I've been playing a lot of new games lately, and my performance has been lacking, so I fiddled with some BIOS settings related to my RAM and CPU. Unfortunately, now when I power it on, I just get a black screen, and it shuts off after about 20 seconds. I can't turn it off using the power button either. I've tried reseating the RAM, experimenting with different display ports, and even resetting the CMOS by removing the battery for a few minutes, but nothing seems to work. The fans blast on high for 20 seconds, and then the PC goes into a restart loop. I don't have spare parts to test with and would rather not take it for repair. Any advice on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
That's tough! Can you recall the changes you made in the BIOS? If you can't boot at all, it might be hard to check, but if you remember changing something like DDR4-3600 to DDR4-4000, that could potentially lead to issues. It’s possible that the RAM settings are now incompatible with your current setup.
Mucking around in the BIOS can be risky, especially if you’re not familiar with your hardware. Have you tried resetting the BIOS again? Turn off the power supply and unplug it, then remove the CMOS battery or short the clear CMOS pins (consult your motherboard manual for their location). After that, press the power button a few times to discharge any remaining power. Once everything's back together, make sure all your components are properly seated and try powering it on again. Fingers crossed it’s just a minor glitch and not a damaged component!
What’s the exact model of your motherboard? A CMOS reset should generally do the trick unless something was actually damaged. Make sure the power supply is completely off or unplugged when you reset the CMOS. Also, have you thought about shorting the CMOS reset pins instead of removing the battery? If your motherboard has a BIOS flash button, you might be able to flash the BIOS using a USB stick—though that can be tricky without a display.
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