PC Won't Boot to Anything Except BIOS

[mon0theist]

PC Specs:

Ryzen 5 2400G / Ryzen 5 2600

Biostar X470GTN mobo

16GB DDR4 RAM @ 3200MHz (OC) (GSkill Trident Z RGB)

Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580 8GB

 

PC had been working for almost a year (aside from a weird issue where it would randomly power off without warning and there would be nothing in Windows Event Viewer).

 

Issue started a little over a month ago when I came home and discovered that my PC was running super slow. NZXT CAM was reporting 100% CPU usage, but Task Manager and a Rainmeter CPU graph I have were only reporting 15%, which was odd. I attempted to reboot but the slowness persisted through several reboots. Then I realized in Task Manager that the CPU was only running at 0.5GHz and the CPU Usage was locked at 15%, so I knew something was definitely wrong.

 

I first thought to check for a possible BIOS update, and I discovered that the X47AK603 BIOS was now available (had been running X47AK305 up until that point). After completing the BIOS flash (F12 from BIOS screen, loaded from USB Drive), I initially got the “CMOS Fail” message, but upon Googling this I discovered that this is expected behavior for this motherboard and you have to go into BIOS settings and Reset to Defaults (also saw this in the motherboard manual later on). However after doing this, the computer would no longer boot at all. After the Biostar Racing splash screen, both monitors just go black and nothing happens.

 

I tried re-downloading and reflashing the X47AK603 in case something had gotten corrupted, but this had no effect. I also tried going back to the previous X47AK305 BIOS but this also had no effect, so I eventually just re-flashed the newest X47AK603, if for no other reason than to eliminate a variable, always Resetting to Defaults after every BIOS flash.

 

I can get into the BIOS settings without issue, and the BIOS screen shows my CPU running at full speed (~3.8GHz), full voltage (~1.366V), and RAM at stock speed (2133MHz). So I would think that if I had a CPU failure, I would either not be able to get into BIOS, or the BIOS would reflect the same 0.5GHz speed that I was seeing in Windows...right?

 

I then disconnected both my boot SSD and my storage HDD, but this also had no effect on the issue. I attempted to boot to an Ubuntu Live ISO via USB drive, but still the same thing would happen, after the Biostar splash screen, monitors just go blank and then nothing happens. 

 

I then removed my GPU and RAM, and then repeated attempts to boot with one RAM module at a time in each of the two RAM slots, but this also had no effect on the issue.

Removed CPU Heatsink+Fan to check thermal paste, it still looked basically brand new but I cleaned and replaced thermal paste just for the sake of being thorough. This also had no effect on the issue.

 

Lastly, I tried using the Clear CMOS jumper as described in the motherboard manual (https://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=910#download), but this also had no effect on the issue.

 

I did notice that when attempting to boot to the Linux ISO, I would get a very quick error message right before the screens would go black. I managed to record a video and pause at the moment of the errors and then screenshot. They seem to indicate an error with the “uefi db”, which makes me think that the issue is motherboard related. I have also noticed POST Codes A2 and 99 in the bottom right of the screen when the Biostar splash screen is showing, but from my Google searching them, they appear to be normal and not an indicator of a specific problem.

 

So at this point I figured it had to be the motherboard, so I opened an RMA request with Biostar and they sent me a replacement motherboard.

 

However, new motherboard had no effect on the issue, exact same thing is happening. It’s actually a bit worse, after a few failed boot attempts with the exact same aforementioned behavior, now the computer won’t turn on at all anymore. So this means that either the CPU or the PSU is bad.

 

So I ordered a Power Supply Tester (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076CLNPPK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) from Amazon to test my PSU, and I’m pretty sure the PSU is working fine. All the voltages look correct, and the tester made short beeps, which is good according to the instructions. The only thing I’m wondering about is the PG rating was flashing with a value of 150ms. But if I’m understanding the directions correctly, the flashing is only a concern if one of the voltage readings is flashing AND there’s a long beep with the tester. There was only the initial quick 2-beeps followed by repeated short beeps every 5 seconds or so, no short beeps.

So this must mean that the CPU is bad, as it is the only component left. Or so I thought.

I picked up a Ryzen 5 2600 last night, hoping that finally this nightmare would be over, but the exact same thing is happening with the new CPU. I can boot to BIOS but nothing else, whether it's Windows or a Linux ISO. 

So at this point I have no idea what the problem is. My current theories are:

1) Biostar just sent me my same exact motherboard back to me. I was suspicious of this at first, but the serial number on the new board is totally different from the original board so I think they really did send me a replacement.

2) PSU is bad and CPU's not getting enough power? It would seem to coincide with my random power-offs that I was getting from time to time. Maybe PSU's been bad the whole time and it finally failed? But PSU tester seems to report that it's fine so idk

 

Can anyone help me out here? PC has been down for over a month now  

 

[Constantin]

21 minutes ago, mon0theist said:

Biostar X470GTN mobo

bad mobo.... i wouldn't be surprised if the problem was there

[mon0theist]

1 hour ago, Constantin said:

bad mobo.... i wouldn't be surprised if the problem was there

 

Yeah I cheaped out and went Biostar...you get what you pay for lol

 

However I think I may have just figured it out. I think the culprit is my boot SSD. I found another SSD with an existing Windows installation on it, so I swapped them out and it booted. But as soon as I reconnect my original SSD, my whole system freezes and I can't even boot to BIOS.

Still can't boot to a Linux ISO, but I think that's due to some sort of incompatibility (possibly GPU idk) rather than a hardware problem.

Doing a clean Win10 install on the spare SSD now, but so far so good. Will update with results.

[mon0theist]

Update:

After swapping the boot SSD and reinstalling Windows, couldn't get both monitors to come on, with different cables being used and different configurations. Seems my GPU is faulty now too. Great.

PC still won't boot with the 2400G installed but will at least boot to Windows with the 2600 installed. So I think that also confirms the CPU died.

 

So somehow, my CPU, Motherboard, and GPU (and who knows maybe RAM too at this point), all seem to have failed at the same time. I guess I'm done with PC gaming for a while because I basically need to replace my whole rig at this point, which I can't afford. So that's nice.

[moriel5]

Is your SSD SATA or NVME?

And is the firmware set to boot from UEFI or Legacy/CSM?

[mon0theist]

On 7/28/2019 at 10:16 AM, moriel5 said:

Is your SSD SATA or NVME?

And is the firmware set to boot from UEFI or Legacy/CSM?

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it was like my Boot SSD, CPU, and Motherboad all possibly died at the same time

However, my CPU and Mobo have been RMA'd and I replaced the Boot SSD, and the issue seems to be resolved now

[EdgeYT]

happened to me... my SSD was faulty... it was recognised, i could read from it but couldn't write anything... try with an usb enclosure and you'll know

[moriel5]

On 8/20/2019 at 4:25 AM, mon0theist said:

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it was like my Boot SSD, CPU, and Motherboad all possibly died at the same time

However, my CPU and Mobo have been RMA'd and I replaced the Boot SSD, and the issue seems to be resolved now

I'm glad that everything had been resolved, though I do wonder what was the source of the issue (if I could (and knew how to), I would have loved to test the hardware, chip by chip (I do love going down to the source of everything).