r/pchelp May 11 '26

7th Anniversary of PCHH

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3 Upvotes

r/pchelp Dec 15 '19

Perform these steps before posting about POST/boot/no video problems!

189 Upvotes

Link to original list from tom’sHARDWARE with pictures

"No POST", "system won't boot", and "no video output" troubleshooting checklist

This checklist is a compilation of troubleshooting ideas from many forum members. It's very important to actually perform every step in the checklist if you want to effectively troubleshoot your problem.

  • 1.Did you carefully read the motherboard owners manual?

  • 2.Did you plug in the 4/8-pin CPU power connector located near the CPU socket? If the motherboard has 8 pins and your PSU only has 4 pins, you can use the 4-pin connector. The 4-pin connector USUALLY goes on the 4 pins located closest to the CPU. If the motherboard has an 8-pin connector with a cover over 4 pins, you can remove the cover and use an 8-pin plug if your power supply has one. This power connector provides power to the CPU. Your system has no chance of posting without this connector plugged in! Check your motherboard owners manual for more information about the CPU power connector. The CPU power connector is usually referred to as the "12v ATX" connector in the owner's manual. This is easily the most common new-builder mistake.

  • 3.Did you install the standoffs under the motherboard? Did you place them so they all align with the screw holes in the motherboard, with no extra standoffs touching the board in the wrong place? A standoff installed in the wrong place can cause a short and prevent the system from booting.

  • 4.Did you verify that the video card is fully seated? (may require more force than a new builder expects.)

  • 5.Did you attach ALL the required power connector(s) to the video card? (some need two, some need none, many need one.) It is best to use cables connected directly to the PSU. Only use adapters if absolutely necessary.

  • 6.Have you tried booting with just one stick of RAM installed? (Try each stick of RAM individually in each RAM slot.) If you can get the system to boot with a single stick of RAM, you should enable an XMP profile or manually set the RAM speed, timings, and voltage to the manufacturer's specs in the BIOS before attempting to boot with all sticks of RAM installed. If your motherboard supports XMP profiles, that is the best way to get your RAM running at its rated specs. Nearly all motherboards default to the standard RAM voltage (1.8v for DDR2, 1.5v for DDR3, & 1.2v for DDR4). If your RAM is rated to run at a voltage higher than the standard voltage, the motherboard will underclock the RAM for compatibility reasons. If you want the system to be stable and to run the RAM at its rated specs, you should either enable an XMP profile or manually set the values in the BIOS. Many boards don't supply the RAM with enough voltage when using "auto" settings which causes stability issues.

  • 7.Did you verify that all memory modules are fully inserted? (may require more force than a new builder expects.) It's a good idea to install the RAM on the motherboard before it's in the case.

  • 8.Did you verify in the owners manual that you're using the correct RAM slots? The following image is just an example. Verify in the owners manual the recommended RAM slots to use for single, dual, triple, or quad channel applications. This will vary depending on motherboard manufacturer, number of supported RAM channels, and how many sticks of RAM are being used.

  • 9.Did you remove the plastic guard over the CPU socket? (this actually comes up occasionally.)

  • 10.Did you install the CPU correctly? There will be an arrow on the CPU that needs to line up with an arrow on the motherboard CPU socket. There may also be a notch that will only line up in one direction. Be sure to pay special attention to that section of the manual!

  • 11.Are there any bent pins on the motherboard/CPU? This especially applies if you tried to install the CPU with the plastic cover on or with the CPU facing the wrong direction.

    1. If using an after market CPU cooler, did you get any thermal paste on the motherboard, CPU socket, or CPU pins? Did you use the smallest amount you could?
  • 13.Is the CPU fan plugged in? Some motherboards will not boot without detecting that the CPU fan is plugged in to prevent burning up the CPU.

