Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Changed BIOS Setting--Now No Display

May 10, 2017 12:02PM PDT

Hi All,

I hope you are having an awesome day!

PC Specs:
ASUS M32 Series with a little upgrading.
650W PSU
AMD FX 8310
XFX RX 470 4GB (no onboard graphics)
16 GB RAM
2 TB HD

Computer has run beautifully in games--except for x-plane 10--and what I noticed was that the turbo frequency of my processor was not engaging (it is supposed to turbo up to 4.0 GHz when under full load). However, it seemed like the CPU was only running at its stock 3.6 GHz in games. After reading online about turbo not engaging, I decided to go into the BIOS settings and see if the turbo is prevented from running. Note: I don't want to overclock it, I just want the turbo to work as advertised.

It took me to the ASUS BIOS screen where the information told me the PC was running in power saving mode--meaning performance was taking a hit--I click on the option to run in AMD Optimized Mode (the highest performance setting). I changed nothing else and saved then rebooted the PC.

On Reboot the Screen was black, not displaying any input.
The keyboard lights were not on (num lock is usually on)

So I figured the CMOS needed to be reset. I opened up the PC, took out the graphics card to reset the CMOS battery and even used the jumper to reset. No luck!! Maybe I did that wrong but I tried to do it the way ASUS website said at this link.

I contacted ASUS support and they told me to hold the power button in for 30 seconds or so, but no luck!

So I am stuck, the PC is brand new--barely used--and games great but I cant seem to get past booting. All of the components are working fine. Fans are smooth, graphics card lights up, no odd beeps. Everything sounds the same and appears to be working the same but no display--and no keyboard input.

I appreciate any help on this matter, thank you for your time!

PGA Pro

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Other things to try.
May 10, 2017 12:18PM PDT

1. Replace the CMOS battery. The CPU came out in 2014 so while early this is a cheap thing to try. If you have a Volt meter, the usual passing voltage I want to see on it is over 3.0 Volts.

2. Go ahead and unplug ALL USB things and try the reset and re-test.
3. Power off, unplug and reseat the video card.

4. If this is home built, consider a common issue of a stray, extra motherboard mounting post. I find this all the time and thankfully only a few lost motherboards.

- Collapse -
Gave it a shot but no luck so far
May 10, 2017 1:43PM PDT

Thank you for the reply!

I tried a new CMOS battery from another PC that I had around and eliminated the dead battery unfortunately.

Took out the RAM and started the system but no luck--put RAM back in.

Took out video card and reseated it, unfortunately no luck there.

As far as unplugging USB things, Do you mean internal connections?

This is such a bizarre issue that I have never experienced before. The PC was purchased in 2016 and was barely used. I made a small BIOS change that I assumed was a novice one that I couldn't mess up, I guess not.....

- Collapse -
About USB.
May 10, 2017 1:53PM PDT

Just unplug ALL USB things. Card readers, keyboards, mice, you get the idea.

I can't tell from this post if it was new, used, etc.

The idea with The Dead PC is to downsize till it shows life or not. The bare minimum parts changes if there is a motherboard speaker for beeps. It MUST beep when I remove everything but the PSU, CPU+HSF and motherboard. If not I'm looking at the 4 possible bad parts.

- Collapse -
No Beep I think
May 10, 2017 2:13PM PDT

Booted up PC without RAM, Video, no USB's, and checked all connections. No loud beep--I may have heard a small one but I think it should be louder.

- Collapse -
Not sure about system speaker
May 10, 2017 2:18PM PDT

I'm not sure if there is a system speaker inside to give me the beep noise.

- Collapse -
At this point you do more research.
May 10, 2017 2:28PM PDT
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1745432/find-speaker-pins-motherboard.html for example where you dig into what the motherboard is and see if the speaker is onboard or must be added.

It's under a 2 buck thing and all PC techs will have one in the shop when needed.

Without it you are stuck changing out the motherboard and CPU once you did a PSU Voltage check with your Volt meter.

-> All skill levels arrive here. To do PC repair you have to have the basic gear (Volt meter) or you may be swapping good parts out.
- Collapse -
Will do voltage check soon
May 10, 2017 2:30PM PDT

Ok, thank you! I haven't run the voltage check yet, but doesn't it seem odd that changing a system setting from power saver to max performance causes this? The PC was perfect before I decided to change that.

- Collapse -
It's like the hallway light.
May 11, 2017 7:00AM PDT

Or any light bulb. It works fine and then it doesn't. Prior good operation is not going to assure future operation. Painful but truth.

Hope you find it.

- Collapse -
We still haven't heard
May 12, 2017 8:24AM PDT

about " a stray, extra motherboard mounting post " also I wonder if setting the BIOS back to stock would be a test ?

- Collapse -
That's a good thing to try.
May 12, 2017 9:09AM PDT

Time to find out.