Red CPU Debug Light on MAG X570 Tomahawk Max Wifi, No Post

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joshalexbar158602e1

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Currently trying to diagnose this issue. I havent been able to get my motherboard to play nice, flashing the bios does nothing, resetting CMOS, etc.

For context, my last board died of water damage and I'm using most of the parts from it. I had two different CPUs and neither have worked on the new board (my second X570 as I've been trying to diagnose this for months and have already RMAed the board twice), is it most likely that they're both shot?

Build:
CPU AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU GeForce 3060 RTX
RAM G.Skill 16Gx2 DDR4-3200
Motherboard MAG X570S Tomahawk Max Wifi
PSU RM850x
 
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hibrown said:
Can you borrow CPU and DRAM from others to check the motherboard MAG X570S Tomahawk Max Wifi?
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No. Right now my research is pointing me to flashing the bios, but none of my 4 sticks seem to be doing the trick. The motherboard is factory new. I probably failed to emphasise in my post that this is the second board with this same issue. To me it doesn't make a lot of sense that it would be both ram sticks or both CPU's, but I wouldnt be shocked if I just havent properly flashed this bios.
 
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joshalexbar158602e1 said:
For context, my last board died of water damage and I'm using most of the parts from it. I had two different CPUs and neither have worked on the new board (my second X570 as I've been trying to diagnose this for months and have already RMAed the board twice), is it most likely that they're both shot?
Click to expand...

Never ever RMA something or buy something new when you haven't narrowed it down to that exact part using methodical troubleshooting. Otherwise you risk wasting time and resources for nothing. Both boards being DOA is extremely unlikely, to the point where the board is almost ruled out. What's more, on this later MAX board model, your 5800X is supported from the very first BIOS version, so lack of CPU support in an outdated BIOS version can't be it either.

What does the board do, is there any sign of life, any EZ Debug LEDs coming on? If not, or if all you get is the CPU LED, you'd start from the PSU, because that should be ruled out first. You do so by using a different one (maybe you can borrow one), which has to be known good, not too old, and of decent quality.

Leave out the GPU and the RAM for troubleshooting, they are not necessary to get past the CPU LED on the EZ Debug LEDs, which should be the first goal.
 
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citay said:
Never ever RMA something or buy something new when you haven't narrowed it down to that exact part using methodical troubleshooting. Otherwise you risk wasting time and resources for nothing. Both boards being DOA is extremely unlikely, to the point where the board is almost ruled out. What's more, on this later MAX board model, your 5800X is supported from the very first BIOS version, so lack of CPU support in an outdated BIOS version can't be it either.

What does the board do, is there any sign of life, any EZ Debug LEDs coming on? If not, or if all you get is the CPU LED, you'd start from the PSU, because that should be ruled out first. You do so by using a different one (maybe you can borrow one), which has to be known good, not too old, and of decent quality.

Leave out the GPU and the RAM for troubleshooting, they are not necessary to get past the CPU LED on the EZ Debug LEDs, which should be the first goal.
Click to expand...
The board lights up and the fans are operational, but there's no video output (doesn't post?). My last PSU failed the paper clip test so this one (RM850x) is a day out of the box.

If it isnt the BIOs, which I did read on a few different posts it shouldn't be, then I'm guessing both of my CPUs are dead. I'll test them at a store and pick up a fresh on if you think that's a good idea (I cant move my PC currently for *reasons*).

A few other notes are: The motherboard does have a 8 and 4 cpu pin and just in case that has something to do with anything I have a 4 pin cable coming in as I currently don't have one. I understand it's primarily used for overclocking, but at this point it's no stone unturned.

I'm getting my hands on my usb's even though I realize the BIOs shouldn't be the issue. I've also done DRAM in each slot one by one reseting the CMOS in between placements, power cycling, etc.

So dead CPU(s)?
 
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joshalexbar158602e1 said:
The board lights up and the fans are operational, but there's no video output (doesn't post?). My last PSU failed the paper clip test so this one (RM850x) is a day out of the box.

