PC won't turn on

[aaaaaaaaah]

Hey guys, 

Turned on my PC about 2 hours ago, everything worked fine, turned it off, turned it back on about 15 minutes ago and every fan (cpu and gpu included) spins and lights up. Ram also lights up. My monitor stays in sleep mode but doesn't show 'no display port signal' until I unplug it from my PC. The motherboard LED indicator says its a RAM issue, so I tried reseating, switching the dimm slots but neither worked. Tried unplugging the cpu fan, motherboard power, all USB devices, removed the gpu and ram then plugged them all back in except the USB devices, still same as before. 

Any advice please?

[Rauten]

Reset the CMOS? Maybe your RAM settings in BIOS are FUBAR.

[aaaaaaaaah]

1 minute ago, Rauten said:

Reset the CMOS? Maybe your RAM settings in BIOS are FUBAR.

would I need to replace the CMOS battery cause I don't have a spare one

[Dukesilver27-]

You don't need to take out the battery, follow this guide. https://www.maketecheasier.com/how-to-reset-cmos-and-why/

 

If still doesn't work, could you try booting with the iGPU by plugging the DP to the motherboard instead of the GPU? (if you have one)

If not, try reseating the GPU, or check the power connectors for your GPU.

If everything turns on/lights up and stays turned on but still no display, could be a display issue.

[Rauten]

23 minutes ago, aaaaaaaaah said:

would I need to replace the CMOS battery cause I don't have a spare one

No.

If the method indicated by @Dukesilver27- doesn't work, you just need to remove the battery for a couple minutes, then plug it back in. You can use the same battery, no problem.

[Dukesilver27-]

4 minutes ago, Rauten said:

No.

If the method indicated by @Dukesilver27- doesn't work, you just need to remove the battery for a couple minutes, then plug it back in. You can use the same battery, no problem.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it just two different methods for resetting the BIOS which produces the same result?

I mean after resetting the CMOS once, you still want to try resetting the CMOS again and see if it fixes the problem?

 

[aaaaaaaaah]

9 minutes ago, Rauten said:

No.

If the method indicated by @Dukesilver27- doesn't work, you just need to remove the battery for a couple minutes, then plug it back in. You can use the same battery, no problem.

perfect, thanks a lot man that fixed it

[An0maly_76]

56 minutes ago, aaaaaaaaah said:

Hey guys, 

Turned on my PC about 2 hours ago, everything worked fine, turned it off, turned it back on about 15 minutes ago and every fan (cpu and gpu included) spins and lights up. Ram also lights up. My monitor stays in sleep mode but doesn't show 'no display port signal' until I unplug it from my PC. The motherboard LED indicator says its a RAM issue, so I tried reseating, switching the dimm slots but neither worked. Tried unplugging the cpu fan, motherboard power, all USB devices, removed the gpu and ram then plugged them all back in except the USB devices, still same as before. 

Any advice please?

I had a very similar issue that was so intermittent (and did not show the DRAM light right away) that turned out to be RAM. More specifically, the RAM I used was not recommended per the board manufacturer's QVL (Qualified Vendor List). Two different kits of the same brand / series / SKU (part #) caused various issues in three different setups. Common denominator was that none of the boards used in the three setups listed the specific RAM SKU I used on QVL.

 

One setup's symptoms were random POST crash with no video every 8-12 cold boots, otherwise seemed to run fine. Another setup constantly displayed the hourglass cursor in Windows. These DIMMs were the same ones from the first setup. One would not POST, the other produced intermittent audio-only and audio-video cutout after a couple weeks. Replacing the RAM in these two setups has stopped these issues cold, and they now run perfectly, even feel snappier.

 

The third is one I upgraded with the same RAM SKU in 2020. This was an odd one. Three upgrades, RAM, M.2, and GPU. With the same SKU RAM originally used in the other two setups, this one consistently failed POST on a VGA light with the new GPU, but booted fine with its original. Because of the VGA light, it never occurred to me to try the old RAM.

 

After a dozen or so attempts, the board shut down and had to be RMA'd. MSI never did say what happened or what they did to fix it, and it was nothing short of neurotic after that. In light of more recent discoveries, I checked this setup to find that the DIMMs are registering at different speeds, which is quite screwy and should never happen. Turns out that RAM is not on that board's QVL either, despite the fact that the RAM manufacturer will say all day long that this RAM would work in the boards in question.

 

Keep in mind, both sets of DIMMs tested fine solo and tandem, and even when I wondered if the RAM might be part of the problem, all I heard was "RAM is RAM, QVL means nothing." Well, apparently it does in at least a handful of cases. Sure, there is RAM out there that isn't QVL'd for a particular board that seems to work perfectly fine. But why waste time and money taking chances on RAM that may or may not work correctly just because it's a bit cheaper or more available?

 

So my advice is, check your RAM's SKU (part #) against the RAM QVL list for your board, taking into account processor choice if applicable. If I've learned anything from my situation, it's that you should never rule anything out, no matter how crazy it might seem.

 

Interesting side note. These were AMD setups, two B450s and a B550, with 1700, 3600X and 5900X processors, so it wasn't a chipset or this-gen or that-gen thing. This RAM wasn't listed on ANY QVL list I could find, and the one person I've talked to who found the SKU familiar recalled last ordering it for a Coffee Lake build.

 

Coffee Lake is an INTEL processor. I'm starting to think that certain DIMMs are optimized for Intel, and certain DIMMs are optimized for AMD, and God help you if you use the wrong ones. Hence QVL research can save you a lot of time, money and aggravation. Just a theory, but I'm probably closer than I think to the truth. At the very least, it's a case of boards being much more picky with their RAM in recent years.

Edited September 1, 2022 by An0maly_76
Revised, more info

[Rauten]

24 minutes ago, Dukesilver27- said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it just two different methods for resetting the BIOS which produces the same result?

I mean after resetting the CMOS once, you still want to try resetting the CMOS again and see if it fixes the problem?

 

Not all cases have a "CMOS clear" button, and the same goes for motherboards.

Many just have a couple pins that you need to "jump" with a metallic tool, or a jumper. And at that point, it's probably easier and safer to just remove the battery -- at least that way there's no risk of accidentally jumping the wrong contacts.

 

It's not so much about "it doesn't work", but rather "are unable" - wrong choice of words on my part.

[An0maly_76]

11 hours ago, Rauten said:

Not all cases have a "CMOS clear" button, and the same goes for motherboards.

Many just have a couple pins that you need to "jump" with a metallic tool, or a jumper. And at that point, it's probably easier and safer to just remove the battery -- at least that way there's no risk of accidentally jumping the wrong contacts.

 

It's not so much about "it doesn't work", but rather "are unable" - wrong choice of words on my part.

And they are labeled differently. MSI labels them JBAT1, Asus labels them CLRTS.