General Computing Randomness

[Daehawk]

Well got it all together..triple checked it all..and nothing works. One fan spins. The case came with a 3 bank of fans in front and one in back. I have checked all connectors all power cables and made sure the standoffs are all good.

I hit power and the power switch led glows white a sec, 1 of the 3 fans in front spins a while then stops and the other two only twitch at power up...the mobo or back fan never spins or lights up..no beeps...psu fan does not spin but its not supposed to unless it gets hot.

Friend is supposed to come pick it up in an hour..but nothing I do seems to make it work and post

EDIT: I see one yellow light on the mobo come on but go right back off same as fans.

EDIT2: LED lighting up yellow is CPU light...so checkinjg for cpu plug power now.

[Daehawk]

Ok edit 3.....took the cpu cooler off and the cpu out...cleaned both...rechecked it all...I had it in right the first time. Put it back together and it gives cpu light then it goes off and it lights up the DRAM light now and it stays on...but all 3 front fans are now spinning and staying on..good sign. The back fan isn't spinning but I think I forgot to hook it up..gonna check when I check the ram.

He got 4 stix of ram so all slots are filled. I guess my only resouce now is to remove them and but one and also make sure that back fan is pugged in then try booting and seeeing what haps.

Oh and the power led ligth stays on..so all good there it seems.

[Smoove_B]

It's hard to tell from what you're sharing, but I had a PC build quite a few years ago that wouldn't POST until a video card was installed and connected. It went against what you'd expect but I remember being frustrated for quite a bit until we figured that out. I think we eventually learned there was a MB jumper we could have enabled to have it skip video card detection (and I guess use onboard by default) but for whatever reason it came with that disabled.

[Daehawk]

Well he doesn't have a video card. He plans to use onboard video.

I talked to him and he said online and someone he spoke too says it means it wont post without a bio update...and I dont have a thumb drive at all to do it with. Im going to go ahead and hook my monitor up to see if its showing anything then pulling the ram but one and seeing what it does anyways..he is still at work so I got time.

He may have to take it as is and do it himself..he has the OS too not me and was going to have to do that anyways.

BTW his board is a Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX...I put a Intel 12700 cpu in it.

[Daehawk]

Ok I took ALL 4 stix of ram out..it blinks from cpu to ram error lights...put 1 stick in in right slot...ram error....tried multiple sticks in ram slot 1 ram error...2 sticks..ram error..all sticks ram error.

I have my monitor hooked up...it light up the power light like it will show something then just says no signal.

So my guess and his at this point is it need a bios up and or video card or drivers... but HOW he can update the bios with it not havign a monitor signal to look at I dont know.

EDIT ; Hios ram modules are CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 6800MHz CL40 Intel XMP iCUE

The mobo supports 8000mhz and beyond.

OH and ALL fans work now..I had fogtten to hook the back one up

[Daehawk]

Ok point im stuck at after trying stuff..which Ill post too..


Plug it all in hit power button.
PWr button lights up stays on
ALL fan in case spin and stay spinninh..that means all case fans front and back and both cpu heatsink fans.

ERROR lights:
Cpu lights up but goes off and...
it switches to the RAM light staying on..amber color.
EVERY 10 seconds it turns back to the CPU light then righth back to a solid ram light
Then the entire system shuts down about every 5 min or so and comes back on to try it again. After 3 or so tries I turn the power off by holding down the power button on the case.

I GET NO VIDEO SIGNAL AT ALL on the monitor
I GET NO ERROR BEEPS...no beeps at all

I have reseeated both the CPU and the ram. It would not go past CPU the first few tries until I reseated the CPU. It was correctly installed the first time..so shrug.

I have taken all ram out and tried booting. Same light. Put in in the right slot..same light. Tried all 4 ram sticks one at a time in that slot ..same light. Tried 2 sticks only..same light....all four...same light.


Between here and threads on Toms Hardware with the same light issues I have seen different infos posted.

These are some of the things suggested as the cause or fix..

1. Needs bios update - almost all suggest this.
2. Needs a video card installed...friend will bring his by tonight or tomorrow
3. Needs to have an OS installed first or those / that light will stay on forever
4. Need to clear CMOS - one guy said it fixed the same problem. Ive cleared it by button a couple times...no change.

