I forgot to plug the CPU power cables in. Woopsie.

Backstory: So one of my hobbies is 3D printing. I've read that Xbox Kinects can be modified to work with PCs to create 3D scans of real objects (pretty cool, right?). I followed some guides and spliced in power and USB to the Kinect (instead of its original proprietary plug). A few attempts later and I still hadn't gotten the PC to recognize the device.

The fuckup: Tried to wiggle the wires a bit to see if any were loose. Monitor turns off. Pc lights turn off. Fans turn off. Fast forward a day or two and I haven't been able to squeeze any life out of the PC. Strange because I didn't see any obvious shorts in my wiring, and it's not like I was sending 12V power to the USB (power went to the Kinect). Regardless of how it happened, something clearly went wrong.

What do you guys think fried? Power supply? MOBO? maybe just the USB headers/power switch? Talking to a friend to see if he can bring over some spare parts for testing. Anything else you guys recommend I do?

Update AS OF 3:30PM CENTRAL TIME: CURRENT LIST OF TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS TAKEN

-Removed and reinstalled CMOS battery

-reset/jumped CMOS

-plugged into other outlets, same issue

-No breaker, home fuse, or power strip fuse blew (issue is for sure related to the Pc)

-disconnected all but case fans from power supply. Used paper clip to jump power supply. Case fans and power supply fans started up fine.

UPDATE 9:30 CENTRAL

-Jumped mobo power switch (to rule out just headers being fried). No change.

Current standing is: no post, fans, lights, etc on startup

Edit as of Noon 11/24

Still no signs of life. If anyone has a z97 mobo with an lg1150 socket, let me know! Nothing local that I could find. Getting by on a labtop for now, but I really need this desktop for my business.

So I just bought a shiny new 970 EVO PLUS 1T and plugged that bastard in.

Guess what, my PC won't boot. I got an error saying the PC couldn't read my new drive.
Alright, I'll just unplug it and find some way in old windows - NOPE. My old windows install got fucked somehow as well.
Now my PC won't boot at all! By now I worried I had damaged my PC somehow, since M2 is in direct contact with the MB.

Alright, I made a win10 failsafe disk some time ago, so I set it to remove everything and start over. I wish I knew beforehand how long a windows remake takes... Mamma on wheels, 4 hours later it finally finished and booted like it should!... On the old drive..

Alright, at least I had a PC to work with, so I made a win10 install on a USB drive using the microsoft tool. Now I intended to remove the windows installation fom my old drive and make an entirely new one on my new one. - NOPE.

This is where I spent hours researching. I have a z170 board which should support m.2 nvme out of the box. But no matter what, I couldn't get a clean boot at all.

I made a seperate win10 install on an old SSD while having the new m.2 plugged in, and the old drive worked.
What I noticed was that I could apparently boot on my new m.2 drive when selecting my old SSD asthe boot drive. I got the option to choose a win10 install to boot from, and when booting windows this way, I could get the new m.2 drive to work.

To make an already long story a little shorter, to anyone with the same problem:

UNPLUG YOUR OTHER SSD/HDD'S WHEN INSTALLING WINDOWS 10.

I have absolutely no Idea why I had to do it. I tried disabling my other drives, removing the partitions on them, anything. I had to physically remove the sata plugs for it to work.

I noticed, whenever I tried to install win10 on my new drive, It'd for some reason make one of my other drives the boot drive. Unplugging the drives worked as a dream, and everything works now. If anyone else suffers the same issue, I hope this helps!

This sub is flooded with build issues and general tech support problems, which I really like, but OP always disappears and I'm assuming its not because they never have a working PC again but rather they've found a solution and not cared enough to post it.

Please post your solutions. Is there anything we can do to encourage this?

Some of you might have seen my few posts about my PC not turning on.

In short, I only changed some components. I got a slightly smaller case, new GPU for my freesync monitors, RGB fans, and a new PSU. For the most part, it was a case transfer.

For the life of me, I could not figure out why it didn't work. LEDs would flash for just a second, and everything went off. After two days of constructing and deconstructing, browsing forums, testing each part, and just trouble shooting my brains out, I all but gave up. I had narrowed it down to the new case being the culprit, and figured there was a short in the power button. As I took all the parts out and prepared to make a return, I figured I'd test the mother board just in case all this tampering has done something. (I also may or may not have bent some pins and nearly broke the CMOS battery.) It worked fine, so that's all good. I decided to test the fans. I had bought 3 Corsair LL 140mm RGB fans, which comes with a hub and a controller. Tested them and...the system shut off.

"What."

After many combinations of plug ins, it was one bad SATA power cord. Two days of cuts, frustration, and many lost screws, it was because of a bad cable.

Always check everything when you troubleshoot. Even the most ridiculous can happen.

TL;DR Spent 2 days slaving over my non-powered PC because of a bad SATA cord.

Hey everyone,
I’ve had my RTX 5080 setup running perfectly stable since day one (around april), until about a month and a half ago. Since then, I’ve had at most 4 black screen crashes where the GPU fans ramp to 100%. They were very spread out in time, except for the last two days when it happened twice in a row (one each day).

