Hey everyone, I'm in a bit of a bind here. I've got an Aorus B550 motherboard paired with a Ryzen 5600X. Recently, I took it to a shop because a red CPU light was on, and I didn't know how to fix it. They claimed that a chipset is broken and said it would cost around $500 to repair! That just seems outrageous to me. All I wanted to do was boot into safe mode for Valorant, but now it won't turn on at all. If I do end up replacing the motherboard, I might also upgrade my CPU to a 5700X3D. Any thoughts on what I should do next?
5 Answers
$500 just to replace the motherboard? That's crazy! A new AM4 motherboard should only cost around $150 tops. Even if you factor in the CPU upgrade, you're looking at way less than that. Honestly, if you're up for it, you might want to consider going for an AM5 setup with a new motherboard, RAM, and CPU for under $450. It's a better long-term investment!
I think you should consider getting a second opinion from another shop. You could probably buy a new Ryzen 5600X and a motherboard, plus pay someone to install it, all for less than $500. It sounds like the shop might be trying to rip you off!
I'm really thinking they might be. I wanted to upgrade to the 5700X3D soon, but now I'm just scrambling to figure out what to do.
If the repair shop's claims are true, $500 for fixing a chipset on a motherboard that probably costs less than $200 seems totally unreasonable. What troubleshooting steps did you take before visiting them? Did you do any resets?
I reseated the RAM and did a CMOS reset, but nothing worked. I didn't want to remove the CPU because I'm worried about the thermal paste and the pins.
$500 for an AM4 motherboard? That's ridiculous! With labor and component swaps, that should be so much cheaper. Just to clarify, what exactly happens when you try to boot your PC? Is that red BIOS light showing up and it won’t post, or is it something else?
When I try to boot, I only get the red CPU light, and it won’t turn on. I figured I just needed to go into safe mode for Valorant, but now it seems dead. I really hope my motherboard isn't fried.
Just so you know, Valorant doesn’t require safe boot; it actually needs secure boot enabled. It sounds like your BIOS settings might be the issue. Try turning on CSM in the BIOS to see if that helps your booting problem. If worse comes to worst, you might need to reformat your storage and reinstall Windows.
I’m freaking out a little, so I appreciate the heads up! Can you point me to a guide for that? I need all the help I can get right now!
Yeah, I was hoping to upgrade to a 9800X3D build down the line, but right now, I really need my PC for work. Just can't afford to be without it!