PC wont post or boot

stuartharrison · 28 Nov 2024 at 13:10

My pc froze when I left it on.
I restarted and it booted into the frozen screen again.
I restarted and it won't boot, it's continuously restarting - It won't boot or post. Can't even get into the bios.
Fans will run for a while and the leds light on my keyboard but it keeps switching off and then trying to boot again.
Tried swapping the graphics card with a working one. No dice.
Tested the psu by shorting the pins and using a voltmeter - all ok though the 12v is 12.3
Tested cpu cable pins and 8 pin graphics connectors - all working.
I have quad channel ram - tested by removing the outer two sticks, no dice, and swapping the inner ones with them - still not working (quad channel will work on two sticks).

What's it likely to be?
CPU?
NVME drive?

Suggestions for black friday replacements welcome

therealdippy · 28 Nov 2024 at 13:39

What motherboard does it have? Are there any status LEDs?

Tetras · 28 Nov 2024 at 13:40

stuartharrison said:
What's it likely to be?
CPU?
NVME drive?

CPUs being dead in service is quite rare, so normally I'd put that down the list.

Dead SSDs usually just disappear from the BIOS rather than stopping the PC from posting, though it is not unheard of.

I'd remove everything possible from the PC, including USB devices, maybe take it out of the case too.

stuartharrison · 28 Nov 2024 at 13:46

therealdippy said:
What motherboard does it have? Are there any status LEDs?

It's an x99 system - gigabyte GA-99 gaming sp
Yes, there are status LEDS - tested PSU all pins seem fine

stuartharrison · 28 Nov 2024 at 13:47

Tetras said:
CPUs being dead in service is quite rare, so normally I'd put that down the list.

Dead SSDs usually just disappear from the BIOS rather than stopping the PC from posting, though it is not unheard of.

I'd remove everything possible from the PC, including USB devices, maybe take it out of the case too.

I tried removing everything - just leaving monitor - didn't work

Tetras · 28 Nov 2024 at 13:59

stuartharrison said:
I tried removing everything - just leaving monitor - didn't work

D'oh.

Since you suspect the NVME that's usually simple enough to test, if you have an old SATA drive or whatever that you could try to boot with.

Personally, I suspect the PSU or the motherboard with the behaviour you describe.

stuartharrison · 28 Nov 2024 at 15:08

Tetras said:
D'oh.

Since you suspect the NVME that's usually simple enough to test, if you have an old SATA drive or whatever that you could try to boot with.

Personally, I suspect the PSU or the motherboard with the behaviour you describe.

Well, I tested the PSU and it was ok, so it might be the motherboard.
Any suggestions for a new bare bones system, CPU, motherboard, ram and m2 drive? Cheers

Tetras · 28 Nov 2024 at 15:18

stuartharrison said:
Well, I tested the PSU and it was ok, so it might be the motherboard.
Any suggestions for a new bare bones system, CPU, motherboard, ram and m2 drive? Cheers

What are you upgrading from?

What is your budget?

If this system is old, you might be able to pick something up to test it?

stuartharrison · 28 Nov 2024 at 15:31

I'm upgrading from an x99 system, which is getting pretty old.
I'm out of the loop now with what's good.
I do gaming and productivity.
Is there anything worth nabbing in black Friday?
Budget is negotiable.
Try £500, £700 and £900 ish and what each gains

Tetras · 28 Nov 2024 at 15:40

stuartharrison said:
I'm upgrading from an x99 system, which is getting pretty old.
I'm out of the loop now with what's good.
I do gaming and productivity.
Is there anything worth nabbing in black Friday?
Budget is negotiable.
Try £500, £700 and £900 ish and what each gains

Would need more info on the productivity usage to be more specific with the build choices.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-69X-IN) = £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z790 EAGLE AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03569) = £149.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £82.99
1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £22.99

Total: £435.96 (includes delivery: £0.00)

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9700X Eight Core 5.50GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02676) = £308.99
1 x Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £124.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5600Z40) (SKU: MY-4DL-CS) = £158.99
1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.99

Total: £630.95 (includes delivery: £7.99)

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03111) = £379.99
1 x Intel Holiday Bundle - Assassin's Creed Shadows + Ubisoft Plus (SKU: DIG-INT-03637) = £0.00
1 x Asrock Z890 Pro-A (LGA 1851) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-03365) = £179.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-51200C40 6400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (SKU: MEM-TMG-03146) = £179.99
1 x Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE Black CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03291) = £33.95

Total: £781.91 (includes delivery: £7.99)

stuartharrison · 28 Nov 2024 at 16:20

Thanks.
Productivity is mainly music recording software.
Is the AMD 9700x faster in gaming than the intel 265k?
Cheers

Tetras · 28 Nov 2024 at 16:28

stuartharrison said:
Thanks.
Productivity is mainly music recording software.
Is the AMD 9700x faster in gaming than the intel 265k?
Cheers

Yes, in TPU's review the 265K is around a 7700 non-X in gaming and a 9900X in productivity.