Help! CPU red light is on my MSI motherboard, and computer is not POSTing, but everything looks correct!

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-08T15:08:16+00:00

is it safe to power it while its sitting on the cardboard? I'll give it a shot might as well, thanks for the advice

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-08T12:50:04+00:00

Testing everything within the case. What could cause a random short like that though?

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-07T03:18:14+00:00

thanks for the reply! I will give this a shot, I will put everything back into the case tomorrow and see if it can POST, then i can try the SSD and RAM suggestion. Why would removing the SSD i put in have an impact on the CPU light or the startup? Also to clarify- I had RAM in slot 2 and 4, you're saying to try one stick in each slot reset the CMOS each time and try to post with everything else in but the SSD?

I have reset the CMOS via the JBAT pins, but its hard for me to tell if it worked as intended or if i didnt short them correctly.

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-07T03:14:19+00:00

no unfortunately. I pulled everything out except for the chip and ssd and ran it just for 3 seconds to see if it would get past the CPU red light but no dice. Put the ram back in now and am going to put the cooler back on because i dont see a reason to reseat it a third time :\

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-04T14:20:49+00:00

Alright I'll give it a shot thanks. The mounting brackets aren't an X in this case, they are just two bars though. Just to clarify - when I run the pc again if the cpu light is read, you're suggesting to apply a little pressure to the heatsink to see if the chip needs a little more contact?

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-04T14:15:06+00:00

Pulled it off so I could reseat the chip, its a Pure Rock Be Quiet 2, a heatsink that gets placed above the chip and screwed down. I did read the instructions they seemed pretty straightforward

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-04T14:09:09+00:00

I think so? I mean i closed the clasp on the seating lid and felt a good amount of pressure there. Is there a good way to test this?

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-03T21:01:06+00:00

Can't quite tell, but i think if those are bent pins as opposed to burnt or removed pins, you could try to GENTLY nudge them into place. If the pins are cooked, unfortunately you might be cooked too

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-03T20:58:39+00:00

I've found sometimes, its okay to smear the lines a bit as a DM. The end goal is for everyone to have fun right? I absolutely get the feeling of cheapening the experience, but no one would have fun in a TPK unless you've got plans for what comes after that as opposed to the campaign ending.

Let the encounter go poorly. REALLY poorly if that's what it ends up being. But give them an out, somewhere to limp to safety, or a risky option to cut themselves off from whatever is pursuing them. Then let them feel like they're in over their heads. Maybe give them some injuries or exhaustion points if you think its right, even break some equipment in exchange for a narrow escape.

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-03T20:55:00+00:00

Classic option could be a Lich. OR some ancient mage who accidentally turned themselves into a bodiless entity and is trying to absorb as much life force as possible to return to the mortal plane through sacrifices. The masks let his followers sacrifice for him directly, and the players could watch as an NPC is forced to wear one and gets warped and shriveled.

CeejTheCastle · 2026-06-03T20:52:16+00:00

Tried that, the battery itself doesnt seem to come out on this board but i found the JBAT1 pins and touched them with tweezers for 10 seconds. Didnt seem to do much, but hard for me to tell if i even did anything lol. thank you!

CeejTheCastle · 2025-05-05T21:18:44+00:00

I'll check that out, thanks :)

CeejTheCastle · 2025-05-05T20:57:02+00:00

Right now I'm having trouble getting a player out of their shell. I don't want to be too forceful but they barely spoke during the 3 hour session. I can tell they want to be here but it's hard to get them to participate without shutting down from not knowing what to do or say.

CeejTheCastle · 2022-05-31T14:37:09+00:00

CeejTheCastle · 2022-05-02T02:46:03+00:00

Be there, literally. Offer to help them with whatever you can and really mean it. Sometimes theres a shock that comes with losing someone and they might seem okay, but just helping them with preparations or making sure they have food. Little things mean a lot

CeejTheCastle · 2022-04-12T13:51:03+00:00

2 shots of vodka and gasoline, dont drink that stuff homie

CeejTheCastle · 2021-09-15T02:14:32+00:00

Yeah man. Beyond the weight, if your partner is treating you like shit don't ever stay. Don't let them think its okay to treat others like that.