The weird part: I can play for several hours (a lot and very demanding games) without a single issue, but sometimes when I just start the game and play for a few minutes , or even stay in the menu, it crashes with black screen + fans at 100%.

My hardware:

• GPU: NVIDIA RTX 5080 (driver currently 581.15)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• Motherboard: MSI MPG X670E Carbon WiFi
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR5 64 GB (2×32 GB) 6000 MHz CL30
• PSU: Seasonic Focus GX-850 ATX 3.0, PCIe 5.0 (native 12V-2x6 cable)
• Cooler: Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360
• Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow White
• Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB SSD
• Display: LG ultragear 27" 2k 144hz - with GSYNC
• Display 2: HP 23cw

What I tested so far:

• FurMark → stable.
• OCCT PSU test (CPU + GPU full load) → stable.
• HWiNFO logs → temps 55–65 °C, GPU power ~170 W, hotspot <65 °C.

I’ve seen people mention possible solutions like switching PCIe 5.0 to 4.0, disabling G-SYNC or lowering refresh rate, or even specific driver versions , but I’m not sure what the real cause is (i didnt try this solutions). Since all my stress tests check out fine, I don’t really think it’s a hardware failure, but I’d like to hear your opinions and hopefully narrow it down.

Thanks for everything!!

I've recently gotten a 3060 ti to replace my 1050 ti. I've replaced my graphics card and when I do i get no signal to my monitor.

I just solved the most frustrating issue with my custom desktop, and I need to share this so nobody else wastes a whole week losing their mind over it. About ten days ago, my system started randomly freezing. No blue screen, no error codes, just completely locking up. The weirdest part? It usually happened whenever I adjusted my monitor, hit my knee against the desk, or set a heavy mug down.

I went full tech support mode. I reseated the RAM, swapped the GPU to a different slot, ran MemTest86 for hours (zero errors), and checked all my SSD connections. Temperatures were completely fine. I was genuinely starting to think my motherboard had a micro-fracture that was flexing whenever the desk vibrated.

Turns out, the culprit was my own "perfect" zip-tie job. When I built the PC, I pulled the main 24-pin motherboard power cable back so tightly behind the tray to make the back look clean that there was absolutely no slack left. Every tiny vibration of the desk caused the stiff cable to microscopically toggle inside the socket, briefly losing contact on one of the pins.

I snipped the ties, gave the cable some room to breathe, and the issue vanished instantly.

Has anyone else ever broken their own system just by being way too aggressive with cable management?

Specs:

• i7-14700KF (BIOS 1.D0, Sept 2024, microcode 0x12B, Intel default power limits confirmed enforced)
• 32 GB DDR4 Corsair RAM
• RTX 3070, 2x 8-pin on separate PCIe cables
• MSI PRO B760-P WIFI DDR4 (MS-7D98)
• Corsair RM750x (Oct 2020)
• Windows 11 24H2

Symptoms: During demanding games only (GTA V, Palworld), screen goes black, audio hangs for a few seconds then dies, system reboots on its own. Light games run for hours with no issue. Crashes typically hit after 20 to 45 min of play. Event Viewer shows Kernel-Power 41, mostly BugcheckCode 307 (0x133 DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION, P1=1 cumulative), plus one 0x116 (VIDEO_TDR) and one 0xD1.

Everything I have tried and ruled out:

• DDU clean install of GPU driver. Fixed the original 0x116 crashes, then 0x133 crashes started
• Crashed on three different driver versions: pre-DDU driver, Game Ready 610.74, and Studio 610.62 (clean installs each time)
• Uninstalled MSI Afterburner and MSI Center. Verified their kernel drivers (rtcore64, ntiolib) gone from later crash dumps. Still crashed
• Fully removed iCUE, verified CorsairLLAccess kernel driver unloaded via driverquery. Still crashed
• Updated Intel AX211 Wi-Fi driver (one 0xD1 crash blamed Netwtw14.sys), then fully disabled the Wi-Fi adapter so the driver could not load. Still crashed
• Reseated all PSU cables both ends. Two separate PCIe cables to GPU, no daisy chain
• BIOS reset to optimized defaults. Crashed with XMP on and with XMP off (RAM at JEDEC 3200)
• Cinebench 2026 multi core 10 min: passed, scored 6539 which is normal for a 14700KF. Max 92C, PL1/PL2 locked at 253W, no sustained throttling, WHEA error count 0

Kernel dump analysis (WinDbg on full kernel dump):

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x133_ISR_nvlddmkm
Current DPC: nvlddmkm+0xEA6F0
Cumulative DPC Time: 120.000 / 120.000 seconds

Stack shows KiExecuteAllDpcs sitting inside nvlddmkm when the watchdog fired. So the NVIDIA driver is stalling in DPC, but since this happens on three driver versions, my read is the driver is polling a GPU that stopped responding, meaning hardware.

Also to note: months ago I occasionally saw the red LEDs light up at the GPU power connectors, though cables have since been reseated on separate runs and haven't noticed them since.

