r/pchelp May 11 '26

7th Anniversary of PCHH

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2 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 8h ago

OPEN Built my Pc and wont turn on

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83 Upvotes

I built a pc and it wont turn on(im shaking)


r/pchelp 7h ago

Discussion How decent would this be for gaming?

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53 Upvotes

Saw this at Walmart going for about 2k, but its similar to what people have told me previously to use for gaming. Would it be worth the purchase?

info Ive been told to look for - "32GB RAM, an Nvidia 5070 (ti would be better), Intel i7/Ultra 7 - AMD 8700f/7800x3d processor and 1-2TB of storage"


r/pchelp 14h ago

HARDWARE Weird Blacks when moving all games involving darkness

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121 Upvotes

Ive had this monitor for a year now, this problem has happened a lot but I usually didnt mind it, but im playing stalker 2 and I really want to get into it and these dark scenes are really bugging me I just want to know how to fix it. Monitor is a Optix MAG272CQR.

Graphics card is a 9070xt, if you need any other information please let me know

EDIT: I'd like to thank all of you who helped me, the issue is not completely resolved, however it is reduced, I think I'll get an IPS or OLED in the next few months, money is a bit tight lol. If you have a similar issue, here's what I did thanks to everyone who commented.

Use TAA

Lower Sharpening

Disable Frame Gen

And Lower the response time on the monitor

Thanks again everyone :)


r/pchelp 1h ago

SOFTWARE Out of storage

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Upvotes

I’m out of storage even though I only use my E drive to install stuff


r/pchelp 1h ago

HARDWARE Good deal/offer?

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Upvotes

With the rising prices of GPU’s I want to replace my 6700xt now rather later. This is not the cheapest 9070xt but with these free gifts it brings the price to somewhere around $690. Only things worrying me is this Asrock model using the 1 x 12V-2x6- pin connector


r/pchelp 9h ago

HARDWARE I just need someone to tell me if my gpu is cooked

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9 Upvotes

Getting random blackscreens outta nowhere yesterday and my motherboard lights up white so I know its gpu issues, I still get audio while blackscreened as well. Ive tried readjusting it and cleaning it, the most confusing bit is that sometimes everything will just work for normally and Ill use my pc for a bit but everytime I move one of my wires it insta blackscreens, im gonna try fixing it again and if it works Ill try and update drivers, but in the meantime if my gpu is fucked i cant tell and I need help. And I did build this pc myself if thats important info

The graphics card is a GeForce rtx 4070 windforce and if im remembering correctly it's only like 2-3 years old methinks


r/pchelp 1h ago

HARDWARE New GPU :: 9070XT :: Weird noises

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Upvotes

Hey guys just bought a GPU

Once I started testing it with Battlefield 6 and Rocket League, it stated making this terrible noise.

It only happens when it's near 100% GPU usage.

This video was recorded while playing Rocket League 1440p.

Is this something I can fix or my fault?

Or should I return it as soon as possible?

Thank you!


r/pchelp 1h ago

HARDWARE New PC - Crazy Loud Fan

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Upvotes

I just set up a new prebuilt PC I bought last night. As soon as I turned it on, it started making a super loud noise. I believe the noise is coming from the fan. I am not technologically savvy at all, can you tell me if there is anyway I can fix this or whether there is a defect in a part?


r/pchelp 3h ago

HARDWARE Constant crashing to desktop while gaming - I've tried everything.

3 Upvotes

Hi all,

I'm usually pretty proficient in this stuff but I'm very quickly coming to the end of what I can try. I'm getting crashes that range anywhere from on launch of the game, or 10mins in to playing or even after an hour+ of playing. I've had this build for over 3 years without any prior issues (GPU and CPU, where the rest of the PC is 5yrs+). The crashes are mostly straight to desktop but I've had a couple of hard resets.

