New PC build not talking to my GPU?

[Hiro Abe]

I suppose it was bound to happen. I've built my fair share of systems with little to no issues but I'm stumped. After 3 years, I figured I would upgrade my CPU and take advantage of the additional cores and faster mem speeds. Bought a Gigabyte Z390M, i5-9600kf and 16gb of 3200. Everything else is a carryover from my previous system including a GTX 1070. Oh, I also thought I would try a Samsung 500gb Evo 970 M.2 drive.

Everything went together easy enough but I can't even get any posting messages. It seems that the GPU is not sending a signal to my monitor (I've tried both HDMI and dp). Upon initial power up the monitor will wake but then go back to sleep after a minute of not detecting any signal. I noticed that the fans, there are two on my card, will alternately spin once then stop. I've let the system sit like this for a few minutes but nothing. I can't plug a monitor directly to the board since it is an F CPU. Tried reseating the GPU. Took out one of the two ram sticks. Tried different ports on the GPU. Running out of ideas.

One other detail: I have this installed on an open test bench and only have a power switch and hdd light plugged in (I currently don't have a more traditional hdd plugged in though I did try it but not without taking out the m.2).

Sooooo... any of you gurus have any ideas?

 

[Hiro Abe]

Looks I resolved my issue. I had a thought that maybe the CMOS battery had a protective layer to improve storage life. It didn't but decided to replace it. I'm now in the BIOS! Might've been just resetting the CMOS that did it but I don't care. I can now move forward with my build.

Lesson learned.

 

[Terry Rock]

Computers!
Sometimes they offer-up the strangest behavior.
Glad you got it sorted.
I once installed a Windforce GTX-970 as a direct replacement for a PNY GTX-670.
No signal would go to the monitor initially, despite the replacement cards testing good on other systems.
I was 'pulling my hair out' looking at all kinds of things....power requirements, PCI-e cables, Nvidia drivers, etc....
I was just abot to return the card, when I decided to do just that....cleared the CMOS and 'bang!'....output to monitor.
It was just plain weird.
I'd never seen that issue ever....in years of system building.

 

[Hiro Abe]

Same here. Never had to do anything with the CMOS before this build. Unfortunately, I'm not done fighting this thing. After i got things going i installed Windows and started to get things sorted but then the system started to freeze on me. It also wouldn't wouldn't gracefully recover from a reboot. Now, the system won't boot. It begins to start then shuts off and tries starting again and keeps cycling.

I'm first trying the least expensive fix and bought an additional cable for my psu to power the secondary cpu power connector (4 pins). Most postings i find is that it isn't necessary to plug into it unless you're doing extreme overclocking but i did read a post where once they plugged into the connector their system became stable.

If that doesn't work, I'll have to break down and rebuild the system looking over everything very carefully. If i get the same result, I'll buy another board. My psu has always been rock solid so odds are it isn't that but I'm open to the possibility. All very aggravating especially since i can't race!!

 

[Miguel Batista]

Same here. Never had to do anything with the CMOS before this build. Unfortunately, I'm not done fighting this thing. After i got things going i installed Windows and started to get things sorted but then the system started to freeze on me. It also wouldn't wouldn't gracefully recover from a reboot. Now, the system won't boot. It begins to start then shuts off and tries starting again and keeps cycling.

I'm first trying the least expensive fix and bought an additional cable for my psu to power the secondary cpu power connector (4 pins). Most postings i find is that it isn't necessary to plug into it unless you're doing extreme overclocking but i did read a post where once they plugged into the connector their system became stable.

If that doesn't work, I'll have to break down and rebuild the system looking over everything very carefully. If i get the same result, I'll buy another board. My psu has always been rock solid so odds are it isn't that but I'm open to the possibility. All very aggravating especially since i can't race!!

What is your PSU?

 

[maelstrom]

Now, the system won't boot. It begins to start then shuts off and tries starting again and keeps cycling.

I had a very similar problem (just the boot problem, not the freezes) when I built my current system. After many hours of troubleshooting, out of desperation I put the boot drive (an SSD) below another non-boot drive in the CMOS boot sequence list and it worked perfectly - don't ask me why! It's almost as though the SSD needed a few extra milliseconds at boot time.

 

[Hiro Abe]

What is your PSU?

It's a 3 year old Seasonic G Series 550 watt.

 

[Hiro Abe]

@maelstrom Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, I can't get into the bios at this point.

 

[Miguel Batista]

It's a 3 year old Seasonic G Series 550 watt.

That should be more than enough.
There could be something wrong with it but seasonic is a good brand. Is it 80+ gold?

Regarding the 4 pin, always plug this in. It just makes your life easier when troubleshooting. Hopefully that is enough if it is not, then check the motherboard cpu and motherboard as either could be faulty. Problem of not having integrated graphics is for these reasons precisely...

