CPU error: will not POST

[ajsmith595]

I recently changed from intel to AMD, and got myself a new MOBO, and CPU. I've been using it for about a month and a half now, and it's been pretty good. I was recently playing a game, and I left it running for a while. When I got back to it, everything was completely unresponsive, so I turned my PC off by the power button, and started it up, expecting it to be some random freeze. When I turned it on, all the fans were running but there was no output. I then realised that the CPU error light on my motherboard was lit. I therefore, took the side panel off, and tried a few things; turning off and on the PSU switch; taking out and back in the PSU cable; taking out and back in the CPU power connector; resetting the CMOS battery; flashing BIOS with new BIOS update using flash BIOS button on MOBO; trying each RAM stick individually. All these failed. I really don't want to take the fan off/have to claim warranty as I'm at uni atm and all the boxes for the parts are back at home.

For info, here's the PC specs;

• AMD Ryzen 3600
• MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX
• Corsair Vengeance DDR4 (2 * 4GB 2666MHz + 2 * 4GB 3000MHz)
• Corsair CX750M 750W PSU
• Crucial MX300 750GB SSD + WD 2TB SSHD + [not in use](Sabrent M.2 256GB SSD)
• MSI GTX1060 6GB

I thought the problem might be with the RAM, cos I've heard Ryzen CPUs can be weird with RAM speeds, but I don't know why it didn't break when I first started using it.

Any help will be very much appreciated.

[Srijan Verma]

could be the ram but to me it seems unlikely since as you said it worked for the most part

[zogthegreat]

Hi ajsmith595,

 

Wellll, since you have tried everything else, your next step is to pull the fan and reseat the CPU and fan. When you pull the fan, check and see if your thermal paste has been covering the CPU properly. If it hasn't been, you will see that it is uneven on the base of the fan.

[.Apex.]

28 minutes ago, ajsmith595 said:

I thought the problem might be with the RAM, cos I've heard Ryzen CPUs can be weird with RAM speeds, but I don't know why it didn't break when I first started using it.

Any help will be very much appreciated.

This is strange, it's either a Motherboard or CPU death and the latter would be extremely rare, do you have a friend that you can borrow a Ryzen CPU from so you can test it on your board?

[ajsmith595]

3 hours ago, zogthegreat said:

Hi ajsmith595,

 

Wellll, since you have tried everything else, your next step is to pull the fan and reseat the CPU and fan. When you pull the fan, check and see if your thermal paste has been covering the CPU properly. If it hasn't been, you will see that it is uneven on the base of the fan.

It would be unusual for it to be that if it was working for a month before though, right? Correct me if I'm wrong but that would be an overheating issue, which it's not because I've left it for ages to cool down just in case. But ofc tbh I'm not that confident in this so correct me if I'm wrong about that.

 

3 hours ago, _Syn_ said:

This is strange, it's either a Motherboard or CPU death and the latter would be extremely rare, do you have a friend that you can borrow a Ryzen CPU from so you can test it on your board?

I don't have a spare CPU or a friend that has one unfortunately.

 

 

Would contacting MSI help at all? Are they usually responsive to a help request like this?

And just to let you know, I've been trying BIOS updates using the flash button, but they aren't working. It's taking 4 mins ish flashing until the red light is solid. I've downloaded the BIOS updates from the MSI website, and I've tried the updates 7B86vH5 (latest), 7B86vH0 (oldest) and 7B86v19 (for the gaming plus, not gaming plus max which is mine. This one flashed 3 times before stopping, understandably because it's not for the right board). Surely MSI should provide updates that work?

[zogthegreat]

Silly question, are you sure it's your system and not a problem with your video card? Do you have another video card that you could swap out? Or onboard graphics?

[Beerzerker]

The 3600 itself doesn't have onboard graphics.
With the CPU LED staying on it means the CPU itself isn't initializing (Starting) so it could well be a dead CPU, bad board or as as said, RAM problem stopping it from working.

 

Also noted you said you tried to flash it with a BIOS from another board model.

That's a quick way to brick a board - You MUST use the correct BIOS file for the board you have or that's what you'll get - A brick for a board.

[ajsmith595]

14 hours ago, zogthegreat said:

Silly question, are you sure it's your system and not a problem with your video card? Do you have another video card that you could swap out? Or onboard graphics?

I can confirm, taking out the GPU did not solve the problem; the red CPU light still shows

[ajsmith595]

7 hours ago, Beerzerker said:

The 3600 itself doesn't have onboard graphics.
With the CPU LED staying on it means the CPU itself isn't initializing (Starting) so it could well be a dead CPU, bad board or as as said, RAM problem stopping it from working.

