Brand new PC crashed after 6 hours of use. Won't send any output to monitor.

Hello everyone, and thanks for checking this out. I am brand new to building PCs, this is my first build ever. I'll put the parts list at the bottom. I thought everything was fine, I got it to boot up, install windows, do all my windows updates and installed new drivers for my GPU and CPU, and was in the middle of doing some game downloads when it crashed. And all day I had been using Ryzen Master and the built in Radeon monitoring software to check my CPU and GPU temps and they were both in the low 30 C range every time I checked. I didn't see it happen, everything was going well but I have slow internet so I left for about an hour and a half and when I came back the screen was black. My monitor said the computer had gone to sleep (like assumed it had) so I wiggled the mouse and hit the space bar for a solid two minutes and nothing happened. No matter what I did it wouldn't come up. I checked inside the case and everything was still running and there were no debug lights lit up on my motherboard. So I tried to shut it off with the power button and nothing happened there either. So I switched it off at the power supply, turned it back on with the power button, and no dice. Except this time the CPU light on my motherboard lit up solid red. And it's been that way since. I took the CPU out and other than having to deal with it stuck to the Cooler because I pulled it off cold, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. There is no scorch marks on it or the mobo around the CPU socket, and all the pins are perfect. Did I fry my CPU somehow? We've had perfect weather and even if it was storming I've got it plugged into a beefy power strip so it couldn't have been lightning. Any help or advice would be very greatly appreciated, thanks!



Parts List:

Mobo: MSI B450 Tomahawk Max ATX AM4

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600

GPU: ASRock Radeon RX 5500XT 8GB Phantom

RAM: Team T-Force Dark Za 32gb (2x16)

PSU: Raidmax 630w Semi-Modular ATX PSU

1 Seagate Barracuda 2tb HDD

1 Western Digital Blue 1tb SSD

Case: Cougar MX330

phillpower2 said:

Hello Dovah53,

You have post this on at least one other forum where I volunteer.

We are always happy to help when we can but we cannot safely do so if you are already receiving assistance on any other forum, doing so may lead to confusion as to whose and what guidance you are following which can be both dangerous and costly, decide on which forum you wish to continue and as a courtesy let the other/s know that assistance is no longer required.

Thank you for your understanding.

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Alright I went ahead and replied to my own post on Bleeping Computers saying that I was moving this problem to another forum and that that thread could be closed.

phillpower2 said:

Wasn't what was being implied but you chose to post here so lets get on.

The thing that jumps out at me in your OP is the sub standard PSU;



Raidmax are one of the worst brands of PSU available I'm afraid and if anything has caused any damage it will most likely be this, Raidmax only ever made the one 630W PSU and that was way back in 2011 and production of the model stopped around 2013, it had no efficiency rating and was only covered by a two year warranty, the PSU should not have been used anywhere near your rather expensive build and especially as there is an add on GPU present.

Best suggestion is to see if you are able to borrow a good quality brand PSU to swap in for testing purposes, for your parts you need at least 550W or above and preferably Gold efficiency rated, Corsair, EVGA and Seasonic are my own preferred brands.



The red CPU LED is a real concern tbh but if you can get a good PSU that may clear it, clearing the CMOS by pulling the battery on the MB for a while and then putting it back in is something else that I would do.

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Awesome, thanks a ton! I guess this is what I get for trying to save a few bucks. I don't know anyone close to me that I could borrow a decent PSU from but there is a Corsair 850w 80+ gold rated in stock at my local best buy. I'll probably go grab that along with whatever cheap CPU they have in case the PSU swap doesn't fix it I can swap the CPU to see if I can at least get it to boot. I just have this bad feeling I killed that 3600. While I'm out I'll pull the MB battery and let it sit for a while. Thanks again!

phillpower2 said:

Next best suggestion then is to ask a local tech if they will test the system for you, we don`t want you paying out more than you need to.

I would 100% not be purchasing a new CPU at this time, if the CPU is bad the chances are that the MB could also be, trying a different PSU and pulling the CMOS battery are all that are recommended atm, in the order of highest failure rates first in this instance it goes PSU, MB then CPU, the RAM and GPU asides as neither are implicated in this.

You could try just pulling the CMOS battery to begin with, the power cord needs to be disconnected from wall socket, the case power on button pressed for twenty or so seconds to get rid of any residual charge in the system, pull out the battery, leave it out for a while, check that all internal connections are secure, reseat the RAM and GPU, put the CMOS battery back in, reassemble, power up and hope.

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Got it, that makes sense. And since I ordered from Newegg I still have 40 something days to return that CPU and get it replaced so I'll just wait until that is the last possible thing that could be wrong. I'll update as soon as I can. Thanks again, this has been huge help.

phillpower2 said:

It all hinges on the outcome of pulling the CMOS battery and trying another PSU tbh, if neither help and you RMA the CPU it will be tested and if they suspect that the processor has been damaged by a faulty PSU, MB or by being pulled from the CPU socket on the board they will decline the RMA and send the same CPU back to you.

Can I ask how long you have had the PSU.

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Oh, well that's no fun. I ordered the PSU on the 1st of this month and it was delivered on the 7th I think.

phillpower2 said:

Amazon USA is the only place I see the PSU still for sale, if purchased from them see Warranty & Support info here

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Thanks! I just got home with the new Corsair PSU, I'm swapping them out now and then we'll see how she does.

phillpower2 said:

Did you remove the CMOS battery first?

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Yes, It's been out for about an hour and a half ish now. I was going to put it back in before I started plugging everything back in.

phillpower2 said:

Good but make it the last thing that you put back, it leaves a break in the circuit that way.

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got it.

phillpower2 said:

Good but make it the last thing that you put back, it leaves a break in the circuit that way.

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So I'm thinking I'm gonna be buying a new CPU. I reseated the GPU and the RAM and replaced the power supply and all the cords with the ones that came with the Corsair PSU. After getting everything put back together I tried firing it up and it's the same. I did some more googling and some people were saying that at one point you couldn't boot on this board with dual channel RAM so I tried it in single channel and its the same.

phillpower2 said:

Not sure what you have read but it is totally inaccurate, Ryzen CPUs basically demand that the RAM be running in dual channel and will be slow as molasses and problematic with RAM running in single channel, additionally, you had the computer working all day without issue so you know that everything worked originally.

You are going to have to bite the bullet and get a local tech to take a look at it, you cannot risk purchasing anything else.

As an asides, a local tech may be able to determine if the cheap PSU has caused this or something else, you mentioned using the Ryzen software, any chance that you may have overclocked the CPU too far.

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Ok I'll try and find a decent local tech shop and get in contact with them. The only thing I used the Ryzen software for was monitoring, I didn't touch any of the overclock options because I'm brand new and I just wanted to get a functioning system before I even thought about that.

phillpower2 said:

From whom did you purchase the Raidmax PSU.

If the tech can confirm that it went bad and took out other parts with it you have a claim against the seller of the PSU, this only if the PSU was out of the box new and you still have the sales invoice.

Do you know anyone that has a multi meter that you can borrow, it will only test the very basic readings but may give you an idea as to whether or not it is bad, the following from your OP is a good sign that the cause was electrical;



The above could unfortunately also mean that something got shorted out

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Apologies for taking so long to respond. I got in touch with an old family friend last night that I totally forgot about until then. They used to worked in tech support for years and have built many a PC for themselves and friends. I already trust them more than any of the tech shops in my town and I could never get ahold of any of them anyway. The downside is I won't be able to get the computer to my friend until probably next Tuesday so it's going to be a little bit. I'll try and remember to update this with the results. And hopefully if they can identify the problem I can provide pictures or something in the event that someone else runs into whatever is going on with it. I got that PSU from Newegg to answer your question. Thanks again for the help!