 

[Hiro Abe]

It is an 80+ gold psu. This is a fairly minimal system so 550 should give me enough overhead. Plus, the symptoms don't match an underpowered psu as far as i know.

Yeah. I'm really hoping this cable will be the answer. I don't want to lose another weekend of racing!

 

[Durge Driven]

In BIOS did you select "Load Optimized Defaults" ...or similar...though should have already been set really if new m/b

 

[Durge Driven]

Took out one of the two ram sticks

Single stick in A2 it most likely won't boot any other slot

Dual A2 + B2

 

[Terry Rock]

It'll be interesting to see what finally fixes this issue.
If you have easy access, try disconnecting the 24 pin mainboard power connector for at least 30 seconds.
If after that you can get into the BIOS, make sure that ACHI is set if that was the way Windows was loaded.
Go back and look at the physical hardware to make certain you haven't overlooked something like a loose fan or additional stand-off.

 

[maelstrom]

@maelstrom Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, I can't get into the bios at this point.

Have you tried just holding down the BIOS key during the cycling?

 

[Hiro Abe]

Here's the latest:

I took everything apart so I could take a close look at the mb to see if I find any burnt transistors or possible shorts. Scanning over the board, everything looked to be fine though I did notice one thing. There was something under one of the cpu heatsink stanchions. I took it out and it was some kind of sticky substance. I also noticed the bottom of the stanchion had a thin washer which I'm sure was there to protect the mb when you screw it down since 3 of the 4 are sitting directly on top of a number of circuit traces. But the washer left some metal of the stanchions exposed. I came up with a theory. What if when tightening down one of the stanchions, that it scraped just enough of the protective layer on the mb where the little bit of metal from the stanchion caused a short.

Working with that theory, I created a makeshift washer that covered all of the metal of the bottom of the stanchion and then reassembled everything. I also decided to plug in my old memory sticks since I know they are good so I can eliminate that possibility.

Well, I'm typing this out on this new system build! I'm not dancing yet though. I have been here before so I'm going to see if the system remains stable. If it is and all things continue to run smoothly then there are 3 possibilities:

1. Taking everything apart and re-seating all the parts is what solved my issue
2. There was a short created by one of the stanchions and my makeshift washers did the trick
3. The new memory sticks I bought are bad (though when I did remove one of them I still had the issue but I did not try swapping one with the other after the initial test - still odds are they are probably fine and I've not heard of bad mem sticks causing something like I was experiencing)

I'm going to keep things as is for now before I try putting back my new sticks. I want to first be absolutely sure I have a stable system.

The story continues.

Oh... and let me send out a HUGE thank you to all who have been trying to help me out with this frustrating build. It just reinforces what an awesome community we have here at RD!!

 

[Hiro Abe]

Heh... well THAT didn't last long. Had two browser windows going and about 5 minutes after I made my posting, the system froze while checking my email. Forced a reboot and now she's cycling again like before. The good news is - hey, got to look for that silver lining somewhere - is that I'm now just about 100% sure it is the mb. I wasn't nearly taxing the PSU - even the GPU fans weren't spinning. I know my old mem sticks are good. I am going to assume my new cpu is fine. I can't imagine a bad m.2 stick would create symptoms like this plus one test was removing it and using my SSD drive I was using in my previous system.

Everything seems to be pointing to the board. Plus, I had that initial funkiness with the CMOS when nothing would post.

Off to order a new and different board. I came from an MSI that never gave me a lick of problems over the nearly 3 years I've been using it. Tried this Gigabyte Z390M board. Yeah. Going back to MSI!

Man, but I miss racing!

 

[GuitarTech]

I hear you, I built a new gaming rig a few weeks ago, and the first MB I recieved ( a Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro Wi-Fi ), was dead out of the box. After testing all the other new components in my old system, I knew that it must be the MB. So I RMA'd it, they sent out a new MB, recieved it three days later ( good work Alternate.de ), plugged everything in, and it booted first time!
It just goes to show, even a brand new €200 MB can be broken straight out of the box.. Hope you get in sorted soon

 

[Hiro Abe]

I do believe I am now set. I've been on my PC for a little over an hour and did some driving in ACC (man, but did it feel good!!!). Not a single hiccup not to mention NO SYSTEM FREEZES!!!

Installed everything on my new MSI mb and everything booted up without any fanfare. I was kind of wondering if I would have to totally start from scratch and re-install Windows but I've been fine. So, as I thought, it was the mb. Oh... and I think I know what the problem was. After taking everything apart... again... something caught my eye. I saw a break in the pattern of the cpu pins. Took a close look and lo and behold, there was a bent pin. I cursed myself for not taking out the cpu during my prior dismantle. Yes, I am curious if I bent it back if it resolves everything... but not THAT curious.

Some lessons learned with this build. Probably won't be doing another one for some time but I still do prefer building then buying something prebuilt.