 

Also noted you said you tried to flash it with a BIOS from another board model.

That's a quick way to brick a board - You MUST use the correct BIOS file for the board you have or that's what you'll get - A brick for a board.

I'm hoping that it didn't brick it. From what it looked like, it knew that it was not compatible and didn't flash it with the wrong BIOS, as for the BIOS versions that are meant for the board, it kept flashing for about 4 mins, then restarted. With the wrong BIOS, it did 3 flashes and then shut down.

 

Question: would an unstable BIOS update (maybe the one that came with my board) cause the PC to freeze at a random moment, like it did? I'm thinking this is more of a hardware issue than a software/BIOS one?

[Beerzerker]

You can try it again but this time MAKE SURE you have the BIOS for the exact board make and model you have right down to the board make/model version/revision. There are differences between them and that's why they are not the same thing by name and so on.

Even a small hardware change can call for a different BIOS based on the board version you have.

 

It's possible to recover by trying it again but since you've already tried flashing in in the wrong file it's possible you've got a brick now.

All you can do at this point is try it and see.

[zogthegreat]

If you did brick your board, you can force a BIOS flash with a CH341A programmer. It's fairly simple to do, but you will need another computer to flash the chip.

[ajsmith595]

6 hours ago, Beerzerker said:

You can try it again but this time MAKE SURE you have the BIOS for the exact board make and model you have right down to the board make/model version/revision. There are differences between them and that's why they are not the same thing by name and so on.

Even a small hardware change can call for a different BIOS based on the board version you have.

 

It's possible to recover by trying it again but since you've already tried flashing in in the wrong file it's possible you've got a brick now.

All you can do at this point is try it and see.

Just tried the BIOS update again, for the right model, but it presents the exact same behaviour as before; 4 mins flash LED flashing, restarts with the LED solid. The CPU error LED is still showing

[Mwoody]

Check your power supply and GPU.  Just removing the GPU won't tell you anything since you don't have any onboard graphics.  Do you have a MB speaker installed, if not hook one up and listen for the beep codes, frequently that can help isolate the issue.

[zogthegreat]

On 2/10/2020 at 3:30 PM, ajsmith595 said:

Would contacting MSI help at all? Are they usually responsive to a help request like this?

 

Have you tried contacting MSI yet?

[ajsmith595]

17 minutes ago, zogthegreat said:

Have you tried contacting MSI yet?

I tried calling them today, it's just an automated system which pretty much tells you to make a web ticket. So I did that and I'm just hoping they'll respond.

 

1 hour ago, Mwoody said:

Check your power supply and GPU.  Just removing the GPU won't tell you anything since you don't have any onboard graphics.  Do you have a MB speaker installed, if not hook one up and listen for the beep codes, frequently that can help isolate the issue.

I'm going to get myself a speaker tomorrow and have a look. Are there standardised beep codes or are they motherboard/manufacturer specific?

[biotoxin]

did you try reseating the cpu? my old 8350 was fine for years but started acting up one day being finicky with boots, if I could get it to boot it would be fine but any time it shut down it was a hassle to get it back up

after a while I tried reseating it and haven't had a problem since, no idea how or why but sometimes just a good old fashioned reseat does wonders

[ajsmith595]

14 hours ago, biotoxin said:

did you try reseating the cpu? my old 8350 was fine for years but started acting up one day being finicky with boots, if I could get it to boot it would be fine but any time it shut down it was a hassle to get it back up

after a while I tried reseating it and haven't had a problem since, no idea how or why but sometimes just a good old fashioned reseat does wonders

Will try that tomorrow, thank you. I'm hoping it's as easy as that. Really keeping my fingers crossed tbh.

 

On 2/11/2020 at 10:00 PM, ajsmith595 said:

I'm going to get myself a speaker tomorrow and have a look

Turns out my local computer shop don't sell them. Just ordered from amazon, getting them tomorrow. Will try both CPU reseat and the speaker beep codes

[ajsmith595]

Okay, issue is fixed. Somehow I plugged in a MB speaker, connected power and display, and then it seemed to work absolutely fine? I'm so confused but so happy at the same time

[zogthegreat]

Technology is our friend?

 

(keep repeating this like it's a mantra!)

[The_Geek]

You still have to find the cause... since your PC is up and running, run all the tests, look in the event logs.. if you dont find an issue and resolve it, it will come back again..

[biotoxin]

On 2/13/2020 at 8:04 AM, ajsmith595 said:

Okay, issue is fixed. Somehow I plugged in a MB speaker, connected power and display, and then it seemed to work absolutely fine? I'm so confused but so happy at the same time

good to hear

might've just been a bad connection on a cable or needing a powercycle on the capacitors?