Computer Won't Post/Beep Unless I Remove RAM

TaylorNotThatSwift · Mar 23, 2017

I have a PC with an AMD FX-8320, a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P motherboard, EVGA 600B PSU, EVGA GTX 970 FTW, and 8GB of Kingston HyperX RAM. I built it over two years ago and it has been working fine.

However, one day, I tried to turn it on and the PC wouldn't post. The fans and LEDs would start working, but I would hear no beeps from the PC even though I have a system speaker in there. Eventually, I got it to work by resetting CMOS and just replugging a bunch of stuff.

The problem went away for about two days. But then, I went to turn my PC on one day and it would not post; the fans and LEDs all still worked though. I tried doing what I did the last time to no avail. Finally, I let it sit and after almost ten minutes, my PC would post and I had access to BIOS. Thinking this may be some sort of BIOS problem, I reset BIOS to optimal settings. For the next few days, my PC would still have very long times to post. Sometimes up to 15 minutes before I got a beep and saw my motherboard splash screen, then it would boot into Windows. Today, I go to turn on my PC and it won't post, period. Even after the machine had been on several hours.

I have only one RAM stick, so I can't remove any one stick to see if it is defective. I've swapped the RAM to different channels to see if that was the problem but it didn't solve anything. All my power cables are connected properly. My GPU is properly seated and installed with the power cables plugged in. My PSU, GPU, and heatsink fans all turn.

I completely removed my graphics card and my PC still didn't post. Next, I removed my RAM stick and I got a bunch of loud beeps. If I'm interpreting this correctly, since my motherboard can still make beeps, all the fans connected to it still work, and the Ethernet cord plugged into it has an LED, the motherboard must still be properly working right? Since removing the RAM was the only thing that got my PC to beep at me, that must be the problem right?

I ask simply because I want to be correct before I just buy another RAM kit. I really don't want to take this PC to some repair shop and get stiffed all in the end for them to tell me I need new RAM or some other part.

Thanks.

thx1138v2 · Mar 23, 2017

It might not be the RAM. I had a similar issue with an ASUS motherboard and Phenom II processor and chip set.

Mine started having problems when I would shut it off, remember that I forgot to do something, and then tried to turn it back on again within a couple of minutes. I went through the same thing with resetting the BIOS, etc. I found that I could hold the power reset switch in and the fans would speed up and if I held it in for like a minute and then released it, it would boot. Or sometimes I would have to turn the PSU switch off, remove the power cord, wait a minute for the PSU to discharge, and then reverse the process and it would boot right up.

I took everything apart and cleaned it with 90% alcohol, blew out the dust from the CPU heat sink, cleaned the fan blades, and reapplied the thermal paste on the CPU and removed the cover from the PSU and cleaned all of that also and it worked OK for about a year and then started the same thing again. So I went through the cleaning process again and this time also reapplied the thermal paste on the chip set heat sink. It's up and running again and boots right up again.

It looks like your motherboard has a removable heat sink on the chip set so i would highly advise reapplying thermal paste there also. You can find videos on the web. And be sure to remove
the fan when you clean the CPU heat sink and clean them both separately.

I think it's a heat retainage thing kind of like what's called "heat soak" in competition car engines. Everything is working fine but the sensors are telling the machine not to start up because it's too hot. I think that's why holding in the reset button that speeds up the fans does the trick some times. Also related, my problem first started in the summer when ambient temperatures are higher. That may apply in your situation also depending on where you are.

BTW my rig is 6 years old now and this started about 2 years ago, but it's an ASUS motherboard as opposed to Gigabyte. I imagine they have the same AMD chip set though.

TaylorNotThatSwift · Mar 23, 2017

thx1138v2 :

It might not be the RAM. I had a similar issue with an ASUS motherboard and Phenom II processor and chip set.

Mine started having problems when I would shut it off, remember that I forgot to do something, and then tried to turn it back on again within a couple of minutes. I went through the same thing with resetting the BIOS, etc. I found that I could hold the power reset switch in and the fans would speed up and if I held it in for like a minute and then released it, it would boot. Or sometimes I would have to turn the PSU switch off, remove the power cord, wait a minute for the PSU to discharge, and then reverse the process and it would boot right up.

I took everything apart and cleaned it with 90% alcohol, blew out the dust from the CPU heat sink, cleaned the fan blades, and reapplied the thermal paste on the CPU and removed the cover from the PSU and cleaned all of that also and it worked OK for about a year and then started the same thing again. So I went through the cleaning process again and this time also reapplied the thermal paste on the chip set heat sink. It's up and running again and boots right up again.

It looks like your motherboard has a removable heat sink on the chip set so i would highly advise reapplying thermal paste there also. You can find videos on the web. And be sure to remove
the fan when you clean the CPU heat sink and clean them both separately.

I think it's a heat retainage thing kind of like what's called "heat soak" in competition car engines. Everything is working fine but the sensors are telling the machine not to start up because it's too hot. I think that's why holding in the reset button that speeds up the fans does the trick some times. Also related, my problem first started in the summer when ambient temperatures are higher. That may apply in your situation also depending on where you are.

BTW my rig is 6 years old now and this started about 2 years ago, but it's an ASUS motherboard as opposed to Gigabyte. I imagine they have the same AMD chip set though.

I'll try it tomorrow. One of the things I did though when I was having this problem was grab some canned air and clean out my PC. I reapplied my CPU and HSF, gave it new thermal paste and cleaned everything. We'll see, though, I guess.

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Computer Won't Post/Beep Unless I Remove RAM

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