So tonight or tomorrow my friend is bringing both a video card by and a thumb drive with bios update and OS. Trouble is not having ANY video signal at all I dont know how we are going to do that. We are hoping the video card will bypass onboard if thats the problem and let us see SOMETHING.

He is also worried it needs the bios update for the CPU he bought and I installed..the 12700 no K or F or anything just 12700. It may also need onboard video drivers.

Other than this...and us BOTH being well knowledgeable on PCs will leave us stumped and needing a shop to finish it...if there are any shops left.

[Blackhawk]

Have you tried double-checking all of the mobo connections while referencing the manual?

[Daehawk]

Checked it all multiple times. He just ordered a new mobo. Ill take this oen back apart tomorrow and he can send it back....ordered an ASUS one.

[Daehawk]

Ok new mobo same error...memory. I said F it and started digging deeper into the cause. In the end I got it working. Itook all ram out and tried one stick in slot after slot until it worked. 3rd from cpu. I then tried each stick IN that same slot..all worked. So ram stix are all good. I then tried one stick in the 4th slot..all good. But if I put either ram stick in either of the tw oslots nearest the cpu or both in those it wont boot. So it will only work with the 2 outer slots filled with ram.

We have decided that can be solved wit ha bio update. The bios is April 2024. SO he will take it home to see. And also call them for help if not. So looks like Im done.

[stessier]

Ok new mobo same error...memory. I said F it and started digging deeper into the cause. In the end I got it working. Itook all ram out and tried one stick in slot after slot until it worked. 3rd from cpu. I then tried each stick IN that same slot..all worked. So ram stix are all good. I then tried one stick in the 4th slot..all good. But if I put either ram stick in either of the tw oslots nearest the cpu or both in those it wont boot. So it will only work with the 2 outer slots filled with ram.

We have decided that can be solved wit ha bio update. The bios is April 2024. SO he will take it home to see. And also call them for help if not. So looks like Im done.

Looking at the manual, if you are using 2 sticks, it should be in slots 1 & 3 or 2 & 4.

Edit: Looks like this is a known problem with this board. No indication that it was ever fixed, so might just be a board defect.

[Daehawk]

2 & 4 definitely do not boot.. He spoke t oASUS. They recommended 3 things.

1. Check the two bad slots to see if anything is in them or for bent metal. 2 looks fine but slot one I can see 2 bright flecks on metal on one side of it..I cant tell if they should be there or not.

2. Clear CMOS. Will try this later today.

3. Update bios. I have never ever done this but my friend says it is easy and he left a thumb drive for me. So tomorrow I will download the latest bios and try to flash it and see what happens.

Barring that he can return it again or take it to a shop..if there IS one around here. The bios is from April this year. And it is showing the correct info for the cpu running at 4.7ghz and the memory being 6800 mem.

[Blackhawk]

3. Update bios. I have never ever done this but my friend says it is easy and he left a thumb drive for me. So tomorrow I will download the latest bios and try to flash it and see what happens.

If you do, be very patient. Don't be tempted to force a restart or turn it off midway if you think it might be stalled.

[hitbyambulance]

Looking at the manual, if you are using 2 sticks, it should be in slots 1 & 3 or 2 & 4.

also, this is pretty common for modern motherboards, where RAM singletons or pairs do not go in the slots you would logically expect. ofc this is all explained in the manual...

[Daehawk]

ram 1234....all sticks work in 3 and 4...if I use any in 1 or 2 or both it wont boot. I have now cleared CMOS to no avail. Tomorrow I will flash the bios.

[Anonymous Bosch]

ram 1234....all sticks work in 3 and 4...if I use any in 1 or 2 or both it wont boot. I have now cleared CMOS to no avail. Tomorrow I will flash the bios.

Keep in mind, memory slot issues can sometimes be attributed to problems with the processor. This is especially true if CPU pins are bent or if there is improper contact between the CPU and its socket. To address this, I'd suggest removing the CPU fan and carefully taking the processor out of its socket, making sure to do so in a clean and dust-free area. If memory serves you reside with a dog, so I'd suggest carefully cleaning both the CPU and the socket, since dust, debris, and pet hair can potentially also disrupt proper connections.