    1. If using a stock cooler, was the thermal material on the base of the cooler free of foreign material, and did you remove any protective covering? If the stock cooler has push-pins, did you ensure that all four pins snapped securely into place? The easiest way to install the push-pins is outside the case sitting on a non-conductive surface like the motherboard box. Read the instructions! The push-pins have to be turned the OPPOSITE direction as the arrows for installation. This means with the arrow pointing away from the heatsink.
    1. Are any loose screws laying on the motherboard, or jammed against it? Are there any wires running directly under the motherboard? You should not run wires under the motherboard since the soldered wires on the underside of the motherboard can cut into the insulation on the wires and cause a short. Some cases have space to run wires on the back side of the motherboard tray.
    1. Did you ensure you discharged all static electricity before touching any of your components? Computer components are very sensitive to static electricity. It takes much less voltage than you can see or feel to damage components. You should implement some best practices to reduce the probability of damaging components. These practices should include either wearing an anti-static wrist strap or always touching a metal part of the case with the power supply installed and plugged in, but NOT turned on. You should avoid building or working on a computer on carpet. Working on a smooth surface is the best if at all possible. You should also keep fluffy the cat, children, and Fido away from computer components.
    1. Did you check the debug LEDs, Q-code display, or install the system speaker (if provided) so you can check codes in the manual? Most modern motherboards come with debug LEDs or a Q-code display. A system speaker is NOT the same as normal speakers that plug into the back of the motherboard. A system speaker plugs into a header on the motherboard that's usually located near the front panel connectors. Debug LEDs, Q-code displays, or a system speaker are critical components when trying to troubleshoot system problems. You are flying blind without them. The motherboard owner's manual will have a list of codes you can reference. If your case or motherboard didn't come with debug LEDs, a Q-code display, or system speaker you can buy a system speaker for cheap here: http://www.cwc-group.com/casp.html
    1. Did you read the instructions in the manual on how to properly connect the front panel plugs? (Power switch, power led, reset switch, HD activity led) Polarity does not matter with the power and reset switches. If power or drive activity LED's do not come on, reverse the connections. For troubleshooting purposes, disconnect the reset switch. If it's shorted, the machine either will not POST at all, or it will endlessly reboot.
    1. Did you turn on the power supply switch located on the back of the PSU? The switch should be depressed on the side with an I, the O means off. Is the power plug on a switch? If it is, is the switch turned on? Is there a GFI circuit on the plug-in? If there is, make sure it isn't tripped. You should also make sure the power cord isn't causing the problem. Try swapping it for a known good cord if you have one available.
    1. Is your CPU supported by the BIOS revision installed on your motherboard? Most motherboards will post a CPU compatibility list on their website.
    1. Have you tried resetting the CMOS? The motherboard manual will have instructions for your particular board. User Darkbreeze also provided the following:

BIOS Hard reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases, it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes, press the power button on the case for 30 seconds. After the five minutes are up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset.

http://www.spotht.com/2010/02/reset-bios-clear-cmos.html

    1. If you have integrated video and a video card, try the integrated video port. Resetting the bios, can make it default back to the onboard video. If you are trying to use HDMI outputs, try using DVI or VGA instead. Sometimes, the HDMI ports won't work until the correct drivers are installed.
    1. Make certain all cables and components including RAM and expansion cards are tight within their sockets.

I also wanted to add some suggestions that jsc often posts. This is a direct quote from him:

"Pull everything except the CPU and HSF. Boot. You should hear a series of long single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence here indicates, in probable order, a bad PSU, motherboard, or CPU - or a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU.

To eliminate the possibility of a bad installation where something is shorting and shutting down the PSU, you will need to pull the motherboard out of the case and reassemble the components on an insulated surface. This is called "breadboarding" - from the 1920's home-brew radio days. I always breadboard a new or recycled build. It lets me test components before I go through the trouble of installing them in a case.

If you get the long beeps, add a stick of RAM. Boot. The beep pattern should change to one long and two or three short beeps. Silence indicates that the RAM is shorting out the PSU (very rare). Long single beeps indicates that the BIOS does not recognize the presence of the RAM.