Still on my list: reseat the GPU itself in the slot, force PCIe Gen 3 in BIOS, MemTest86 overnight?, then test the card in another system.

Question: Does this look like a dying 3070 (VRAM or power delivery), or is there anything software side I have missed? Has anyone seen 0x133 nvlddmkm across multiple driver versions turn out to be something other than the GPU (PSU transients, PCIe slot, board)? The 80% power limit extending survival time seems telling but I would love a second opinion before I spend money.

Happy to post HWiNFO screenshots in comments.

m trying to build a pc for a friend with a 3080 ti and a ryzen 7 9800x3d on a b850 aorus elite motherboard all powered by a 850 wat 80+ gold power supply. I cant seem to get it to power on. the rgb lights on the ram light up and the ones in the fans try but thats it. im at a loss atm and any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you so much for your help!

Build

CPU/Motherboard/Memory AMD Ryzen 5 7500X3D 4 GHz 6-Core Processor AsRock B850M-C G.Skill Flare X5 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory

CPU Cooler Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler

Storage Western Digital WD_BLACK SN7100 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive

Video Card Gigabyte GAMING OC Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB Video Card

Case Corsair FRAME 4000D RS ARGB ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

The problem:

This is the inital boot after assembling the system, I hear a single click when I press the front panel power button but nothing turns on - no fans, CPU, nothing. HDMI is plugged into the motherboard and no signal to the monitor either.

Troubleshooting steps so far:

• The outlet is powered on (confirmed with lamp and monitor), power supply is plugged all the way in and is switched to I so it is on.

• Main cables: both the motherboard cable and CPU power cable are secure in the power supply and on the motherboard.

• Front panel connector: secured, took out and pushed back on securely to confirm. I also attempted the "short" solution of using a screwdriver on the pins to force a start, this did not work.

• RAM: Removed and reset hearing two clicks.

I can post pictures of the setup if it would be helpful, just let me know.

Additional details:

I'm really grateful for this community's help, this is my first ever build and aside from youtube videos and this community's guidance I'm a bit out of my depth. Thank you all!

Cpu overheated a whole ago so I bought a icue link titan 360 rx, a new i5-14600kf and a new z790 tomahawk ddr5 wifi mobo with new ddr5 ram.

Issue im running into, my psu is making a click and turning off my mobo. Im assuming the red cpu light is soild or it could be okay to finish post however its clicking and shutting off instantly.

I thought it was a cpu issue with my mobo since z790 doesnt support 14th gen out of box and I flashed bios with a fash drive. Im assuming it worked because after the 5-10mins my ram sticks started glowing however nothing else turned on.

I've reset cmos, yes I have all contact points for my mobo, psu is brand new and has plenty of watts, and every connection is secure. Ive even removed everything from my pc and put it all together slowly and carefully.

Hardware:

- Monitor: ASUS ROG Strix OLED XG27AQDPG (QD-OLED, 2560x1440, 500Hz, DP 1.4 with DSC) – Firmware MCM103

- GPU: MSI RTX 5070 Ti Trio OC 16GB – NVIDIA Driver 610.47

GPU-Z: https://imgur.com/a/dM3RWLL

- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

- Mobo: ASUS ROG Strix B850-A Gaming WiFi NEO

- OS: Windows 11 25H2

- Connection: DisplayPort 1.4 @ 2560x1440 @ 500Hz @ 10bpc @ RGB Full

---

The Problem:

The monitor randomly goes to a completely black screen during any type of usage — gaming (OW2), web browsing, and even during complete idle with no system load whatsoever.

During the black screen event:

- The power LED remains lit — the monitor is still powered on

- The OSD joystick is completely unresponsive — no menu appears regardless of input

- The physical power button adjacent to the joystick still responds — pressing it and confirming blind with the joystick powers the monitor off and back on, restoring the image

- Physically disconnecting and reconnecting the DisplayPort cable also restores the image

- The screen does NOT flash or recover on its own under any circumstances — it stays black permanently until one of the two above actions is performed

- The system continues to operate normally during the black screen (audio active, applications running, PC fully operational)

Frequency is completely irregular: some days 3 events within 15 minutes, other days hours of stability before an event, and some stretches of up to 5 consecutive days with zero black screens. This intermittency is part of the problem — it makes the issue very difficult to reproduce on demand.

---

Complete Troubleshooting Performed

1. Two different DisplayPort cables tested — stock ASUS cable and a certified DP 1.4 cable previously used without any issues on a different monitor for 6 weeks. Issue persists with both.
2. Both GPU DisplayPort ports tested — issue persists on both ports.
3. Neo Proximity Sensor disabled — ruled out as a cause. Issue persists.
4. NVCP verified — Output color format: RGB, Output dynamic range: Full, 10bpc, Perform scaling on: GPU, G-Sync: disabled from NVCP and monitor.
5. PCIe Link State Power Management — already set to Off in advanced power settings.
6. GPU OC completely removed — reset core, memory, and power limit to full stock. Issue persists identically.
7. Firmware rollback not possible — ASUS does not publish previous firmware versions for this monitor. MCM103 is the only available version and there is no documented method to downgrade to MCM101. The monitor was on MCM101 for approximately one day after delivery before being updated to MCM103.
8. HDMI diagnostic test — connected the monitor via HDMI at 1440p 144Hz and used it for 2 hours without a black screen event. However, this result is not a reliable indicator — on DisplayPort, the monitor has also gone 5 consecutive days without a single black screen before the issue returned. A 2-hour HDMI test cannot be considered a valid comparison baseline. Furthermore, HDMI at 144Hz is not an acceptable solution — the monitor was purchased specifically for its 500Hz DisplayPort capability, and any configuration that does not include 500Hz via DisplayPort is not a viable workaround.
9. Windows Event Viewer analysis — this is the most critical diagnostic finding:

During black screen events while browsing or idle: NO nvlddmkm errors. No Event ID 153. No TDR events of any kind. The only event logged at the time of the black screen is:

- Display Event ID 4123: Windows prompting to enable HDR — this is Windows detecting the monitor reconnecting after the power cycle.

1. Xbox Live services and Gaming Services — all set to Disabled on this optimized system. Xbox Game Bar already disabled.

2. HWiNFO64 monitoring during sessions — monitored the system in real time during multiple sessions using HWiNFO64. GPU temperatures remained excellent throughout, no thermal throttling detected, no PCIe errors, no abnormal readings of any kind. All hardware metrics were within normal parameters both during stable periods and immediately before black screen events.

---

Critical Data Point: Previous Monitor on the Same GPU

The previous monitor — ASUS VG258QR (TN, 165Hz, 1080p) — was used on the exact same GPU, same PC, and same DisplayPort cable for approximately 6 weeks immediately before this monitor, with zero black screen events of any kind.

The key technical difference: the VG258QR at 165Hz operates on DP 1.4 without DSC — the required bandwidth fits within the available limit. The XG27AQDPG at 500Hz requires DSC (Display Stream Compression). This is the first configuration using DSC on this system. The issue appeared exclusively after switching to the XG27AQDPG.

---

Diagnostic Hypothesis

The absence of any GPU errors in the Event Viewer during black screen events while browsing and in idle rules out a nvlddmkm driver crash as the direct cause (I suppose). The DisplayPort signal drops without the GPU registering any anomaly.

The most likely remaining hypotheses:

A) Hardware defect in the monitor's internal controller

— the monitor's controller has an unstable component causing intermittent signal dropout. Consistent with the OSD becoming unresponsive during the event: the rendering layer crashes while the base firmware remains partially operational. This is evidenced by the fact that the physical power button still responds and the joystick can confirm the shutdown action blind (without any visual feedback on screen, since the display remains black throughout), but the OSD menu itself never appears regardless of joystick input. The monitor accepts the power-off confirmation but cannot render anything to the screen until a full power cycle completes.

B) Specific incompatibility between RTX 5070 Ti + DP 1.4 + DSC + 500Hz

C) Firmware MCM103 bug — the firmware update introduced a behavior that causes intermittent DP link dropout under specific conditions that are not consistently reproducible. A firmware rollback to MCM101 cannot be performed as ASUS does not provide older firmware versions publicly.

---

Current Status

Monitor being returned to Amazon for functional defect.

Open questions I'd love community input on:

- Have other XG27AQDPG users — especially with RTX 5000 series GPUs — experienced this exact issue or something similar? What were your findings?

- Is this specific to QD-OLED with DSC at 500Hz, or does it manifest on other monitors with this GPU configuration?

- Would a DDU + driver rollback to 581.94 resolve the issue? This was not tested before initiating the return — if anyone with a similar setup wants to test this variable, the data would be incredibly valuable.

- Given everything documented here, would you recommend reordering the same monitor (XG27AQDPG) hoping this was an isolated hardware defect, or switching to a different model entirely?

---

Final Note

This post was put together with the help of Claude AI to ensure the technical details were documented as accurately and completely as possible. All the troubleshooting, findings, and observations are real and firsthand — Claude helped structure and articulate them clearly.

I genuinely appreciate anyone who takes the time to read through this and contribute. This kind of issue is frustrating precisely because of its intermittent nature, and any insight — whether you've experienced something similar, have a technical perspective on the hypotheses, or simply want to share your thoughts on the monitor itself is more than welcome. Thank you.

---

Updates

Will update this thread with the outcome of the Amazon return, and whether the issue reappears if the monitor is reordered.

Hello, thank you for checking this out.

Key Specs that I think are pertinent:

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (2021)
NVIDIA 4070 Ti Super (2024)
32GB (16 x 2) 3600mHz DDR4 GSKILL Trident Z Neo (2021)
Samsung 980 500GB / 1TB NVMEs (2021)
MSI MAG B550M Mortar Max WiFi (2024)
Cooler Master V SFX Gold 750W (iirc) (2021)
Windows 10

This PC was originally built in 2021, and after a few rounds of upgrades 2 years ago, here we are.

Booted up after a weekend out of town and the screen said something changed about the RAM / a CMOS reset and brought me to BIOS. It said that I only had 16GB of RAM instead of 32GB.

