My new Ryzen build won't even POST, nothing but black screen.

So it appears my new build is DOA, and I’m not sure why, though I suspect a bad motherboard. I’ve assembled:

Gigabyte Aorus x570 Elite ATX
AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
G Skill 2 x 16GB DDR 3600 CL 16D-32GVKC
Gigabyte RTX 3080.
Corsair RMX Series (2021), RM850x, 850 Watt, Gold, Fully Modular Power Supply (CP-9020200-NA)
Silicon Power 1TB NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 SSD

But I get a black screen when booting the computer up. Nothing has ever changed this. Here’s what I’ve attempted:
1. I attempted to Q-flash to a new BIOS (the MB shipped with Rev 1.0) using a flash drive and (one at a time) multiple new BIOS versions, from F30 up to F36e (all renamed to “gigabyte.bin” and the only file on the thumb drive, inserted into the BIOS USB slot). In every case, the (Qflash) LED failed to light up, the MB fan didn’t spin. I tried this with CPU and RAM in place, and again after removing them. The Qflash button didn’t visibly cause anything to happen. Ever.
2. Tried starting with no GPU installed, using the MB HDMI output, and with the GPU installed, using HDMI output; multiple cables each way.
3. Unattaching and re-attaching all the power cables, making sure they are of the right type. All are from the Corsair PSU package.
4. Placing RAM modules in pairs and singly in each of the four sockets.
5. Resetting the motherboard by both removing the battery for 5 minutes and clearing the CMOS per the motherboard manual.
No lights come on on the MB, but all fans come on, and the GPU lights up. The optical drive spins and then stops. The network socket lights up amber when a cable is connected, and there is a brief flash of white from the MB (I think from where the RGB will eventually come from) when the case power is turned on. So I think the MB is getting power, but I don’t know if it’s malfunctioning.

In going back to the Gigabyte website, it appears that my exact RAM isn’t on the list. The closest match is: F4-3600C16D-16GVK. Pcpartpicker.com didn’t flag mine as incompatible, but I failed to research further than their matching algorithms.

I don't really have alternate hardware setups to try components in different cases, unfortunately.

I’ve built a lot of PCs over the years, but I’m definitely more enthusiast than expert. Every 7 years or so when its time to upgrade, I do enough research to get a parts list together, and then build, then forget about what’s cutting edge/current until the next cycle. I’ve never had a build just refuse to start up before, and I’m a bit stuck on how to go about diagnosing this. The point being, I am happy for any and all suggestions, given my general level of knowledge.

Do you know your monitor works? I had a similar issue and it ended up being my motherboard/GPU would only boot to an HDMI port. Is there an error code on your motherboard?

Staygold has a point, though it looks like you tested your monitor connection every which way you could? Per their suggestion: maybe try once more with the HDMI connected from the GPU to the monitor, and make sure the monitor is set to HDMI input. Sort of basic, I know, but you want to rule out everything you can. Running HDMI directly from the motherboard is useless with a Ryzen as there's no graphics driver built in.

Though I'd classify myself as an enthusiast builder like you, in my experience incompatible RAM doesn't equate to no boots. In my past, at least, it meant erratic behavior and random BSODs if you try to overclock past the default (non XMP) clock speeds-- otherwise it should be just fine, save for the fact that you're not getting the speeds you paid for.

The only other things I can think of are:

1. If possible, rebuild with a different motherboard, and see whether the issue isn't the CPU itself.
2. Try to rebuild with a different CPU and see if the issue isn't the motherboard itself.

Unfortunately the Gigabyte Aorus x570 Elite motherboard doesn't have any troubleshooting LEDs or post codes, so it's hard to say which component is the troublemaker here.

I'd stop trying to get it working with the video card installed and instead try and get it up and running via the mb's integrated graphics. That'll cut out one possible issue. Once you get up and running you can plunk it back in.

Then I'd buy new ram that's officially compatible. Sometimes unsupported ram won't get you to post. Ryzen is a little more finicky than Intel in that regard. Buy ANY supported ram from a local BB or Micro center, even if you end up returning it later.

garion333 wrote:

I'd stop trying to get it working with the video card installed and instead try and get it up and running via the mb's integrated graphics. That'll cut out one possible issue. Once you get up and running you can plunk it back in.

Then I'd buy new ram that's officially compatible. Sometimes unsupported ram won't get you to post. Ryzen is a little more finicky than Intel in that regard. Buy ANY supported ram from a local BB or Micro center, even if you end up returning it later.

But the 5900X doesn't have an APU, so the motherboard's HDMI port is basically useless, and the X570 Elite doesn't have its own iGPU (from my understanding, not many AMD boards do, if any do at all-- as far as I know, they all rely on a CPU with an integrated GPU).

At the risk of making some super dumb suggestions:

Make extra sure that ALL of the power cables to the motherboard are plugged in and seated firmly - both on the motherboard side as well as the PSU side. This means the 24-pin connector as well as the 8-pin connector.

Make sure that you have a fan plugged into the CPUFAN port.

garion333 wrote:

I'd stop trying to get it working with the video card installed and instead try and get it up and running via the mb's integrated graphics. That'll cut out one possible issue. Once you get up and running you can plunk it back in.

Then I'd buy new ram that's officially compatible. Sometimes unsupported ram won't get you to post. Ryzen is a little more finicky than Intel in that regard. Buy ANY supported ram from a local BB or Micro center, even if you end up returning it later.

I'm hearing that using onboard video won't work on Ryzen chips, so I'll try to focus on hooking up to the GPU. I'm planning on going to MC today to get additional RAM to test.

staygold wrote:

Do you know your monitor works? I had a similar issue and it ended up being my motherboard/GPU would only boot to an HDMI port. Is there an error code on your motherboard?