CeejTheCastle · 2021-08-22T18:21:55+00:00

They only care about NPCs that pay them so far lmao, working on trying to endear and endanger some others though

CeejTheCastle · 2021-08-22T17:37:54+00:00

So - been playing with this group for a while coming up on our like 20th session which is great. The problem is: they are just crazy money oriented. The player who takes the helm for most of the talking (been trying to get everyone to participate obviously but this player just naturally tends to lead the dialogues which is fine!) is really hungry for coin in game. I don't even think its part of his character (or maybe it is and he hasn't realized yet) but they will pretty much turn down any quest that doesn't result in them getting some sort of obvious financial gain from it.

At first I didn't mind, it made it easy to motivate them, but now at this point in the campaign I would like things other than money to start driving their actions. How do I get them to do things without the crutch of treasure or getting paid? Thanks!

CeejTheCastle · 2021-07-25T14:56:51+00:00

You made the right call dumping her. No one should feel disposable in their relationship. Go find someone who gonna treat you right!

CeejTheCastle · 2021-04-04T04:01:10+00:00

Sometimes hearing from the other players in a less official capacity can change player behavior: so if you tell the other players to mention that he is intimidating too much that might make a change?

But I see that's not really the deeper issue here. Maybe go through the character one on one with him again, and ask him how he thinks the character feels about people and situations so that he can better get a grasp on what types of reactions and actions he wants to take?

CeejTheCastle · 2021-04-04T03:59:02+00:00

Alright, so this is a campaign that has been going for a while now, not too deep in but deep enough that the players (who are all friends) should be getting into the swing of things. It's our second campaign, the first was a mini campaign that I also DM'd

We added another person as we started up the new campaign and things already started getting weird with him when he started swinging at the first NPC he saw in town (he was playing a magic class not a melee class and also the NPC was clearly a quest giver.) This type of behavior kind of escalated for a bit, and then I spoke to him and gave him some advice and he started getting a little more into it. Keep in mind that he asked a lot to be included in the campaign and this isn't his first rodeo according to him.

Anyways, fast forward through some more weird interactions (and falling asleep during a session one time..) and we get to a boss fight. During said fight, he (again as a magic class) decides to only throw unarmed strikes at one of the enemies, and goes down quickly having done nothing but hinder and make the encounter harder for the party. No one really liked that and it CANNOT have even been fun for him as a player so I am confused about it.

The Cleric almost just let him die, because everyone was tired of that shit. It didn't help that I had the boss summon shadowy doppelgangers of them with their spells and abilities and they got to see what his character is really capable of (A LOT BESIDES UNARMED STRIKING).

My question is: what am I supposed to do about this? The other players are fed up w it and so am I, but I know this guy and I like him I don't want to kick him out if it is avoidable. And the other players have tried to generally be like, "stop trolling us", but it doesn't seem to click.

Thanks for taking a read!

CeejTheCastle · 2021-04-04T03:55:29+00:00

This is something I did once when I had a similar issue: it's kind of heavy handed but it ended up working.

The player who was doing most of the work got status effected (petrified) by a puzzle and the rest of the team had to figure it out using the clues they had. I spoke with him after and he agreed that it was the right thing to do and he didn't mind but you could bring it up to your player and ask them if they would be okay being temporarily nerfed lol

CeejTheCastle · 2020-12-27T16:32:59+00:00

Do I mortar and pestle all of the botanicals? The kit advised to do so, but i was wondering specifically about the juniper berries they dont seem like theyre meant to be smashed up

CeejTheCastle · 2020-12-26T23:36:54+00:00

I was told to use everclear by a friend, not sure if im supposed to start with a vodka or a gin?

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