Carefully inspect the CPU and socket closely for any bent pins, and gently straighten them if necessary, as shown here:

[Daehawk]

Ok tried a bios update and a couple other ideas...nada. Gonna send it back and try for motherboard number 3.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Ok tried a bios update and a couple other ideas...nada. Gonna send it back and try for motherboard number 3.

Did you clean and inspect the CPU closely for damage/bent pins? Because it seems improbable that two brand new motherboards from entirely different manufacturers would both be defective, necessitating the purchase of a third. In the meantime, it may be beneficial to enter each component of the build into the PCPartPicker.com builder. This can help you and your friend check for any issues or incompatibilities that may have been overlooked.

[Daehawk]

its an Intel CPU no pins on it. And he is using the part picker site to check for compatibility.

[stessier]

its an Intel CPU no pins on it.

The CPU doesn't, but the motherboard does.

[Daehawk]

I think im going to have to buy a new hard drive next month. Ive had both Once Human and Fortnight crash on me multiple times.

I ran my Samsung app that is for the drives I have..they are Samsung ssds. It shows my C drive fine but my gaming drive where all my games are is not showing a name..Like it should say Samsung whatever..its just like CT500 blah blah. I can run a performance test on it but I cant get any other info from at all.

I think Donna got it for me around 2016 so its 8 years old...thats a long time for a SSD.....and those were sorta the early years for them. So Im looking at getting this..

Adapter


SABRENT 2TB Rocket Q4 NVMe

[Daehawk]

Dammit Fortnite crashed on me again mid game.

[Daehawk]

Well dont think I have to get a new drive after all. Its not a Samsung drive is why it doesn't show it as a Samsung drive lol. I remembered that that drive DID fail and I replaced it with a NvME drive and adapter PCIe card. lolz.

So I have a good drive in there...a Crucial...though small at 500g....may still replace it as a temp patch sometime.

I just cleaned it up..got rid of trash files and bad registry ones. No crashes since. So hope I got it fixed.

[Kasey Chang]

I thought I found a bargain SSD... 2TB for $50, then I realized it's a refurb.

[Daehawk]

I thought I found a bargain SSD... 2TB for $50, then I realized it's a refurb.

Hard to tell when it says both 'new' & 'refurb'

[jztemple2]

Say this today, thought it was funny:

[coopasonic]

Say this today, thought it was funny:

...
I...
just...

[Isgrimnur]

[Kasey Chang]

Finally got a little bit of spare $$$ and bought myself another 16GB RAM and 1 TB SSD (SATA, don't have M.2 slots, don't want to spend $$$ for a PCI-X card and adapter). Now the trick is find time to install them. And that means this weekend... I think.

[Kasey Chang]

Just put in my extra 16GB so now I have 32GB. Yeah. Took me an HOUR of fiddling, mainly because I did it on the floor without flipping the case over. I don't remember being THIS hard to push in some DIMMs...

Will try to put in SATA SSD tomorrow, and this is when I discovered I *do* in fact have a M.2 PCI-E Gen3 slot on the mainboard... Maybe I should return this SSD (for $48) and look for a PCI-E Gen 3 M.2 drive? Hmmm...

[Rumpy]

I feel like 32GB is so worth having these days. Makes a whole lot of difference. And this coming from someone who was maxed out at 8GB for close to a decade.

[Daehawk]

Just put in my extra 16GB so now I have 32GB. Yeah. Took me an HOUR of fiddling, mainly because I did it on the floor without flipping the case over. I don't remember being THIS hard to push in some DIMMs...

Will try to put in SATA SSD tomorrow, and this is when I discovered I *do* in fact have a M.2 PCI-E Gen3 slot on the mainboard... Maybe I should return this SSD (for $48) and look for a PCI-E Gen 3 M.2 drive? Hmmm...

I had to get an adapter as mine is 14 years old now. I think it cost like $8 or so.

[Max Peck]

I finally crossed off a long-standing item on my PC to-do list and replaced the legacy HDDs (1x2TB and 1x4TB) with a pair of 8TB SSDs that I bought a while back when they were on sale. The only moving parts left are the fans (and the Blu-Ray drive, I guess, but that hasn't moved in years).

[GreenGoo]

8TB?!

What was the model?

I've been sitting on 250GB OS drive and 500 GB game drive, with another 3TB HDD for bulk game storage.

