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When I take the Sata SSD out, it no longer brings up the Bios. I unplugged and plugged back in the mobo, CPU, and RAM, and now when I try to start it the fan revs up for about 2 seconds, then slows stops for about 5, then repeats over and over. Still no display.

which port are you using for sata? always using sata0? change port. Try 1, 2, and 3.
take out the dimm from slot 3.
then put sata back at a different port.

If that doesn't do it. Pull every dimm you have and put a random one in slot 2.
put in sata at a different port.

can you put in one of them computer beepers into pins near the pwr pins? Then tell me if any beeping sounds.

Tried the ram in the 2 slot, connected SSD to one of the other sata ports, and it booted up. I did previously try a couple of the other SATA ports.

Just got into Windows. The first thing that windows said is that it was finishing the last update.

Is it possible it was that Spectre Meltdown deal that was holding me up? Now that it's finished, should I try introducing other things one by one?

What I would do is to remember to combination that works.
Wait until all updates finish.
Then put things back in the case. If it works. Great.
If it works, (post, boot into windows.) start memtest.

If and only if things work out with this combo back in the case. We may be confident enough to say
memory slot 1 or 3 or both may be broken.
original sata port (sata0?) may be broken.

Problems with drives may be something as simple as a bad SATA cable rather than a bad port.

I do agree that you should note carefully where everything is currently connected so that you can come back to this known working configuration if you do further troubleshooting or swapping.

Sorry I went quiet, it's hard to find time to work on it. I am stumped... Here's my current status:

Still breadboarded, the PC will start with just CPU and RAM. At one point I was able to get it to start with my OS SSD, and I performed the memtest. It came back clean. However, it will not longer display anything with the SSD plugged in.

Also, this part is weird to me... If I start from the breadboard configuration I mentioned it will start. I plug in my SSD, the CPU boots up but no display. Then if I unplug the SSD, it won't boot with a display anymore. UNLESS I unplug one of the slots of RAM and plug it back in. Then it will start consistently again in the breadboard configuration.

What does it all mean?!?!?!

I don't know if I'm reading this right. But it looks like when you breadboard it won't start a ok consistently.
What exactly happens right now if you plug in everything but that dimm that you says "unless you unplug it and plug it back in". Now that particular dimm. I want you to put it away and forget about that dimm for a bit and plug in everything. What happens?

Edit;
I have been there before Dead computer that won't.... the frustration.... argh....

Anyway questions:
1. Did you work on the pc at all during the last time you posted?
2. How clean is your pc -- Strange that you have to unplug and replug dimm. Dimm slot dirty? What should happen consistently without ssd is that you would boot into bios.
3. Did you ever put in 1394 into a USB port?
4. Just maybe your power supply is not powerful enough to power every component. Are you still on 500 watts? What is the brand and model?

Darthutos wrote:

I don't know if I'm reading this right. But it looks like when you breadboard it won't start a ok consistently.
What exactly happens right now if you plug in everything but that dimm that you says "unless you unplug it and plug it back in". Now that particular dimm. I want you to put it away and forget about that dimm for a bit and plug in everything. What happens?

Edit;
I have been there before Dead computer that won't.... the frustration.... argh....

Anyway questions:
1. Did you work on the pc at all during the last time you posted?
2. How clean is your pc -- Strange that you have to unplug and replug dimm. Dimm slot dirty? What should happen consistently without ssd is that you would boot into bios.
3. Did you ever put in 1394 into a USB port?
4. Just maybe your power supply is not powerful enough to power every component. Are you still on 430 watts?

To your initial question. It's not just that DIMM. I only have two DIMMs but the booting process acts the exact same way for either one. Mind you I only have one at a time plugged in while breadboarding. I have now plugged in each DIMM separately into each 4 RAM slots on my board and same thing: boots the first time, won't boot again. I move it to another slot, boots the first time, won't boot again. Same for each DIMM.

