I'm building my first PC and can't get it to complete its first boot. The fans and RGB lighting turn on, but there's no display output, and a keyboard that works normally with my laptop doesn't power on when connected to the motherboard's rear USB ports.
The system uses a Ryzen 5 7500F, DeepCool GAMMAXX AG400 LED cooler, ASUS PRIME B850-PLUS WIFI motherboard, 32GB of ADATA XPG Lancer Blade DDR5-5600 CL46 memory in the A2 and B2 slots, an ASRock RX 9060 XT Challenger OC 16GB graphics card, a Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe drive, and a Corsair RM750 power supply.
I've already tested the system outside the case, connected the 8-pin CPU power cable to the PSU's CPU socket, installed the memory according to the manual, and placed the SSD in the top M.2 slot. I also confirmed that the CPU fan is connected to the CPU_FAN header. I left the machine running for more than 15 minutes to allow for memory training, but it never produced an image or powered the keyboard. I also can't see any diagnostic LEDs lit on the motherboard. What should I check next?
2 Answers
The first AM5 boot can spend several minutes training the memory, sometimes around 10–15 minutes, so leaving it powered on briefly is worth trying. Since you’ve already waited longer than that, memory training probably isn’t the only issue. Double-check that the CPU fan is on the header specifically labeled CPU_FAN; the board may refuse to continue if it doesn’t detect a cooler.
The memory choice may affect performance, but it shouldn’t normally prevent the machine from reaching POST. Once the basic problem is fixed, a DDR5-6000 CL30 kit would generally be a better match for a Ryzen 7000 system if it’s reasonably priced where you live. The expensive SSD also won’t make much difference in gaming, so the priority should be getting the board to POST rather than changing storage first.
The faster memory costs much more in my country. I’m mainly trying to understand why the keyboard stays completely off even after waiting through the suspected memory-training period.
I left it running for over 15 minutes, and the fan is definitely connected to the CPU_FAN header, but the keyboard still never powers on.