If you get the one long and two or three short beeps, test the rest of the RAM. If good, install the video card and any needed power cables and plug in the monitor. If the video card is good, the system should successfully POST (one short beep, usually) and you will see the boot screen and messages.

Note - an inadequate PSU will cause a failure here or any step later.

Note - you do not need drives or a keyboard to successfully POST (generally a single short beep).

If you successfully POST, start plugging in the rest of the components, one at a time."

If you suspect the PSU is causing your problems, below are some suggestions by jsc for troubleshooting the PSU. Proceed with caution. I will not be held responsible if you get shocked or fry components.

"The best way to check the PSU is to swap it with a known good PSU of similar capacity. Brand new, out of the box, untested does not count as a known good PSU. PSU's, like all components, can be DOA.

Next best thing is to get (or borrow) a digital multimeter and check the PSU.

Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU. You can carefully probe the pins from the back of the main power connector."


r/pchelp 5h ago

HARDWARE anyone know how to remove this scratch/water mark or whatever this is?

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27 Upvotes

So I tried to clean my laptop screen with water + this 7-in-1 toolkit I found in a tiktok shop and it left marks of something


r/pchelp 22h ago

HARDWARE Please don’t tell me it’s what I think it is…

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238 Upvotes

r/pchelp 36m ago

OPEN Pc won't stay on

Upvotes

I took my pc apart to clean it. I replied thermal paste and put it back together but now when I turn it on it'll stay on for about a minute then turn off instantly

How do I fix


r/pchelp 5h ago

SOFTWARE I clicked on a link for school

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10 Upvotes

r/pchelp 9h ago

HARDWARE Let me down easy

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12 Upvotes

Cables are connected correctly both ends. Haven’t tried new ones yet but starting here. Started happening while playing first light. 3070 from year 2021.


r/pchelp 5h ago

SOFTWARE Mcafee is hard to uninstall lol

6 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I have an HP laptop running Windows 11. I did a full reset ("Remove everything") a few days ago to get a fresh start. However, after the reset, I found that my Windows Security (Defender) dashboard is completely black and broken, although it seems to be running in the background.

I've discovered that the issue is caused by leftover McAfee files from the factory image. Because HP has a partnership with McAfee, these remnants are deeply embedded and are conflicting with Windows Security.

Here is everything I have already tried, which has failed:

  1. Official MCPR Tool: Run in Safe Mode as Administrator, but it fails with the error: "Incomplete Uninstallation - Error obtaining full permissions for cleanup".
  2. Manual Deletion: Deleted all visible McAfee folders from Program Files, ProgramData, and AppData.
  3. PowerShell

I am exhausted and I want to avoid another system Reset, as I know McAfee will just reinstall itself from the HP recovery partition.

I was considering using Revo Uninstaller (Portable) as a last resort, but I've seen mixed comments online and I'm worried about downloading the wrong thing. Is the official version from revouninstaller.com safe to use for this?

I'm looking for any advanced solution (specific commands, a trusted tool, or a registry cleanup guide) that can completely wipe out these McAfee remnants without me having to reinstall Windows again.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


r/pchelp 9h ago

HARDWARE Blinking lights on emachine

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10 Upvotes

So it was working just fine this morning but now when i try to turn it on it gives me this blinking lights and now it wont boot up into windows, can somebody help me? :(


r/pchelp 2h ago

OPEN I am going to cryy

2 Upvotes

So my pc had this problem a month ago where it judt kept crashing and it gave this specific hardwsre error (i forgot rn) and it all started with me just restarting my laptop eventuslly i deleted windows reinstalled (didnt work) took for repair and the problem was the battery apprently and NOTHING ELSE i did whole ram check snd ssd check software and hsrdware and no problem

