Red LED indicator active, no additional output.
Red LED indicator active, no additional output.
resetting CMOS, reconnecting power cables, and replacing the power supply. It resolved briefly until June, then returned after a few days. By then my PSU failed, and I replaced it. It operated smoothly until September. This time the problem repeated three times within a week. Once I suspected a short circuit, removing the motherboard helped. After reassembling the CPU and ensuring a tight heatsink seal, it worked again. The most recent attempt failed until I removed all RAM modules and started without them—it then switched from CPU to DIMM. It functioned until yesterday. I'm still experiencing the same issue, with the CPU mode active but no display and no power-up signal. I've tried everything and it keeps refusing to work. How can something so persistent happen repeatedly, yet each fix seems to work only temporarily? Given the repeated failures over nearly a month, I'm at my limit. My hardware specs are clear: CPU i5 4460, motherboard Asus H97 Pro, RAM Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4), GPU Gigabyte GTX 1050, PSU Seasonic S12II 430W. I'm exhausted and need help. Thank you in advance!
The main point is clearing power completely, whether it's RAM or the motherboard. For this old gear, the RAM or CPU might be failing, so I plan to run Memtest86 to check. Once confirmed, the issue could lie with the motherboard or CPU itself. You mentioned your PSU failed—maybe it caused damage during installation.
If unsure, swap the thermal paste. It's inexpensive and straightforward. Damage seems unlikely if it happened before the PSU failed. More probable causes are RAM, CPU, or a MOBO problem. Have you refreshed the BIOS? Does it remain stable during startup?
Yes, it works perfectly when it does. RAM and CPU function flawlessly. I was playing Red Dead Redemption 2 a few days prior to this issue. It usually occurs when trying to wake the PC from sleep, but most times it happens in sleep or hibernation. This time it was during hibernation and the lights went out—could be the pattern we're after.