Hey, I need help setting up a brand-new computer?
Hey, I need help setting up a brand-new computer?
Hey! I built a computer for my aunt way back in 2013, and now she has a new one coming out later this year. It's possible that her knowledge is lacking because things have changed so much since then. I'm having some trouble though—I think these problems are real. Specs: Motherboard: MSI B850 Gaming WIFI Plus CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5 (2 sticks of 16GB) Hard Drive: WD SN850X 1TB M.2 Power Supply: Corsair CX550 Possible Problems: First Time On: When I first turned it on, the fans started spinning but there were no beeps. The screen was black for a few minutes before it lit up properly. Since then, it powers up fine straight away when I turn it on. This seems normal to me? No Beeping: My old motherboard made a short beep every time it powered up. Should the new board do that too? There is no buzzer on this new board and there isn't a speaker in the box, so I'm worried if something went wrong I wouldn't know about it until now. USB Ports: In the BIOS, the mouse and keyboard work fine when plugged into the ports at the back of the computer. But when I try to install Windows, they don't work even though I plug them into other ports on the back. The mouse worked when I plugged it into a front USB port, but after installing Windows, neither the front nor back ports work anymore, while the ones in the middle seem okay? BIOS Settings Not Saving: To install Windows, I connected a DVD drive and changed the boot order so that the first device boots from there and then turned off the other devices. It seemed to save fine and Windows installed without any problems. Then I went back into the BIOS and changed the primary boot source back to the M.2 disk, saved it, shut down completely, unplugged the DVD drive, but when I switched the PC back on, it just took me straight to the BIOS home screen. After switching off again and turning it back on, the same thing happened—the settings hadn't changed. Then I noticed the settings didn't change. So I tried loading the BIOS defaults and saving them; when I looked at the boot order, they had gone back to their original settings, but after another hour of fiddling around, I reconnected the DVD drive and loaded Windows again, and somehow everything was fine once more! Any time I try to make changes in the BIOS, those changes seem to save fine. Has anyone else experienced something like this? My first PC never had any annoying issues and it still works today perfectly but after all these problems with my new build, I don't have much confidence that it will be as reliable going forward, so I am hoping for some advice or suggestions from someone who knows more about these things than me. P.S Sorry for the huge post!
Getting your first boot is normal when trying to test RAM on a Ryzen system because many new motherboards don't even have speakers built-in. You could add one yourself if you want, but USB 3 ports usually only work right after Windows starts loading, which isn't always the case. Did you set up Windows with several drives, or just connect your main drive?
Have you followed all the right steps to build a computer? One thing: make sure you finish building the mainboard completely. That means putting in the CPU, memory chips, and adding your boot drive. Be careful with those tiny pins on the board; if they are bent or loose, it won't work right. Also, check that the memory is in the correct slots.
If the mainboard has built-in video (on-board graphics), just start installing Windows even if you have a separate GPU card to connect later. Now go ahead and install Windows along with all its updates. Before that, make sure you install every single driver for your mainboard once everything else is done.
Once you finish all those steps and the computer starts up normally into Windows, it's time to consider this your baseline setup. If you want, test how fast your network speed is using a browser or speedtest.net.
Next, make sure you install your new graphics card (GPU) and its drivers. At this point, unless you have another drive coming in for storage, there isn't anything else needed. Install games and whatever else you plan on doing today! That's my usual way of putting things together. It won't be perfect, but it is a step-by-step method. If something goes wrong later, following these steps will tell me exactly which part is the problem and how easy it becomes to fix it.
Thanks for the info. That makes me feel a little better, because when I first set up Windows, I only had one DVD drive and an M.2 SSD. Maybe that's why something with Windows isn't letting the BIOS save my changes? I've fixed the building part already—it was just easy stuff like making sure there were no bent pins or putting the RAM in the right slots. So far so good, but now I'm wondering if anything is messing up the BIOS after all. I really need to find out why it isn't saving these changes before I hand this thing over to my aunt. Maybe she'll be able to help me too!
Maybe you forgot to set up the M.2 drive correctly in BIOS, or the Windows installation didn't finish properly. Windows should recognize that the boot drive is an M.2, but it doesn't because the system won't start into Windows. Several things could be wrong, but the boot record seems not to have been created or changed during the install. If you just bought a new machine, did you contact MSI and ask if their BIOS has a bug? Maybe you need to update it. Or maybe your way of installing Windows isn't what they recommend.
Here's what you need to do Make a USB stick into the installation medium, do not use the DVD Physically disconnect all drives except the M.2 Reset BIOS Insert the stick Start windows installation and delete all partitions in the M.2, then have the installer create a new partition on it and install windows At the first restart during installation, remove the USB stick All files should be in the M.2 and the installation will continue from that. Your problem (most probably) is that for some reason, the boot sector was not made on the drive where you installed windows. Was the windows installation DVD original or a copy you made yourself? If its a copy then the DVD is still open to be written on and the installer may have made the boot sector on it instead of the M.2
Thank you all for getting back to me. Apologies for being late with my reply; the email just got stuck in the spam folder. @Teknoman2, I made that CD myself using a program on Windows. Tonight I'll try making a USB stick and then test your suggestion tomorrow to see what works best.