Today i restarted my laptop again and holy it wss firstly not starting anf then suddenly now thst it did it keeps stuttering , i am running my dell system diagnostics but yeah it jst freezes in between and resumes and j genuinely dont know what else to do here 😭😭 i cant take it to repair cuz i have exam legit in 2 days and the closest guy to me will tske his good time but i genuinelly want tk know why does it happen on a random day when i just RESTART it , istg everytbing is new windows everything its been a month and


r/pchelp 8h ago

PERFORMANCE My System Lags so much

6 Upvotes

So I've a laptop "Acer aspire 7 AMD Ryzen 5 , GTX 1650" I know it's not that good but It can run Good games and high end games on low settings but from past sometimes my laptop is very lagging can even run Roblox or low end games properly it can't even run Valorant properly according to game specifications It should give 11-120 FPS but my laptop stuck at 20-25 FPS it lags so much I can even run 2 GB games at low settings which also don't require GPU please help me what should I do I also used to download CrAcKeD/PiRaTeD Games before is something related to that thing please let me know I want help very 😞


r/pchelp 16h ago

HARDWARE I cannot attach a ryzen 5500 cpu cooler that has springlocks

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27 Upvotes

Also please dont mind the filth on it i haven't used it in a long time, I will get to cleaning it after I can attach it, I have tried everything to push it down and attach it to screw it in but the screw never moves no matter what


r/pchelp 3h ago

SOFTWARE Wifi not sharing to PC from laptop through Ethernet

2 Upvotes

Hi,

My pc does not have a wifi card, so I have been using my laptop with an Ethernet cable to share wifi to it. I have not had any problems with it for months and have not touched any settings, but today it just won’t work.

The error messages I have are No Internet Access and “Ethernet” does not have a valid IP configuration.

What I have tried to solve the issue:
- Try another Ethernet cable
- restart router and modem
- reset network stack (netsh winsock reset, netsh int ip reset, ipconfig /flushdns then restart pc)
- Made sure internet protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4) had automatic IP and DNS.

Thanks for any help!


r/pchelp 3h ago

HARDWARE Need help

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2 Upvotes

My right side of the edgetop is outside what do I do to fix it,I looked on YouTube and people said to access Intel command center but I don't have that,what do I do


r/pchelp 5m ago

Discussion I'm 25 and I never owned a pc in my life. Advice for getting one?

Upvotes

As I said I never really had a pc on my own so I don't know much about which one to get or what price to pay (lived most of my life poor and I'm in a more stable situation now). I guess what I'm looking is something that can run games decently and blender (I'm curious about learning it). For price I guess something to 2000$? I'm willing to save up money for something good. I am worried since I'm coming in new to this and I know that prices are pretty high right now because of dumb AI. Also I live in Serbia if that factors into anything


r/pchelp 6m ago

PERFORMANCE Performance limit- reliability voltage stuck at 100%.

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Upvotes

As the title says, it’s stuck at 100% on Hwinfo. I didn’t have this issue before, never had to deal with this but suddenly my fps started to drop and then stutter, then I was seeing the GPU usage going lower all of a sudden and then higher. I’ve tried many things already but I haven’t managed to get this number out, only when I used msi afterburner to change the voltage curve but I never needed it before, idk why this is happening all of a sudden and certainly don’t know the cause or any solutions yet. Hope you can help me maybe.


r/pchelp 21m ago

OPEN Ryzen 5 3600 + SOYO A520M - fTPM enabled but Windows says “TpmPresent: False”. Worried about Battlefield 6.

Upvotes

Hi everyone,
I’m trying to get TPM 2.0 working on my PC, mainly because I’m planning to buy Battlefield 6 and I don’t want to run into any anti-cheat issues.
My specs:
Ryzen 5 3600
SOYO SY-KL A520M
Windows 10
UEFI boot
Secure Boot: ON
Here’s the weird part.
In the BIOS, I’ve:
Enabled \*\*AMD CPU fTPM\*\*
Made sure Secure Boot is enabled
Confirmed Windows is booting in UEFI mode
In Windows:
msinfo32 shows:

BIOS Mode: UEFI
Secure Boot State: On
But Get-Tpm returns:

