When linking gadgets via SATA cable, the machine fails to power up completely.
When linking gadgets via SATA cable, the machine fails to power up completely.
I own a 7-year-old computer that I wish to pass on to my son. It runs on a Gigabyte H370M DS3H motherboard, features a Core i7-8700 (3.2GHz) 12MB - 6C 12T - 1151 processor and 16GB 2666MHz DDR4 RAM. The system originally came with two Samsung 860 EVO SSDs, 500GB each, in a RAID setup.
At first, the PC operated smoothly. However, when I power it up, nothing happens. The fans begin spinning very slowly—just a fraction of a second—and then the process halts completely. This is what I refer to as a "hick," and it stops there.
I suspect the problem lies with the SATA bus. When I disconnect all SATA connections, the PC boots into BIOS but fails to start again unless I connect an HDD. Once I connect one drive to the SATA port, the system doesn’t boot at all (except for the brief fan noise).
After swapping the SSDs with an older HDD I found, the issue persisted. I tested various SATA ports, but the same problem occurred.
Assuming the SATA bus is faulty, I bought a PCI Express SATA 3.0 Controller Card and a SATA III expansion card. Again, the PC started up normally, but when I connected any drive to the SATA port, it wouldn’t boot.
I also removed the Radeon RX 5700 XT PULSE and ran on the built-in graphics, but the same failure happened.
I worry that during these changes, I might have damaged the motherboard. My mistake was rushing the process without using proper precautions (like antistatic equipment). Although it seems only the SATA bus is affected, replacing it with an external adapter didn’t resolve the issue.
Anyone have additional advice? Is this a known problem?
This seems unrelated at the moment, isn't it? The PC isn't even starting. As I mentioned before, it just fails to reach any boot sequence because it doesn't perform any meaningful action (besides that tiny "hick" of the ventilator, which moves a few mm and then stops).
When you changed the PSU, did you only use the cables that came with the new one? Also, did you take out every single cable from the previous PSU?
The original PSU (the 450W model) had its motherboard power cables connected directly to it. Only the SATA power required separate cables. The 650W model came with all cables individually. When I replaced the PSU, I reused the SATA cables but added a dedicated power cable for the PSU unit. The power reaching the motherboard is functioning, at least—I was able to boot and enter BIOS using the SATA cables disconnected. It only fails when I begin connecting the SATA data cables; then the PC refuses to start. The ventilators move slightly for a moment before stopping (I explained this by saying my fans had a "hick"). By the way, linking the SATA power cables to my SSD drives doesn’t seem to affect anything.
Not necessarily. If the boot priority encounters a dead drive or a drive lacking a bootable partition, it may lead to a hang.