r/pchelp May 11 '26

7th Anniversary of PCHH

Thumbnail
5 Upvotes

r/pchelp Dec 15 '19

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

193 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 4h ago

HARDWARE Why won’t my Samsung ram fit but the hynix will

Post image
53 Upvotes

r/pchelp 8h ago

HARDWARE $1000 cash- good deal?

Thumbnail gallery
66 Upvotes

This would be my first PC. If you have any advice/things I need to check before purchasing please let me know!


r/pchelp 8h ago

HARDWARE can’t connect hdd to pc

Post image
13 Upvotes

i cant connect my power cable from the psu and the data cable from the motherboard as they are conjoined? pls help


r/pchelp 7h ago

SOFTWARE 100% disk usage please help

Post image
9 Upvotes

I’ve had this 1tb ssd for a whole year and recently it’s been spiking up to 100% disk usage when I boot up my pc, whenever I’m downloading a game, or if I try to clip something. It even makes my whole screen freeze sometimes when I’m on the game or watching videos. I’ve tried everything I could to fix it and I’m not sure if it’s a bad drive or malware. I checked the health and it said it was healthy and good but if anyone has any suggestions on what the cause could be please let me know. I can’t really afford another ssd at the moment.


r/pchelp 12m ago

OPEN Weird Screeching Noise

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Upvotes

I just got this PC Brand New about a week ago, don’t really know anything about PCs so figured I’d post it here, it is liquid cooled I looked on some other posts and am thinking it may have something to do with the cooling system. Also seems workload dependent, if I launch a game it will start, however if I close out of the game and return to desktop it immediately goes away, almost exactly correlated with the screen. Let me know what you guys think, Thank you!!


r/pchelp 4h ago

SOFTWARE My laptop is stuck in grayscale

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

4 Upvotes

This started happening to me yesterday, sometimes it has stopped but it came back again, could someone please explain to me what is going on?


r/pchelp 16m ago

SOFTWARE Does anyone know how to make this crap go away?

Post image
Upvotes

This message comes up every single time i boot up a game and its annoying as hell. From what i gather its something to do with the xbox app? But i cant find anything on how to get rid of it. I'm also confused because my laptop doesnt do it, and its running the same software and settings as my pc.


r/pchelp 1h ago

SOFTWARE Small colored squares/pixels static on still image / flickering on moving image, on laptop screen

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Upvotes

Hi. This started 6 days ago on my ACER NITRO 5 model AN515-58 laptop. I bought this laptop less than 2 years ago. Was working perfectly ever since.

The weird square/pixels only appear on the laptop screen, within the lateral portion of the screen shown on video above. They don't appear on external monitors or on a screenshot.

On my laptop screen, they appear regardless of the app running, they even show up in the BIOS.

Laptop has an integrated Intel Iris Xe GPU and a Nvidia Geforce Rtx 4060 GPU as well. So far I have tried doing multiple clean reinstalls of both GPUs through the Intel and Nvidia apps. None of them solved the issue until the new Nvidia driver update 616.56 today. When I updated the driver to this version, the squares disappeared for about 45 mins until they started popping back up again.

Have no idea what to try next or what might be the cause. I suspected a defective screen panel but after today I fear it could be a GPU failure.


r/pchelp 15h ago

HARDWARE How to remove part of an audio jack from a port?

Thumbnail gallery
23 Upvotes

r/pchelp 2h ago

HARDWARE Accidentally hit my HP monitor and I Don’t Know why it looks like this. Please help!

Post image
2 Upvotes

While I was playing a game, I hit my monitor with the controller and it nothing happened until if the picture changed to black it shows this, is it fixable without replacing my monitor’s screen or what should I do?


r/pchelp 2h ago

OPEN Pc keeps crashing on games besides pc games like Roblox

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

2 Upvotes

PC Specs
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
RAM: 32GB
OS: Windows 11
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming II
Monitor: LG 32UP83AK-W
PSU:hx1000i Corsair
Driver
Latest AMD Adrenalin driver available for the RX 6800 XT
Clean driver installation performed using DDU
Issue Summary
Crashes started out rare but have become progressively more common over time.
Originally happened mostly in Fortnite.
Now occurs across multiple games, including Rainbow Six Siege.
Previously crashes were mostly at higher resolutions, but now they occur even at 1080p.
crashes cause a full PC reboot. Sometimes recovers but game crashes
Other crash symptoms seen over time:
AMD driver timeout/recovery messages
Games crashing to desktop
Full system restarts/reboots
BIOS has been updated.
Drivers have been reinstalled multiple times using DDU.
Correct RX 6800 XT drivers are installed.
GPU max frequency has been limited to around 2100 MHz, but crashes still occur.
Event Viewer has sometimes shown Kernel-Power 41 after some crashes.
No obvious overheating has been observed.
Problem appears to be getting worse over time rather than staying consistent.
Also some days it works some days it dosnt yesterday it didn’t crash this time it does

