No post with CPU_LED, has worked before

[gaboversta]

So today I discovered that my PC won't turn on anymore, what a nice Sunday after going through a The Varus infection…

 

The specs:

intel core i5 6400 @ 2.7 GHz

asus z170a motherboard

24 GB of mixed DDR4 RAM (3 8 GB sticks, I don't remember the exact speed.)

Zotac GTX 1060 6GB

be quiet L8-400W PSU

1 TB of Storage split between 3 SSDs

OS: opensuse Tumbleweed Linux (64 bit)

BIOS version: I have no idea

 

The situation:

After having worked mostly fine for years the system doesn't boot properly anymore, just spinning the fans and lighting the motherboard power and CPU_LED leds. The power LED in the power button isn't lit. This is true even with everything but PSU, monitor, CPU and CPU and case fans and power connectors as well as some dumb USB and audio headers disconnected. (24 Pin and 8 Pin are connected, I have tried reseating.)

I have tried removing the CMOS battery and putting it back in after several minutes, removing system memory, unplugging all SATA devices, no changes.

When checking the power supply as described here the PSU claims to be fine (5V between Power Good and Ground), it should be noted that I have only tested this with no load, manually connecting Power on and Ground.

 

Previous issues:

In the past years I have experienced random system freezes (video freezes, audio loops a ~ quarter second long clip) with the system sometimes still being accessible via ssh. In these situations I would normally hard reboot the system, recently I discovered that when doing nothing in this situation the system reboots itself after some time (still showing that same frame until the reboot). These happen usually when playing minecraft or rendering video, this might mean that one CPU core doesn't like sustained load…

Also during the past few years the CMOS battery consumption has been unusually high, consuming one battery every ~ four months. (When the system is powered off I disconnect it from the wall.)

For both of these issues I could never find a cause.

 

What I haven't tried yet:

I have not tried swapping PSU, CPU or motherboard, as I don't have any spares lying around. (I could grab a working PSU from a family members system, but wouldn't be comfortable potentially damaging it.)

I also didn't try checking the Power good pin while the system is powered on, as the pins aren't exposed while plugged into the connector.

Reseating of the CPU didn't happen either, the thermal paste is years old and I don't have any laying around.

 

Question:

Ii there anything else I should try? Given the previous history, which of the three remaining components (PSU, CPU, mainboard) is most likely to be at fault and should be replaced first?

 

Thanks in advance!

-gaboversta

 

[Fasauceome]

24 minutes ago, gaboversta said:

have not tried swapping PSU, CPU or motherboard, as I don't have any spares lying around

Based on the description of the issues, especially the CMOS battery consumption, I feel like the motherboard is the most likely culprit. 

 

I would see if reseating the CPU does anything, and if you are able to boot, you can hopefully update the BIOS and see if that helps

[gaboversta]

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

I would see if reseating the CPU does anything

Thanks for the suggestion, I haven't done that yet as the thermal paste on there is years old be now and I don't have any fresh paste at hand, would reusing the old paste be a problem? If not I will try this tomorrow when there is sunlight.

[Fasauceome]

4 minutes ago, gaboversta said:

would reusing the old paste be a problem

Not for the basic troubleshooting you're doing.

[Guest]

have you tried powering off, removing all ram, powering on, powering off again, putting the ram back in, powering on again?  I also suggest a new cr2032 battery.  I have been accused of spamming for suggesting this...

[gaboversta]

So, after reseating the CPU and putting a new 2032 in (my last one) the DRAM_LED lit up, so I put some memory in, restarted. On the board everything seemed fine (spinning fans, Power LED shining, no other lights to be seen, but I still can't get any video output. I tried putting the GPU back in and hooking up the monitor to that, still no output. (Also checked the monitor again, it still works.)

 

I'm close to buying a new motherboard at this point…

[gaboversta]

I got a fresh motherboard (asrock B150A-X1) and after updating opensuse everything seems to be working just fine. Thanks everyone!

[Robchil]

On 3/20/2022 at 9:05 PM, Stephen7 said:

have you tried powering off, removing all ram, powering on, powering off again, putting the ram back in, powering on again?  I also suggest a new cr2032 battery.  I have been accused of spamming for suggesting this...

you mean retrain ram?

 

[Guest]

On 3/21/2022 at 11:50 AM, gaboversta said:

So, after reseating the CPU and putting a new 2032 in (my last one) the DRAM_LED lit up, so I put some memory in, restarted. On the board everything seemed fine (spinning fans, Power LED shining, no other lights to be seen, but I still can't get any video output. I tried putting the GPU back in and hooking up the monitor to that, still no output. (Also checked the monitor again, it still works.)

 

I'm close to buying a new motherboard at this point…

I think the motherboard came with a dead cr2032  battery.  the next one would too.

[Robchil]

On 3/21/2022 at 3:50 PM, gaboversta said:

So, after reseating the CPU and putting a new 2032 in (my last one) the DRAM_LED lit up, so I put some memory in, restarted. On the board everything seemed fine (spinning fans, Power LED shining, no other lights to be seen, but I still can't get any video output. I tried putting the GPU back in and hooking up the monitor to that, still no output. (Also checked the monitor again, it still works.)

 

I'm close to buying a new motherboard at this point…

leave your system on 10-15 minutes... some systems are known to use long time to train memory.. either you get a picture. or it reboots and then you get a picture. 

 

oh.. most boards only take... 1 2 or 4 memory modules.. 3 might make it crap out.