PC video stopped working, restarting didn't help with videos, no posts, and I'm running out of ideas here 😕
PC video stopped working, restarting didn't help with videos, no posts, and I'm running out of ideas here 😕
Hello. I’m facing a tough situation and need guidance from the tech experts. Here’s what I have so far: My setup includes a Ryzen 9 3900X with an RTX 4080 graphics card, 64GB of RAM, GSKILL Ripjaws at 3200 MHz with XMP CL16 (four 16GB modules), dual M.2 NVMe SSDs (WD Black SN850), two Seagate Barracuda HDDs, and both GPU and CPU are cooled via a custom loop with low-noise fans. The system has run smoothly for several years until recently.
On Monday morning, while chatting on Hangouts, my screen froze right before entering the video call. Audio worked fine, but the video stopped completely. After a few minutes I tried opening Task Manager or pressing Alt-F4, but nothing changed. I performed a hard reset, which still didn’t help. Soon after, the mouse became unresponsive and I saw minor purple distortion across the screen. The PC restarted, but no video appeared—no splash, no BIOS prompt, no power indicator.
The VGA status light stayed lit. I attempted several resets, checked cables and power connections, even swapped out RAM modules and HDMI cables. Still nothing.
I tested another RTX 4080 (MSI GeForce 210) on a different motherboard, but it also failed to display video. The GPU would only work if placed in the second PCIe slot, which is connected to the chipset. On the B550 Mortar, it worked fine, and the VGA light would illuminate.
This suggests a possible issue with the CPU or the main PCIe slot. Could you help me figure out what might be wrong and how to fix it? I’m trying to understand what caused this problem and how to prevent it in the future. Thanks for your support!
Did you check the titan on the b550 board? At this point, the only possibilities are that you damaged the PCIe section of the x570 or the titan had a short. I’m aware there have been several failed 3000 series CPUs recently, so if you tried the 3700x in the x570 and it functions, you likely broke the 3900x. If the 3900x works on the b550, then something else must be at play. Another issue could be a massive power draw—remove the CMOS battery, fully discharge the board, let it rest, and verify it’s empty before retrying.
Thanks for your message. I haven’t tested the Titan on the b550 yet, since I need to clear the entire loop first. I plan to try that tomorrow. What seems confusing is that the tiny 210 only works on the second PCIe slot with the 3900X on the b550. Could it be that a CPU gets partially damaged? A few weeks ago I used the 210 on another b450 board with an Athlon, and it worked fine then. The B550 has also been functioning well so far. I had a 1070 in the main PCIe slot connected to the 3700X with no issues. Do you think both the 3900X and the x570 might be affected?
No bent pins were found. I verified the CPU placement when moving it to a different motherboard. The CPU had been resting in its socket for seven months before the issue started.
Hello once more. I successfully took apart the PC and retrieved the remaining parts. I used the RTX Titan with two additional MBs and it functions perfectly. I also tried the Aero MB with a brand new Ryzen 3700X and GTX 1070, which worked fine. It looks like the CPU is causing problems. It doesn’t work with other MBs and blocks video output. The most puzzling thing is that the MB LEDs never indicate an issue—only the VGA LED stays lit. I plan to return the CPU for replacement and hope it works after swapping. It’s really disappointing that such failures are common with Ryzen CPUs. Out of three units, two have already failed without a clear reason so far. Worse still, I can’t identify the exact cause, making it impossible to prevent this unless I stop buying Ryzen. Thank you again for your assistance.
If it works similarly in other systems, it seems reasonable to return it for repair since the three-year warranty remains valid.