The monitor is the one thing I'm sure is working. I was able to hook that up to my current PC and get an HDMI image. No error codes or LEDs on the MB, and WipEout says that's by design on the Aorus x570 Elite.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

Jakobedlam wrote:
garion333 wrote:

I'd stop trying to get it working with the video card installed and instead try and get it up and running via the mb's integrated graphics. That'll cut out one possible issue. Once you get up and running you can plunk it back in.

Then I'd buy new ram that's officially compatible. Sometimes unsupported ram won't get you to post. Ryzen is a little more finicky than Intel in that regard. Buy ANY supported ram from a local BB or Micro center, even if you end up returning it later.

I'm hearing that using onboard video won't work on Ryzen chips, so I'll try to focus on hooking up to the GPU. I'm planning on going to MC today to get additional RAM to test.

My bad, I assumed the mb came with its own solution because it had an hdmi port.

merphle wrote:

At the risk of making some super dumb suggestions:

Make extra sure that ALL of the power cables to the motherboard are plugged in and seated firmly - both on the motherboard side as well as the PSU side. This means the 24-pin connector as well as the 8-pin connector.

That is indeed the most obvious suggestion, but considering that some lights and stuff come one I don't think it's the answer because there's some life to the system.

Still absolutely needs to be suggested!

I'm really hoping it's the ram issue and not the psu. My next step would be a new psu to see if it works and then rma the Corsair.

Never seen a mobo without even basic diagnostic led’s let alone a simple 2 character post code display. Good lord why skimp on something so crucial.

I'm kinda leaning towards an incompatible BIOS version. According to Gigabyte's website, you need a min of F30 to support a 5900x CPU, which I doubt would be installed on a Rev 1 mobo by default.

I know you said you tried the Q-Flash and that it didn't work, but I know from experience that can be finicky. Some things I've found that need to be just right:
- The USB drive has to be using the right filesystem
- The drive has to be new-ish. I tried a couple of old USB drives on my latest build, and could not get them to work for a flash even though they seemed just fine, not sure why
- The drive can't be too big or too small. A 4 GB drive refused to work for me, but a 32 GB drive was fine
- The drive has to be in the one supported Q-Flash slot
- You have to caress the Q-Flash button just so for things to work.

At any rate, I'd very much recommend trying the flash again, definitely using a different thumb drive.

Serengeti wrote:

- The USB drive has to be using the right filesystem
- The drive has to be new-ish. I tried a couple of old USB drives on my latest build, and could not get them to work for a flash even though they seemed just fine, not sure why
- The drive can't be too big or too small. A 4 GB drive refused to work for me, but a 32 GB drive was fine
- The drive has to be in the one supported Q-Flash slot
- You have to caress the Q-Flash button just so for things to work.

At any rate, I'd very much recommend trying the flash again, definitely using a different thumb drive.

The only two things on that list I didn't do was the different thumb drive and the caressing part. I used the same brand new 32GB thumb drive for each try, though I reformatted it to FAT32 each time to erase the previous gigabyte.bin file and try the new one. Should I try an older one?

The Q-flash button has no tactile feedback, so I'm not sure if its a single push or a hold. I've fiddled with it, but I guess haven't truly caressed it. Any suggestions on what exact interaction with the button worked for you?

So, while I'm going to try Serengeti's suggestions for trying different flash drive(s), unless this bears fruit I think I've got it narrowed down to the CPU or the motherboard.

I purchased another identical board from Microcenter tonight, to see if this is the issue. I don't know how to test the CPU, so figured this was the way to go.

Can anyone advise on the quickest, safest, easiest way to test the new MB? I assume I don't have to reassemble the entire PC, but can I get away with just attaching power to the MB itself and turning on the PSU? For that matter, what would tell me its working if there are no LED indicators, without attaching the GPU (which is massive, of course)?

Serengeti wrote:

I'm kinda leaning towards an incompatible BIOS version. According to Gigabyte's website, you need a min of F30 to support a 5900x CPU, which I doubt would be installed on a Rev 1 mobo by default.

Yeah, that seems more likely. Some additional specifics from the mobo pdf (section 1-3):

Download the appropriate compressed BIOS file, then uncompress it and name it "GIGABYTE.bin" - note capitalization. Save it on the root folder of your FAT16/32-formatted USB drive. Fiddle with the BIOS/SB switches as described in that PDF. And apparently you should not have a CPU installed for this.

You can't even get to the BIOS?

fangblackbone wrote:

You can't even get to the BIOS?

No.

merphle wrote:

Download the appropriate compressed BIOS file, then uncompress it and name it "GIGABYTE.bin" - note capitalization. Save it on the root folder of your FAT16/32-formatted USB drive. Fiddle with the BIOS/SB switches as described in that PDF. And apparently you should not have a CPU installed for this.

I've followed those instructions to the letter (except in my model there is no BIOS switch, or SB switch). No go. Interestingly, there are a number of youtube videos and webpages out there reporting success using Q-flash plus only AFTER CPU is installed. I've tried it both ways without success.
Which might go back to not "caressing" the switch just right, per Serengeti's description.

Turns out, Serengeti for the win!

It took a five year old 2GB flash drive to finally be accepted by the Q-flash +
Once that (BIOS update) was done, everything has worked well since then.
I tried F35, which is the second-newest BIOS listed, but didn't have the "e" affixed to it (I thought that might be a beta or some such).

Thank you everyone for your help!

Nice, glad I could assist!

I'm reading this with great interest because I just ordered the exact same mobo and CPU.

Was there any issue with the RAM that you got even though it isn't officially listed as supported?

UPDATE: i did the Q Flash Plus thing to F35 as well (was reading about F36e being unstable). I also ordered RAM that was on the "approved" list so, fingers crossed!