The black screen occurs during attempts to reach the BIOS settings.
The black screen occurs during attempts to reach the BIOS settings.
So I am building a NAS with a mixture of new and used parts. At this point just waiting on the case to arrive, so I decided to test boot the system with the rest of the parts. The CPU, motherboard, and PSU are all used, and the ram and storage are new. I am using the integrated graphics with an hdmi from the mobo to my monitor. When I go to boot up the system I am greeted with the ASUS splash screen, however
when I press f2 or delete as the screen instructs me to do it does not enter the BIOS
, it just doesn't react in any way (I have tried multiple keyboards).
If I let it sit for a few minutes it will eventually go to the American Megatrends screen, and then comes the really frustrating part. When I press f1 as instructed to "enter the setup or recover BIOS setting" my screen goes black. It just stays black indefinitely, and the monitor never times out, so it is receiving some signal, but only black. Once it reaches this state I am unable to get any video to pass video at all after multiple reboots. I am only able to get the splash sceens to display again after clearing the CMOS, and having the same result when I hit f1 to enter the setup.
Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS B150I Pro Gaming/Aura
CPU: i5-7500
RAM: HyperX FURY DDR4 2300mhz 2x 8GB kit
Storage: 1TB Crucial 2.5" SSD
PSU: 380w Mute Master N380 (had this lying around, I think it's high enough wattage, but it only has a 4-pin CPU connector. Google search said the 4-pin should be sufficient for my i5-7500).
Troubleshooting steps I've taken:
Removing all necessary connections
Removing one stick of memory
Cleared CMOS multiple times
Booted with installation media and SSD attached, but was not able to reach the installation screen
Ensured all cables are securely plugged in
Using a different display
None of the debug LEDs are lit up when I boot it, except for the boot drive LED when the SSD is not connected. Not sure where to go from here. I wonder if it is trying to display to a GPU, or if the PSU is perhaps not supplying enough voltage to the CPU. I do have a gaming PC with a graphics card and decent PSU I could use to rule these out, but would like to explore other options before I go ripping that whole system apart. Any help would be appreciated, thanks for reading!
Consider experimenting with another video interface rather than HDMI, such as using Display Port, DVI or VGA based on the iGPU motherboard outputs. HDMI might sometimes be problematic.
If that doesn't work and you have an older GPU card, it's worth a shot, even if it isn't fully compatible with Windows 10/11. A GT 630 or GT 710 should function in Windows 10, or even as a Basic Graphics Adapter on an older system.
Have you considered using a PS/2 keyboard instead of USB?
I've seen cases where two old PCs were connected via only a 4-way EPS 12V plug into the 8-way motherboard slot. This leads to a larger voltage drop along the cable due to fewer parallel conductors. It's acceptable if you're not overclocking or using a very power-hungry processor, but if the system freezes under heavy CPU load, adding an 8-way power supply might be necessary.
If someone encounters this in the future, it was a mismatched BIOS. I managed to fix the problem by replacing the CPU with an older model and updating the BIOS version. Hope this assists another person!
I once purchased an old AMD APU just in case I needed to update the BIOS when swapping a new graphics card, ensuring compatibility with a recently released Ryzen. It turned out the new card came with the latest BIOS, which was a relief, so I didn't need the APU.
It's always wise to verify your BIOS version before buying a new CPU to confirm the mobo can recognize the processor.
However, it can be challenging when buying both the mobo and CPU together, especially after a significant CPU version update. If the mobo has an outdated, incompatible BIOS that prevents flashing without a CPU, you may need to obtain one from the manufacturer or another source.