To your other questions:
1) I haven't really done anything other than what I've said is happening here between now and then.
2) It's clean. I've had it covered with a bedsheet when I'm not working on it, so it's not collecting dust.
3) Never used a 1394.
4) I actually ended up going with a 500watt CX500M. I'm fairly certain it's more than enough for my parts. And I don't really know why something like this would be causing the situation I explained above.

Any more thoughts? =D

Short of changing components, I'm almost out of ideas.
But first, I know you reset the CMOS by pulling the battery out and put it back again, but can you buy a new battery to put in?
If it's not the out of juice cmos battery, then
I think it's some sort of short. Although it's bread boarded, maybe some sort of irreversible damage.
Anyone else knows what's going on: that is, a computer would boot one time, then the second time doesn't boot unless a component is pulled and put in again, rinse and repeat?

Before the problem started, had you fiddled with any BIOS settings? Almost sounds like some sort of automatic OC thing that gets disabled if it sees a hardware change. Depending on how long you had the CMOS battery removed, it may not have reset everything; try resetting it with the jumper, as indicated in the motherboard manual.

Aside from that, I'm thinking some sort of component failure, e.g. PSU or motherboard.

just brew it! wrote:

Before the problem started, had you fiddled with any BIOS settings? Almost sounds like some sort of automatic OC thing that gets disabled if it sees a hardware change. Depending on how long you had the CMOS battery removed, it may not have reset everything; try resetting it with the jumper, as indicated in the motherboard manual.

Aside from that, I'm thinking some sort of component failure, e.g. PSU or motherboard.

Before the problem had started, I hadn't opened the case OR tampered with any BIOS settings in about a year and a half. I have an i3 that does not have overclocking capability.

I can get the BIOS to boot now as long as I pop the RAM in and out. You can reset BIOS settings from there right?

the_grinch wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

Before the problem started, had you fiddled with any BIOS settings? Almost sounds like some sort of automatic OC thing that gets disabled if it sees a hardware change. Depending on how long you had the CMOS battery removed, it may not have reset everything; try resetting it with the jumper, as indicated in the motherboard manual.

Aside from that, I'm thinking some sort of component failure, e.g. PSU or motherboard.

Before the problem had started, I hadn't opened the case OR tampered with any BIOS settings in about a year and a half. I have an i3 that does not have overclocking capability.

I can get the BIOS to boot now as long as I pop the RAM in and out. You can reset BIOS settings from there right?

While there should be a way to reset it from within the BIOS, the best way to make sure everything is reset is to use the jumper. The location of the jumper is documented in your motherboard's manual.

Try the reset from within the BIOS, and if that doesn't help, try the jumper too.

just brew it! wrote:

Aside from that, I'm thinking some sort of component failure, e.g. PSU or motherboard.

This seems likely, which is frustrating, since the previous-generation LGA1150 motherboard, 3.7 GHz Haswell Core i3 2C/4T CPU and DDR3 memory were expected to be budget choices that would last for a reasonable number of years until all three components would be replaced together.

I suspect that spending $81 might fix this system.

Since this PC was assembled, DDR4 prices have skyrocketed, which unfortunately makes a $400+ upgrade to a current-generation motherboard+processor+RAM unattractive, especially when current CPUs are still not offering much more performance per core than the OP's existing 3.7 GHz Haswell 2-core 4-thread processor.

If the problem is the power supply, at least a $75½ replacement would be usable with future PC upgrades.

I tried the jumper and factory defaults reset, but the same thing is happening still.

Looks like I have to decide what's best for my budget currently. I'm definitely considering purchasing a new MOBO, CPU, and RAM combo. When I was first building the PC I was on a stricter budget. And this time around I don't have to buy mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc. at the same time. I am still very happy with my 970 GTX card.

I was happy with my system, and if I was 100% sure that the MOBO was the issue, I'd probably just pay the $80. However, it seems like a gamble to me. What if it's actually the PSU? Then I just spent $160 getting back to square one, when I could have used the money I spent on a MOBO towards a new setup...