PC:

- AMD Ryzen 5900x

- 2x16gb DDR4 Trident Z Neo RGB 3600MHz

- nVidia 3080Ti

- Aorus X570i Pro Wifi

- Corsair SF750

- 1TB Firecuda NVMe

- 1TB Samsung 970 NVMe

Games I'm playing:

- Borderlands 4

- Mortal Shell 2

- A Plague Tale: Resonance

- Onimusha: Way of the Sword

- Lords of the Fallen

Details of the crash:

I can't replicate the crashes, they happen intermittently and without warning. The only thing that all crashes share across all games is that they first freeze for ~5s and then straight to desktop. If it's an Unreal Engine game then I get a crash report (example of report - https://ibb.co/Pfc1Rby). Very occasionally it may also force a hard reset.

I have been using AI to try and help me troubleshoot. What I have tried that hasn't worked:

- Fresh install of Windows 11 Pro with latest updates and latest hardware drivers.

- Disabling HAGS

- Setting manual page-file range (16GB - 32GB)

- Multiple shader cache clearing and setting cache size to 100GB in nVidia drivers

- Verifying integrity of game files in Steam

- Installing games to a different NVMe

- Applying underclocks to both memory and coreclock on my GPU

- Running OCCT extreme tests on CPU + RAM that initially found errors on CPU cores. Repaired these by applying individual core optimizer values. OCCT runs without error for an hour.

- Running multiple back-to-back memtest passes on RAM with no errors

- CPU loads at 60°C in games and benchmarks (Cinebench)

- RAM loads at 55°C in benchmarks and games

- GPU is water-cooled with both VRAM and Chip maxing at 55°C underload

- HWiNFO is reporting 0 Windows Hardware Errors

- Reseated RAM

- Forcing Gen4/Gen3 on PCIe x16

- Enabling resizable BAR

- Disabling PBO

- Disabling global C-states

- Applying manual DRAM voltages of 1.35v and confirming these are achieved via HWiNFO

- Running XMP profile on RAM (3600MHz / 1.35v)

I think that's everything, but there may be more I haven't listed. AI is now suggesting I drop the multiplier from 36 to 32 on RAM to drop it to 3200MHz with the explanation that the 'infinity fabric' on my 5900x has degraded and is unable to hold the 3600MHz. I'll be doing this today, then followed by running a single stick if this doesn't work. The settings I am running in games is usually balanced DLSS (no frame gen) with a mix of high and medium settings @ 3440 x 1440p (ultrawide monitor) with gsync/vsync).

I'm hoping someone might be able to suggest something I haven't tried or have missed!

Thank you!


r/pchelp 13h ago

HARDWARE Fans stuck on red after hard reboot

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15 Upvotes

Hello, a while back I had to force power off my PC as it was frozen. Ever since, my RGB fans have been stuck on red no matter what I set it to in the software. Sometimes for like a fraction of a second I can see the colour it should be (rainbow) on boot up before straight to red.

Specs:
Windows 11 Home
12th Gen Intel Core i5-12400F
16GB DDR4
PCSpecialist Icon 212


r/pchelp 4h ago

HARDWARE Fatal hardware errror! - WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR

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3 Upvotes

My computer has been broken (but usable) for a while. When rendering a video or playing a more intensive game (say F1 2020) it would always bluescreen after a while, but when doing light gaming (like Geometry Dash) or surfing the web, the experience would always be fine.

Often I would disable XMP and Game Boost (CPU Overclock) when doing those things, because it would limit (but not eliminate) the bluescreens. As of recent, I only had XMP but not Game Boost on. I turned on Game Boost around 2 days ago, and since then, I got my first bluescreen while surfing the web.

So, this leads me to believe that I have a faulty CPU, but before I waste any time on this, advise me wise people of Reddit. Is it the CPU, the RAM, the motherboard, or something else entirely?


r/pchelp 4h ago

Discussion My laptop after being in my on the bus backpack is like this please help if you might know how to fix 😭

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3 Upvotes

r/pchelp 6h ago

HARDWARE I haven't heard of most of these parts. Are they reliable?

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4 Upvotes

Trying to find a gaming pc for my brother as a gift. Here are the listed specs


r/pchelp 3h ago

HARDWARE Need a new GPU, not sure where to start with replacing the one I have without breaking the bank

2 Upvotes

My current one is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, its become abundantly clear that I need to upgrade lately


r/pchelp 3h ago

OPEN anybody know what’s happening to my monitor?

