PC not booting up, some debug LEDs lighting up on mobo

Santa Maria!

I'm having trouble diagnosing the problem with my PC not booting up properly.

Here is my machine:

- AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
- MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk Wifi ATX motherboard
- 2x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 3200MHZ UDIMM C16 Desktop RAM
- SAPPHIRE Pulse Radeon RX 580 8G GDDR5
- Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2
- Antec EA750G Pro 80 Plus PSU
- Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh
- 3x BenQ PD3200U monitors - 2 DP, 1 HDMI
- Manjaro Linux

- Additional notes:
- All bought around Aug 2020, barely used.
- Recently untouched for 6 months, left on standby. When I got back and turned
it on, nothing showed on the display. Did a hard reset, then ran fine.
- Went through a move, sent PC cabinet in original cabinet packing. Seems
physically fine when reached destination - glass and all intact. Looking inside, was some dust and spider webs, which I removed.
- Now, turning it on leds to problems - described below.

**What happens**

- When I turn on the machine, I see the CPU running (well, its fan+lights), I
see the motherboard's fancy lights, I see the cabinet's lights and fans
running.
- The GPU fans DON'T seem to be running.
- I don't see anything on the monitor - no signal detected and monitors just
keep their screen 'off'.

**Observations**

- On the motherboard's debug LEDs, I've seen some different behaviour on
subsequent runs.
- I see the 'boot' LED on almost always.
- Sometimes, the 'RAM' LED is also on along with the 'boot' LED. I removed one
of the sticks, and this LED is now usually off, except on 1 or 2 runs.
- Only on one of many runs, the 'boot' LED also stayed off, but still nothing on
screen, GPU fans were still not spinning.
- The 'VGA' and 'CPU' debug LEDs area always off.
- Holding the power button for many seconds isn't turning the system off. I end
up having to turn off the PSU power switch.

**What I tried**

- I tried reseating the RAM sticks, the GPU and the SSD.
- I tried having only one HDMI monitor connected.
- I tried connecting the HDMI cable to the HDMI slot on the motherboard, same
problem.
- I don't really have other/alternate components to aid with troubleshooting.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

princeoo7

Santa Maria! said:
I'm having trouble diagnosing the problem with my PC not booting up properly.

Here is my machine:

- AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
- MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk Wifi ATX motherboard
- 2x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 3200MHZ UDIMM C16 Desktop RAM
- SAPPHIRE Pulse Radeon RX 580 8G GDDR5
- Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2
- Antec EA750G Pro 80 Plus PSU
- Cooler Master MasterBox TD500 Mesh
- 3x BenQ PD3200U monitors - 2 DP, 1 HDMI
- Manjaro Linux

- Additional notes:
- All bought around Aug 2020, barely used.
- Recently untouched for 6 months, left on standby. When I got back and turned
it on, nothing showed on the display. Did a hard reset, then ran fine.
- Went through a move, sent PC cabinet in original cabinet packing. Seems
physically fine when reached destination - glass and all intact. Looking inside, was some dust and spider webs, which I removed.
- Now, turning it on leds to problems - described below.

**What happens**

- When I turn on the machine, I see the CPU running (well, its fan+lights), I
see the motherboard's fancy lights, I see the cabinet's lights and fans
running.
- The GPU fans DON'T seem to be running.
- I don't see anything on the monitor - no signal detected and monitors just
keep their screen 'off'.

**Observations**

- On the motherboard's debug LEDs, I've seen some different behaviour on
subsequent runs.
- I see the 'boot' LED on almost always.
- Sometimes, the 'RAM' LED is also on along with the 'boot' LED. I removed one
of the sticks, and this LED is now usually off, except on 1 or 2 runs.
- Only on one of many runs, the 'boot' LED also stayed off, but still nothing on
screen, GPU fans were still not spinning.
- The 'VGA' and 'CPU' debug LEDs area always off.
- Holding the power button for many seconds isn't turning the system off. I end
up having to turn off the PSU power switch.

