Ryzen motherboard problems: no power to 5 different boards

MilenB

Junior Member
Sep 2, 2017
11
0
1
I've been building my own desktops since my youth and for the first time ever I was amazed by the difficulty of getting a new build to work. It all started a month ago when I purchased the Gigabyte AB350 Gaming motherboard, Ryzen 1600X, Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 16GB RAM and a Corsair H60 cooler. I intended to use these components with my existing case, PSU and GTX 970 once I got the ivy bridge processor and MB out. The components arrived, I grounded myself to the case as usual, removed the old MB and put the new one in and connected everything as usual. Yes, I do know to connect both the ATX 24 pin connector and the 8 pins for the CPU. I connected the cooling and an extra fan, after I put in the CPU and memory in. Finally the GTX 970 went in to fill the remaining space.

Moment of truth arrives. I switch on the PSU and I press the power button. Complete silence: no CPU , PSU or GPU fans, no sound over the connected speaker. More suspiciously no LEDs lit up.

I tried unplugging the power button and starting by shorting the power pins with my screwdriver. I tried resetting the CMOS through the pins and by removing the battery and disconnecting the power. Then I tried removing components one by one, hoping for a diagnostic light to do something. Still silence and darkness. I even tried using the PSU from another computer that I use for file storage. Still nothing.

At this point, dear reader you are probably saying that the motherboard is a DOA lemon and needs to be RMAed. And this is exactly what I did. I performed the same sequence with the second board. Then with the third, once I got the same result. Still total silence. The Newegg person I spoke with was equally surprised and recommended that I get my money back and try another model.

Board number 4 and 5 were a different model - Asrock AB350 Pro4 (purchased from the local Microcenter) but they behaved the same way under the same tests.

I tried both PSUs that I have with the Ryzen MBs and also with the other two working motherboards I have, so each PSUs has been tested with one Intel MB, one old AMD MB and the new B350 motherboards for Ryzen. Both PSUs work fine. I am typing this from one of the computers using one of those PSUs.

I've checked the 8 pin and 24 pin connections many many many times. Not only that but after each attempt the PSUs have been disconnected from the B350 motherboard and reconnected to their previous computers which work fine using the PSUs. There's no difficulty making the connections to the Ryzen motherboards.

I'm out of ideas, and I have waited over a month without having this build working. I would appreciate any suggestions on what else could be causing this and what other tests I could run.
 

denis280

Diamond Member
Jan 16, 2011
3,434
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The sigma is probably going south.and the Antec 400 is good.but the gtx 970 need 500W minimum
and what processor on this
 

MilenB

Junior Member
Sep 2, 2017
11
0
1
The sigma is probably going south.and the Antec 400 is good.but the gtx 970 need 500W minimum
and what processor on this
I was using the GTX 970 only with the 635W PSU. I have other lower powered cards to use with the 400W PSU.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the CPU fan should spin up and LEDs should light up even with the GPU disconnected. AFAIK the CPU fan should spin up with everything disconnected but the power cable, when I short the power on pins. As I said I tried removing components to remove component failure as the cause and I still did not get any indication of power at any of the 5 motherboards with either PSU.
The processor I am trying to get this to run on is a Ryzen 1600X.
 

denis280

Diamond Member
Jan 16, 2011
3,434
9
81
but the CPU fan should spin up and LEDs should light up even with the GPU disconnected
Yes it should spin.But after 5 Mobo, No Power?You also short the power on pins? Leads to a power failure to me. Are you Sure everything is connected
 

MilenB

Junior Member
Sep 2, 2017
11
0
1
Yes it should spin.But after 5 Mobo, No Power?You also short the power on pins? Leads to a power failure to me. Are you Sure everything is connected
Shorting the pins is the same as pressing the Power On button. This does not cause power failure but instead is to check if there was perhaps a problem with the power button itself or the cable between the button and the pins. In any case I tried the button first on at least 2 of the boards :)

Yes, I am sure everything is connected. I've had to connect and disconnect everything more than 20 times as I did this over the past month. Also as I said, I tried each PSU with an Intel motherboard, an older AMD motherboard and a new Ryzen motherboard. The first two always worked fine and I am currently using one of those motherboards to type this, so I know how to make the connections.

I know the last bit is hard to believe after having 5 motherboards not working. I would doubt it myself of anyone who told me this story. And yet I've been building my computers for a long time and have never had anything like that happen or heard of anyone so unlucky.
 

