New computer not booting - Ryzen 5 3600, ASRock B550 MB

[bigbonelessjerk]

parts list

• AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming 4
• Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200
• Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME
• Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold
• Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB GAMING OC

I built everything about a week ago, plugged in and turned on just fine. Loaded Windows but was getting some weird errors and only had sound on the right side. The next day, I went ahead and flashed my BIOS to the newest and erased the NVME with the Motherboard utility and reloaded Windows.

I turned on but got no screen, so reset and it started fine but again, only sound on the right side. I downloaded and installed the newest audio drivers and chipset from ASRock website. Everything seemed OK (except still only sound on one side). A day or 2 later, I turned it on to finish installing the other drivers but no screen. I pushed reset and it started fine. At some point I restarted and it never came back. It was hit or miss if I could get into BIOS but now I can't get any screen at all.

A day or so later and I uninstalled everything and have it laid out on the kitchen table to run some tests and hopefully figure out the problem. The first thing I did was assemble it all like it was in the case. Same deal, no screen no BIOS but it did POST. I went ahead and switched out the GPU for a known good GT 1030 (fanless so it runs off MB power only). The only things plugged in to PSU are the CPU and MB main power. No mouse or keyboard plugged in for these tests. MB didn't come with a chassis speaker so I grabbed the one from my old computer to get beep codes.

Test 1 - no RAM, no GPU, no NVME drive resulted in no beeps and the CPU and DRAM error lights were lit.

Test 2 - single components only

• 1 stick of RAM in slot 3 resulted in 5 quick beeps and the VGA and BOOT lights.
• NVME installed by itself resulted in no beeps and the CPU and DRAM lights were on.
• GPU only (known good GT 1030) had no beeps, CPU and DRAM lights.

Test 3 - 2 components

• 1 stick RAM (the other one) in slot 1 and GPU resulted in no beeps and no lights.
• 1 stick RAM in slot 4 and NVME resulted in 5 quick beeps and then a single beep and no error lights.
• GPU and NVME resulted in no beeps and CPU and DRAM lights on.

Test 4 - all components (1 stick RAM in slot 2) including mouse and keyboard results in one beep and no error lights. The monitor comes on and doesn't go into powersave mode but remains dark.

 

[Oddba11]

Hardware conflict or fault likely. I assume the motherboard supports that cpu (very likely based on the age of the cpu). Is the RAM on the supported list?

 

[bigbonelessjerk]

I think the motherboard was bad. I came to this conclusion based on 3 things. The audio only on one side. The 5 beeps that I got a few times, meaning board/CPU and it's never the CPU (unless it is). And talking with a friend who just had similar problems with this board.
I have RMA'd the board and a replacement is on the way. I really hope that that is the only problem.

I researched pretty extensively so I know there is no hardware conflict. CPU is supported, etc. The RAM was the one thing that I just grabbed because in my experience RAM just works, however the RAM I got isn't on the QVL but the 4 x 8 GB set is so I'm not worried about that.

I will update when the new board arrives.

 

[Oddba11]

Good luck.

I brought it up as when I Googled the " CPU and DRAM lights " issue, it seems to be common. One of the solutions was using approved RAM. And that's not the first time that I read about using approved RAM with Ryzen. Otherwise I agree. In the past, especially with Intel, it pretty much always works.

 

[crjdriver]

I would tend to agree; sounds like you received a bad motherboard. While I have had very good luck with asrock boards, that one appears to be one of the low to mid-range 550boards.
As for your ram, I have done a LOT of ryzen builds with corsair vengeance ram; works flawlessly.

I assume you have checked both atx and aux/cpu pw connectors to be sure they are fully seated. Just wondering, was this by chance an open box motherboard?

FWIW I just did a build with this asrock board;
https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X570 Steel Legend/index.asp

Worked great.

 

[bigbonelessjerk]

All the connections were checked multiple times. I made sure that they were all seated and I couldn't fit my fingernail in between. The board was a new purchase from Newegg and it was the suggested one in the pcpartlist build guide. It was a decent company and fit my needs and price range so I got it.

The replacement board will be here on Monday. I will let you know.

 

[crjdriver]

Post back with how the replacement board works out.

 

[bigbonelessjerk]

Everything is looking good, sound on the left AND the right is a good sign.

Got the replacement board this morning and put everything together on the kitchen table. Installed Windows and let it sit and idle along. Everything was stable and looking good so I put it all in the case and it's acting fine.

Just idling along the temps are ~80° on the motherboard, ~95° CPU, and ~100° GPU according to Open Hardware Monitor.

 

[crjdriver]

Are those Celsius or Fahrenheit?

 

[bigbonelessjerk]

Fahrenheit, purple is motherboard, red and blue are CPU, green is GPU.

I'm not sure why the temps are varying so much on the CPU. The GPU temps make sense as the fans don't spin until a certain temp and then it cools down.

 

[crjdriver]

Those temps are fine. I would use the asrock purpose designed monitoring software. Here is a link to the support page;
ASRock > B550 Phantom Gaming 4
It is under support>download motherboard utility.

Now you can actually use the system