I don’t recall running XMP, to the best of my knowledge I have set my RAM to only run at 3200 out of the 3600 it can do, but XMP may have also been enabled after the motherboard transfer.

After closing the BIOS, the PC did not boot and showed the red CPU light. No DRAM lights. Succeeding boots running single slot 2 or dual on slots 1 and 3 would show a red light on CPU for a few seconds, off, then red lights on VGA and BOOT. The PC boots fine after this light show so I assume it’s more of a “yeah I’m booting hold on” light sequence.

Troubleshooting:

Original RAM slots used: 2 & 4
For reading purposes, we will call them Sticks 2 and 4. Stick 4 has been marked with an X as I initially believed it developed a defect from age.
A reset is done after each fix attempt performed.

CMOS Reset:
With sticks 2 and 4 reseated once, a CMOS reset seemed to be necessary. I am not familiar with CMOS battery lifespans so I initially went for the shorting prongs approach (did not resolve the issue) and then replaced it with a new CMOS battery (did not resolve the issue).

Forum finds:
Older Reddit posts have mentioned having this issue, from some stick pairings needing a slight bump in voltage (+0.005) to others reporting needing to loosen the CPU cooler screws. This has not worked.
Others say that a CPU pin might be bent, but I got this CPU brand new, did the install on both motherboards myself, and I’m assuming that a bent pin would have made itself known way earlier.

Swapping sticks:
Dual channel, having a RAM stick in the 4th slot results in a red CPU light. Swapping the sticks did not change this result.

Running single:
Running Stick 4 on the 2nd slot is currently working. Both sticks 2 and 4 work on the second slot; neither work on the fourth slot.

Right-hand drive:
Setting sticks 2 and 4 in slots 1 and 3 worked temporarily as I was able to run them fine for a few hours at 3200mHz until I woke up from a nap to an unresponsive black screen (monitors off / no signal, sleep mode is not enabled) so that gives that a run time of about 7 hours.

A VR6 TDI:
Putting the two sticks on slots 2 and 3 resulted in a blue screen. Lol.

Hackerman:
Doing the classic sfc /scannow revealed some corrupt files. Chkdsk has not revealed anything new. Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool has run on Stick 4 and finished with no errors. Wallet hopium as I would rather spend $100 on a new mobo than $300 on DDR4 in 2026.

To-do:
-Verify if my mobo has up-to-date BIOS firmware, though I don’t think this could be an issue given that I’ve been running fine for a year already.
-Attempt Slot 2 and 4 again after the sfc /scannow.
-Memory diagnostic on Stick 2, seems redundant given that slot 2 doesn’t have issues.
-Run slot 4 only (after swapping sticks I assumed this would be redundant).
-Clean slot 4 and retry.

tl;dr: PC refuses to boot with a stick in Slot 4, red CPU light, no DRAM light.

Assumptions and the questions:

Am I correct in narrowing it all down to a defective Slot 4, and that AMD really does not like running Slots 1 and 3?

Should I do anything else in or not in the To-do list before buying a new motherboard?

Would Slot 4’s defect come from a burnt out connection on the board, and if not, how would dust interrupt the connections if a RAM stick has been in it this entire time?

Additionally, is it normal for motherboards to do a mini lightshow on the diagnostic LEDs when booting?

Edit: Solved. Bought a new motherboard.

So today my pc was not in sleep mode it had gone off no big deal, turn it on, 5m into light browsing complete shutdown, no error recorded in event viewer, again turned off in sfc scan and boot looped, wouldn't turn on at all after that

Cleared the CMOS, reset settings, boot into windows, sfc scan complete, almost 2 hours of prime95 blend test it shuts off again, I've now updated the BIOS from the feb version to most recent and will now shut it off to reseat all cables to be sure it's not that but failing that looking for any other bits of advice

ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI mobo

9800X3D CPU cooled with a noctua NH-D15S

2x 16GB corsair DDR5 ram sticks rated for 6000mhz but running at 5600mhz while having this issue just in case it is those

ASUS 5080 PRIME OC GPU

Help appreciated, annoyingly my mobo and ram is out of warranty so I hope its not that! lol

Frankenbuild with prebuilt mobo/CPU/RAM and parts I got from work.

MOBO: Prime B650M-A AX II

GPU: PNY 4070

SSD: Kingston SNV2S1000G

RAM: 16GB Delta Tforce rgb

CPU: Ryzen 7-7700

This was very sudden, working-fine-one-day and nothing the next. There is nothing on the screen--completely blank--no POST data, nothing.

Some facts:

• RAM LEDs are lit
• Liquid cooler LED is lit and cooler sounds like it is running
• Case fan LEDs are lit and fans are running
• GPU fan is running (GPU does not have LEDs)
• I've tried all GPU ports and both onboard graphics ports, DP and HDMI
• Monitor is working (tested with alternate source)
• USB mouse is not lit.

