PC Won't Post

[Michael McChesney]

I built my second PC yesterday and I had a much easier time in the assembly, right up until I tried to get it to post.  The system has a GIGABYTE B450M DS3H WIFI AM4 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard,  an AMD RYZEN 3 3200G CPU,  a WD Blue 500GB M.2 SSD , and 16 GB of Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z (2 x 8GB) DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600),   It's built in a Rosewill FBM-X2-400 Micro ATX Mini Tower with a Pre-Installed 400W PSU.  

 

I connected to a monitor via HDMI and turned it on.  The CPU cooler fan started turning, but nothing happened on the monitor.  As I understand it, motherboards sometimes need a bios update to work with 3rd gen Ryzen.  But the NewEgg listing for my motherboard says "AM4 Socket: Supports AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen/2nd Gen Ryzen/1st Gen Ryzen / 2nd Gen Ryzen with Radeon Vega Graphics." I took that to mean it wouldn't need a bios update to work.  Is there a way to tell if that's the issue?  If that's the problem, I would need an older AMD chip to do a bios update?  Any advice on where to get one?

 

I'm not sure that's the problem.  I suppose it could be an issue with the HDMI on the MoBo or an issue with the CPU.  Could it be an issue with PSU?  I was a little nervous getting a preinstalled PSU in a budget case, but I actually liked the case and it wasn't available without the PSU.

 

What I think I'll try is to take the PC apart and then reinstall everything.  If that fails to resolve the problem, I think I'll try hooking up a different PSU and see if that works.  I figure I can run the cables from a different PC into this case just as a test.  Unfortunately, I don't have any extra components lying around.

 

Any other ideas?  Thoughts?  Thank you guys in advance.  The community here is just amazing.  

[Hewittmd97]

Does your MoBo give any postcode read-outs?

Also try re-seating the RAM. 

 

If that doesn't work, it looks like you will need an earlier gen CPU. BIOS needs an update before you can use the Picasso architecture. 

PCPartPicker will tell you all the incompatibilities with your build. 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LstgHB

 

[Shreyas1]

I mean if you think the PSU is the issue, I would advise swapping out the PSU with the other PSU first. Usually these issues are caused by things like used cables and stuff though, so make sure all of your cables are attached properly and unplug and replug them first if you need to.

[Michael McChesney]

2 minutes ago, Hewittmd97 said:

Does your MoBo give any postcode read-outs?

 

Where would I find postcode read-outs?  I don't see a screen or LED readout on the board.  Is that something most boards have?

[Michael McChesney]

3 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

I mean if you think the PSU is the issue, I would advise swapping out the PSU with the other PSU first. Usually these issues are caused by things like used cables and stuff though, so make sure all of your cables are attached properly and unplug and replug them first if you need to.

I wonder about the PSU because there were a number of reviews that said the PSU was DOA or crapped out almost immediately.  Ironically, many of them still rated the case 4 stars.  It must be giving some power or the CPU fan wouldn't run, but if it wasn't giving enough, might that be the issue?

[Hewittmd97]

If the PSU were DOA, then the CPU fan wouldn't have turned on. I think your issue lies with the BIOS. Not sure if you can get on another computer and download BIOS update to a USB and then plug into your new build? I don't know if that is possible though.

 

And I don't know how common the postcode readout is. Both of my builds have it, but still. 

[Michael McChesney]

I am going to try and take it all apart and put it back together just in case something isn't seated correctly.  If that doesn't work, I thought I might reach out to NewEgg to see if they can 1. confirm it's probably a bios issue and 2. help me resolve it.  PC Part Picker had said it couldn't confirm my MoBo and CPU were compatible, but since the product description said compatible with 3rd Gen Ryzen I figured I was safe.  Just out of curiosity, any idea what the cheapest CPU I could get that would let me perform a bios update?  I was thinking if I got an Athlon 3000G (or maybe 2000G to be safe) I could build another computer and give it away.  I have a nephew turning 3 next month but I doubt he'd get any use out of it.  At some point there has to be a limit for how many PCs one guy living alone should really have in his apartment...

[Michael McChesney]

I had a few other things I had to take care of before disassembling and reassembling my most recent build.  I disconnected the power cables and front panel connectors then removed the mobo from the box.  I removed and re-seated the memory.  I tried to remove the raid cooler but the pre-applied thermal paste takes the word past seriously.  I didn't think it wise to apply too much force.  Is there a trick to removing a cooler when the thermal compound is in a very adhesive mood?  I reassembled the PC out of the case.  This time, the CPU fan started, spun a for a couple of seconds and then stopped.  Just to be safe I turned off the power supply.  I tried it again, same result.

 

If the issue is the CPU isn't seated correctly, re-seating it might fix it (so long as nothing was bent) but I'd need to remove the cooler to check.  If it's something else...  I'm not sure what to try next.  I'm waiting for a response from NewEgg about whether my mobo needs a bios update.