I probably just answered my own question. That is, I'd rather just upgrade. It'd be nice to have a 4 core processor now because I am playing higher end games than when I built my budget PC.

All that said, any more thoughts for me before I try and convince the wife to let me use a little portion of our tax refund on a new MOBO, CPU, RAM combo? =D

Why don't you try to replace the CMOS battery itself.
It cost maybe 5 to 10 dollars at the most.

Did you accidentally change the monitor settings, so that it expects a DVI or HDMI or whatever input instead of whatever is correct?

the_grinch wrote:

I'm definitely considering purchasing a new MOBO, CPU, and RAM combo. I'd rather just upgrade. It'd be nice to have a 4 core processor now because I am playing higher end games than when I built my budget PC.

Why stop at four cores?
$180 AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz (3.6 turbo) six-core twelve-thread processor (cooler included)
or $136 AMD Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5 GHz (3.7 turbo) four-core eight-thread processor (cooler included)
or $255 AMD Ryzen 7 1700 3.0 GHz (3.7 turbo) eight-core sixteen-thread processor (cooler included)
$82 Gigabyte GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 socket-AM4 micro-ATX motherboard
or $96½ Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming socket-AM4 ATX motherboard
$181 2x8 GiB PC4-25600 DDR4-3200 16-18-18-38 memory
Doesn't that list make a possible $81 motherboard replacement seem more tolerable?

JustAnEngineer wrote:

the_grinch wrote:

I'm definitely considering purchasing a new MOBO, CPU, and RAM combo. I'd rather just upgrade. It'd be nice to have a 4 core processor now because I am playing higher end games than when I built my budget PC.

Why stop at four cores?
$180 AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz (3.6 turbo) six-core twelve-thread processor (cooler included)
or $136 AMD Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5 GHz (3.7 turbo) four-core eight-thread processor (cooler included)
or $255 AMD Ryzen 7 1700 3.0 GHz (3.7 turbo) eight-core sixteen-thread processor (cooler included)
$82 Gigabyte GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 socket-AM4 micro-ATX motherboard
or $96½ Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming socket-AM4 ATX motherboard
$181 2x8 GiB PC4-25600 DDR4-3200 16-18-18-38 memory
Doesn't that list make a possible $81 motherboard replacement seem more tolerable?

I've decided I think I'll try just replacing the motherboard. Last time I looked I couldn't find my previous motherboard available.

Is there a motherboard available that, if it turns out the motherboard wasn't the problem, would work with upgraded hardware as well as my old hardware? If that makes sense... What's the best way to find out what board is compatible with my current system?

Unfortunately your current system uses DDR3 RAM... new hardware has moved on to DDR4 now.

just brew it! wrote:

Unfortunately your current system uses DDR3 RAM... new hardware has moved on to DDR4 now.

Gotcha. Is there a better way to find a compatible motherboard than PC Parts Picker?

Any thoughts on this one? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F42Y924/?tag=pcpapi-20

For new LGA1150, $80 is about as cheap as you're going to find, even for bargain-basement motherboards.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

For new LGA1150, $80 is about as cheap as you're going to find, even for bargain-basement motherboards.

Awesome. Just bought it. Looks like it's pretty slow shipping =(

JustAnEngineer wrote:

the_grinch wrote:

Doesn't that list make a possible $81 motherboard replacement seem more tolerable?

Thank you so much for the input everyone! My motherboard arrived and my system is up and running smooth as butter! I was getting so sick of gaming on a crappy laptop. I'm seriously grateful for all of you being so kind and generous with your PC knowledge to noobs like me. You helped me build my PC and helped me fix it too! I learned a ton through both of those processes. Looking forward to sticking around and learning more from you guys.

Congratulations on fixing your PC yourself. I hope that it gives you years of enjoyment.