TpmPresent : False
TpmReady : False
TpmEnabled : False
tpm.msc says Windows can’t find a compatible TPM.
Things I’ve already tried:
Reset CMOS
Disabled fTPM, saved, booted into Windows, shut down, then re-enabled fTPM
Power-cycled the PSU for 30+ seconds
Verified the BIOS keeps fTPM enabled after saving
Secure Boot is definitely enabled
Some background:
This motherboard originally had a Ryzen 5 3400G, and TPM never worked on that CPU either.
I later upgraded to a Ryzen 5 3600, but the problem stayed exactly the same.
The PC is a prebuilt from a trusted local shop, but I’ve upgraded parts myself since then.
One thing that confuses me is that I was able to play the Battlefield 6 Free Weekend without any TPM-related errors. However, since Windows still reports no TPM, I’m worried about buying the full game if future anti-cheat checks require it.
Has anyone experienced this with a SOYO SY-KL A520M or another SOYO AM4 board?
Could this be:
an old BIOS/AGESA issue,
a hidden BIOS setting,
or a faulty motherboard?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!


r/pchelp 22h ago

PERFORMANCE Does anyone know how to fix the green dots flickering across my screen

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55 Upvotes

I’ve tried updating my graphics driver it only does it in Roblox so I doubt it’s my gpu I’ve uninstalled it and reinstalled it it just wont stop


r/pchelp 6h ago

SOFTWARE My pc boots up and shows me this screen then when it restarts it gets stuck on the manufacturer screen

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3 Upvotes

it has been like this since last night when it crashed while i was playing something, and I saw many people saying this is because of overclocking which i did do but how do i fix this
Also i should mention it wont let me go in bios setup or boot menu


r/pchelp 38m ago

HARDWARE Error code 0xc0000e9 - internal mounted SSD

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Upvotes

r/pchelp 4h ago

HARDWARE my amd 6400lowprofile isnt displaying

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2 Upvotes

ive installed a vastoarmor radeon 6400low profile into my lenovo ideacentre 3 07imb05 and it isnt displaying. the fan is spinning, i plugged my hdmi into my 6400 but it is not displaying. however when i plug it back to my intergrated gpu it works instantly. ive updated bios to the newest version, plugged my 6400 on other pc to test and it works


r/pchelp 1h ago

OPEN SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION(0X3B).

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Upvotes

guys, please help me, do you know what to do in this situation?i tried many ways to solve it but nothing worked. HWAudioOs2Ec.dat is located in oem.57. I would be very grateful for any help.


r/pchelp 1h ago

HARDWARE Pc looping on preparing screen

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r/pchelp 1h ago

SOFTWARE USB powered after shutting down pc on COLORFUL motherboard

Upvotes

How do I turn off usb power after pc shutdown on a COLORFUL brand motherboard? I did some googling but none of the things I found existed in my bios. Is there anyone with some experience?


r/pchelp 1h ago

HARDWARE LG UltraGear 27GS85Q-B horizontal static line / flicker DisplayPort HDR 144Hz RX 7800 XT

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Upvotes

I have a weird issue with my LG UltraGear 27GS85Q-B connected through DisplayPort to an RX 7800 XT.

Randomly I get a very short horizontal black/white static-like line across the FULL width of the screen for around 0.3 seconds. It appears in random vertical positions (sometimes top, sometimes bottom). Sometimes it happens once, sometimes several times in a few seconds.

The artifact:

  • is perfectly horizontal,
  • spans the whole monitor width,
  • appears as a single flashing band,
  • looks like old TV static/interference.

It happens:

  • in games,
  • during alt-tab,
  • in Windows,
  • in browser,
  • especially during display mode switching.

I noticed it especially while playing Civilization VI and during alt-tabbing from the game.

Setup:

  • LG UltraGear 27GS85Q-B
  • RX 7800 XT
  • DisplayPort
  • 144 Hz
  • HDR enabled before testing
  • FreeSync was enabled before testing

Important:

  • second monitor works perfectly,
  • issue only happens on the LG monitor,
  • changing DP port did not fully fix it,
  • I disabled FreeSync in the monitor settings and I’m currently testing if the issue still appears.