PC does nothing
PC does nothing
I experienced a problem where my computer wouldn't power on.
Pressing the power button and connecting the motherboard pins didn't make any difference.
The diagnostic lights remained inactive throughout.
The only indication of activity was a short blue LED flash when I connected power.
That LED was covered by a heat shield, making it hard to interpret its meaning.
I used the onboard reset button, which cleared the CMOS, and this time the LED turned white before switching between white and blue when the PSU was powered.
After using Q-Flash, the fans briefly activated, the CPU diagnostic light appeared, and after 5 seconds it shut down—possibly the expected behavior, though I wasn't certain.
After some time, I attempted to remove the CPU cooler.
I wouldn't advise anyone else to try this, as I accidentally left the power on during removal.
Later, while unscrewing the cooler, my PC suddenly started booting.
I'm unsure why this happened, but it seems the cooler was pressing down on the CPU.
I re-tightened it and it worked again.
I don't know who should read this—this appears to be a rather unusual issue, but I thought it worth sharing if anyone else faces a similar problem.
Relevant specifications:
Motherboard: b650m Aorus Elite Ax
CPU: Ryzen 9 7950x
Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
Power Supply: Corsair HX1500i
Case: Fractal Define 7
Yes, these bigger sockets with properly tightened coolers might cause the motherboard to bend. This could result in the CPU not making good contact with the pins. A challenge for AMD because they only recently changed to an LGA socket. If possible, try to check your board's alignment and ensure it's fairly straight.
It seemed fairly normal at first when I was experimenting, but once I noticed the cooler was the problem, I couldn’t confirm 100%. My current approach is to just let it be and hope for the best. It might also help to note that my PC functioned perfectly the day before. I’ve been using this machine for a few months without any changes, shutting it down normally, going to sleep, and waking up to find it suddenly stopped working. I didn’t adjust anything, moved the PC, or interact with it beyond pressing the power button to turn it on.
Temperature changes cause the board to expand and contract each time you shut it down with too much pressure from the cooler. GPUs may gradually exit their slots as well. A company that studies this on an industrial level finds it quite fascinating. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEoc0YoALt0