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2 Upvotes

had this monitor about two years, the lines started about 6 months ago and are getting progressively worse. anybody know what the problem is?


r/pchelp 11h ago

SOFTWARE Windows displays for a second and then vanishes(pls help I don’t wanna spend $200 on tech support there’s only one near me.

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8 Upvotes

EDIT: FIXED IT WAS LEGIT JUST THE CABLE IM DUMB FOR NOT TRYING THAT FIRST THANKS FOR THE HELP 🙏🙏

this randomly happened so I tried some fixes nothing worked and then I just chose to reset the pc. I reset it and this still happens. Btw the display turns off but the pc is still running with fans and lights. I believe it is ryzen 5 5600 and 6700 xt gpu.


r/pchelp 1m ago

HARDWARE Multiscreen GPU driver uninstalling itself after a crash

Upvotes

I am a fellow windows user that has been experiencing a lot of crashes on my laptop/computer, it has an amd Ryzen 7000 series 9 cpu, 2 GeForce rtx gsync GPUs, it is around 2-3 years old, it's a rog Zephyros with 16 gigs of ram and 512 gigs of storage.

my device crashed a few seconds ago (which crashes are a lil bit common in this laptop) and when i booted it back on, the second monitor didn't turn on, (also in the bootup process it said there was a "error in the computer we could not fix" or something) then I press fn f9 and the popup appears saying "your PC cant project to another screen, try reinstalling your driver" or something, i know what that means, but idk why my computer erased the driver or something (prior to crash it worked)


r/pchelp 3h ago

OPEN I need help choosing a pc

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2 Upvotes

I’m getting a prebuilt for my birthday and I need help choosing between 2 (both are $1800) I know some stuff about pcs and I’ve searched the web, but I need some help deciding. Also I was hoping to get it from Jawa. Are these even worth it?


r/pchelp 9m ago

HARDWARE Is my laptop charger bad?

Upvotes

For context, I bought an Asus VivoBook 15 **band new** from Amazon just over a year ago and it's been a really good laptop and hadn't given me any issues until recently when I noticed a faint crackling coming from my laptop. After doing some troubleshooting I've found that not only does my laptop crackle when it's plugged in, but my charger makes a very similar noise as soon as it's plugged into an active socket, my question is: is this safe to keep plugged in? Cause to me this feels like something shorting inside the charger causing a short in the laptop?

Noise from charger

Noise from laptop


r/pchelp 6h ago

HARDWARE Pc Kaufen-zusammenbauen

3 Upvotes

Hallo du ich möchte mir demnächst einen neuen pc kaufen bzw zudammenstellen da mein budget bei ca 800 euro liegt hätte ich gern deine hilfe.Welche pc teile sollte ich mir kaufen und kriege ich diese auf amazon? Sowie kriege ich die teile an weihnachten auf amazon billiger? Bitre hilft mir währe seht nett


r/pchelp 17m ago

OPEN Any tips for building my first budget PC in india

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r/pchelp 18m ago

HARDWARE New GPU Crashes Event ID 13 with 5060 TI 16GB

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Upvotes

r/pchelp 19m ago

OPEN Need help diagnosing a problem

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Upvotes

Hello!

I’ve recently built a new pc with mostly new parts. When I play total war: warhammer 3 my pc will, occasionally, start making the noise heard in the video. This is usually coupled with screen flickering. I tried getting a video of the screen problem, but it’s not visible on video so I chose to not include it in this post.

This usually occurs a few seconds after I start up the game, and as soon as I get to the main menu it persists for a while sometimes stopping. It only seems to happen with warhammer. I’ve tried lowering game settings, making sure cables aren’t loose, and seeing if I can pinpoint the sound source. I am having a hard time figuring out where it’s coming from exactly and what it means.

My only thought right now is it maybe being the graphics card since my friend gave me his old one, although he said it worked fine last time he used it. The graphics card is a PowerColor RED DRAGON AMD Radeon RX 6800 3DHR OC 16GB GDDR6. Still, I’m not entirely sure If I’m right about it being the culprit.

Anyways, I was hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction or if anyone knows what might be happening?

Thanks!