If it isnt the BIOs, which I did read on a few different posts it shouldn't be, then I'm guessing both of my CPUs are dead. I'll test them at a store and pick up a fresh on if you think that's a good idea (I cant move my PC currently for *reasons*).

A few other notes are: The motherboard does have a 8 and 4 cpu pin and just in case that has something to do with anything I have a 4 pin cable coming in as I currently don't have one. I understand it's primarily used for overclocking, but at this point it's no stone unturned.

I'm getting my hands on my usb's even though I realize the BIOs shouldn't be the issue. I've also done DRAM in each slot one by one reseting the CMOS in between placements, power cycling, etc.

So dead CPU(s)?
Click to expand...
I guess another thought would be even if it wasnt the BIOs, shouldn't the PC reboot after a successful update? This hasnt been happening, and I think it should even with a CPU? Thus making me think this may be at least one of the potential issues.
 
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joshalexbar158602e1 said:
If it isnt the BIOs, which I did read on a few different posts it shouldn't be, then I'm guessing both of my CPUs are dead. I'll test them at a store and pick up a fresh on if you think that's a good idea (I cant move my PC currently for *reasons*).
Click to expand...

Two CPUs DOA in a row is exactly as unlikely as two board in a row: Extremely.

joshalexbar158602e1 said:
A few other notes are: The motherboard does have a 8 and 4 cpu pin and just in case that has something to do with anything I have a 4 pin cable coming in as I currently don't have one. I understand it's primarily used for overclocking, but at this point it's no stone unturned.
Click to expand...

Connect two cables if your PSU has both, that's the rule. It can only ever do good things electrically. If you connect only one, then an 8-pin one, not the 4-pin one.

Which EZ Debug LED stays on when you try to start it? CPU LED, i'm guessing? That's a fault very early in the checks, the RAM won't be an issue yet, you can leave out the RAM completely to rule it out.

joshalexbar158602e1 said:
I guess another thought would be even if it wasnt the BIOs, shouldn't the PC reboot after a successful update? This hasnt been happening, and I think it should even with a CPU? Thus making me think this may be at least one of the potential issues.
Click to expand...

Yes, the BIOS (not BIOs as in plural, it means Basic Input-Output System) likely wasn't flashed properly, but even on the factory BIOS version, this CPU would work. I guess there is some kind of chance that the BIOS is semi-bricked now until you manage to flash it properly.
 
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citay said:
Two CPUs DOA in a row is exactly as unlikely as two board in a row: Extremely.



Connect two cables if your PSU has both, that's the rule. It can only ever do good things electrically. If you connect only one, then an 8-pin one, not the 4-pin one.

Which EZ Debug LED stays on when you try to start it? CPU LED, i'm guessing? That's a fault very early in the checks, the RAM won't be an issue yet, you can leave out the RAM completely to rule it out.



Yes, the BIOS (not BIOs as in plural, it means Basic Input-Output System) likely wasn't flashed properly, but even on the factory BIOS version, this CPU would work. I guess there is some kind of chance that the BIOS is semi-bricked now until you manage to flash it properly.
Click to expand...
Yes, the CPU Ez Debug light. As soon as I turn in the power it's on.
 
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citay said:
Two CPUs DOA in a row is exactly as unlikely as two board in a row: Extremely.



Connect two cables if your PSU has both, that's the rule. It can only ever do good things electrically. If you connect only one, then an 8-pin one, not the 4-pin one.

Which EZ Debug LED stays on when you try to start it? CPU LED, i'm guessing? That's a fault very early in the checks, the RAM won't be an issue yet, you can leave out the RAM completely to rule it out.



