I've been having issues turning my computer back on after shutting it down at night. It's gotten progressively worse over the last two weeks. At first, I could turn it on and off 3-4 times, but now I might need to try 7-8 times, and sometimes it doesn't turn on at all. When I do manage to power it on, the fans start up—including the GPU fans—but I see a red and yellow light on the motherboard, and my monitor doesn't detect anything.
I've tried several troubleshooting steps: I disconnected the PSU from the GPU to check if it wasn't getting enough power, replaced the PSU entirely, removed the CMOS battery for 30 minutes, reset the BIOS using a jumper, reseated and tested each RAM stick individually, and even took off the CPU cooler to reseat the CPU.
Given that I had some earlier issues with RAM speeds—leading to the conclusion that I might have gotten a less capable Ryzen 7's integrated memory controller—I'm suspecting it might be a CPU issue. I wanted to see if anyone has further suggestions before I order a new CPU since everything was working fine for over a year until now.
2 Answers
It could be the CPU, but it’s also worth considering the motherboard can be at fault too. Have you noticed any physical damage on the board? If everything else fails, pulling and testing with another CPU could be the best step forward if you can get your hands on one.
It sounds frustrating! Those red and yellow lights usually indicate a boot failure, potentially due to CPU or motherboard issues. You've already done a lot of troubleshooting. Since replacing the PSU didn’t help, have you tried testing with just one stick of RAM or using a different motherboard if you have access? Sometimes it's also worth double-checking all power connections to the motherboard itself, just to be sure everything is snug and connected properly. Good luck!
Also, you might want to look into whether your motherboard has the latest firmware. Sometimes these issues can be fixed with a simple update.
I haven't seen any visible damage, but I’ll definitely check again. Thanks for the tip!