So the parts are finally here:

CPU - AMD Ryzen 3900X
MB - ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero
Cooler - Noctua NH-D15
RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GB 3600MHz (4x16 GB) - I know, probably overkill
SSD - Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2 TB NVMe
Secondary Storage - Seagate Barracuda Pro 6 TB
Video Card - EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER XC ULTRA GAMING
Case - NZXT H710i - ATX Mid Tower
Power Supply - Seasonic PRIME TX-850

It was particularly hard to find the motherboard and power supply in stock.

My son and I will put it together on Memorial Day!

Thanks to sadlerbw and jprebb for your suggestions.

That looks like so much fun! Nice parts selection too.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
That looks like so much fun! Nice parts selection too.

Thanks! My son is stoked. Of course he wants to play Fortnite on it.

Always love looking at a nice pile of new parts
Make sure you post some pics of the finished build so we can scrutinize your cable management LOL

Have fun with the build

So the new rig is now up and running, but the building experience was not as pleasant as I had hoped it would be.

Completed the initial build with my son. Hauled the new chassis into the office. Hooked up the mouse, keyboard, display, and power.

Told my son to hit the power switch and... no POST.

Turned it off, cleared CMOS. Tried again, no joy. So my son is frustrated - I send him off to play Fortnite on his XBOX.

Then I notice that the DRAM LED on the motherboard is lit, and Q-Code 0d is being displayed. Time for some research. Looks like it might be bad RAM.

So I take everything apart and reseat each component. Clean the TIM off the processor and reseat the heatsink as well. Better try to get it to POST out of the case. Same deal - DRAM light, Q-Code 0d, no video. Then I start trying each of the RAM sticks individually in each of the RAM slots. Same errors. Gave it one last shot by updating the BIOS with a USB stick and same deal.

Now what? It's not RAM because I know I don't have 4 bad sticks (and this RAM is on the motherboard's QVL). It occurs to me that all of the components looked factory-fresh except the motherboard. Unfortunately ASUS does not factory-seal their motherboards, but I noticed that the packaging material inside the box was dented and torn. So first hunch is replace the motherboard.

But nobody online has X570 motherboards in stock. I check out my local shop (Central Computers) and, incredibly, they have 4 ASUS Crosshair VIII X570 motherboards in stock. Time for some non-contact shopping.

So the salesman at Central Computers says he will let me inspect the boards before I purchase one, as long as I meet him in front of the store and wear a mask and gloves. Whatever - I need a new board. I find one that looks factory-fresh and bring it home.

Time to take the system apart again, rebuild it, bring it into the office, and hold my breath as I press the power button.

First thing I see is the DRAM light. I start to scream "SHI----" (my son's not around) and the light turns off. All the diagnostic lights flash in sequence. Q-Codes are changing very rapidly and... I'm in the BIOS!

I've Installed Windows 10 PRO and it all looks good! I really wasn't sure what I was going to do if it still wouldn't POST. Probably check the diagnostic LEDs and Q-Codes again and lean towards replacing the CPU next.

Then I bring my son into the office and show him the new PC. He's excited to see it up and running. I told him what I had to do to get it to work, and he says "Building a computer is hard daddy!" Well it was this time!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: EZ_B,

Congrats! Good job on troubleshooting.

quote:

Originally posted by EZ_B:
Told my son to hit the power switch and... no POST.

I've built 10 or 15 computers over the years and my heart still skips a few beats the first time I hit the power button. Thankfully no isues yet!

Congratulations on figuring it out and getting it running.

JP

Congrats on the build and the troubleshooting. It's nice your local shop has AMD stuff. The only local shops I have are Intel only, but they can "special order" AMD stuff...for a extra cost.

Those first boots can be a pain sometimes. I have been build PCs since Win95 and still get a bit nervous with the first power up. My previous build, I had similar issues with the first boot.....no post and odd error codes.

Two motherboards later and a lot of cussing over several days, it ended up being the back plate for my cpu waterblock that was causing the problem. Booted fine on the bench...with a stock air cooler, just not in the case with the waterblock. Ended up digging out a back plate from one of my older setups and it worked fine ever since.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PakRatJR,

quote:

Originally posted by Skull Leader:
Congrats! Good job on troubleshooting.

Thanks!

quote:

Those first boots can be a pain sometimes. I have been build PCs since Win95 and still get a bit nervous with the first power up. My previous build, I had similar issues with the first boot.....no post and odd error codes.

I've built quite a few systems over the years myself, but this is the first one that wouldn't POST at all. I've seen plenty of other issues, but I've always been able to get into the BIOS (at least).

When I considered the timing of this build I was a bit hesitant. The limited supply of components, and the difficulty in reaching support agents due to the pandemic had me thinking twice.

It would have been a real bummer if I had to wait a few weeks for a replacement motherboard. I was getting ready to haul my old PC back into my office and put the whole project on hold until I could get my hands on a new MB.

My son was pretty bummed too, until we found the replacement MB at Central Computers. But now we are both quite stoked. It's a pretty big upgrade coming from an Core i7-2600K, 16 MB of RAM, and GeForce GTX 680 (SLI) graphics to what we have now!