Long story. Please try and read. This is an interesting horror show, if anything. I don't have pics atm and really don't want to disturb my pc again now it's working.
So i've spent probably the best part of half a year trying to fault diagnose my pc. I was having a range of weird, unusual, intermitant issues. Occasional no post with the cpu or ram light on. The nvme drive in slot 2 not always being recognised at cold boot. Intermitant/slow front usb. Hard locks and crashes (no blue screen, just reboots) at various points. No post if my display wasn't turned on first. All sorts of weird issues. I had no idea what was going on. I tried everything i could think of to try and better understand the issues i was having. And then it happened. A simple m.2 screw.
You see i had taken both my nvme drives out multiple times trying to fault diagnose and i stripped one of the screws. I ended up jerry rigging it to keep both nvme drives working. I used the heatsink and thermal pad at slot 1 to hold a drive in place. But i posted on here about it and was told to get a screw asap. So that's what i did. Turned out i had a few spare in a motherboard box from another build so i went to use one of the screws to secure my nvme drive. Except my bipolar kicked and and so did anxiety and i ended up shaking like a leaf. I tried to install the m.2 screw but ended up shaking so bad i knocked it along the motherboard and down the back. Basically the screw was behind the motherboard.
I posted online and was worried about this. I had a loose screw rattling around inside my pc. I was told by panicy people "it's going to short your motherboard and blow it up. Strip your pc and get it out, now". So that's what i did. I stripped down my full pc. I removed the motherboard and found the screw ok. It was down in the psu shroud in my tower by this point. But just when i was about to put the board back in i noticed it. The usb 3 front header. One of the pins was bent. I'm not just talking lightly. It was smooshed down on the motherboard, inside the port. Worst still it was touching another pin. There was basically a short in my pc.
So i'm thinking. How the f did that happen? I remember the build. I don't remember having issues putting in the front usb 3. And fyi i built my rig over a year ago. So that must have been like that for over a year. How the f was it even still working all that time??? I set it up on a test bench and tried posting like that. It wouldn't post. The ram led was on. I tried a few times. Now it wouldn't post at all.
So my intitial reaction was to bend the pin back into place. I got a wee watch screwdriver under it and was going to bend upwards when i realised. If i do this, it's going to scratch the traces in the board. It could end up wrecking my board toatally. So i changed possition and bent the pin sideways instead. I bent it till it was sitting perfectly in the middle of 2 pins. Then i built it together again and tested. It worked.
Basically since ive solved that short in my system, everything has started to work the way it should. I rebuilt it back in my system and have ran it for 2 weeks now. All previouse symptoms have gone. The board is now running how it should have from the start.
And yes i do know that this has been my fault. I don't remember any resistance in plugging in the front usb 3 but the fact remains that a pin was bent. That's a few pins that were slightly off with this board. I can't plug my tower fans into the argb slot for the very same reasons. One of the pins is slightly off. How do you think i managed to smoosh a pin on the front usb 3 header like that? Every other pin fitted perfectly apart from that one single pin.
Just check all conectors if your motherboard is acting up is all i would say. Don't get caught in the rabbit hole i did.
So i've spent probably the best part of half a year trying to fault diagnose my pc. I was having a range of weird, unusual, intermitant issues. Occasional no post with the cpu or ram light on. The nvme drive in slot 2 not always being recognised at cold boot. Intermitant/slow front usb. Hard locks and crashes (no blue screen, just reboots) at various points. No post if my display wasn't turned on first. All sorts of weird issues. I had no idea what was going on. I tried everything i could think of to try and better understand the issues i was having. And then it happened. A simple m.2 screw.
You see i had taken both my nvme drives out multiple times trying to fault diagnose and i stripped one of the screws. I ended up jerry rigging it to keep both nvme drives working. I used the heatsink and thermal pad at slot 1 to hold a drive in place. But i posted on here about it and was told to get a screw asap. So that's what i did. Turned out i had a few spare in a motherboard box from another build so i went to use one of the screws to secure my nvme drive. Except my bipolar kicked and and so did anxiety and i ended up shaking like a leaf. I tried to install the m.2 screw but ended up shaking so bad i knocked it along the motherboard and down the back. Basically the screw was behind the motherboard.
I posted online and was worried about this. I had a loose screw rattling around inside my pc. I was told by panicy people "it's going to short your motherboard and blow it up. Strip your pc and get it out, now". So that's what i did. I stripped down my full pc. I removed the motherboard and found the screw ok. It was down in the psu shroud in my tower by this point. But just when i was about to put the board back in i noticed it. The usb 3 front header. One of the pins was bent. I'm not just talking lightly. It was smooshed down on the motherboard, inside the port. Worst still it was touching another pin. There was basically a short in my pc.
So i'm thinking. How the f did that happen? I remember the build. I don't remember having issues putting in the front usb 3. And fyi i built my rig over a year ago. So that must have been like that for over a year. How the f was it even still working all that time??? I set it up on a test bench and tried posting like that. It wouldn't post. The ram led was on. I tried a few times. Now it wouldn't post at all.
So my intitial reaction was to bend the pin back into place. I got a wee watch screwdriver under it and was going to bend upwards when i realised. If i do this, it's going to scratch the traces in the board. It could end up wrecking my board toatally. So i changed possition and bent the pin sideways instead. I bent it till it was sitting perfectly in the middle of 2 pins. Then i built it together again and tested. It worked.
Basically since ive solved that short in my system, everything has started to work the way it should. I rebuilt it back in my system and have ran it for 2 weeks now. All previouse symptoms have gone. The board is now running how it should have from the start.
And yes i do know that this has been my fault. I don't remember any resistance in plugging in the front usb 3 but the fact remains that a pin was bent. That's a few pins that were slightly off with this board. I can't plug my tower fans into the argb slot for the very same reasons. One of the pins is slightly off. How do you think i managed to smoosh a pin on the front usb 3 header like that? Every other pin fitted perfectly apart from that one single pin.
Just check all conectors if your motherboard is acting up is all i would say. Don't get caught in the rabbit hole i did.