I recently experienced a brief power outage while using my PC, and since then I've noticed a couple of strange issues. The RGB lights on my water block for the AIO cooler have stopped working, and one of the USB drives on the back of my PC isn't functioning, even though the nearby USB drive is fine. After rebooting, I cleared the CMOS, updated the BIOS, and did a clean install of Windows 11, but the problems persist. I've also spotted the VGA debug light and Boot light flashing momentarily upon startup, but I'm not sure if this is something new or normal. I'm looking for any tips or advice to sort this out. My setup includes a Gigabyte B650 motherboard, a 7800X3D CPU, and a Thermalright AIO cooler.
2 Answers
You might be dealing with a bad motherboard, but I'd recommend getting a good UPS. I had a similar experience where a power surge caused quite a mess, even leading to a light catching fire in my place! It’s quite alarming when you wake up in the middle of the night to that kind of chaos. Just take your time troubleshooting, and hopefully, it’s something minor!
First off, try doing a complete shutdown. Turn off your power supply and press the power button on your case to drain any remaining power. That can sometimes reset everything. If that doesn't do the trick, there might be an issue with your motherboard. If you have another ARGB header available, plug the AIO into that to see if it works. If not, you might need to consider replacing the motherboard—check if it's still under warranty with Gigabyte. It’s also possible that the RGB lights on the AIO are just damaged. If you have another ARGB component, try plugging that in for testing. Oh, and getting an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is a smart move to prevent this from happening in the future!
Definitely a UPS! I’ve had issues with power outages messing up my hardware before, so I’m all for preventative measures.
I totally agree about the UPS! I’m looking into getting one myself after having similar issues. Everything else seems to work well, but I’ve lost the RGB on the block and one USB port. I've also managed to benchmark it with temps around 60°C during 3D Mark, so I’m pretty sure the AIO is functioning fine. By the way, the debug lights flashing during boot—do you know if that's normal? It seems like a usual thing, but I've never really noticed it before.