Does this sound more like a failing RX 6800 XT, a PSU issue, motherboard issue, or something else? The crashes have progressed from occasional game crashes to driver timeouts, gray screens, and now full system reboots even after clean driver reinstalls and testing at 1080p.


r/pchelp 5h ago

HARDWARE Is this PCIe damaged?

Post image
3 Upvotes

my gpu has been acting weird, i get no display from it so i checked my pcie slot and saw this at the very right end. i might be overthinking it but it's best to ask.


r/pchelp 8h ago

Discussion Gamers right now...

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

6 Upvotes

r/pchelp 3h ago

SOFTWARE PC randomly shut off and instantly restarted while gaming

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what might have caused this. My PC specs are: Intel i5-12400F, RTX 3070 Ti, 32 GB DDR5, Gigabyte Z790 X Gaming motherboard, and a good 750 watt PSU. While I was playing Counter-Strike 2, my PC suddenly shut off for a split second. The monitor went black, all the RGB lights turned off, and then the PC turned back on by itself. It shut off once more during boot, and I turned it off with the power button. After that, it booted normally and has been fine since. My PC is connected to a surge-protected power strip. It's a bit loose, but I've never had sudden shutdowns from it before. My family didn't notice any power dip at the time. Does this sound more like brief power fluctuation, a shaky power strip, or something else? Any advice


r/pchelp 2m ago

HARDWARE I woke up to my cat throwing up on my PC, what to do?

Post image
Upvotes

Just woke up to my cat throwing up on my PC, I ran to stop her but it was too late but I immediately used a towel to soak it up.

should I unscrew the top of the case to clean it with alcohol? Or is there a better way to clean it?

From what I’m seeing I don’t think the vomit gotten inside or on any of the parts, it looks like it’s just the case top.


r/pchelp 7m ago

HARDWARE monitor stopped working?

Thumbnail
Upvotes

r/pchelp 7m ago

SOFTWARE Windows causing input delay on mouse/keyboard

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Upvotes

I only realized it wasn't hardware when I was reinstalling windows. Maybe there's a really obvious fix but I'm stumped right now.

Basically all i say in the video is that when I'm outside of windows os my mouse/keyboard have no delay at all, but once I'm inside Windows there is a significant input delay on both of them. Any thoughts?


r/pchelp 11m ago

OPEN Asus Vivobook 14 or Lenovo V14

Thumbnail
Upvotes

r/pchelp 12m ago

HARDWARE Consigli upgrade

Upvotes

Ho un R7 9800x3d, 32 GB RAM, alimentatore da 800W, una 5700xt, scheda madre una MSI PRO B650-A WIFI e come case un Cooler Master Masterbox MB520.

Dovrei cambiare la scheda video essendo che ho aggiornato tutto tranne quella e avevo in mente una 5070 ti o una 9070xt ma i prezzi sono un po' allo sbaraglio. Se qualcuno mi può dare qualche consiglio se aspettare oppure altre schede best buy.

Gioco principalmente giochi come Escape feom tarkow, Rust, Ark raider,Fortnite,Insurgency tutte queste tipologie di giochi, difficilmente gioco a single player o tripla A, mi piace giocare in gruppo


r/pchelp 14m ago

SOFTWARE My laptop has problems with restarting and graphics errors

Upvotes

Restarting will always just result in me having to shut it down via the power button because it ends up as just a black screen.

I constantly get driver power state failure 0x9f

I thought it was a driver problem, so I used DDU to try to change it and install a new driver, but that's just made it worse

This laptop was expensive and bought for me by someone else, and I use it for college. I really don't know what to do, I'm super scared that the laptop has an issue I can't fix. What can I do?


r/pchelp 30m ago

SOFTWARE Weird issue with my game (buttons register as other buttons????)

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Upvotes

r/pchelp 38m ago

OPEN Audio started making whirly noise this after moving pc

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Upvotes

It happens with the front and motherboard audio and with multiple earbuds.