Overclocking Ryzen 5 3600 caused a black screen.
Overclocking Ryzen 5 3600 caused a black screen.
The CPU OC caused a black screen and VGA LED to appear. I attempted a manual overclock in the BIOS, setting my Ryzen 5 3600 to 4.0GHZ with 1.250V voltage, saved, and restarted. The only result was a black screen, with a white VGA LED next to the DRAM, as mentioned in the MOBO manual. I followed all steps—resetting CMOS, re-setting everything, unplugging and reconnecting cables, even swapping the GPU—but nothing functioned. When I pressed power, fans spun and the LED lit normally, yet the mouse, keyboard, and peripherals still didn’t respond. Please help!
It's not too risky, it's a B450 mobo and should function. When you proceed, be sure to reset the CMOS once more before starting up, just to guarantee the BIOS initiates a forced hardware reset, because the system will treat the changes as new.
I understand you've already done everything suggested. I took out all the parts from the motherboard—components, cables, CMOS, I/O—and left it for about two hours. The issue still exists. Could it be related to the CPU? I'm certain you didn't do anything extreme to damage it.
It doesn't seem like the CPU is the issue; that's much too fast. Another component might be the cause. Do you have a different GPU available for testing? Have you performed the Vega 64 BIOS flash?
There have been numerous discussions online about Asus white VGA lights, and so far the main solution has been replacing the GPU with an older model from the pre-700 series, NVIDIA or R9, or similar AMD chips, and connecting it temporarily. This approach addresses the need for compatibility with newer technologies that depend on a 'handshake' connection, with USB, HDMI, or DP being most common. Previous GPUs used a VGA link, so they connect quickly—HDMI or DP require a brief delay due to the handshake process. Without this handshake, the white light won’t appear on the motherboard.
Using an older GPU essentially switches the switch in the motherboard, enabling BIOS updates (follow instructions precisely, starting with your current BIOS and installing newer versions as needed, but don’t just install the newest one). These updates often contain microcode fixes for the white light issue.
I completed the Vega 64 bios flash several months earlier without any issues. The Vega 56 model included a bios switch, so I attempted to revert to the 56 bios, but that didn't succeed. I also tried it with a GTX 1050, but unfortunately not. I removed an outdated AMD card from an old office machine and only tested the DP connection, as my monitor couldn't support DVI.
So you're dealing with this quite old AMD graphics card, the kind typically found in office prebuilt systems. It only provides outputs for DVI and DP, and your monitor doesn't have a DVI port. You've already tried using DP but it didn't work, leaving you with the white light. You do have a GTX 1050 with VGA output, so you're considering finding an old VGA cable or borrowing a monitor with a DVI input to connect it.
Consider adding an older Ryzen 5 2600 from your brother's system to test, but don't waste more time if it doesn't work.