First built PC turns on but black screen

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
B

Blackice702

Prominent
Apr 9, 2017
6
0
510
Hello, I just built my first PC but when I turn it on all I get is a black screen. The fans and LED lights turn on the motherboard and graphic card and will stay on until I manually turn off the power. The CPU is plugged in, I've moved around the RAM in all 4 slots and removed the graphics card to connect HDMI/DVI-D directly on the motherboard. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Motherboard: ASRock Z270 Killer SLI/AC LGA 1151 Intel
G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8 GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4
Intel Core i5-7600k with Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU Cooler
MSI Radeon RX 480 (8 GB)
SeaSonic 650w Gold Certified Semi Modular
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB
HDD: 2 TB WD
 
Solution
Uncle Smith
Sort by date Sort by votes
Uncle Smith

Uncle Smith

Prominent
Apr 8, 2017
5
0
520
Hey, Blackice702!

Try to power on the machine w/o graphics card and just with 1 memory stick in the first slot and clear the CMOS.
Also try to plug a GPU card in a different PCI slot.

I've got the same problem, but with a different AS Rock mobo - X99 OC Formula - fortunately, it has error code display and post status checker LEDs, which could inform me exactly where a problem is.
Last time after cleaning dust I reassembled my PC (previously it worked alright) and I got the black screen and the mobo threw me an error code related to RAM. I removed 3 of 4 sticks and left just 1 in the 1st slot - and I got a normal picture on the screen. Then I put second memory stick, tuned PC on - and zip - black screen again and mobo threw me a different error code! At this time - GRU isn't recognized! I thought what?!
I put GPU card in different PCI slot, and powered on again - it worked! After that I plugged all left 3 memory stick - and machine turned on fine and dandy (Except some issues I had before, you can read them here if you want - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3382287/computer-freezes-sleeping-mode-logging-screen.html)

Cheers!
Phil
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

Blackice702

Prominent
Apr 9, 2017
6
0
510
So I removed the CMOS battery on the motherboard and waited 5 minutes before putting it back in. With one stick of RAM and the GPU removed it still shows nothing on screen. I've tried hooking it on with DVI-D to my monitor and HDMI to my TV. I did notice when there's only 1 RAM placed inside the computer seems to reset itself once before staying on for good. Also there is a LED on the motherboard flashing red but I'm not sure if it means anything as I haven't seen anything in the manual about it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Uncle Smith

Uncle Smith

Prominent
Apr 8, 2017
5
0
520


Hmm, any PCB designators aside this blinking LED? Could you please make a shot of this LED and around circuitry?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

Blackice702

Prominent
Apr 9, 2017
6
0
510

http://imgur.com/a/gR0jE
I think the flashing red light is normal on this motherboard after looking into it more. I also wanted to point out that the keyboard & mouse do not light up when I plug them into the USB. Though if I plug in my USB flash drive it'll light up like it's reading it for a second.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

Blackice702

Prominent
Apr 9, 2017
6
0
510

Yes. I originally had the RAM (and currently do now) in A2 & B2. I noticed the red light turns blue for a moment when it first starts up while the RAM is in A2 or in both A2 & B2. Any other combination and it just stays red.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
LowlySkeleton

LowlySkeleton

Reputable
Aug 5, 2015
235
1
4,860
Try isolating which component might be causing the problem.

Have only the cpu, motherboard, heatsink, 1 stick of ram, and peripherals hooked up and try booting it up. You would want to test only a single stick of ram with all the different slots on your motherboard. Doing the same with the second stick of ram as well, that way you can discern if either of the two sticks of ram is suspect. If you had a second working system that accepts DDR4, you can actually tell if its the ram, but if you don't you will just have to assume either they are both dead or its something else that is an issue.

It also might be worth trying to just re-seat the CPU and unplugging everything and plugging them all back in.

Sometimes components can be DOA(dead on arrival) and you would need to isolate which component it might be. If you can't isolate which one it is, you can try to exchange the ram you bought and tell them that it might be defective/DOA and see if they can provide you with a different set.

If that still fails, it might be the motherboard or the cpu....which would also mean a trip back to the retail-store to ask for an exchange again unfortunately.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Uncle Smith

Uncle Smith

Prominent
Apr 8, 2017
5
0
520


Yep, that's exactly I've encountered when I've purchased all components for my PC...
I brought em home, assembled and got nothing but a black screen and the mobo gave me a "RAM Error" code.
I went back to retailer with all my key components (Mobo, CPU, RAM & GPU) and asked em to test to confirm corrupted item(s). So what you think? RAM stick were, like you said, DOA; so they replaced them with a different model and Bob's you uncle - it worked and still works fine after 1 year of continuous operation.

FYI.
Dead RAM sticks were:
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32Gb DDR4 2400MHz (CMK32GX4M2A2400C14) (2x16Gb KIT).
Replaced with:
Crusial Ballistix, 32Gb DDR4 (4x8Gb KIT), 2400 MHz, UDIMM, 1.2V.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
B

Blackice702

Prominent
Apr 9, 2017
6
0
510




I've tried rotating both sticks of RAM in each of the 4 slots (singles and in pairs). I've removed the GPU, checked the CPU seating, tried removing the HDD & SSD, and even replaced the CMOS battery as someone else mentioned that had fixed theirs. I'm thinking something is DOA at this point. I've tried everything on the http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems page except the system speaker & breadboarding. Unfortunately I don't have access to a newer desktop that I can test anything on either.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom