r/pchelp May 11 '26

7th Anniversary of PCHH

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4 Upvotes

r/pchelp Dec 15 '19

Perform these steps before posting about POST/boot/no video problems!

190 Upvotes

Link to original list from tom’sHARDWARE with pictures

"No POST", "system won't boot", and "no video output" troubleshooting checklist

This checklist is a compilation of troubleshooting ideas from many forum members. It's very important to actually perform every step in the checklist if you want to effectively troubleshoot your problem.

  • 1.Did you carefully read the motherboard owners manual?

  • 2.Did you plug in the 4/8-pin CPU power connector located near the CPU socket? If the motherboard has 8 pins and your PSU only has 4 pins, you can use the 4-pin connector. The 4-pin connector USUALLY goes on the 4 pins located closest to the CPU. If the motherboard has an 8-pin connector with a cover over 4 pins, you can remove the cover and use an 8-pin plug if your power supply has one. This power connector provides power to the CPU. Your system has no chance of posting without this connector plugged in! Check your motherboard owners manual for more information about the CPU power connector. The CPU power connector is usually referred to as the "12v ATX" connector in the owner's manual. This is easily the most common new-builder mistake.

  • 3.Did you install the standoffs under the motherboard? Did you place them so they all align with the screw holes in the motherboard, with no extra standoffs touching the board in the wrong place? A standoff installed in the wrong place can cause a short and prevent the system from booting.

  • 4.Did you verify that the video card is fully seated? (may require more force than a new builder expects.)

  • 5.Did you attach ALL the required power connector(s) to the video card? (some need two, some need none, many need one.) It is best to use cables connected directly to the PSU. Only use adapters if absolutely necessary.

  • 6.Have you tried booting with just one stick of RAM installed? (Try each stick of RAM individually in each RAM slot.) If you can get the system to boot with a single stick of RAM, you should enable an XMP profile or manually set the RAM speed, timings, and voltage to the manufacturer's specs in the BIOS before attempting to boot with all sticks of RAM installed. If your motherboard supports XMP profiles, that is the best way to get your RAM running at its rated specs. Nearly all motherboards default to the standard RAM voltage (1.8v for DDR2, 1.5v for DDR3, & 1.2v for DDR4). If your RAM is rated to run at a voltage higher than the standard voltage, the motherboard will underclock the RAM for compatibility reasons. If you want the system to be stable and to run the RAM at its rated specs, you should either enable an XMP profile or manually set the values in the BIOS. Many boards don't supply the RAM with enough voltage when using "auto" settings which causes stability issues.

  • 7.Did you verify that all memory modules are fully inserted? (may require more force than a new builder expects.) It's a good idea to install the RAM on the motherboard before it's in the case.

  • 8.Did you verify in the owners manual that you're using the correct RAM slots? The following image is just an example. Verify in the owners manual the recommended RAM slots to use for single, dual, triple, or quad channel applications. This will vary depending on motherboard manufacturer, number of supported RAM channels, and how many sticks of RAM are being used.

  • 9.Did you remove the plastic guard over the CPU socket? (this actually comes up occasionally.)

  • 10.Did you install the CPU correctly? There will be an arrow on the CPU that needs to line up with an arrow on the motherboard CPU socket. There may also be a notch that will only line up in one direction. Be sure to pay special attention to that section of the manual!

  • 11.Are there any bent pins on the motherboard/CPU? This especially applies if you tried to install the CPU with the plastic cover on or with the CPU facing the wrong direction.

    1. If using an after market CPU cooler, did you get any thermal paste on the motherboard, CPU socket, or CPU pins? Did you use the smallest amount you could?
  • 13.Is the CPU fan plugged in? Some motherboards will not boot without detecting that the CPU fan is plugged in to prevent burning up the CPU.

