VGA light randomly ( randomly hangs on POST )

[matpc95]

Hello

I´ve been having a persistent issue across 3 pc builds

it started on the first one : msi mpg b550m , xpg pylon 650w , 5700x3d , 32gb ram ddr4 4 sticks , rtx 4070 eagle

my pc would randomly hang on the vga light boot process , the light wouldn´t just lit but the pc will stay there crashed at the vga light

so i went there and swapped gpu for a 4070 super , problem persisted

got a new mobo ( tuf b550m) problem persisted

got a new psu ( core reactor 650w ) problem persisted

swapped the kit with my brother ( he has a tuf b650m-e wifi , 32gb dual kit 6000mhz ddr5 and a ryzen 5 7600 ) and the problem persisted

even swapped ssds to test and still there

so , swapped the whole pc and still happens

even got new hdmi and dp cables to test and still happens

swapped my case as well

can my monitor or tv cause the pc to crash ? (both monitor and tv works )

what is being used between builds : one line filter for tv , one line filter for monitor and pc , logitech mouse g305 , redragon keyboard dragonborn brown , hs65 surround corsair

my peripherals are all usb ( 3 usb devices in total )

i´m wondering , is there something wrong that is causing it ? can my line filter crash the vga light ? or maybe the usb devices are causing it ?

is there something else that i should look for ?

thanks

 

[matpc95]

A poor quality surge protector or multi-block can cause odd behaviour. Have you carried over any fan or led hubs?

no , just use 3 case fans without splitters and use the ag620 cooler with the rgb in each fan on one slot in the mobo for each

this line filter is the best here in brazil , i don´t have any instability once the pc boots but do you think it could still be the culprit ?

 

[matpc95]

Possibly - I can't see how it could be your monitor, keyboard or mouse. Is there anything in event viewer around the time of the issues?

You might want to look into a UPS.

i have to say i´m using a hs65 surround corsair (usb as well )

i just can´t understand why it wouldn´t shutdown the pc etc... if the filter was the problem

can we take out case fans or rgb things being the problem ? i guess this is the cpu light process , to detect a working cpu cooler

 

[matpc95]

i´m running a time without the headset , is it possible for it to crash 3 mobos ? i always used the leyboard , mouse , headset and line filter in the 3 mobos tested

 

[matpc95]

When you swapped the PCs did you try yours at your brothers? did he have the same issue?

Have you tried another line filter or without it?

When did the issue start? was anything changed around the time the problems started?

i´m running without the usb headset to see if it crashes by now

i remember changing mobo , case and the headset when this happened , since i believe it could be the headset

Can you clarify, do you mean when you press the power button the fans spin up but the screen stays blank and keyboard leds don't come on?


Are you using the USB headset adapter?

I've seen a damaged USB port on a desktop PC stop the PC powering on so yes if theres a short the PSU protection could be kicking in.

I've also seen PC's hang when detecting USB devices, you could try disabling USB boot first but you might need a new headset.

''
Can you clarify, do you mean when you press the power button the fans spin up but the screen stays blank and keyboard leds don't come on?

''
yes , this is exactly what happens ( happened on 3 motherboards , even on a am5 one )

this corsair headset is p3 but with the usb dac included , always used it with the usb dac

i don´t know if i´ve been unlucky enough to have 3 damaged usb ports on 3 mobos

how can i disable this usb boot first ?

did i damage , run any risk of damage during this time , when it crashed on vga ?

what i just can´t get over it , if there is a short , wouldn´t the pc shutdown during use or something like it ? it never happens this during normal use

also why it boots fine and sometimes it hangs ?

thanks

 

[matpc95]

You've been trying it without the USB headset, is it still booting ok without that connected?


Was the headset DAC connected to the rear MB ports? What happens if its connected to one at the front?


In the bios options disable boot from external device / set it to only boot from your SSD.


If it works ok once it boots then it sounds more like its waiting for something / training the ram. If there's a fast boot option in the bios maybe try turning it off so you can see what its doing.

If its working without the USB DAC then you probably need to replace it otherwise Id ask someone if they have got a keyboard / mouse you can borrow for a bit because you have replaced everything else.


Intermittent faults are difficult to fault find, a bad cable, the case pushed too far back knocking the USB DAC etc, even starting a PC when its cold or damp can cause issues.

1 : so far so good but too early to just assume it is 100%

2 : always tried at the hear , is the usb hub from the case any different from the ones in the mobo ? i also think it could not be the headset in particular but maybe a third usb device that gets too "much" with the mouse and keyboard ? are 3 usb devices too much for it to handle ? it is weird that this behavior reproduced itself in 3 mobos but who knows

3 : ah i see , mine doesn´t have this option , nor it was present in any motherboard i´ve tested i think

4: sorry , bit newbie question but what does this fast boot do ?

5 : i know the kb and mouse can age as well but i´ve been using them a long time and between builds and they always work , the headset is the new stuff , since i´m suspecting it

6 : i´ve double checked 3 builds , mobo standoffs etc , they all are fine ( back panel etc ), cables swapped as well

but what do you mean by starting the pc cold or damp ?

thanks

 

[matpc95]

i also have the habit to turn on pc first then during the post i turn on the monitor/tv or vice versa

sometimes monitor/tv first then the pc

 

[matpc95]

Then I would leave it disconnected for a bit and not change anything else yet, then update the thread in say a week unless it happens again sooner.



Its common to have different USB controllers, e.g. the rear might be USB 3.x, but some of the headers for the case might be USB 2.

No the number of devices doesn't matter a kybd, mouse and DAC shouldn't draw much current so unless one is faulty and it can't identify it or it trips the PSU safety circuit because theres a short.



