Oh...swamis of the computer! Title says it all.

I gave my nephew a little IT project for some Christmas cash and asked him to replace all the fans in my SilverStone case...four (4) 120mm fans and the CPU fan/heatsink. This is a Windows 10 system with current updates running an ASUS Sabertooth X58 motherboard...it's a little older, but works just fine for my current needs.

He replaced the (4) 120mm fans a couple of weeks ago and the system had been running just fine. He didn't install the CPU fan/heatsink because he had to order a mounting bracket that goes underneath the motherboard for the new heatsink to attach to; it's not designed to attach straight to the motherboard like a "stock" Intel fan does with the "push-pin" design. The ASUS X58 motherboard has an LGA1366 socket running an i7 Processor.

At any rate, he brought all the stuff over to install the new CPU fan/heatsink yesterday...it's a NOCTUA CPU cooler. He had to remove the motherboard from the case in order to install the mounting bracket on the bottom side of the board. He got everything put back together and VOILA! The computer will not boot up...been dead in the water since. When it's booting up, I get the message...

Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

The BIOS recognizes all the drives and the primary drive is defined as the boot device.

I've double-checked EVERYTHING...all connections, RAM is seated, all SATA plugs are seated, etc., and can't think of a reason why this NOCTUA assembly would be incompatible with this ASUS motherboard, but I guess it's possible.

I'm going to have him bring the old fan over today after church and reinstall it. If the system boots up, we'll know it's something to do with the NOCTUA CPU cooler assembly.

Any thoughts or recommendations?? Thanks for any insight. I'm not pulling my hair out......yet.

It's not finding your boot drive. Make sure you have the OS drive plugged into the MB. If it's an M.2 slot make sure you put the drive back in and it's secured with the screw.

If you have multiple drives only plug in the os drive and then work the others back in once the computer boots.

Do you have a spare pc to plug the boot drive into?

A few suggestions.

First, check to make sure all the cables are attached securely.

Next, disconnect something that requires power but isn't necessary. I once added a second hard drive to a computer, and my power supply didn't generate enough power to boot the system. Fans don't use a lot of power, but cumulatively they may push your system beyond its capabilities, particularly if you're usung a factory power supply.

Then re-install the old parts and see if it boots.

Thrre's more, like checking the BIOS settings, but I would start with these.

Thanks for all the responses and ideas!! As an aside, I’ve been building/troubleshooting my own systems from component parts for over 35 years. They usually run without a hiccup, but this one has me a little baffled.

quote:

Originally posted by xantom:
It's not finding your boot drive. Make sure you have the OS drive plugged into the MB. If it's an M.2 slot make sure you put the drive back in and it's secured with the screw.

If you have multiple drives only plug in the os drive and then work the others back in once the computer boots.

None of the drives were removed from the bracket slots…they were only disconnected from the SATA “hub” connections on the m/b when it was removed. I removed all drives except the OS drive and still no boot.

quote:

Originally posted by Nickelsig229:
Do you have a spare pc to plug the boot drive into?

I do not.

quote:

Originally posted by AUTiger89:
A few suggestions.

First, check to make sure all the cables are attached securely.

Next, disconnect something that requires power but isn't necessary. I once added a second hard drive to a computer, and my power supply didn't generate enough power to boot the system. Fans don't use a lot of power, but cumulatively they may push your system beyond its capabilities, particularly if you're [using] a factory power supply.

Then re-install the old parts and see if it boots.

Thrre's more, like checking the BIOS settings, but I would start with these.

I have double- and triple-checked all the connections on the m/b. I have scoured the BIOS to make sure nothing funky happened with the installation of the NOCTUA cooler. Everything appears to be normal, as it was before the cooler installation. Two of the four new fans are not plugged in while doing all this testing and troubleshooting. I am running a Corsair AX850 power supply; should be MORE than enough to run all these components.

The BIOS recognizes ALL my SATA devices:
Two (2) Samsung EVO 850 SSDs (one of which is the boot drive)
Two (2) Samsung EVO 860 SSDs
One (1) DVD Drive
One (1) Blu-Ray Drive

I did disconnect all SATA devices with the exception of the EVO 850’s…one of those is the drive that contains the Windows system ONLY. All other drives in this system are used either for data (D:/), work space (F:/), or backup (E:/). When selecting either of the 850’s as the boot device, the system would still not boot…got the same message as in my OP.

I’m still gonna re-install the stock Intel heatsink/fan to get the system back to its last know working state and see if that changes anything. Hope it does! Otherwise I’m looking at a rebuild. Fortunately I have a daily backup from which to restore!!

Is it possible you are not plugging the OS drive back into the original MB SATA port? Shouldn't matter but might be worth looking into.

Did you modify the BIOS before or after you installed the new CPU fan? You might want to restore it to default.

quote:

I’m still gonna re-install the stock Intel heatsink/fan to get the system back to its last know working state and see if that changes anything.

Don't waste your time, that alone will not make any difference.

By any chance did you remove the CPU from the socket itself?
If you did, then take it out and inspect the pins in the socket.

