System failure following the transport event
System failure following the transport event
I've heard about someone moving recently and had to help with their PC setup. I reminded them to take out the GPU because those parts can get damaged during shipping. What caught me off guard was the Wraith Prism cooler coming loose—its bracket snapped, the prism fell out, and the CPU got pulled out of its socket. Fortunately, only a few pins were bent, so they managed to fix it by straightening them and reinserting the CPU. After cleaning and reapplying paste, they installed the cooler and GPU again. Now the system doesn’t boot up properly. The motherboard is an Asus ROG Strix X370-F Gaming board, and it shows diagnostic lights during startup. None of them light up when I power on. There’s a brief fan spin before it stops completely. It seems like the lack of any diagnostic lights suggests the issue isn’t with RAM or the video card. This likely points to the motherboard or CPU itself. Since there were no visible damages, they had a video call with the seller who replaced a working 5600X CPU. After swapping in a new CPU and using a standard Wraith cooler, the fan still spins but the system still won’t start. Any advice before deciding to replace the board?
Ensure the enclosure stays separate from the motherboard and other parts. Inspect every cable and connector to confirm they’re fully seated. Reattach any detachable parts (including GPU, RAM, and SSDs). Clearing the CMOS memory might help if issues persist. If problems continue, remove everything and reassemble on an insulated surface. Success is possible!