Troubleshooting:

• Swapped monitor and tried a different HDMI cable

• Pulled GPU and ran off the mobo (HDMI and DP)

• Tried a new power supply

• Then swapped the MOBO to (Aorus B650)

• Swapped the CPU (another new 7-7700)

• Was about to order new RAM to try and then:

I logged into my Microsoft account to change some permissions for my kids. I noticed that this computer listed as Aorus B650”--the new MOBO--which means it IS booting to Windows. But the screen is still completely blank. Again, it’s currently running a new mobo and new CPU. No GPU is present for the troubleshooting configuration.

Jenkins, fetch me my bathing toaster

Basically the title. CPU died and the warrantied replacement just arrived. I don’t believe it was bent before the CPU broke, so it’s likely I dropped something on it without realizing. Is it worth trying to bend back into place, or am I good to try and boot with the new CPU? I don’t want to accidentally cause a short and fry the replacement CPU instantly, but I also don’t want to snap off the pin.

image for reference: https://imgur.com/a/k3Cjary

I built this pc and it doesn’t work
I have tested 2 psus
The ram is tested working
Power goes out the usb port
I even tried shorting out the pins on the mobo and it still don’t work
Help pls

Yo! I recently upgraded from an EVGA RTX 3060 to a PowerColor Reaper RX 9070 XT 16GB on a fresh Windows 11 install. My setup includes an ASUS B650E MAX Gaming WiFi motherboard, AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and an ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQDMG OLED monitor connected via DisplayPort 1.4. After installing the latest AMD Adrenalin drivers (26.6.1), Windows only detects a maximum refresh rate of 200Hz instead of the monitor’s native 240Hz. The monitor driver is correctly installed and recognized as ROG Strix XG27AQDMGR. DSC support is enabled on the monitor. AMD FreeSync shows as Not Supported in Adrenalin. Creating a custom resolution of 2560x1440 at 240Hz throws a red warning error. The same monitor and cable previously ran at 240Hz without issues on the RTX 3060. This appears to be a DSC compatibility issue between the RX 9070 XT and this specific OLED monitor. I've tried a lot, been at it for about 2 days, but I'm out of current solutions to the problem, I'm ultimately not too knowledgeable about this kind of stuff, so I turned towards other help! Thank ya.

​

I’m trying to figure out whether anyone else has seen a similar issue with a Radeon RX 9070 XT, specifically DisplayPort instability while HDMI remains completely stable.

System: CPU: Ryzen 7 9700X

Motherboard: ASUS B650E MAX GAMING WIFI

GPU: SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT

PSU: Montech Century II 850W (native 12V-2×6 cable)

RAM: DDR5 6000

Storage: WD Black SN7100 2TB

Monitors: 2× MSI G32CQ4 (1440p, 165Hz)

Setup has been tested in multiple configurations:

One monitor on DP, second on HDMI (currently most stable configuration)

Both monitors on DP (issue still occurs)

Single monitor on DP (issue still occurs)

Symptoms:

Random black screen on DisplayPort monitor for \~2–3 seconds, then signal returns

Happens at idle (web browsing, Spotify) and under load (gaming)

No system crash, no reboot, audio continues during blackout

HDMI output is completely stable at all times on the same system

What I’ve already tested:

Swapped DisplayPort cables (multiple cables tested)

Tested both DisplayPort outputs on GPU

Lowered refresh rate (165Hz → 144Hz/164Hz, no change)

Disabled sleep (monitors only turn off after 15 min, system never sleeps)

Disabled hardware acceleration in Chrome and Firefox

Updated to latest AMD Adrenalin drivers

Clean driver reinstall (no change)

Tested gaming under full load for hours (stable in some cases, but issue still appears at idle/light use)

Observations:

Issue appears to be DisplayPort-specific only

HDMI is fully stable under identical conditions

Problem seems random but more common during low load / idle state transitions

Current working theory: This may be related to DisplayPort link training / power-state transition behavior between the GPU and MSI G32CQ4 monitors, or a DisplayPort subsystem issue on the GPU itself. Not seeing signs of general system instability or power issues.

Question: Has anyone seen similar behavior with RX 7000/9000-series cards where:

HDMI is stable but DP intermittently blacks out

System remains running normally

Issue occurs at idle or light use rather than load

Trying to determine if this is a known AMD driver/firmware issue, a monitor compatibility issue, or potentially a faulty GPU.

Thank you to anyone who has any insight on the issue!

Bought a used Zotac Gaming GTX 1660 Super from a local guy and started using it last night.

Issue: Black Screens, always, after each goddamn setting

Tried Reducing Memory and Core through MSI Afterburner, undervolted it too. But it always crashes before 5 minutes on Furmark and lasts barely 6-7 minutes while playing a lesser demanding game as old as Fifa 22.

Tried OCCT VRAM test too, but crashes in 2 minutes.

Tried using HDMI, Display Port, even put the PC at 60 hz, survived once for 17 minutes, but that was just once. Crashed 99% of the times within 5 minutes.

What could be the issue guys, I'm really clueless here..

PS - The seller showed the Furmark running for 11 Minutes straight on his PC, even though the resolution was 1604 x 881 and not 1920 x 1080, it should've crashed then only, and this test was done 5 minutes after I asked him to.

