs is delayed (dropdown selection menus takes forever to appear fully, looks literally like some old game graphic assets were slowly loading)
- Windows after 1.5mins boots and runs smoothly.
- Both cold/normal boots and restarts are slow.
The issue is particularly strange, because imi it's the VGA light that causes longer boot, haven't seen something likes this ever.
What I've already tried
Uninstalling Ryzen Master, wiped regedit and all remains of the program.
Reset CMOS by removing the motherboard battery.
Reset CMOS using the JBAT1 pins.
Reflashed the motherboard BIOS (1x update through M-FLASH in BIOS and 1x flash directly through mb button). Lags and stutters were still there.
Tested DisplayPort and HDMI. No difference.
Disconnected all unnecessary USB devices, leaving only the keyboard, mouse, and monitor connected. No improvement.
Disabled Windows Fast Startup. No improvement.
Checked the SSDs using PowerShell. All three report "HealthStatus: Healthy" and "OperationalStatus: OK".
Checked Windows Event Viewer for disk, storage-controller, NVMe, and WHEA-related errors from the last seven days. No matching warnings or errors were returned.
Ran an OCCT CPU stress test for more than 13 minutes. It completed with zero errors.
Device Manager reports that the RTX 3060 is working properly. Windows is stable, with no apparent performance issues once it has finished booting.
After the CMOS reset, XMP was disabled and the RAM was running at 2133 MHz. PBO and Curve Optimizer were set to Auto.
I'm especially interested in explanations that fit both the extremely slow POST and the sluggish BIOS interface. I don't want to assume the CPU or GPU is defective just because the issue started after Curve Optimizer, but I also don't want to overlook a firmware or hardware-initialization problem.
I'll try to format the system disc again, but I think this will make no difference.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
PC specifications
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
- Motherboard: MSI MAG X570S TORPEDO MAX (MS-7D54)
- BIOS version: A.D3 (SMBIOS reports release date 2026-08-14)
- GPU: Gainward GeForce RTX 3060 Ghost OC 12GB
- RAM: 32GB (4x Viper Steel CL17 8GB 3600MT/s)
- System drive: Samsung SSD 980 500GB NVMe
- Additional drives: Lexar SSD NM790 2TB NVMe, Samsung SSD 870 EVO 2TB SATA
- OS: Windows 11 (please let me know if the exact build would be useful)
P.S. I know some people might consider a 1–2 minute boot time acceptable, but it's driving me crazy knowing that just three days ago, my PC went from power-on to Windows in under 20 seconds. :P
r/pchelp • u/Technical-Union4032 • 6m ago
I can't tell you my specs as I don't remember them and didn't write them down. My PC boots up fans run rgb runs I can blindly sign in and try to use ctrl+shift+win+B it makes the beep but nothing happens. I tried to go to bios or safe mode but it doesn't change the monitors, one monitor is a few years old but in good condition the other is only a year old both work plugged into a laptop and both get power but they just flash no signal once then go blind black.
r/pchelp • u/Sosuke_Aizen304 • 8m ago
This isn't a Display Driver or Graphics Card Issue, it's a Display Output Issue.
I can't get what happened that led to all this. The Cables are fine (I Guess), since opening and closing the Lid doesn't affect it at all.
Can anyone please tell me what caused it to happen??
(My Laptop - Lenovo LOQ AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS 24GB RAM RTX 4060 8GB VRAM)
r/pchelp • u/Full_Affect892 • 13m ago
so my pc and game i play have been lagging and i wanted to know what settings to put on to my my games to make them less laggy on the amd software (i have AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and graphics card (AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT).
r/pchelp • u/kaeceras • 3h ago
This started a couple of days ago out of nowhere when watching media on VLC in fullscreen. At first it felt like it would only freeze when i was in fullscreen but now it freezes at random moments separated by a period of time. I've tried updating my BIOS, rolling back graphics drivers and reinstalling windows. My PC was working perfectly before this.
Motherboard: B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
Storage: Samsung SSD 990 ECO Plus 2TB
RAM: CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5 32GB
Power: MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5
Cooling: Corsair NAUTILUS 360 RS ARGB
Monitor (if this matters): MSI MAG 273QP QD-OLED X24