B550M Mortar supports Wi-Fi and VGA LED lighting but fails to power up.
B550M Mortar supports Wi-Fi and VGA LED lighting but fails to power up.
Previously, my PC operated smoothly until today. In the afternoon I stopped using it and then turned it back on after a few hours. To my surprise, the motherboard displayed the VGA LED but not the MSI BIOS screen—just a black background with components still active and fans running. After disconnecting the graphics card, it worked properly when I reconnected it. Using HWiNFO, GPU-Z, and checking voltages confirmed everything was normal. A stress test showed consistent performance. When I turned it off and tried again, the issue returned. Repeating the process of disconnecting and reconnecting helped temporarily. The final thought is that turning off the PC and waiting a short time resolves the problem, but if it persists, please assist. The monitor stays on with a black background and occasionally a white line appears at the top right.
I faced similar problems after my thermal paste failed on the card. Check your operating system to see the temperatures during use. If the paste appears intact or the card is still under warranty, it might be an RMA issue. Some cards develop poor connections over time, such as faulty caps or failing chips.
The graphics card is about a year old. Temperatures have never gone higher than 63ºC. The highest voltage readings during idle were 0.662v and 1.008v, with the maximum values observed during play and stress tests.
Have you experimented with resetting your card and disabling all energy-saving features in the BIOS? I experienced similar problems with a factory-created card that needed matching clock settings, plus challenges with Windows sleep/hibernate and BIOS power options. My GPU would fail to boot roughly half the time after sleeping.
Doesn’t power on or display any screen? If the BIOS screen appears, the issue is likely with the driver. If not, there’s a fault somewhere in the video path. If nothing shows up, you’ll see a post light (I own the DDR4 660 model, which has a post light that isn’t just a failure—it means the VGA check failed, possibly affecting the video chain or another component).
The black screen with a flashing line indicates the operating system isn't loading. Your PC might be in hybrid sleep (combining hibernation and sleep) along with Fast Startup. Run the command `powercfg -h off` in an elevated CMD prompt to disable Hibernation and ensure proper shutdown. This should resolve the issue if it's related to hibernation. It could also work because the system boots normally after power is cut.
Thank you for your assistance. It seems that after trying various solutions—reinstalling drivers, adjusting power settings, disabling BIOS options—I still faced the issue. I explored different forums and discovered a Reddit user with similar problems and comparable PC components. He shared that he resolved the problem by removing his old HDD, which was not storing his OS. Although the HDD itself wasn’t functional, its failure caused the system to crash. I then disconnected the SATA cable from the motherboard, and the PC booted normally. After reconnecting the HDD, the issue reappeared. It appears the HDD was indeed broken and was the root cause.
An external USB port can help retrieve your files. You might have to adjust the boot configuration afterward to prevent it from attempting to boot itself first, since then it would behave like a regular flash drive.
My OS is set up on an M.2 drive, while the HDD serves only as storage. You removed the HDD, enabled the SATA hot plug in BIOS, and tried connecting it again after several attempts. Eventually it was recognized and data recovered. Now the HDD is connected and appears functional, but issues persist, suggesting a problem inside the drive.