Upgraded PC - Now it won't boot, please help!

chuff · 14 Feb 2017 at 11:17

Hi guys

I've built dozens of PC's over the years, but this one has really stumped me. Any help or advice massively appreciated

The system:
Intel i3 [email protected]
8Gb ddr3 1333mhz RAM
Gigabyte GA-H61M-S2PV
1Tb sata HDD
HD7770 GPU
500w Corsair PSU
in a crappy CiT vantage case
Windows 7

The upgrade:
New case - Corsair Carbide 200r
250Gb SSD
NVidia GTX950 2Gb
550w Corsair PSU

I chose the parts quite carefully and thought this GPU was about the most I could get away with before upgrading the mobo/cpu. The PSU upgrade was probably a waste of time, for some reason I thought it only had a 400w in it.

I dismantled the old one and rebuilt it into the new case with the new parts, seemed to go fine.

On first boot - It seemed to get stuck on the Gigabyte splash screen for a long time(usually it disappears after a second), then went into windows. I went into disk manager and found the SSD and formatted/partitioned it.

I was a bit unsure here how best to proceed, so tried to install windows to the SSD - this went through the motions and restarted, but on restart just stuck on the splash screen and then after a minute went to a black screen with a blinking cursor only.

I restarted and couldn't get into the BIOS or boot menu no matter what I tapped on the keyboard - I did this dozens of times, tapping DEL / F8 etc but same every time.

I tried unplugging each boot device and restarting each time to see if it would boot from the DVD / existing HDD / New SSD, but again - exactly the same thing: mobo splash screen for ages, and then black screen.

The inability to access the boot menu or BIOS was very frustrating - I had the idea that a PS2 keyboard might work so went out to get one - same problem.

I removed the CMOS battery for an hour, still the same.

Removed and reseated all RAM sticks

I even wondered if it could be PSU related, so removed the 500 and put the 550 in (I wanted to send it back and recover the £70 ideally)

Thats where I'm up to - This has really flipped my noodle, can anyone offer any advice of what to try next ?

Cheers

Grandmaster Fap! · 14 Feb 2017 at 14:01

You have a speaker connected to get error beeps? Seeing as the gfx and HD are major upgrades can you not get a new install going with the old gfx/hd and then swap to new just to rule out borked hardware?

chuff · 14 Feb 2017 at 14:04

Hello mate

come to think of it, I don't think there is a speaker so no beeps at all.

Foolishly I gave away the old GPU to my brother. But I do have another at home in a different machine that I could try.

SC0TTRS · 14 Feb 2017 at 14:15

Was going to say reset the CMOS to gain access to the BIOS again but you've already done that :-/

Even if you had faulty GPU / HDD / RAM you should still be able to access the BIOS!

Faulty PSU? maybe? Update: You've already tried that I can see...hmmm

What peripherals have you plugged into the board? USB stick perhaps?

PCI card(s)?

pastymuncher · 14 Feb 2017 at 14:20

It is possible that this could be a motherboard/gpu incompatibility and can be solved by flashing the motherboard to the latest bios. Take out the gpu and plug the monitor into the motherboard and run off the cpu's built in gpu and see if you can get into the bios that way. If you can then reboot and download the latest bios to a USB stick, reboot and go into the bios and use Q-Flash to flash the bios. Hopefully that will sort things out.

Why did you change psu's? The 500w will be way more than that pc will ever use.

chuff · 14 Feb 2017 at 14:36

Hello chaps,

I was getting desperate and changed the PSU just in case, somehow, there wasnt enough power. A costly mistake

No USB plugged in apart from keyboard/mouse

the only other PCI card is a wifi card

Pastymuncher - I've never messed about with BIOS like that before. Is there a way to check if the GPU is compatible with the system board ?

Cheers!

pastymuncher · 14 Feb 2017 at 14:51

No but it's a good chance that it is the problem. The board is fairly old while the gpu is fairly recent and a sure sign of a motherboard/gpu incompatibility is a black screen.

andicole0 · 14 Feb 2017 at 14:55

Do you have Windows on both SDD and HDD? It could be getting confused.
Andi.

chuff · 14 Feb 2017 at 16:01

andicole0 said:
Do you have Windows on both SDD and HDD? It could be getting confused.
Andi.

I have a working copy of windows on the original HDD, and I have at least done the first 'bit' of the installation on the SSD - When it rebooted, things went wonky.

