Determining if Motherboard or CPU is Dead

[Dioxyq]

Hi, after about ~5 or so years of use, my old gaming PC died and failed to boot. I had already built a new rig at this point, however I now would like to use my old PC as a Linux server. Unfortunately, I cannot determine if it is the CPU or motherboard that is dead that I need to replace. I get 2 constant red debug LEDs for CPU and DRAM upon powering on. Disconnecting CPU power stops the DRAM LED, while the CPU LED remains on. I’ve followed all the steps in this README. Any help would be appreciated.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

37 minutes ago, Dioxyq said:

Hi, after about ~5 or so years of use, my old gaming PC died and failed to boot. I had already built a new rig at this point, however I now would like to use my old PC as a Linux server. Unfortunately, I cannot determine if it is the CPU or motherboard that is dead that I need to replace. I get 2 constant red debug LEDs for CPU and DRAM upon powering on. Disconnecting CPU power stops the DRAM LED, while the CPU LED remains on. I’ve followed all the steps in this README. Any help would be appreciated.

Have you tried booting with each RAM DIMM one at a time? If you remove the CPU power connector, the POST status will stop at CPU because it won't work without the additional CPU power available. Typically, where your POST LEDs stop is where there is a problem, in your case, the problem seems to be memory related. So try with each stick at a time to see if anything changes. 

[Dioxyq]

28 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Have you tried booting with each RAM DIMM one at a time? If you remove the CPU power connector, the POST status will stop at CPU because it won't work without the additional CPU power available. Typically, where your POST LEDs stop is where there is a problem, in your case, the problem seems to be memory related. So try with each stick at a time to see if anything changes. 

As I stated, I tried everything in the README post, including trying every combination of DRAM stick/slot with one stick at a time. The reason I included the part about disconnecting the CPU power was to show that the motherboard detected the RAM problem after the CPU failed.

[sharkaroid]

Dis you consult your motherboard's manual? It might have some exra information about the LEDs meanings.

[Dioxyq]

57 minutes ago, sharkaroid said:

Dis you consult your motherboard's manual? It might have some exra information about the LEDs meanings.

Yes I did, for reference it’s the MSI B350 Tomahawk, but no there is no extra meaning to be found.

[silencer12]

Could you provide the system configuration of that computer that is not posting properly?  (Not just the motherboard model. This was in the READme).

If there is no extra meaning to be found, than you may need to contact your motherboard manufacturer (MSI) for further assistance.

[Dioxyq]

1 hour ago, silencer12 said:

Could you provide the system configuration of that computer that is not posting properly?  (Not just the motherboard model. This was in the READme).

If there is no extra meaning to be found, than you may need to contact your motherboard manufacturer (MSI) for further assistance.

Sorry, missed that part at the end. The specs are as follows:

• MSI B350 Tomahawk
• Ryzen 5 1600
• Stock cooler
• Ballistix Sport LT DDR4 BLS 2400mhz 2x8GB
• EVGA 1070 SC

• EVGA 650 GQ, 80+ Gold 650W

• WD Blue 1TB Hard Drive

• WD Blue 250GB SSD

To be clear, I am only trying to determine if it is the motherboard or the CPU that is dead (I’m thinking it’s probably the motherboard) so that I can replace it, it’s unlikely that both RAM DIMMs would suddenly die, however not totally out of the question I guess.

[sharkaroid]

14 hours ago, Dioxyq said:

Sorry, missed that part at the end. The specs are as follows:

• MSI B350 Tomahawk
• Ryzen 5 1600
• Stock cooler
• Ballistix Sport LT DDR4 BLS 2400mhz 2x8GB
• EVGA 1070 SC

• EVGA 650 GQ, 80+ Gold 650W

• WD Blue 1TB Hard Drive

• WD Blue 250GB SSD

To be clear, I am only trying to determine if it is the motherboard or the CPU that is dead (I’m thinking it’s probably the motherboard) so that I can replace it, it’s unlikely that both RAM DIMMs would suddenly die, however not totally out of the question I guess.

hmmmmm, in this case I think it's very hard to try without swapping parts. Maybe speak with a technician to see if they have a spare functional low-end AM4 CPU and lend it to you. That would likely solve the problem.