    1. If using a stock cooler, was the thermal material on the base of the cooler free of foreign material, and did you remove any protective covering? If the stock cooler has push-pins, did you ensure that all four pins snapped securely into place? The easiest way to install the push-pins is outside the case sitting on a non-conductive surface like the motherboard box. Read the instructions! The push-pins have to be turned the OPPOSITE direction as the arrows for installation. This means with the arrow pointing away from the heatsink.
    1. Are any loose screws laying on the motherboard, or jammed against it? Are there any wires running directly under the motherboard? You should not run wires under the motherboard since the soldered wires on the underside of the motherboard can cut into the insulation on the wires and cause a short. Some cases have space to run wires on the back side of the motherboard tray.
    1. Did you ensure you discharged all static electricity before touching any of your components? Computer components are very sensitive to static electricity. It takes much less voltage than you can see or feel to damage components. You should implement some best practices to reduce the probability of damaging components. These practices should include either wearing an anti-static wrist strap or always touching a metal part of the case with the power supply installed and plugged in, but NOT turned on. You should avoid building or working on a computer on carpet. Working on a smooth surface is the best if at all possible. You should also keep fluffy the cat, children, and Fido away from computer components.
    1. Did you check the debug LEDs, Q-code display, or install the system speaker (if provided) so you can check codes in the manual? Most modern motherboards come with debug LEDs or a Q-code display. A system speaker is NOT the same as normal speakers that plug into the back of the motherboard. A system speaker plugs into a header on the motherboard that's usually located near the front panel connectors. Debug LEDs, Q-code displays, or a system speaker are critical components when trying to troubleshoot system problems. You are flying blind without them. The motherboard owner's manual will have a list of codes you can reference. If your case or motherboard didn't come with debug LEDs, a Q-code display, or system speaker you can buy a system speaker for cheap here: http://www.cwc-group.com/casp.html
    1. Did you read the instructions in the manual on how to properly connect the front panel plugs? (Power switch, power led, reset switch, HD activity led) Polarity does not matter with the power and reset switches. If power or drive activity LED's do not come on, reverse the connections. For troubleshooting purposes, disconnect the reset switch. If it's shorted, the machine either will not POST at all, or it will endlessly reboot.
    1. Did you turn on the power supply switch located on the back of the PSU? The switch should be depressed on the side with an I, the O means off. Is the power plug on a switch? If it is, is the switch turned on? Is there a GFI circuit on the plug-in? If there is, make sure it isn't tripped. You should also make sure the power cord isn't causing the problem. Try swapping it for a known good cord if you have one available.
    1. Is your CPU supported by the BIOS revision installed on your motherboard? Most motherboards will post a CPU compatibility list on their website.
    1. Have you tried resetting the CMOS? The motherboard manual will have instructions for your particular board. User Darkbreeze also provided the following:

BIOS Hard reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases, it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. After the five minutes are up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset.

http://www.spotht.com/2010/02/reset-bios-clear-cmos.html

    1. If you have integrated video and a video card, try the integrated video port. Resetting the bios, can make it default back to the onboard video. If you are trying to use HDMI outputs, try using DVI or VGA instead. Sometimes, the HDMI ports won't work until the correct drivers are installed.
    1. Make certain all cables and components including RAM and expansion cards are tight within their sockets.

I also wanted to add some suggestions that jsc often posts. This is a direct quote from him:

"Pull everything except the CPU and HSF. Boot. You should hear a series of long single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence here indicates, in probable order, a bad PSU, motherboard, or CPU - or a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU.

To eliminate the possibility of a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU, you will need to pull the motherboard out of the case and reassemble the components on an insulated surface. This is called "breadboarding" - from the 1920's home-brew radio days. I always breadboard a new or recycled build. It lets me test components before I go through the trouble of installing them in a case.

If you get the long beeps, add a stick of RAM. Boot. The beep pattern should change to one long and two or three short beeps. Silence indicates that the RAM is shorting out the PSU (very rare). Long single beeps indicates that the BIOS does not recognize the presence of the RAM.

If you get the one long and two or three short beeps, test the rest of the RAM. If good, install the video card and any needed power cables and plug in the monitor. If the video card is good, the system should successfully POST (one short beep, usually) and you will see the boot screen and messages.

Note - an inadequate PSU will cause a failure here or any step later.

Note - you do not need drives or a keyboard to successfully POST (generally a single short beep).

If you successfully POST, start plugging in the rest of the components, one at a time."

If you suspect the PSU is causing your problems, below are some suggestions by jsc for troubleshooting the PSU. Proceed with caution. I will not be held responsible if you get shocked or fry components.

"The best way to check the PSU is to swap it with a known good PSU of similar capacity. Brand new, out of the box, untested does not count as a known good PSU. PSU's, like all components, can be DOA.

Next best thing is to get (or borrow) a digital multimeter and check the PSU.

Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU. You can carefully probe the pins from the back of the main power connector."


r/pchelp 22h ago

OPEN Is my Pc in a good spot or can it overheat in this spot.

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843 Upvotes

Hey guys, I just recently got this pc and have it placed on the left side of my desk. My friends said it can overheat cause it’s trapped in a corner. Im worried will that actually happen or will it be fine here. I took a picture from all angles please let me know.

Thanks for the help!


r/pchelp 10h ago

HARDWARE Is this a safe budget gpu support?

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56 Upvotes

Noticed some pretty significant sag in my gpu recently and i’m super worried about it, and dont feel like buying an adjustable support on amazon. But this box is the PERFECT height to keep it level, just wanna make sure this isnt some kind of fire hazard and that it wont interfere with anything.


r/pchelp 32m ago

PERFORMANCE Why does my PC still run not great?

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Basically, I have had my pc since 2021 and I have been slowly upgrading it overtime. My PC had always not really ran what I feel like it should've been, but recently I have felt the stuttering and lagging get way worse when I play games. Another thing I don't understand is when I close a game my pc "remembers" when I've had the game loaded and my pc continues to run terribly. I'm pretty sure my GPU has a part in it because it's so outdated. If there is any other information I would need to provide then I would be glad to share. Every bit of help greatly appreciated! (Also in the photo's I only have Minecraft and Discord loaded up)


r/pchelp 9h ago

HARDWARE Trying to reapply thermal paste but cooler aint help

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24 Upvotes

Was trying to reapply thermal paste amd cpu comes with the cooler how to remove it from coolee and how to put it back


r/pchelp 16h ago

OPEN PC boots on then off instantly

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69 Upvotes

just got this pre-built from AWD-IT please help!


r/pchelp 54m ago

OPEN Rtx 5070 locked at 60hz through display port

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Upvotes

Hello, my PC displays artifacts when I try to go above 60hz. I am new to desktops and I’m not sure where to start. Pictures of my specs in the comments. Using Insignia display port rated for 16k at 60hz and 8k at 120


r/pchelp 13h ago

HARDWARE What… what is this?

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26 Upvotes

So I found this sitting at the bottom of my pc. I now fear


r/pchelp 4h ago

HARDWARE Monitor lines

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5 Upvotes

Does anyone know what could be causing this? It only happens on this monitor.


r/pchelp 20m ago

OPEN What to look for buying used pc

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r/pchelp 4h ago

HARDWARE Broken CPU corner

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3 Upvotes

Today was a really unlucky day for me.

I have an Intel i5 10400f processor, and I was installing a new CPU cooler. In the process, I ended up bending and breaking some of the pins on the motherboard socket. And while I was looking at the damage, I also noticed that the corner of my CPU is dented and delaminated.

My computer turns on, the fans are spinning, but there’s no video output and the USB cables aren’t providing power. I tested the graphics card and everything else in the board, it seems the problem is with the processor.

Now the problem is: I don’t know when the cpu got dented, and whether that’s also one of the reasons the computer isn’t turning on.

Is it worth the investment to only repair or replace the motherboard and keep the cpu or are both equally dead?


r/pchelp 1h ago

HARDWARE red light on CPU and yellow on DRAM

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i just built this pc the new parts are a asrock b850m c and a and ryzen 5 7500x3d and a 16 gig stick of ram and it won’t post i just get these lights


r/pchelp 1h ago

HARDWARE Is my RX 9070XT and Corsair RM850e plugged in right?

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r/pchelp 3h ago

OPEN Computer hard freezing ONLY in Borderlands 4

3 Upvotes

I literally have no clue what has happened with my pc. Earlier this week I was gaming no problem with all of my games, my main one currently being Borderlands 4. I have never had any issues with the game whatsoever outside of the optimization woes it launched with. As of two days ago, any time I open the game it will eventually lock my pc to black and reboot. No crash logs, no blue screen, no power cycle. Purely just crash and restart like nothing ever happened. This happens with no other game or software.

For reference my specs are:

Ryzen 5 5600x

RTX 3070

16GB DDR4 4000MHZ

B550-I AORUS PRO AX

Corsair AIO

I have done everything I can imagine at this point. Stress tested everything, windows fresh installs, rollbacks, fresh game installs, RAM/VRAM monitoring, etc.