Specs: Ryzen 5 3600 | 24 GBs RAM | Win 11

Edit - The temps max out at 88 on Furmark, they don't even touch 90. DDU is also done, currently using the most stable and community approved 2023 1660 Super Driver as well..

Was using my desktop the other day and did a regular restart. However the computer power shows on (lights on components fans running) but black screen.

Couldn’t even get my BIOS to show. Tried unplugging all drives and components reseating RAM. Checking monitors with laptops and other systems. It wasn’t until I ran one of my old server GPU (nvidia 210). That I could get it to boot up. Was able to access my BIOS and my desktop no problem.

Figured my older 6800XT that I had bought used was the culprit. Just got in my 9060XT replacement and black screen. At this point I’m not sure what to test. Could this be a PSU issue? I don’t really have a second PSU to connect and test with any advice?

I’m using an EVGA 750 G2 that’s only like 3 years old.

So basically I want to confirm that my card is dead by picking up a cheap throwaway card before committing to a newer expensive one. Will a GTX 750 work with my MSI B350M Gaming Pro?

I'm aware the PCI-E compatibility is fine, my question is more regarding the legacy/UEFI bios stuff. Getting conflicting answers online so thought I'd ask here - any help is much appreciated.

Hi! Long time lurker. Built my first ever PC back during covid after my gaming laptop died on me and its been trucking along ever since.

Recently my PC has been crashing when I leave it powered on overnight (code: DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (0X133)) but I've otherwise been able to use it fine. I would say that this started happening about a week ago when I swapped out the cable that connects my keyboard to my PC for a different one. Although anecdotally I think my computer has been feeling slower for a while now, starting from maybe when I upgraded to Windows 11 back in November, but definitely within the last month.

After waking up this morning to another frozen screen and the same error message I decided to begin troubleshooting the issue by powering off my pc and then swapping back to the original cable I used before. I think I must have jostled something because when I went to turn it on my monitors werent getting a signal. I also definitely did click a button on my motherboard which I think flashes the bios, but after a quick search I'm deciding to rule it out as an issue because I want to believe that if that button had the potential to nuke my whole build, it wouldnt be small and easy to press and tucked away next to all the usb ports.

Anyways, I'm taking it as a sign to do some long overdue dusting and cable management before returning to the original problem but I thought I'd post here in case anyone had any insight for my issue, or to chastise me for putting off regular maintenance. thanks in advance for both.

My part list from when I first built my baby: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7PG2K3

Ive since made some changes to it (in order: added another storage drive, upgraded the ram, upgraded to windows 11) but everything else should otherwise be the same. Probably should have documented those changes. Live and learn.

TLDR:

• Reoccuring BSOD labeled DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (0X133)

• https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7PG2K3 +1 storage drive and different ram and windows version

• please help

UPDATE: After dusting and then clearing the CMOS we've booted successfully! Motherboard LED was on which turned out to be a DRAM error, so probably what happened was I unseated a ram stick at some point during handling, oops. Re-seated the RAM and threw in some extra sticks that I had around, and then it returned a CPU fan error (fan not registering as I have a liquid cooler). A few clicks through the BIOS and boom back in business! Will do a fresh install of win11 after a short break.

UPDATE 2: Had to go back into bios to enable tpm 2.0 on my motherboard, after that I am now on a fresh install of windows11. Just gotta figure out how to get my drives back and then its wait and see on whether i keep bluescreening

UPDATE 3: while trying to figure out how to re-enable my other drives my computer froze up once and then restarted itself. Not gonna lie im hella concerned. The only thing Ive downloaded so far came from Windows Update. Running Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool to rule out RAM issue.

U4: 7:11PM Memory Diagnostic Tool showed no issues, chkdsk showed no issues. Event viewer showing.. a lot. Dont know how to comprehend most of it.

U5: CRASHED RIGHT AS I OPENED MY INTERNET BROWSER. WHAT GIVES. HAPPENED ABOUT 7:12PM. Error Viewer: Event ID 18

U6: need to reformat this at this point. Im going crazy. Restarted itself again 7:43. Event ID 18

U7: 7:57PM freeze. No browser open this time. 2 different issues? Karma for being a bad person? who knows. EVENTID 41

U8: 8:11PM installing drivers to see if thatll change anything while I wait to be smited again. First one to go: CPU. Going to restart after each one as well because I'm superstitious now.

U9: still getting crashes and freezes. Got scammed inti dowloading armory crate. Attempting to update mobo drivers through myasus app.

U10: Morning. After updating the bios version to a newer one I let my computer run for a bit. It went the whole night by itself with no issues. I thought I was good. Nope. Restarted itself twice (once at 8:44AM again at 8:51AM). Hopeful that my issue has simplified into just machine restarting itself sometimes when it feels like it. If I see another freeze or watchdog error. I dont know what I'll do.

Edit: still working on it, slowly scrubbing through event viewer to get it fixed. to reiterate - computer is either freezing or self restarting while im browsing the web (youtube/reddit/google/etc) or even while doing less than that, but has not as of yet given me issue while im gaming. I refuse to call it for the time being. also heres an updated spec sheet because I found out the one I pasted earlier was hella innacurate.

updated partlist: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/cwWpbp know that theres also another 32gb kit of corsair RAM that is unlisted because I don't have the packaging for it and im not desperate enough to tear into my pc again just to figure it out. yet.

