YSK if you've built a computer and it won't boot, sometimes the issue can be resolved by taking the memory out and putting it back.

Or by only putting one stick of memory in, or changing the slot you’re using.

I was assembling a computer and everything seemed to be correct, the fan would spin up, I’d get some lights, but there was no image on the screen, not even the BIOS. I saw someone else make this suggestion and didn’t think it was likely to work, but it did. First I just tried one stick, and it booted. Then I tried both sticks and it didn’t work, but I reseated and then it did.

(Also worth pointing out that your motherboard should have diagnostic lights which if you check the documentation may point out which component has an issue)

Thinking about Lemmy’s demographics many here may have heard of something like this, or have more helpful suggestions about troubleshooting which would be welcome. But thought I’d write out a little post about my experience to contribute to Lemmy SEO supremacy.

Alice,
@Alice@hilariouschaos.com avatar

Removed

some_guy,

Reseating cards and chips is the first step every time.

MIDItheKID,

And power connectors. I’ve re-seated a lot of loose 24pin and 8pin power cables in my life.

MyNamesNotRobert,

Some motherboards in 2024 still don’t work if you put the ram in the wrong ram slots. I ran into that problem on an am5 board recently.

m3t00,
@m3t00@lemmy.world avatar

printers would often start working after an elevator ride, apparently. oh tech support

uriel238,
@uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

The practice of pulling and reseating expansion cards and cables in an effort to eliminate poor connections and hardware-dependent boot errors is, in the ancient era of blinkenlights called gestures and incantations.

TootSweet,

I’ve got a computer that randomly reboots itself for no apparent reason once every two months or so. Always outputs some cryptic information about some hardware issue on the following boot. It’s a problem that’s just far enough on the far side of the annoyance-to-effort curve that I’ve been just using it that way for years now without figuring out what’s wrong with it.

Jessica,

A much dumber reason is because you forgot to install the riser screws before screwing in the motherboard and shorting the entire motherboard against the case.

My best friend did this on his first PC bless his heart lol

A_Random_Idiot,

WTF case is that?

I dont think I’ve seen a case in 20 years that even had removable/installable risers.

stratoscaster,

I think the Corsair 4000D does iirc (my case).

exscape,
exscape avatar

Hm, they're removable in about every case I've used in the past 20 years. I mostly use Fractal Design cases though, so I suppose it's something they tend to do.

Jessica,

I can’t recall, but he did overspend on his motherboard and it was not damaged by the short. I figured out the issue, and he reinstalled it and it works just fine to this day. That was like 7 years ago.

Blackmist,

If something is super fucky and defying all logic, try a different PSU. It’s the one thing apart from the motherboard that can effect every area of your PC.

I have a folder of photos on my PC, shared over the network. I could browse that folder fine locally. I could look in other shared folders over the network. If I looked in the photo folder over the network, the PC would power off instantly.

Swapped it out for a different one (I’d borrowed it from work while mine was being repaired), problem went away and never happened again.

There is zero logic I can see for this, and makes me want to throw computers down a well and live in a cave.

go_go_gadget,

This. I built a new machine and assumed the PSU was the least likely to be the issue. After testing the video card, ram, cpu and motherboard… I tried my spare PSU and it worked great. smh

A_Random_Idiot,

If your computer is acting haunted, its the PSU.

If its being temperamental like a fussy teenager, its typically ram.

MummifiedClient5000,

If it’s acting more like an elderly Belgian woman, you may want to update your BIOS.

This is fun.

go_go_gadget,

I need more context. What are elderly Belgian women known for?

shasta,

Waffles?

gamermanh,
@gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Ive built 7 or so computers in my time

in that same time 3 PSUs were DOA, 2 died a month in under pathetic loads, and one fried in a lightning strike (this one gets a pass as only the PSU fried so it did it’s job)

It’s so often the goddamn PSU

RickRussell_CA,
RickRussell_CA avatar

Well, the real YSK is that memory and expansion cards have distinctive positions they should take within each slot, with a detente that holds them in place. Your system will only work reliably if the devices are fully seated.

When you first assemble the system, plug and unplug each item several times so you get the feel of it. There will always be a distinct detente when the device is fully seated. It's a lot easier to do this exercise with everything out on the bench, rather than mounted in the case when it will be a stone cold bee-atch to reach in and reseat the parts.

A_Random_Idiot,

and it takes a lot more effort than most people expect to seat the ram and get it to snap into place.

I spent half an hour arguing on the phone with someone telling them their ram wasnt installed all the way to push it down further/firmer and they kept screaming it wouldnt go any further and that i was gonna break their PC. I could tell cause they sent me pics. It was almost all the way, but not quite there.

I gave up and made them to bring it over, and I pushed the ram down with an audible click while staring at him. He had the good graces to say nothing but a sheepish thankyou.

vzq,

I call it “re-seating” the memory because it makes me sound like I have an actual clue.

naticus,

I have half a clue and also call it reseating.

locuester,

I have 40 years of PC building experience and I too call it “reseating”.

Underwaterbob,

My aging work PC (Xeon E3 1230V2) regularly stops booting, and this works for me. It had 16gb of memory, but I had to throw out one of the sticks. The other thing that gets it working again sometimes is tightening or loosening the CPU cooler screws. Thankfully, it’s old enough to still do the BIOs beep codes which tipped me off to the tightening the CPU fix. I’ve got some newer parts lying around (an AMD 2600x and 16gb of DD4) I’ll turn into a full PC when it finally dies, but for now it just keeps going and going.

ninjan,

Only higher end boards tend to have diagnostic lights.

meekah,
@meekah@lemmy.world avatar

I would say most mid range boards have diagnostic LEDs now. My gigabyte b450 board has some, for example, which I consider solidly mid range not high end.

ninjan,

If thats true a lot has changed since AM4. Only the pricier B boards and not all X boards (but most) had them when I last kept tabs on the majority of boards. A cursory google shows at least a few solidly midrange boards with lights (and some without) so you may very well be right.

IMongoose,

Pretty much all boards will either have lights, beeps, or both. OEM builds will usually have them on the front IO ports (Dell usually has A/B/C lights). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a board with nothing. Some are more cryptic than others (Lenovo has an app for their laptops that decodes the weird noises they make) but they should have something.

ninjan,

In my experience beepers tend to be very simple. My cheap B-board, but major brand (MSI), only beeps when it POSTs. If it doesn’t post then there’s nothing. Good for when you’re using it headless but otherwise pretty pointless imo.

Immersive_Matthew,

This can be the culprit along with hundreds of others. Another common one in more powerful PCs is your power supply does not have enough juice.

Ghoelian,

An underpowered PSU will usually show issues when actually running heavier loads, not immediately at boot I think.

swarley,

Very good tip, this was also the issue on an old desktop of mine. For 3 years I thought it was just cursed until I finally removed and reinserted the RAM sticks. Now it works flawlessly!

Kadaj21,

My cousin and I have run into having to clear the cmos using the jumper in a couple of our builds before it would boot the first time too. Not sure why.

Trae,

If you don’t want to try and find the correct pins to jumper, you can also unplug the pc from power (which it already should be if you’re digging around in it) and pull the little watch battery for about 30 seconds.

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