Red Light Led on CPU

[stuckonthis]

What does it mean when the red LED light on my mobo is lighting up on the cpu?  it does not happen all of the time but I have noticed it more than once, is there a fault? temps run averagely around the 30 degrees mark. It just stays on when I am doing my normal pc activities, I reset it and now it is off but it has happened before.

 

 

I7  12th gen with AIO .

 

HELP

[An0maly_76]

I was always under the impression this was supposed to mean there was a fault, but I was told recently that normal operation sequence on startup is supposedly orange DRAM light, red CPU light, white VGA light, each going out before a green BOOT light. You might check and see if it might be a BIOS update issue, but if it runs, I doubt that's the cause.

Edited August 23, 2022 by An0maly_76
Revised, more info

[stuckonthis]

1 minute ago, An0maly_76 said:

I was always under the impression this was supposed to mean there was a fault, but I was told recently that normal operation sequence on startup is supposedly orange DRAM light, red CPU light, white VGA light, green BOOT light. You might check and see if it might be a BIOS update issue, but if it runs, I doubt that's the cause.

Never updated the bios, all the lights come on in a sequence during boot them they all go off, but some times the led cpu will stay on, really worried now that cpu is damaged and i do not want to be messing with It by taking the aio off for trial and error.

[An0maly_76]

10 minutes ago, stuckonthis said:

Never updated the bios, all the lights come on in a sequence during boot them they all go off, but some times the led cpu will stay on, really worried now that cpu is damaged and i do not want to be messing with It by taking the aio off for trial and error.

Might not be the CPU, could be a flaky board. Shot in the dark, but is your RAM QVL-approved for the board and CPU combo? Some boards can and will exhibit major symptoms of stupiditis with non-QVL approved RAM. Ask me how I know.

Edited August 23, 2022 by An0maly_76
Revised, more info

[Mick Naughty]

Well some boards have the option to have the led light change when the cpu is hot. If not, normally its a fault from what I have encountered.

[stuckonthis]

On 8/25/2022 at 6:00 AM, Mick Naughty said:

Well some boards have the option to have the led light change when the cpu is hot. If not, normally its a fault from what I have encountered.

If the cpu is hot then there will be a problem with the aio.. ive just re booted and the red light is off again for now.

[Mick Naughty]

Just now, stuckonthis said:

If the cpu is hot then there will be a problem with the aio.. ive just re booted and the red light is off again for now.

Not necessarily, "hot" is subjective. Which is normal in hardware specs. My light has nothing to do with the cooling, it can turn red on a full loop or an aio. 

[stuckonthis]

On 8/23/2022 at 11:22 PM, An0maly_76 said:

Might not be the CPU, could be a flaky board. Shot in the dark, but is your RAM QVL-approved for the board and CPU combo? Some boards can and will exhibit major symptoms of stupiditis with non-QVL approved RAM. Ask me how I know.

I don't know if the ram is qvl approved or not but that wouldn't explain why the cpu is crying to me, faulty motherboard would though.

[stuckonthis]

4 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

Not necessarily, "hot" is subjective. Which is normal in hardware specs. My light has nothing to do with the cooling, it can turn red on a full loop or an aio. 

cpu..ram..gpu..os  LED all light up one by one in the single boot sequence as a routine then they should all stay off.

[An0maly_76]

1 minute ago, stuckonthis said:

I don't know if the ram is qvl approved or not but that wouldn't explain why the cpu is crying to me, faulty motherboard would though.

Food for thought, the RAM I initially used appears to be the culprit of random POST failures every 8-12 cold boots. The DIMMs tested fine, but the board eventually threw a DRAM light. Another kit of the same RAM produced the same issue. During first board's RMA process, same kit had also caused an issue in another board before failing, despite testing okay. Discovered it wasn't on either board's QVL list, replaced with a kit that was. Issues with that board disappeared.

 

Original board returned 'could not duplicate issue'. Replaced failed RAM originally installed in this board with a kit from the board's QVL list. Issue has not returned. What's interesting is that the board's VGA light occasionally lights white while running, without any apparent issue -- the machine runs fine and no longer has the random POST failures.

 

Now, it could be that the RAM originally used was faulty, as it did indeed fail, but an older kit of the same RAM (swapped for troubleshooting) registers at different speeds in another board (also not QVL'd) and has had stability issues from day one. Originally, the board would not even boot with that RAM and a new GPU, but would boot with an older GPU, leading me to believe it was the board. But that same RAM part # now appears to have caused a variety of issues in three different boards, for which none of the manufacturers have QVL'd that particular kit. I don't think that's a coincidence.

[-rascal-]

26 minutes ago, stuckonthis said:

I don't know if the ram is qvl approved or not but that wouldn't explain why the cpu is crying to me, faulty motherboard would though.

 

What motherboard (make and model) are you using?

What is the current BIOS version flashed onto the board?

What memory kit (make and model) are you using?

 

If the BIOS is way out-of-date, I would recommend that you update that.

12th Gen had quite a bit of issues / bugs at the start...growing pains.

[Mick Naughty]

20 minutes ago, stuckonthis said:

cpu..ram..gpu..os  LED all light up one by one in the single boot sequence as a routine then they should all stay off.

So you read the manual and it doesnt have the option then? Or are you assuming? Like I mentioned, cpu shouldnt stay off if its an option.

[-rascal-]

23 minutes ago, stuckonthis said:

cpu..ram..gpu..os  LED all light up one by one in the single boot sequence as a routine then they should all stay off.

 

Yes, that is correct.

On start-up is running through Power On Self Test (P.O.S.T.) and it will check the:

CPU -> DRAM -> VGA -> BOOT.

If it detects an error in any one of those steps, that LED will stay on.

 

Of course, unless your motherboard have the option to trigger the CPU light back on, if it is overheating or for some other reason.

 

Refer to your motherboard user manual.

[stuckonthis]

On 8/30/2022 at 12:12 AM, Mick Naughty said:

So you read the manual and it doesnt have the option then? Or are you assuming? Like I mentioned, cpu shouldnt stay off if its an option.

what are you on about? Have i read the manual, am i assuming???

[stuckonthis]

On 8/30/2022 at 12:13 AM, -rascal- said:

 

Yes, that is correct.

On start-up is running through Power On Self Test (P.O.S.T.) and it will check the:

CPU -> DRAM -> VGA -> BOOT.

If it detects an error in any one of those steps, that LED will stay on.

 

Of course, unless your motherboard have the option to trigger the CPU light back on, if it is overheating or for some other reason.

 

Refer to your motherboard user manual.

I have referred to the motherboard to show you which led had the issue

[Mick Naughty]

3 minutes ago, stuckonthis said:

what are you on about? Have i read the manual, am i assuming???

Some boards have a feature for the light to reflect hot temps, which I already mentioned. Does your have it? Is it on?

So no, they aren’t all supposed to be off after boot. 

[stuckonthis]

15 hours ago, Mick Naughty said:

Some boards have a feature for the light to reflect hot temps, which I already mentioned. Does your have it? Is it on?

So no, they aren’t all supposed to be off after boot. 

That's what i'm saying if the red light comes on after boot then there could be a problem with the cpu whether it is overheating or if there is another fault.  All I can say is it is not a consistent error.  Btw don't ask why my f~@king text has gone thick black, another example of shit programming.