The issue appears to be with the RAM, motherboard, or power supply unit.
The issue appears to be with the RAM, motherboard, or power supply unit.
System details: Mobo B650M Aorus Elite AX v1.3, Ryzen 7 7700X, GPU 1660 Ti, RAM G.Skill Aegis 2 x 16GB (max 6000Mhz), AIO Thermalright Frozen Prism 360, case Montech Air 903. Windows 10 Pro installed, EXPO profile activated, no BIOS changes made. Three days ago the machine was functioning properly; I planned to upgrade with a SATA SSD and HDD but encountered issues. After reconnecting the drives, the motherboard failed to power on, showing no lights and a red DRAM indicator with "no signal" on the monitor. I reinserted RAM and GPU, but the red DRAM light stayed on and remained unresponsive. I cleaned the RAM and GPU contacts using an eraser and brush, ensuring all surfaces were clean. The motherboard still didn’t light up. Eventually, I removed everything from the case and reinstalled everything carefully, following detailed instructions. I also attempted fixes from YT, such as unplugging the PSU, resetting the BIOS via PWM for 30 seconds, testing RAM sticks one at a time in each slot, and trying CPU cooler removal. Despite a barebones setup—CPU with cooler, single RAM stick, GPU only, no iGPU, and switch flipped—I received no response from the motherboard. I’ve invested over two days troubleshooting and would value any advice from others who have resolved this issue.
I put in two additional SATA drives (one HDD and one SSD) along with an extra accessory power connector for the PSU. One connector covers both drives. I looked up wattage requirements online and both suggested a need of 450-500W, which made me really unsure if it would overload the PSU.
Used an eraser to rub the ram and gpu connectors? What was the reason for that? I know you're in a tough spot, but this might have caused more harm than good. The eraser could ruin the gold plating on the connectors.
Your message is a bit unclear and it's not easy to understand your situation. What does "0 response from mobo despite flashing" mean? Are the fans starting up when you turn on the PC? Is the Prism 360 RGB light turning on? A video showing what happens could help others figure out what's happening.
I perform this only when absolutely necessary on DIMMs with severely corroded contacts or when the base metal surfaces have begun to rust (common in humid tropical climates). Using force on the gold contacts might produce hundreds or even thousands of Volts, resulting in irreversible ESD damage. Not advisable for sensitive static-sensitive RAM or CPUs.
In terms of stability, I’d note that the motherboard would likely resist a 6000MT/s overclock unless it was the intended speed. AMD suggests sticking to DDR5-5200 on the 7700X model. Performance beyond this is not guaranteed by AMD, depending on the quality of the CPU/RAM/BIOS and any manual adjustments you apply to RAM timings. Have you completed a full MemTest86 run (several hours) to verify stability with the XMP 6000MT/s setting? It’s hard to say for sure if it was truly stable after just two days.
Regarding the "accessory drive power connector," could it be something like the Corsair modular SATA power cable, or a simple SATA splitter/adapter wire that occasionally causes fires due to internal short circuits in the molded housing?
https://nerdtechy.com/best-lp4-molex-sata-power-adapter
I’ve been lucky enough never to have to deal with this issue before. I’m worried something could fail and I wouldn’t be able to see any error codes on the screen. If the BIOS functioned properly for two days before installing the SATA drives, it probably wasn’t the cause.
After all the troubles you’ve gone through, it’s hard to pinpoint what went wrong. It began when you connected the SATA SSD and HDD. That shouldn’t be an issue. I own several PCs with ten SATA drives and SSDs, but your system still failed after connecting just two.
I usually take a spare unit with similar specs and swap parts one by one from the faulty machine. I’d probably start by swapping the RAM, testing it at the standard JEDEC 4800MT/s speed using MemTest86—no need to push XMP 6000MT/s. Just ensure the RAM passes the test.
Next, I’d try moving the GPU to another PC and see if it works. It carries some risk but seems acceptable. Then I’d use a multimeter as a quick check on the PSU, confirming the presence of the +3.3V, +5V, and +12V rails. After that, I’d install the PSU in an older, less critical PC and hope it starts up.
If the risk is worth it, I’d swap the CPU to a compatible board and power it on. For the following tests, I’d install a verified good CPU on the suspect motherboard—still a small chance.
On SATA drives, I’d connect them one at a time to an old, disposable PC. If they fail, you could replace the PSU or motherboard. By then, the faulty parts should be identifiable.
If you don’t have a backup system, is there a nearby repair shop? Another option is to start purchasing replacement parts, which can become costly. There’s a risk of further damage if you buy new components, or moving parts that might already be compromised to a new setup. Lastly, the new PC solution isn’t ideal.
I see... that's the reason it's not advised. Thanks for clarifying, I'll remember that.
I didn't run MemTest86 after enabling EXPO profile 1. I assumed the RAM would perform optimally since I've heard that using default expo profiles could boost speeds to the maximum supported clock rates of the motherboard. That seems like a reasonable idea though...
Yes! It looks like my unit had fewer rectangular SATA connectors.
That's puzzling—so many users worldwide (thousands) seem to have fixed their DRAM lights with a basic BIOS flash. I saw on other forums (not Tom's) that some recent BIOS updates led to RAM instability, so people tried reverting back to older versions and everything worked fine. Still, I believe it's not a good idea, so I won't try it.
Unfortunately, I can't afford a backup system after setting this up. Maybe I'll have to refund the RAM... I'll let you know if there are any improvements here. Thanks, mate!
