New build for parents - Facebook/Email etc

The_B_Man

So the family PC I built a few years ago won't boot and I've spent time trying to figure out whats wrong, and can't get it working, so assume its the motherboard.

Old specs are:

MD Ryzen 5 1600

Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard

GeForce GT 1030 2GB

Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel

Now I'm looking to get the current equivalent of this build. I spent about €400 on the above when I got them a few years ago so would be looking to stick to a similar budget.

Are the Ryzen's still the best bang for buck in this price range, or are Intel's better value?

The other components from the current PC may still work so i might be able to reuse the RAM and Graphics card. Possibly even the CPU if its just the motherboard (or the motherboard if its the CPU!).

Thanks

Spear

There's nothing wrong with that old build for their needs, you'd be better off fixing whatever's wrong with it.

Where does the boot process go wrong? Is there any video output? Does the behaviour change, i.e. beep codes, if you pull out the RAM? Have you tried clearing the CMOS?

The_B_Man

No video. Cleared CMOS by shorting pins with screwdriver, and changed CR2032 battery. Can't remember if I tried with no RAM sticks.

But ye, it doesn't POST. It just beeps. I've tried to test the RAM and GPU. I only have a laptop so can't test them in another PC. I have an old PC in the shed which stopped working as well, but it has a working GPU and RAM so i tested them in my parents PC and it got the same issue.

There's lights on the motherboard that indicate which stage of the POST is at. It goes CPU -> RAM -> GPU -> HDD but the light gets stuck on GPU.

I've tested with another GPU I had in an old PC, as I said above, and I still get the light stuck there and the same POST beeps.

At this stage I'm thinking its the motherboard. So if I'm right, I could potentially just buy a new B350 motherboard and hope for the best. If I'm wrong and its the CPU, then I'm stuck with 2 potentially working mobos.

Of course it could be the GPU, as per the mobo lights, and it turns out my own spare GPU has died (I have one more in the shed as well that I could test) but that would be a bit of a coincidence.

At this stage, my Da is gettiing impatient without a PC and just needs some movement on this. His old laptop isn't working great and he does a lot of Zoom calls/meetings and the speakers/mic are useless.

So this begs the question now. Do I chance getting a new B350/AM4 motherboard? If I get one, then i'm not gonna tun around and get an Intel one. I does kinda sound like a good idea, now that I think of it. I don't mind being locked to Ryzens, and AM5 is probably too far away to be worth waiting.

Spear

From a bit of reading, it seems that board likes to turn on the VGA light for a lot of things. I know some boards will light up their VGA LEDs if they don't detect a monitor. Have you tried a different HDMI cable?

The_B_Man

No, I haven't but thats a good shout.

Its actually connected via DVI as far as I remember, as the monitor doesn't have HDMI input but I have something else I can try connect to with a HDMI cable. It would be great if that was the issue. I know when I turn on and power off the PC, the monitor reacts with a "No signal" message, so there's some communication there.

The specific POST beeps are: 2 beeps, 4 beeps. As far as I know, this is 2 sets of beeps. The first being 2 beeps, and the 2nd being the 4 beeps. As for what they mean, I'm not sure. I looked them up online and found something like the 2 beeps means something about RAM and 4 beeps means something generic about any number of components (or maybe vice versa).

I've spent the last short while looking up motherboards for a bit over €100 (i think one is over budget) and compiled this early list:

MSI B450M Bazooka MAX Wi-Fi

MSI MAG B550M MORTAR

MSI B550M PRO-VDH

ASUS TUF Gaming B550-PLUS

GIGABYTE B550 AORUS Elite

Asus AM4 TUF Gaming X570-Plus

ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming 4/AC 

In reality, I doubt its a bogey cable, as above, but I'll try it anyway. If its not, then I'll prob just start researching more motherboards with the goal of making a purchase by the end of the weekend. Feel free to critique the above, or recommend any brands or boards you know of. Thanks 😃

The_B_Man

By the way, I found this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/fcnlk8/my_gigabyte_motherboard_is_beeping_2_short_beeps/

Basically my exact issue. Same motherboard, Almost the same RAM. Result was a dead mobo.

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118893653#Comment_118893653

That doesn't bode well. At least a replacement AM4 board is fairly cheap.