System powers up yet fails to boot following the AIO upgrade.
System powers up yet fails to boot following the AIO upgrade.
I received an Arctic Liquid Freezer III 240 AIO for Christmas and installed it two days ago. My PC is not booting, and I’m stuck trying to figure out what’s wrong. When turned on, all my parts light up except the monitor. I know there are compatibility issues between my motherboard and CPU, but this has never happened before with this machine.
PC Details: Motherboard - MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-core GPU - EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 RAM - 32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro (3.32 & 4.31 versions) Boot Drive - Western Digital Blue 2 TB SATA M.2 SSD (roughly half full) Old CPU cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO New CPU cooler - Arctic Liquid Freezer III 240 Case - HYTE Y60 PSU - Corsair RM750x A second SSD for games, Corsair case RGB lights, Arctic case fans + fan hub (in SYS_FAN1).
My first boot tried to show debug lights: CPU, VGA, and BOOT lights appeared briefly before staying on. I thought the AIO was too tight, so I replaced the thermal paste and reattached it. The CPU pins looked good, but the AIO still doesn’t start.
I’ve tested booting with just one RAM stick in the A2 slot—old RAM works the same way, stuck at the debug light, while the other old stick cycles through boot attempts without lights. I cleaned everything with compressed air and checked all connections.
I’m new to PC troubleshooting, so any advice would be really helpful. Thanks.
The AIO cable links CPU_FAN1, PUMP to PUMP_FAN1, and VRM to SYS_FAN2. My case fan hub connects to SYS_FAN1. Would you prefer an image of the AIO headers or the entire motherboard?
I apologize for the oversight during copying—this appears to be an LF III issue. I’ll revise my original message. The VRM is a Voltage Regulator Module. The installation manual didn’t specify exactly where to connect it, just to insert the headers where indicated. However, a Reddit discussion suggested placing it in a fan slot, which I followed. A photo of my motherboard is included as well.
Consider using the single connector instead of trying different options. Simply connect it to the CPU_FAN header. It seems the lack of a separate AIO_PUMP header on your motherboard might be causing the issue, which is stopping the system from booting.
It seems you're dealing with an issue where the GPU lights up unexpectedly, and you can't turn it off. The power button isn't working either. Someone else reported a similar problem after overclocking, and clearing CMOS resolved it. You mentioned looking for advice online but can't find the right post. This could be worth considering if the symptoms persist or worsen.
Yes, I had lights before. No power supply, but I still had lighting installed.
You mentioned previous debug indicators but now have RGB strips, RAM with color lighting, a logo light on your GPU, and a backlit keyboard. All of these activate during startup, which explains the boot loop suspicion. The motherboard debug lights sometimes turn on too, adding to the confusion. I'll clarify the difference between the debug lights and RGB lighting in upcoming posts!