Cleaning RAM contacts with an eraser is common practice. Instead, Corsair recommend using a Q-Tip and Iso Propyl Alcohol, but I suspect this is aimed at home PC users.
https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/a...ic...AM-modules
Neither of these practices is 100% safe. You may never have a problem, but if you do "zap" your DIMM (or CPU) with static, they might fail at some time in the future (or not). ESD damage is insidious. It can take months or years before an affected part stops working.
https://mbsitem.co.uk/identifying-esd-da...icroscope/
Having worked in the Aerospace industry for multi-billion dollar companies, we had special laboratories and work areas, with anti-static floor tiles, benches, work surfaces, and special tools, plus we wore ESD shoes, ESD overcoats, ESD wrist straps, ESD gloves, etc., when working on components and complete assemblies. You don't want components dying due to static damage when they're thousands of feet or hundreds of miles above the Earth's surface.
On home computers it doesn't matter a jot if a RAM chip or CPU dies due to mishandling. If you're flying in a plane at 30,000ft and something goes wrong in all the redundant systems at once ( highly unlikely) from poor handling practices during assembly, it's more serious! If a multi-billion dollar satellite fails due to unnecessary static damage, it's a waste of time and money.
Switching on the default XMP profile sets the clock speed to the maximum supported by the RAM, not the maximum speed supported by the mobo. If you look closely at your mobo spec, you may find it supports 7000MT/s or even higher speeds.
You bought 6000MT/s RAM, so presumably, when the BIOS checked the SPD (Serial Presence Detect) chip in each DIMM for the highest XMP speed, it pulled out the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary timings for 6000MT/s and programmed the motherboard accordingly.
Unfortunately, you cannot expect 6000MT/s to work on all 7700X CPUs, in all the various motherboards available and with every DIMM manufactured with a 6000MT/s XMP setting. The critical thing to note is that AMD do not guarantee operation of the 7700X above DDR5-5200.
As you may have spotted, 6000MT/s is some way above 5200MT/s. Just because your mobo and RAM can be clocked at 6000MT/s, doesn't mean they'll work at 6000MT/s with an AMD 7700X. It's common experience that AMD CPUs do not clock as well as similar Intel CPUs, when setting XMP/EXPO memory overclocks. The Intel 14900K is guaranteed by Intel up to DDR5-5600, 400MT/s faster than the 7700X.
In practice you can often run much faster XMP/EXPO speeds than the figure guaranteed by AMD/Intel, but there's no automatic guarantee you'll be successful, especially if you've bought a memory kit that's too fast for your CPU. Some motherboards overclock better than others. Some "Golden Sample" CPUs overclock better than others. It's called the Silicon Lottery.
It's common to find intermediate XMP settings in SPD, so your DIMMs may have options for 5000, 5200, 5400, 5600 and 5800MT/s, as well as JEDEC default (typically) 4800MT/s and the maximum 6000MT/s. To invoke these slower (and potentially more stable) XMP speeds, may require some manual intervention on your part, to select them in the BIOS.
It's not re-flashing the BIOS that concerns me. I do this on a fairly regular basis. What does worry me is flashing the BIOS when the CPU and more especially the monitor aren't there.
With a "normal" flash operation, you can see you're loading the correct BIOS file, by checking the drive and file name on the screen. You can monitor the progress bar during update and read the text messages that appear on the screen. You can breathe a sigh of relief after several reboots when the message "BIOS update successful" appears on the screen.
With a "blind" update, designed for use when your BIOS does not support the latest CPU and you don't have an older (compatible) CPU fitted, you're working in the dark. You cannot be certain the computer is loading the correct BIOS file. There are no reassuring messages on the screen to show if the update is proceeding normally, or has come to a grinding halt due to corruption of the BIOS file on a dodgy USB memory stick. All you have to go on is a flashing LED.
I believe it's easier to "brick" a motherboard with a blind update that with a normal update.
There's a very good chance there's nothing wrong with the RAM. The only problem is you've been trying to run the memory too fast. A bit like flooring the accelerator in a car on a long downhill stretch, with the engine rev limiter disabled. You may simply be pushing your system too fast and into the unstable red zone.
If you can work out how to change XMP speeds in your BIOS, try 5200MT/s. It'll probably be stable. Next try 5400MT/s. Again it should boot into Windows. Next, try 5600MT/s. It might be OK. If so, try 5800MT/s. If 5800 crashes, reduce the speed to 5600 and then boot from a MemTest86 USB memory stick and run a full scan (several hours). If there are zero errors, you're probably good. If you get even one error, reduce XMP one step to 5400MT/s.
The idea is to increase the XMP overclock slowly until instability appears, then back off the setting to obtain reliable operation.
This all assumes you can get the PC to boot up at all.
Received a fresh set of RAM after completing the assessment return. Installed them and still faced the same red DRAM issue with no signal on the monitor. The retailer advised testing each stick individually, pausing 5-10 minutes for memory training before powering on. I followed that guidance, leaving each stick in for 10 to 30 minutes intermittently. Ultimately, every single installation produced zero memory response, matching what was described previously. I’m considering applying for the mobile RA now... This was a tough lesson, but I appreciate your insights, Misgar. You taught me a lot.
Ended up purchasing a brand new B650 MB (Asus B650M-E Wifi) and managed to upload! Unfortunately, after a few days it stopped working abruptly and refused to post again (no lights, no LEDs, no fans). All components except the GPU and PSU are new, so I'm now thinking the PSU might be the issue.