Yes, the BIOS (not BIOs as in plural, it means Basic Input-Output System) likely wasn't flashed properly, but even on the factory BIOS version, this CPU would work. I guess there is some kind of chance that the BIOS is semi-bricked now until you manage to flash it properly.
Click to expand...
There aren't out of the box CPU's, one (Ryzen 5 2600) is from my PC from before I upgraded it to the 7 5800X. When it bricked I attempted to diagnose it by testing both CPUs on the system, which may have fried them. It feels like the most probably answer at this point, and I'll admit I knew it wasnt a good move to do that in the first place.

After that I bought my first 570x board, which gave me this issue, RMA'd the board, eventually (months later) got this board and nothing has changed, so again I'm thinking the CPUs have been gone for long time.
 
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In that case, the CPUs are a possibility. But first, hook up the PSU properly, put the full 8-pin EPS cable on CPU_PWR1.
 
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Oh ok. Only the original RM850x from 2015 inexplicably comes with just one 8-pin CPU power cable (as 4+4-pin), the 2021 version equally inexplicably has three (!) such cables, and finally, the new ATX 3.1 version has two, how it's supposed to be.
 
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Hehe, yeah. About the CPUs, if you have a store that can help you out with testing, by all means, do that. Maybe even take your PC there and maybe they have some Ryzen CPU you could drop in for a quick test (always mount a cooler, even if it's without thermal paste, just be careful not to scratch the baseplate then).
 
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citay said:
Hehe, yeah. About the CPUs, if you have a store that can help you out with testing, by all means, do that. Maybe even take your PC there and maybe they have some Ryzen CPU you could drop in for a quick test (always mount a cooler, even if it's without thermal paste, just be careful not to scratch the baseplate then).
Click to expand...
Will do! I appreciate the advice!
 
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citay said:
Hehe, yeah. About the CPUs, if you have a store that can help you out with testing, by all means, do that. Maybe even take your PC there and maybe they have some Ryzen CPU you could drop in for a quick test (always mount a cooler, even if it's without thermal paste, just be careful not to scratch the baseplate then).
Click to expand...
Well, nothing happened with a new CPU. Any further troubleshooting tips or should I just take it in?
 
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Then we're back to this theory of yours, which seems more plausible now:

joshalexbar158602e1 said:
There aren't out of the box CPU's, one (Ryzen 5 2600) is from my PC from before I upgraded it to the 7 5800X. When it bricked I attempted to diagnose it by testing both CPUs on the system, which may have fried them. It feels like the most probably answer at this point, and I'll admit I knew it wasnt a good move to do that in the first place.
Click to expand...

You spoke of water damage to your old board, in other words, a catastrophic short (as we know, water is a good electrical conductor). We know your old board and most likely also your old PSU were destroyed by it (BTW, what was your old PSU model?). We now have increasingly more reason to believe that the CPU (the Ryzen 5 2600) also took damage. Perhaps even to the point where it can damage any new board it's installed in. Meaning, once that has been put into any board, it's game over, and no other CPU will make it run either. This would neatly explain why you RMA'd a board twice without ever getting the system running, if you still tried the Ryzen 5 2600 in there each time.

We know your Corsair PSU is brand new. While brand new also means "not known good", we will give it the benefit of the doubt, plus it's a nice model with all the protection circuits in place and properly dialed in. It might not be able to prevent the board from taking damage by whatever the Ryzen 5 2600 does to it, but at least itself should not be damaged.

Now, this is all just a theory based on observations. But if we continue this line of thinking, then the PSU should be ok, the 5800X should hopefully be ok, the Ryzen 5 2600 might have turned into a board killer from the water damage incident, and thus, this board might be unusable. Therefore you might now need a new board where the 5800X should work. Maybe you can test the 5800X in the store, in some AM4 board? Maybe make some kind of deal with them, that you buy the board there if it works? I don't see how the 5800X should also have been turned into a board killer, i think it should still be good. But there is still a certain risk involved. On the other hand, you can't just declare the 5800X dead and potentially dangerous as well, it should be tested somehow. Maybe in some very cheap used board they might have (which supports Ryzen 5000).
 
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