**What I tried**

- I tried reseating the RAM sticks, the GPU and the SSD.
- I tried having only one HDMI monitor connected.
- I tried connecting the HDMI cable to the HDMI slot on the motherboard, same
problem.
- I don't really have other/alternate components to aid with troubleshooting.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

I too have somewhat same config on other pc. check if you can post to bios with and without gpu. now if its booting to bios then gpu is not an issue then check the port of gpu for dust and all. also check for the cable. that can be loose or damaged.

bigb123

Most of the today's Gpu fans only spin when the gpu is under stress. Else they remain off under normal circumstances.

john1911

Was the GPU plugged in the mobo during moving/shipping?

You can try GPU in another PCI Slot to see if it works.

Synth-Pop

Santa Maria! said:
**What I tried**

- I tried connecting the HDMI cable to the HDMI slot on the motherboard, same
problem.

You mean you connected HDMI cable from monitor to HDMI Port on motherboard ??
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X doesn't comes with inbuilt graphics so it won't work on HDMI port on motherboard.
you should connect it to HDMI port on Graphics card.
also try changing hdmi cable.

1. Check if GPU fan spins for a while then stops (when you turn on) or it doesn't spin at all.
2. Try Bios reset , clear cmos.
3. Try GPU in different Pcie slot.
4. Check if GPU power cable or connector is loose, you can also try some other spare power cable it available or some other port on PSU.

Santa Maria!

princeoo7 said:
I too have somewhat same config on other pc. check if you can post to bios with and without gpu. now if its booting to bios then gpu is not an issue then check the port of gpu for dust and all. also check for the cable. that can be loose or damaged.

Nothing seen on monitors with and of course without GPU. I guess I would need some speaker to see if there are any POST codes being emitted, since the mobo doesn't have speakers.

bigb123 said:
Most of the today's Gpu fans only spin when the gpu is under stress. Else they remain off under normal circumstances.

I have seen the GPU fans run on power up on all previous occasions. It prolly turns of during runtime as needed.

john1911 said:
Was the GPU plugged in the mobo during moving/shipping?

You can try GPU in another PCI Slot to see if it works.

Yes it was. I tried installing it to the other slot - same result. GPU fan not spinning, no signal on monitor, 'boot' LED lit up on mobo.

Synth-Pop said:
You mean you connected HDMI cable from monitor to HDMI Port on motherboard ??
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X doesn't comes with inbuilt graphics so it won't work on HDMI port on motherboard.
you should connect it to HDMI port on Graphics card.
also try changing hdmi cable.

1. Check if GPU fan spins for a while then stops (when you turn on) or it doesn't spin at all.
2. Try Bios reset , clear cmos.
3. Try GPU in different Pcie slot.
4. Check if GPU power cable or connector is loose, you can also try some other spare power cable it available or some other port on PSU.

Yes, on the mobo HDMI port (not slot). I figured at least the bios screen should be visible but I guess a display unit needed even for that.
I've tried connecting various combinations of my 3 monitors to the various ports on the GPU. No dice.
The monitors work fine with my laptop.

- The GPU fans don't spin at all, even for a bit.
- I powered off, discharged, removed the CMOS battery for a few minutes, and reinstalled. Same result - boot LED still lit up, GPU fans not running, no signal on monitors.
- Tried GPU in alternate PCIE slot - same result.
- Tried 2 power connectors along same wire length on PSU - no change. Will have to dig up cables to try with another set of wires coming from PSU.

john1911

It might be the case that GPU PCB got fractured because it was attached while moving/shipping. Less likely (as your GPU isn't that massive/heavy) but still possible.

Try testing the GPU in any other working system or a computer store.

Santa Maria!

I guess now is also the time I should ask for recommendations for a good shop to get help at? (Noida, NCR region).

Synth-Pop

Most likely it's the GPU as fan doesn't spins at all. If possible try this GPU on some friend or relatives PC.
If not possible, take GPU or full system to the nearest shop for a check.

PC not booting up, some debug LEDs lighting up on mobo

On a Journey called Life :P