Working on my roommate's PC to help her manage her cable connection. It seems she can't get it to start up.
Working on my roommate's PC to help her manage her cable connection. It seems she can't get it to start up.
I expect to upload pictures soon, wrapped in a black sleeve with two wires and a small connector on the motherboard, then secured to the back of the IO. Likely trying to save space—Mini ITX is tough. I can reset the CMOS easily and plan to try again later, but swapping it out will be harder. The GPU has already been tested in another system and works perfectly. RAM is about to get tested on my setup. I’ve fully taken apart the PC, keeping only the CPU, cleaning every header and cable, so the MMO will pass after the RAM. I’m planning to ask my roommate to test her NVMe in an external case to confirm it’s working, though it should be fine.
This information is helpful. I'm currently running a memory test on my RAM and have already encountered 15 errors during the first attempt. That's not ideal, but I wouldn't assume bad RAM would completely stop the system or trigger the QLED display. It might just be another unrelated problem I discovered. I plan to reinstall the power supply and try using different RAM modules to see if it powers up. I'll also test short-circuiting the power if needed. I'll share updates with photos later in this post.
So far I've connected the 24-pin CPU and GPU cables back in with new RAM and an NVMe drive, but still didn't get a boot. I tried shorting the power pins and using the case power button without success. The old RAM showed 101 errors on Pass 2/4 during MemTest. It seems like the RAM might be damaged, though it's still not working even with different modules. This test result is confusing for me. Everything started when I opened Battlefront II, which had stutters and audio issues, followed by a blue screen and BIOS warning about high core temps. After rebooting into BIOS, everything seemed to work until I left the system on the lock screen briefly before shutting it down again. We then focused on cable management and reapplying thermal paste. Now I'm wondering if this could have damaged the motherboard, possibly causing the RAM issues and affecting the CPU. Should I consider replacing the CPU or the laptop's CMOS battery? It would be best to test it in another machine if possible.
PICS OF WORKING BUILD AT BOTTOM OF POST I fixed it! Thank you so much for all the help and advice everyone. I tested the PSU using the paperclip test yesterday and it was working just fine. I moved onto checking the CPU again so I took off the cooler again and removed the CPU and even MOBO. I then cleaned every inch of the MOBO with q-tips and isopropyl very carefully (even thought it didn't look that dirty, can't hurt). Reapplied thermal paste again and reseated the cpu and cooler probably more carefully than I ever have before, lol. Plugged in the 24 pin, CPU PWR and GPU and some good RAM and tested it outside the case with the power button connected AND SUCCESS. My presumption is the CPU was just being finicky but I guess cleaning the MOBO could have helped. Already finished putting the PC back together and cleaning it up just waiting for my roomie to get home with the new RAM she picked up to replace her dying sticks. So it took a couple days and it seems like it was just a silly issue, BUT I learned a lot in the process, got to try a few things I've never had to do before, we caught her bad RAM before it got any worse. Plus my roomie found a great deal on a 3600MHz 16gbx2 set of RGB trident z memory at Can Con so that's a straight upgrade Will come back with one final post with a pic of the build all cleaned up, thanks again everyone!