I need to pay more attention. Plus I need a new SSD for the PS5.

edit: Omg, lol. My 2 SSD's are 2.5" formfactor, but the funny part is the 540 MB/s seq read.

edit2: first pass, this looks good enough. Probably don't need Gen 4.
Crucial P3 2TB PCIe Gen3 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD

Motherboard is a z170-a with 1 M2 slot.
1x M-Key 22110, 2242, 2260, 2280, PCI-E 3.0 x4, SATA3

[Max Peck]

The new storage drives are 8TB Samsung 870 QVO. They're SATA drives, so nowhere near as fast as an NVMe, but I want them for mass storage and reliability more than speed.

In total, I've got:

• 1x256GB Samsung 850 Pro SATA (system boot drive)
• 2x2TB Samsung 970 EVO NVMe
• 2x8TB Samsung 870 QVO SATA

One lesson learned from this update is that the Samsung Magician SSD management tool needed to be run once from my admin account before it was able to authenticate the new drives and fully access all its functionality. Having done that once, however, it works properly when run from my user account (although it still needs admin privileges). Simply running from the user account with admin privileges wasn't working originally, since it seemingly wasn't able to connect to the Samsung servers in order to authenticate the drives.

[GreenGoo]

Very cool. My current SSDs are Samsung 850 EVO's.

My 500GB and 3TB drives are often in danger of filling up, requiring some purging, which is not a bad thing I guess. Adding 2 TB more should be all I need until I get a new system.

Everything is just a little more expensive than I would prefer to pay. At $100 2TB is a no-brainer. At $160 it's still cheap, but more than my impulse buy price point.

I can't imagine what those 8TB drives cost. Even SATA. They are no longer being made now, fyi.

[Max Peck]

While I was digging around in the PC case, I realized that I still have an empty M.2 connector on the motherboard. I'm not sure why I left it empty and used a PCIe adaptor to mount my second NVMe SSD, but since it's there I decided to pick up a 1TB Samsung 990 EVO and clone the boot drive (256GB 850 Pro) to it. The 850 Pro is still nowhere near the TBW yet, but 256GB is a lot more cramped now than it was back when I first bought the SSD, lo these many hardware upgrades past. I ordered the 990 EVO this morning, so I should be able to install it on the weekend.

Hopefully this is going to be my last incremental hardware refresh until I get around to a full upgrade of the motherboard/CPU/GPU/PSU, sometime later this year if all goes to plan.

The 8TB 870 QVO is about $900 on Amazon and NewEgg at the moment. When I originally bought the first one it cost $600, and the plan was to use a single SSD to replace both of the HDDs (going from total storage of 6TB to 8TB). A month later they went on sale, so I bought a second one for $500.

Then inertia and procrastination kicked in and it took me over a year to get around to actually copying the data from the HDDs to the SSDs using an external enclosure and finally installing them.

[GreenGoo]

I am familiar with procrastination.

I know that my M2 slot uses up reduces the number of (I think just one, but it's possibly more) SATA connections available. So it might be possible to use enough M2 drives that the number of SATA drive connection shrinks so in the end the total number of drives is not the expected #SATA + #M2. I didn't read why this is or if it's only true for my older motherboard. I just came across it while making sure I bought a compatible NVMe drive and not pay for features/abilities my mainboard was too old to handle.

Given what a modern board can handle, I seriously doubt you are going to have too many drives for the number of data connections, but something to keep in mind, maybe. I did use up all my SATA/IDE connections many years ago with every spare drive I had lying around.

I thought the Samsung website said the 8TB EVO QVO drives were discontinued, but it looks like I made a mistake.

[Max Peck]

Yeah, the Samsung website does say that the QVO product line has been discontinued, and the only current option for internal SATA SSDs seems to be the 870 EVO with a max capacity of 4TB. The QVO drives are still available for purchase, but that just means that the retail channel hasn't emptied out yet.

[Max Peck]

I installed the new 990 EVO SSD this morning, migrated the boot drive over to it and updated the BIOS to boot from it, all with no apparent hitches (so far).

Old 256GB 850 Pro SATA SSD benchmark:


New 1TB 990 EVO NVMe SSD benchmark:

[Daehawk]

Nice jump. Does it feel faster?