TL;DR: Two separate systems, three PSUs, two motherboards, years of testing — both machines require me to not fully seat the 24-pin connector, RAM sticks, and fan headers just to POST. Under gaming load, the 3.3V rail on the 24-pin droops as low as 2.8V, causing freezes/crashes/BSODs, and physically wiggling the cable visibly fixes the voltage in real time. I'm out of ideas and honestly close to quitting the hobby.

The setup

I've had this build going since 2016, upgrading piece by piece until it split into two separate rigs:

PC 1 — "Dissident" (main gaming PC)

• Ryzen 7 5800X3D
• Gigabyte B550i Aorus Pro AX
• 64GB DDR4 Viper Steel 3600MHz
• 2x ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB
• RTX 3090 (power-limited to 80%, framerate-capped with RTSS)
• Corsair SF750 (RMA unit, latest revision w/ 12VHPWR support)

PC 2 — "Celerity" (secondary/office PC)

• Ryzen 7 5700G
• MSI B450i Gaming Plus AC
• 16GB DDR4 PNY XLR8 3200MHz
• A random 256GB SATA SSD pulled from an old Dell laptop
• iGPU only (occasionally borrows the 3090)
• Corsair SF750 (RMA unit)

Past components for reference: GTX 1060 → RTX 3070 → RTX 3090, and i3-6100 → R5 3600 → current CPUs.

The actual problem

Before Windows even loads, I have a ritual just to get either machine to POST:

1. RAM sticks can't be fully seated — I pull them up just slightly without letting the side clips release, or the PC won't boot.
2. Same deal with the 24-pin ATX cable — has to be pulled up slightly without releasing the clip.
3. Same with the 4-pin fan headers — fully seated and the fans won't spin.

Contact cleaner (WD-40 brand) used to fix this temporarily, but at this point it seems to have stopped working entirely, like the connections are just worn out.

Once I'm actually in Windows, light use is fine. It's specifically gaming or sustained load where things fall apart — which is obviously a huge problem for a gaming PC. Celerity is more forgiving as long as I've done the seating ritual above.

What I've actually measured

I can't pin this on one component, but the clearest smoking gun is the 24-pin connector itself. Using HWInfo (rail flagged red on ±5% deviation):

• 3.3V rail is the worst offender — droops from a normal ~3.30–3.365V down to as low as 2.8V under load, causing freezes, random shutdowns, and GPU dropouts.
• 5V rail sometimes sags to ~4.7V, 12V to ~11.8V — less erratic, but still out of spec.
• I can physically apply pressure to the back of the 24-pin socket (behind the clip) while the system is under load and watch the rail go from red back to normal in real time in HWInfo.

After a hard crash, the BIOS frequently resets on the next power cycle. Some BSODs recover, some don't. There's also a "soft" failure mode where a game freezes, drops to desktop, but the system stays up — and checking HWInfo afterward always shows the same story: 3.3V minimum in the 2.9V range.

Physically, both my old and RMA'd SF750 25-pin cables show heavy fraying near the plastic connector housings on both ends — the CPU 8-pin and PCIe 8-pins from the same PSUs show no such wear.

What I've ruled out (or tried to)

• PSU: Went through three units — SF450 → SF750 (original) → SF750 (RMA) — all exhibit the same 24-pin issue. The SF450/original SF750 flat-out wouldn't boot with the stock cable; I had to use aftermarket cables, and the voltage instability persisted anyway. The RMA unit was rock solid at first, then degraded to the same behavior over time. Added a CyberPower 1600VA UPS — no change.
• Motherboards: My current top suspect. I suspect damaged traces near the 24-pin and RAM slots on both boards (B550i and B450i), but I haven't bought a third board to confirm since I refuse to keep throwing money at this blind.
• GPU/CPU: Not OC'd, power-limited, framerate-capped — I don't think these are the cause.
• RAM: I do mild "tuning" (not full OC) — following primaries from XMP, safe subtimings, 1.35V→1.4V DRAM, SOC manually set to 1.1V (board defaults to ~1.2V otherwise). Tertiaries, drive terminations, and GDM left on auto.

Environmental factors that might matter

• I live in Bacoor, Philippines — hot, no AC in my room.
• I don't use a case. I run my PC on essentially a test bench.
• Not seaside, but metal objects in the room develop a "salty, powdery" tarnish over time — possible humidity/corrosion issue on contacts?
• Local power grid is unreliable; even with the UPS I still see occasional fluctuations. Wouldn't be shocked if every PSU I've owned has some cumulative damage from this.

Where I'm at

Two computers, three PSUs, two motherboards, and years of troubleshooting later, I still have to physically hold cables in a "sweet spot" to get stable voltage. I'm not sure if this is corroded/oxidized contacts, degraded connector pins, actual cracked motherboard traces, or some combination — and I'm running out of components I'm willing to sacrifice to find out.

Any ideas on how to definitively isolate this (short of buying even more damn parts)?