Mr Evil

Senior member
Jul 24, 2015
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mrevil.asvachin.com
Have you checked that the standoffs in the case are in the right place? Try testing a motherboard outside the case so you can be sure the case isn't shorting anything.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,545
236
106
Either you are missing a standoff/they are loose, or you need a new power supply with enough power.

Also, did you connect power to you video card?
 

MilenB

Junior Member
Sep 2, 2017
11
0
1
Have you checked that the standoffs in the case are in the right place? Try testing a motherboard outside the case so you can be sure the case isn't shorting anything.
I tested all 5 outside the case. 2 of them were tested first in the case, the other 3 were tested first outside the case.
 

MilenB

Junior Member
Sep 2, 2017
11
0
1
Either you are missing a standoff/they are loose, or you need a new power supply with enough power.

Also, did you connect power to you video card?
I tested with and without the case, so with and without standoffs.
How does the amount of power provided affect whether the CPU fan can spin up with everything else disconnected?
I don't mind getting a third power supply to test with, but I'm not following why this would change anything.
In testing either power supply had no problem powering up my older AMD motherboard with 9 hard drives connected to it.

I tested with and without the GPU.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,545
236
106
I tested with and without the case, so with and without standoffs.
How does the amount of power provided affect whether the CPU fan can spin up with everything else disconnected?
I don't mind getting a third power supply to test with, but I'm not following why this would change anything.
In testing either power supply had no problem powering up my older AMD motherboard with 9 hard drives connected to it.

I tested with and without the GPU.
Example: if you power up an otherwise-working computer, but there is no power connection to a video card that requires it, you would have the same results you are seeing. I believe the extra 12v rail for the CPU does the same, but I am not 100% on that since it's been a while since a tried it.
 

MilenB

Junior Member
Sep 2, 2017
11
0
1
Ok, so I redid the test described above with motherboard #5 but with a new Corsair CX650M PSU that I just got today.
I tried it with two different graphics cards GTX 970 and Radeon HD6870.
Still the same result. I guess I must be the most unlucky person with these Ryzen motherboards. I will try to get motherboard #6 tomorrow.
 

MilenB

Junior Member
Sep 2, 2017
11
0
1
I got it new from Newegg, not a third party seller. The article also describes that this is done by placing a cheap/old processor like a Celeron instead of the new Ryzen. The pins wouldn't match up if that was the case here. I don't think a counterfeit would go as far as to match the pins so the processor can be seated properly in the motherboard.
 

Burpo

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2013
4,223
473
126
Yes, a shorted or bad CPU can sit on a motherboard and never allow any fans to spin, or any LED's to light. I've even had a CPU that killed every board it was placed in (when powered up).
You've tested with known good ram, a known good power supply, but used the same CPU every time, and got the same result every time. Time to test with a known good CPU..
 

MilenB

Junior Member
Sep 2, 2017
11
0
1
Yes, a shorted or bad CPU can sit on a motherboard and never allow any fans to spin, or any LED's to light. I've even had a CPU that killed every board it was placed in (when powered up).
You've tested with known good ram, a known good power supply, but used the same CPU every time, and got the same result every time. Time to test with a known good CPU..
You are assuming that I always tested with the CPU in the motherboard. There was one board where I first tested WITHOUT the CPU, GPU, RAM. It just had 8 pin and 24 pin power + CPU fan. In that configuration the fan should spin-up when power is applied and the power on pins are shorted.
 

m3589

Junior Member
Dec 28, 2020
1
0
6
Hi milenB i have ryzen 5 3600x CPU Asus b550 plus motherboard and i have the same problem as u have. No power i tried everything, and i get w hold on other motherboards and psu s as well but the result was the same. İ just wanted to ask if you solved ur problem and how u solved it. İm thinking about changing the CPU i ll write here the results.
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,380
146
Hi milenB i have ryzen 5 3600x CPU Asus b550 plus motherboard and i have the same problem as u have. No power i tried everything, and i get w hold on other motherboards and psu s as well but the result was the same. İ just wanted to ask if you solved ur problem and how u solved it. İm thinking about changing the CPU i ll write here the results.
They haven't logged in over 3 years (this thread was last active in Sept 2017), so I doubt you will get an answer.

If you need help, create a new thread for your issue.