If anyone has LITERALLY any insight, that would be greatly appreciated. I just wanna game.


r/pchelp 3h ago

OPEN Gaming PC Help

3 Upvotes

Hello all! I’m having some trouble with games freezing on my PC and I’m hoping you can give me advice. When I play EA Sports games (EAFC 26 & CFB 27) my game freezes constantly while in games, the weird thing is I can still hear the audio, but the visual freezes. Sometimes it takes 10-15 seconds to unfreeze, and sometimes it leads to the game crashing. Here’s my gaming setup below. Is this a hardware issue? A setting issue? What are some things I can do to troubleshoot? My drivers and software updates are all current!

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core (3.40 GHz)
GPU: AMD Radeon RX6800 XT Red Dragon (16 GB)
RAM: 4x8GB Ripjaws G.Skill DDR4 (32 GB total)
SSD: Samsung 870 EVO (1 TB)
HDD: Seagate (2 TB)
Cooling: 3 fans on the front of tower, 1 Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU fan, 1 fan on back of tower
PSU: Corsair RM1000
Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
Monitor: Sceptre M25
OS: Windows 10 Pro

I’m also to recommendations on if I should replace any hardware. I am a PC beginner please help haha.


r/pchelp 1h ago

HARDWARE Thermaltake Level 20 MT ARGB Mid Tower Chassis How To Take Off Front Panel With Glass (SOLUTION!)

Upvotes

Put you hand under where the handle/empty space is, and rip it out like a man, don't be scared. It will not break trust me.


r/pchelp 1d ago

HARDWARE How fucked am I?

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445 Upvotes

Long story short I was moving my son’s rig into a new case and the little L shaped piece of plastic for the sata connector snapped off his boot drive
Local shop wanted $700 to recover the data (it’s just his Steam games and not anything important)
Is this fixable? Can I somehow swap the internals into a new shell? I just don’t wanna waste a perfectly working SSD


r/pchelp 2h ago

SOFTWARE Chrome wont open :(

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2 Upvotes

So my dad I think fully restarted my computer after it wouldn’t let me go into my computer because it showed me that only an administrator can, I still dont know why that happened. So now he I think prestarted it completely and I have none of my applications. I tried redownloading chrome and it will not open. I’m trying so hard and idk what to do. Please help!!


r/pchelp 16h ago

HARDWARE Is this repairable?

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24 Upvotes

GPU is ZOTAC GTX 1060 6GB AMP edition. That part is burnt, is this repairable or is it bye-bye? Thanks in advance.


r/pchelp 3m ago

HARDWARE gtx 1660 super displayport not showing on second monitor

Upvotes

im gonna try to simplify this as easily as possible

2 onn. 24' FHD monitors brand new

gtx1660 super (one hdmi, one vga, one displayport)

hdmi works in both monitors which is hdmi/vga only

so i bought a displayport -> hdmi cable (no adapter)

doesnt work on either monitor

bought an hdmi coupler and still doesnt work

i tried resetting every part, replugging in connections to the gpu, downloaded new drivers for the gpu

both monitors work, hdmi port works, just annoying lol

any ideas? thanks


r/pchelp 7h ago

HARDWARE Would I be getting a deal on this?

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5 Upvotes

I’m new to pc gaming so I need some help seeing if 1500 is too much for these specs, thanks!


r/pchelp 7m ago

OPEN What should I do???

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So I really hate the amd software and many of my games don’t support fsr 4 or fsr in general so a buddy of mine said he’d be willing to trade his msi suprim rtx 3090 to for my nitro+ rx9070xt. Should I do the trade? I’ve already tested it and the temps are great and it’s mint.


r/pchelp 12m ago

HARDWARE Ripped PCie slot.

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r/pchelp 17m ago

HARDWARE Failing Gpu

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ISSUE - Basically when I play for a while my monitor shuts off, clicking WIN + CTRL + Shift + B is suppose to reload the driver but doesn't turn on my Monitor therefore making me restart my entire pc. I have already tested a bunch of crap like fully reinstalling drivers, I think one issue could be that I had 32 gigs of ram whilst 2 were both corsair i had 2 mismatched that I had installed into my pc for a year and a half which might've messed with the motherboard, but now i took those two out to just est the 2 same ram sticks to see if the mismatched ram was the issue which it wasnt, which now fully leads me to the gpu I have already re plugged in the 8 bit cord into the gpu mother board slot and that doesnt help, i have used different hdmi cables and yet nothing Please help im a 17 year old broke boy 😭 🙏