Thing is though, I have disconnected the SSD so it should just have booted back to the original drive, but it wont do that anymore

chuff · 14 Feb 2017 at 16:03

pastymuncher said:
No but it's a good chance that it is the problem. The board is fairly old while the gpu is fairly recent and a sure sign of a motherboard/gpu incompatibility is a black screen.

Sounds sensible./ I think first thing to do is remove the GPU and see what happens. If I can get into windows then it must be something to do with the GPU, then I can look at flashing the BIOS (something I havent done before... )

andicole0 · 14 Feb 2017 at 17:53

chuff said:
I have a working copy of windows on the original HDD, and I have at least done the first 'bit' of the installation on the SSD - When it rebooted, things went wonky.

Thing is though, I have disconnected the SSD so it should just have booted back to the original drive, but it wont do that anymore

You've probably confused Windows by installing with an existing copy already present. The HDD will probably work on its own if you repair Windows. I'd put the SSD back in on it's own and re-install Windows. Replace the HDD and delete anything you don't need Windows folders etc.
Andi.

chuff · 14 Feb 2017 at 18:02

andicole0 said:
You've probably confused Windows by installing with an existing copy already present. The HDD will probably work on its own if you repair Windows. I'd put the SSD back in on it's own and re-install Windows. Replace the HDD and delete anything you don't need Windows folders etc.
Andi.

Thats what I figured, but I got the same result every time when I just connected the old HDD, just the DVD Drive, just the SSD, and also DVD+SSD, DVD+HDD - It wouldnt boot from any of these, same problem every time. (so can't just do a fresh install)

I have been reading up and seen some people mention about this motherboard having issues with newer Maxwell cards, which the 950 is.

I'm almost certain this is some kind of BIOS/GPU problem, so removing the GPU should answer that question for me. I have also located the CMOS reset jumper so might give that a go too

Cheers for your help today - I'd attempt it tonight but the Mrs will probably complain, apparently pulling apart PC's on valentines night isn't very 'romantic' :cool:

chuff · 23 Feb 2017 at 10:15

Update - Hi chaps
This has gone nowhere - removing the CMOS battery had no effect, shorting the pins on the motherboard to reset the BIOS had no effect.
Same black screen every time
Also very frustrated that I can't remove the GPU and try it using the motherboard video output as this board doesn't have HDMI and that's the only way I've got to connect a monitor.
So I think I will just buy a new motherboard/CPU, and I guess RAM too as the existing DDR3 wont be compatible
Annoying.

What do you think? With a new system board, everything should work fine? I'm looking at the i3 7100

andicole0 · 23 Feb 2017 at 10:32

I think I would try a video adapter first to see if on board graphics works.
If you do buy new stuff I would at least look at an i5.
Andi.

Grandmaster Fap! · 23 Feb 2017 at 11:52

Yeah as Andi says id get a vga to hdmi cable, you can get them for a couple quid on the rainforest.

chuff · 23 Feb 2017 at 16:43

So! I've managed to 'borrow' an old monitor from work with VGA connection, so with that I will remove the GPU and see what happens.

If it DOES boot to windows, then it looks like GPU/Motherboard problem.

I'd also hope that I will be able to get into the BIOS too

If this is the problem could it be worked around?

I am actually quite tempted to just get a new board anyway, I know you recommended an i5 above but I just don't want to stretch this budget out even further.

If you had to recommend an i3, which would you choose ? I've looked at the 7100, 6100 and have just seen a bundle with a 6300. They all seem pretty close, and appear to give benchmarks only slightly below a bottom of the range i5. I'd like to stick as close to £200 as I can really for CPU/RAM/MOBO

This PC will be used for gaming, but not top end games

Cheers

andicole0 · 23 Feb 2017 at 18:14

Gaming is really going to need a quad core cpu. If money is tight I'd look at an AMD solution.
Andi.

chuff · 24 Feb 2017 at 13:17

I've taken onboard the comments about quad core CPU, had a good look at all the AMD options but found them thoroughly uninspiring.

After some scouting about today I've managed to find an i5 4460 @ 3.4Ghz + Gigabyte H81M-S2H Motherboard for £229, which would also allow me to reuse the existing DDR3 RAM.

I know it's a few years old but my own 3570k is still going strong, and although a budget motherboard it has everything I need.

Is this slightly older CPU going to offer better gaming performance than the i3 7100? It will be running an Nvidia GTX950

Cheers