If it were mine and I was concerned about the information, I would replace the boot drive with a new one and then restore it if possible.
That preserves the data on the drive.

You could also create a (USB/CD) boot drive, boot to it and verify files on that drive.

Ultimately, just restore from backup, the additional steps outlined above is just a precautionary move.

Normally, I would say to verify all connections both data and power, possibly trying different ones.

As mentioned to verify no BIOS setting were changed such as UEFI vs Legacy boot.

Again, if you are confident on your back up then just do that.

Good Luck

.

I agree with you and do not see the relationship between the new CPU fan and the error message.

The error message can be a default error when something is wrong, but the BIOS doesn't have the correct information to indicate exactly what is wrong. Consider the message to be saying ouch, but the text is not telling you why.

Were you in the room for the CPU fan replacement? Any chance static electricity or something being dropped when the motherboard was out of the case?

I know you doubled checked all the connections. Did you look for any missing pins or pins from the wire that are now stuck in the back of the hard drive but not connected to the wires?

The PC law of coincidence says when you replace one component, another decides its time to die. How old are the motherboard, CPU, boot drive, power supply, and the wiring?

I appreciate your hard drive setup, it tells me your knowledge and skills are rather high.

On a side note, if your nephew is learning to build have you shared these sites that have a system builder function for verifying component capability?
www.BuildMyPC.net
or
www.PCbuilder.net

.

This may sound a tad weird, but...

Several years ago I had a similar situation after installing a second HD in my Win10 desktop. Wouldn't "find" my boot drive.
After far too much trial and error frustration I simply changed my boot mode to disable the secure mode in UEFI. That solved things. Not the smartest notion I've been told but have been running things that way for 4+ years now without any issues.

I have read through all the above and heard of 'checking' connections but not a straight up cable change for your main drive. I'd also try using an old drive in place of "C" with everything else disconnected.

I am assuming you swapped the system SATA drive cable with something known to have just worked elsewhere? If you're like me, you have plenty of SATA cables collecting dust in a box.

Also, with the MB out and back in, was it completely disconnected from everything?

I think it less likely, but could a component of the MB have gotten zapped with a static charge in all that?

It shouldn't matter but... SATA's can be turned on or off in most BIOS and the unused may have been turned off at time of build.

quote:

Originally posted by xantom:
Is it possible you are not plugging the OS drive back into the original MB SATA port? Shouldn't matter but might be worth looking into.

Did you modify the BIOS before or after you installed the new CPU fan? You might want to restore it to default.

Try clearing the CMOS.(It sounds like it's corrupted).

Unplug PC.
Remove coin cell battery from MB.
Momentarily replace coin cell + side down in holder. This will clear CMOS.
Reinstall coin cell (with + side up).
Plug in and boot.

BTW, I designed motherboards for Intel for 13 years.

I hope this helps.

I like the UEFI option.

Personally, i would have unplugged all drives but the Boot one and if that doesn’t work, go straight to UEFI.

0-0

Is it possible you touched something and fried it with an electrostatic discharge? It doesn' take much to do damage smaller circuits and devices.

You said your nephew had to remove the motherboard, then you need to check every single connection that something isn’t loose. Loose RAM or a loose power connection will be enough to cause a PC not to want to boot up.

Did he have to remove the CPU from the socket? If so, that needs to be checked as well that it’s reseated firmly and pins aren’t bent anywhere.

Thanks again for the continued ideas and thinking out loud...

No...my nephew did not remove the CPU from the socket. We checked and re-checked all connections, to include the RAM, which wasn't removed. We did clear the CMOS and "started over" in the BIOS this evening, but still no joy on the system booting up. For those asking about static charge...unlikely, as we were not on carpet. I know you can get static charge on tile and wood floor, but I don't think that's the issue. I'll have to research the "UEFI option"...don't know what that is.

I DO have a backup of the system as of early Saturday morning (daily backup runs at 2:00AM)...system cratered Saturday afternoon. The problem is, the program I use to backup the system is on the boot drive...using Acronis backup/restore and I backup locally to a separate SSD installed in the case.

If anyone knows of a way to get the boot disk restored from the back up disk, I'm all ears!!

As a last resort (if I don't just go ahead and upgrade the m/b and CPU), I'll take the case to Micro Center and see if they can get it booted up. The problem I have with that is now my system is in possession of people that might hack passwords and financial information. Sure...they vow an "oath of silence", but truthfully how trustworthy are computer places like this??

Oh...did I mention this motherboard/CPU is AT LEAST 11-12 years old??

quote:

Acronis backup/restore

Which version of Acronis?

...and is the backup a full system or just data?

Acronis 2021, I think? If that makes sense. And every night is a full backup of both the Windows and data drives.

I thought I made an Acronis boot disk, but damned if I know where I put it…

Did you try loading an os on to a usb drive and then accessing the original boot drive to see if the backup software will run?

Not yet…gonna work several options tomorrow.

Luckily I have my laptop and iPad, so I’m not dead in the water…