Father-in-law broke two Hackintoshes...

[dpwright]

Dear all,

Feel free to laugh first, then help.

My father-in-law (late 70s) recently said his Hackintosh wouldn't turn on. It had been running fine for a year, then one day he said he "changed some sleep settings" in macOS and it stopped turning on. Wouldn't even go to Bios. Press the power button, fan spins, but literally no other activity. "Check signal cable" on his display.

I figured he had fried a part on the machine, so I gave him my eldest son's...he has had it a week, said he had "put it to sleep" last night (which I told him not to) and now the EXACT SAME thing has happened. Wouldn't even go to Bios. Press the power button, fan spins, but literally no other activity. "Check signal cable" on his display.

What on earth could he possibly have done? There's no way he has managed to fry two machines...but I am at a loss. Anyone got ANY idea?

Now, I have plugged out the power cable, left both machines alone, tried to get them to bios...nothing. Sure there can't have been something he has randomly set in software that would mean it won't even go to BIOS?

All help gratefully received.

dpwright

 

[P1LGRIM]

Hardware specs ?
Operating system ?
Boot loader ?

 

[dpwright]

Both machines are Coffee Lake i5s; Z77 gigabyte boards; both running Mojave; 8 GB RAM (one stick) in each. Clover boot loader - up to date.

 

[trs96]

Both machines are Coffee Lake i5s

These CPUs won't even install into a Z77 LGA 1155 socket. Do you mean Ivy Bridge ? Or is the board Z270/370 ?

 

[dpwright]

Apologies - Z370 wifi boards.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Both machines are Coffee Lake i5s; Z77 gigabyte boards; both running Mojave; 8 GB RAM (one stick) in each. Clover boot loader - up to date.

Hi there.

Assuming not Coffee Lake ...

Unlikely any macOS setting would prevent even access to BIOS.

I know you pulled power but you also need to either short the motherboard CMOS clear pins or remove the coin-cell for a few minutes. Barring broken hardware that should get you booting into BIOS at least.

If it doesn't then a reflash of BIOS is the next step using the Gigabyte guidance.

 

[dpwright]

Brilliant - I'll start from there. I have no idea how to do either of those two things but the internet is a big place - I'll get hunting.