I have an ASRock A320M/ac motherboard with a Ryzen 5 3600 that will not boot or reach the BIOS. After my previous power supply failed, I installed a replacement and reset the CMOS. When I first tried powering it on, the fans ran at full speed but there was no display or POST. I tested the RAM and graphics card in another computer, and both worked normally. I connected a case speaker for beep-code troubleshooting, but I am not hearing any beeps. At the moment, the motherboard is connected to the 24-pin motherboard power cable and the 4-pin CPU power cable. Since the Ryzen 5 3600 has no integrated graphics, the GPU is also installed when testing for video output. Could the processor be missing power, dead, or is there another likely cause?
3 Answers
No beep codes do not necessarily prove that the CPU is dead. The speaker may be connected to the wrong front-panel pins, the board may not be receiving standby or CPU power, or the board may simply be failing before it can initialize the speaker. Disconnect drives and USB devices, leave one RAM stick installed, verify the 24-pin and CPU power connections, and clear CMOS again with the power supply unplugged. If it still does nothing, the replacement PSU, motherboard, CPU socket, or CPU itself will need to be tested with known-good parts.
The first thing to check is the motherboard BIOS version. The Ryzen 5 3600 may require a newer BIOS than the board originally shipped with, depending on when it was manufactured. If the board has an older BIOS, it may power on with fans at full speed but never complete POST. You may need an older supported Ryzen processor to update the BIOS, or have a repair shop update it if this board does not support updating without a working CPU. Also make sure the CPU power connector is the EPS/CPU cable from the power supply, not a PCIe cable.
The 4-pin CPU connection is normally sufficient for a Ryzen 5 3600 at stock settings, so having only four CPU power pins connected is not automatically the problem. However, a successful POST test still needs one known-good RAM stick, the graphics card, and the monitor connected to the graphics card rather than the motherboard. Since the 3600 has no integrated GPU, the motherboard video outputs will never produce an image. Reseat the CPU, inspect the socket for bent pins, try one RAM stick in the recommended slot, and test outside the case to rule out a short.
The graphics card and RAM work in another system, and I was connecting the monitor to the graphics card. I had not yet checked the BIOS version or tested the board outside the case.