New PC build issue, no signal sent to monitor
New PC build issue, no signal sent to monitor
Mobo: Aurus x870 Elite wifi 7
GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ 9070XT
CPU: Ryzen 9 9900X
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws S5 Series DDR5 (32x2 GB)
First post, please confirm if I'm missing anything or doing something incorrect.
Hello everyone, I'm setting up a new PC for my wife, and everything is brand new except for the drives she wants to retain from her old system. I assume the boot drive should contain Windows 10 from her previous build, connected via an m.2 slot in the top M.2 port on the motherboard.
My current build uses a complete new m.2 setup and it's functioning perfectly. She will power on, and all indicators—including the motherboard and GPU lights, the two front-facing fans, and the case hub—will spin up. The system displays a code 46 and a red light on the DRAM. However, her PC fails to send any signal to the monitors; I haven't even managed to access the BIOS yet. When I power on the PC, the monitor appears briefly before saying "no input detected" and returning to idle.
Troubleshooting steps I've tried:
- Using different monitors and cables
- Testing various cable types and connection methods (HDMI, DisplayPort)
- The motherboard has an HDMI port; I've only used that one. The GPU supports both HDMI and DisplayPort.
- RAM installed in A2+B2 slots, but also tested A1+B1. I've tried single sticks in all four slots, including one known working stick in all slots.
- Replaced the GPU and CPU, checked all connections and pins.
- Reset CMOS.
So far, nothing is transmitting a signal to any of her monitors. I haven't attempted Q-Flash yet, but I'm uncertain whether it would help with this new setup. Do anyone have additional suggestions? Should I consider returning the motherboard?
I feel drawn to describe it as a bios environment, where you configure the initial display output to use the GPU in the PCIe 1 slot. However, even connecting the monitor via the HDMI port didn’t show the onboard CPU graphics. I’d attempt booting from another device—either a USB with the Windows Installer or a Linux distribution. If neither works and removing the M.2 drive in Windows 10 (while deleting other drives) doesn’t help, I’m at a loss. As a final option, you could try booting from your M.2 drive (or a clone), which might allow access to the bios. Keeping the old Windows 10 may be impossible, and a fresh installation like yours might be the only viable path.
Taking a break tonight, my plans for tomorrow involve starting her system with the fresh Win11 m.2 installation I trust will work, while removing all other drives. If that doesn't work, I'll use the USB with the GIGABYTE.bin FAT32 file for a quick Q-Flash in case the BIOS is corrupt. I'm out of ideas already.
I'll let you know once I've tried it!
My fresh installation of Windows 11 on the m.2 drive failed completely. The motherboard refused to accept a Q-Flash. Using an old USB drive with 32GB storage (not 2.0) that only contained the latest BIOS, I renamed GIGABYTE.bin and created a FAT32 partition. When I tried the Q-Flash, it blinked a few times before stopping. It looks like the motherboard isn't working properly—I'm returning it and ordering a new one.
How long you waited before deciding it didn't work and turning it off was not specified. The process of performing a RAM training can take several minutes depending on the motherboard, RAM, and CPU. The display's behavior during sleep seems normal, but if it doesn't boot after 15-20 minutes, there may be an issue.
Keep in mind that I’m completely unfamiliar with AMD CPUs and wasn’t even certain an AMD motherboard existed until recently. Here are two thoughts from someone just starting out, as this thread hasn’t been fully resolved by experts:
1. Sometimes launching a fresh system can take several tries (like 10 attempts) before it finally starts
2. I think the NVMe might be the issue. Your motherboard could be expecting another storage device, and the NVMe isn’t actually present. So, what I’d do is: put in a regular hard drive while keeping the NVMe in, restart... the computer might detect the standard drive and prompt you to choose a boot option. If it says "no activity, let’s let the user enter BIOS or pick a boot device," then you could try using the NVMe as an alternative. You may need to explore several settings in the UEFI interface to define boot devices, since the expected page isn’t always what you expect.
This all depends on the assumption that a wrong order of boot devices is causing your startup process to fail entirely. A big assumption.
Thank you for the update! I can't fix that issue anymore since it's been returned to the manufacturer, and it never displayed an image on the screen. I haven't had a chance to check the BIOS yet—it doesn't send any images to the monitors at all. No video input is being detected.
I noticed you weren't able to view BIOS either, I was just mentioning it could be because the NVMe wasn't on the boot menu (that seems strange). It might even be necessary to configure it as a boot device. If you're cloning an already-booted Windows system onto an SSD, then inserting that SSD right away could disrupt your setup. The motherboard would likely treat it as the primary boot device, which might delay the monitor turning on and showing you the BIOS or boot options. It's possible the board isn't even processing these settings until you explicitly choose a different boot source. You might not receive a monitor-ON signal if it expects a traditional HDD or 2.5" SSD as the first boot device. Just a thought. Hope your new motherboard works properly!