I don't know what BIOS options you have its probably just called something else, boot sequence etc but somewhere there should be an option to disable USB boot maybe under security options or something it just stops the PC looking for a different boot device.


Again I dont know your mobo so it might be called something else but theres usually an option that can change how long the BIOS spends running checks during POST. So if fast boot was switched off the tests would take longer but would be more thorough.



On old motherboards there used to be a BIOS option to ignore POST errors and continue booting, there was a specific setting to continue booting if there was a keyboard error e.g. a headless server would still complete the boot process if the keyboard wasn't plugged in.

So a keyboard fault can potentially cause boot process to fail but I would expect an error message on the display not a blank screen.

At the moment it looks like an issue with the USB DAC.



Yes but you still have a fault, its looking like it might be an issue with the USB DAC.

You say Monitor / TV so you have them both connected to the PC at the same time?




You have changed the mobo and PSU so this isn't your issue but I've known of PC's that have had a PSU / Mother board that is starting to fail work fine except when they are switched on in the morning when the room temperature is lower.

hmm i see , it makes sense

i´m using the headset throught the p3 mode , ignoring the dac at all to see but i´ve extensively tested already ( 4 days ) turning the pc on/off and it hasn´t appeared with the dac being removed from the pc

just started using the p3 on the pc today , i doubt a p3 device can crash ( because it is bad to use without sound )

is it ok going to p3 or should i remove it completely in the mean time ?

i always had a tv and monitor connected through my gpus over time (1060 , 3060 , 4070 now )

even used worse cables as well and never ever faced the vga light

but i know something was wrong since i´ve swapped the gpu , mobo , psu , drive etc and it still pointed the vga light which clearly is not

this current mobo is a tuf b650m-e wifi ( also not using the wifi/bluetooth antenna for the sake of it)

i´ve typed usb to search in the advanced mode and could not find any boot from usb device or anything like it

note that all mobos tested it was mostly with default settings , i´ve never changed some specific setting in any mobo/bios

let´s see , the next step could be the line filter i guess

is this damaging the pc or is it ok if i ever face this vga light again ? or this is just the protection kicking in maybe ?

but yes , considering it could be the dac crashing it but i´m afraid it may point to something else like filter being bad , possibly damaging something

the psu is a core reactor 650w

thanks

 

[matpc95]

i also wanted to know , if it gets stuck in the vga light , should i wait some more time maybe ( to see if it actually posts ) or let´s say , if i remove the problematic device , would the post continue to occur ?

 

[matpc95]

If its still working without the USB DAC then I think you have already found the fault either the DAC is bad or causing some sort of conflict and I would probably just ditch the DAC.

If you disable onboard audio in the BIOS does it still hang when you boot with the DAC plugged in?
Are their any firmware updates available for your motherboard?
Are their any firmware updates available for the DAC?
Have you tried with just the monitor connected?
Have you tried with just the TV connected?

If you want to rule out the line filters then just disconnect them for a bit and reconnect the DAC but I can't see why it would start working without the DAC if the line filters are faulty.

Another thing to try is booting the PC without the DAC plugged in then plugging it in after you have logged into windows.


You should have audio over hdmi to your TV and possibly your monitor as other short term options to using the DAC.

If its a conflict or the bios cant detect the DAC correctly for some reason then no it shouldnt damage anything; if the DAC / USB cable was shorting the USB port that might not do it any good but you have said it works once you get into Windows...

yeah , it 100% works once the OS loads

all peripherals work 100% ( the whole pc works tbh )

but it is annoying sometimes , it crashes the bios ( i don´t have to reset cmos ) and i have to reapply ram oc etc

i´m using oced ram but it doesn´t matter as it still within spec and used ddr4 ram as well , it still showed the vga light

so far so good , will keep posted if happens again

i´m using the headset throught the p3 port in the front hub of the case

i have another question as well , does the p3 hub from the case consider the motherboard audio or it has it´s own audio chip ?

it is bad since the dac has some slightly better quality than direct p3 but it is usable overall ( better than spend again lol )

removed the hub so far , no other changes during this mean time

 

[matpc95]

Yes the 3.5mm headphone socket on the front uses the motherboard audio so the socket wont work if you disable onboard audio in the BIOS. I just wondered if the DAC would still cause the PC to hang at boot if the onboard audio was disabled.


Heres one of the threads I stumbled upon basically saying Corsair / ICue = bad

iCue causing system to hang/crash.

I've been using iCue for years with no problems until now. I recently switched from intel to Ryzen and am now having issues with windows hanging and not responding. I have done a lot of troubleshooting trying to figure out what is causing this and I have come to the conclusion that it is, without...

forum.corsair.com

hmm i see

worth to try disabling the onboard audio since it is not being used anyway with the dac

i´ve searched and seen reports of corsair keyboards hanging boots as well

too bad this headset is pretty good and unfortunately the p3 has slighty lower quality overall

i´m wondering if it is worth to disable hardware checks when i turn on the pc ?

thanks

 

[matpc95]

What hardware checks? You might be able to manually set the RAM and I suggested setting boot device to the SSD only so that wasnt looking at the USB ports but you couldn't find the setting for that; you cant stop the POST process detecting USB devices completly otherwise the keyboard etc wouldn't work in the BIOS.

hmm i see

i will see if i can find something else but my list of bootable devices only lists my ssd

 

[matpc95]

You may as well try it.

You could also use NVCleanstall to remove the HD audio from the GPU driver, then the only source of audio will be from your USB DAC.

https://www.techpowerup.com/nvcleanstall/

i can be wrong but i´m not sure if disabling the driver disables the hardware as well

for motherboard we can 100% disable onboard audio or igpu from cpu let´s say

but i don´t know if removing the driver can disable the audio 100% from the gpu