Son's 1st computer build

[croyde]

and his monitor is showing no signal.

Now, I know nothing about computers so here goes:

He has an Asus Rog Strix B450-F motherboard and has installed an AMD Ryzen 7 3700x CPU.

He seems to think that the motherboard needs updating to run this and that is why the monitor is showing no signal.

Is he correct? and how do you update the motherboard if it's not working with the CPU?

I hope I've asked this question correctly.

The poor lad has autism issues and has done really well to get this far but now he is losing it. It would be great if I could find a hopefully simple answer.

Many thanks.

[BenRichards89]

Does he have a graphics card? That CPU doesn't have integrated graphics, The motherboard display outs will only work with an APU.

[audi321]

ok first things first.

1. Monitor shows no signal - does it have different sources? Have you tried them all?
2. Is the PC actually on? Does it 'sound' on? Any power fans or anything running? Any lights on?
3. What graphics card does he have? Or what is the monitor actually connected to the PC with and to?

They're the first things to try, and might sound dummy things, but you'll be surprised what daft things are forgotten about when diagnosing problems.

[WonkeyDonkey]

I'm not massively clued up with modern Pc's but the BIOS may need updating if the CPU is latest generation but the motherboard is slightly older. I'm pretty sure I've read that AMD carried forward their CPU sockets from last generation to current.

[croyde]

Thanks guys. Seems the board is for 1st and 2nd gen AMD CPUs but he's bought a 3rd Gen.

Would this be why the monitor shows no signal?

Everything else is installed and on.

[audi321]

croyde said:

Thanks guys. Seems the board is for 1st and 2nd gen AMD CPUs but he's bought a 3rd Gen.

Would this be why the monitor shows no signal?

Probably yes. However, the spec for that board says it's ready for 3rd gen Ryzen processors?

[BenRichards89]

croyde said:

Thanks guys. Seems the board is for 1st and 2nd gen AMD CPUs but he's bought a 3rd Gen.

Would this be why the monitor shows no signal?

Everything else is installed and on.

It could be, in which case the board may need a BIOS update. However it should be compatible, as its the same socket and the 3000 series Ryzen has been out a while. Generally it was when those chips were launched that boards needed a BIOS update.

Does he have a graphics card fitted to provide a display? Without a graphics card he won't get any display with that CPU/Board combo as the CPU doesnt have integrated graphics.

Likewise if he has a GPU installed but the display cable is connected to the board and not the graphics card you also wont get a display.

Edited by BenRichards89 on Saturday 14th November 16:20

Edited by BenRichards89 on Saturday 14th November 16:21

[croyde]

audi321 said:

ok first things first.

1. Monitor shows no signal - does it have different sources? Have you tried them all?
2. Is the PC actually on? Does it 'sound' on? Any power fans or anything running? Any lights on?
3. What graphics card does he have? Or what is the monitor actually connected to the PC with and to?

They're the first things to try, and might sound dummy things, but you'll be surprised what daft things are forgotten about when diagnosing problems.

I'm having to do this by phone lol.

He says he's tried reseating cables, different cables as in the HDMI to the monitor. It has a graphics card, everything on.

I've read up that his motherboard does not support the 3rd gen AMD CPU that he's installed. He has bought parts willy nilly and already has an Intel CPU that is obviously not compatible so he bought the AMD Ryzen today.

I've suggested that at £80 he buys a compatible motherboard and try to sell the CPUs on eBay but I must check that no signal on the monitor is a symptom of the wrong CPU being installed.

Cheers.

[croyde]

BenRichards89 said:

It could be, in which case the board may need a BIOS update. However it should be compatible, as its the same socket and the 3000 series Ryzen has been out a while. Generally it was when those chips were launched that boards needed a BIOS update.

Does he have a graphics card fitted to provide a display? Without a graphics card he won't get any display with that CPU/Board combo as the CPU doesnt have integrated graphics.

Likewise if he has a GPU installed but the display cable is connected to the board and not the graphics card you also wont get a display.

Edited by BenRichards89 on Saturday 14th November 16:20

Edited by BenRichards89 on Saturday 14th November 16:21

Thanks, I'll check with him whether he has connected it to the graphics card or not, Cheers

[Baldinho]

That board is compatible with the 3700x although depending how old it is it might need a BIOS update.

As said above firstly make sure he's plugged the display cable into the graphics card display socket and not into motherboard.

Is everything else firing up?

[Baldinho]

Also has he downloaded all the drivers?

Edited to add this very good step by step guide to make sure everything's installed properly. Helped me no end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy5nLwN-ocI

[mmm-five]

Even if he does have a graphics card, make sure the video (HDMI/DisplayPort) is actually connected to the graphics card ports and not to the motherboard port.

Although if he hasn't even bought the correct motherboard for the processor (or vice versa) then you'd worry about some of the more subtle differences he may encounter (like single channel vs dual channel vs quad channel memory), or if he tries to adjust anything in the BIOS.

If you can, get him ty give you a full list of what he's bought and someone on here may be able to suggest if anything is wrong or unbalanced - and he will need to install one of the beta bioses for the B450 board if he wants to run anything from the 3000 or 5000 CPU range.

If we can have the following info:

• Motherboard
• Processor/CPU
• Graphics Card/GPU
• Memory/RAM (size, speed & config)
• Power Supply/PSU
• Boot Drive
• Storage Drive

Should provide us with something like this (for example):

• ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming (fluffy pink edition)
• RTX 2060 Super 6GB
• 2 x 16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR4 3200mhz
• Corsair RM750X
• 1TB Samsung 980 Pro m.2 SSD
• 4TB Seagate Barracuda SATA HDD

[croyde]

ROG STRIX 450-F
ryzen 7 3700k
Nvidia RTX 2060
16gb DDR4 3600Mhz RAM
650W F-power
not sure about the other two

[mmm-five]

croyde said:

ROG STRIX 450-F
ryzen 7 3700k
Nvidia RTX 2060
16gb DDR4 3600Mhz RAM
650W F-power
not sure about the other two

None of that looks worrying, so it's either drivers, ports or cabling (or a dead component) - which means it could be anything

Your son can check the motherboard box to see if the bios has been updated for 3000 series chips (will have a sticker on to say so). If not, then there's no easy way to run the update without a compatible CPU (1000 or 2000 series).

Some motherboard have a flashback system to load bios without a CPU, and some have USB ports to do the same, but the board your son has offers neither...sorry.

Unless he's got (or a friend has) an older CPU then it's back to the shop to get the board updated or buy an older CPU (I don't recommend the latter).

Edited by mmm-five on Saturday 14th November 17:11

[The_Jackal]

IS there really no one that knows PCs near him that can help him? You could be going round in circles forever.
Even for an experienced person it would be very difficult to fix this over the phone.

[croyde]

He's now saying it won't turn off even if he hits off button.

Bit of a mare as I'm not at his home and I really know nothing about computers.

He always talks like he does. Got money for his birthday and just ordered all the bits.

He's already previously bought the wrong type of CPU and now I wonder if he's wired it all up correctly. Bit hard over the phone.

[Nimby]

croyde said:

He's now saying it won't turn off even if he hits off button.

Hold the power button down for several seconds.

[AlexC1981]

Check the monitor is on HDMI input instead of display port or vice versa.

Do a bios reset.

[vladcjelli]

Power to the gpu?

[Narcisus]

Not turning on ... Check he's not pulled the cable out of the headers for the switch and to make really sure the motherboard is not shorting on the case.