B450M PRO VDH - Black Screen

[mark.higman9155602d8]

Hi all,
New here, have a PC I built roughly 7 years ago. B450M PRO VDH, Ryzen 2700x, 4060 8gb, etc.
During the 03-2026 Win 11 update on Thursday, it went to restart after 30% complete then black screened. Turned it off and restarted then it won't boot or show a display even a BIOS logo. Opened it up and it's showing VGA light on the motherboard test block. Tried everything, CMOS battery, reseating the GPU and CPU, running with RAM in different slots, 1 stick of RAM. All the fans, including CPU and GPU spin on boot.
Out of ideas, any ideas welcome.
I feel like the BIOS has somehow wiped/corrupted itself.

 

[ericj159802e9]

Are you able to enter the BIOS? This can typically be done by tapping on the delete button during the first stages of booting.

I feel like the BIOS has somehow wiped/corrupted itself.

You may want to try the BIOS flush:

I would definitely try a full BIOS reset now to make sure there's no old settings that are still stuck and being applied to the wrong fields. Completely cut power to the power supply, via the switch on the back. Hold down that middle button on the back marked CMOS with the arrow around it for 15 seconds. Boot back up go into the BIOS, and go to the save and exit page and select "load bios defaults" and click save and exit. This should make sure ALL settings are not just cleared, but are set to MSI's default settings. This second step may not be absolutely necessary, but it can't hurt.

 

[citay]

VGA LED can can be misleading, I mean, you already saw this when it didn't work with another GPU (which model was it?). Sometimes, a bad drive/SSD can also trigger that VGA LED, or it's something completely different. That's why it's better not to write "etc." for your other components, but also tell us the exact drive model(s) and, also very important, the PSU model, please.

 

[Tourica]

Hi all,
New here, have a PC I built roughly 7 years ago. B450M PRO VDH, Ryzen 2700x, 4060 8gb, etc.
During the 03-2026 Win 11 update on Thursday, it went to restart after 30% complete then black screened. Turned it off and restarted then it won't boot or show a display even a BIOS logo. Opened it up and it's showing VGA light on the motherboard test block. Tried everything, CMOS battery, reseating the GPU and CPU, running with RAM in different slots, 1 stick of RAM. All the fans, including CPU and GPU spin on boot.
Out of ideas, any ideas welcome.
I feel like the BIOS has somehow wiped/corrupted itself.

It looks like Windows is corrupted.
First, try restoring it using the Windows USB drive.

Software Download

 

[citay]

It looks like Windows is corrupted.
First, try restoring it using the Windows USB drive.

Software Download

Sadly, this won't help if he's stuck on the VGA LED. The VGA LED is still before Windows even starts to be booted, before you can even enter the BIOS. So it has to be something more low-level than anything with Windows. Could be something with the hardware or with the BIOS.

 

[Tourica]

Sadly, this won't help if he's stuck on the VGA LED. The VGA LED is still before Windows even starts to be booted, before you can even enter the BIOS. So it has to be something more low-level than anything with Windows. Could be something with the hardware or with the BIOS.

Well, if it's a hardware issue,
it might not boot up,
so it could be a BIOS problem.

 

[mark.higman9155602d8]

Hi all, thanks for the replies.

I'm not able to enter the BIOS as I have no display output, and don't have a BIOS reset button on the back panel (seen this on some other posts) seems to be on higher end boards. Seems online you can flash the bios with out display on other boards, is that possible on this without display?
I haven't tried another GPU yet, plan to do on Tuesday when I get a spare from someone at work.
My other components are Samsung 970 Pro 250GB boot drive, CX550M power supply.
Another question, if there's an issue with the power supply will the GPU fans spin and then not power up to display an output, only thing I can think of now, it is nearly 8 years old!

 

[citay]

I'm not able to enter the BIOS as I have no display output, and don't have a BIOS reset button on the back panel (seen this on some other posts) seems to be on higher end boards.

To reset the BIOS to defaults (in other words, do a Clear CMOS), locate the two JBAT1 pins on the board (usually somewhere next to the CMOS battery) and short them with a screwdriver while the power is removed.

Seems online you can flash the bios with out display on other boards, is that possible on this without display?

No, that Flash BIOS Button was rare for 400-series boards, only some high-end boards like the X470 Gaming M7 AC had it, mid-range and low-end boards didn't. On 500-series boards it became more common even on mid-range boards.

I haven't tried another GPU yet, plan to do on Tuesday when I get a spare from someone at work.

For some reason I thought you already tried this, but ok, yes, try this first.

Another question, if there's an issue with the power supply will the GPU fans spin and then not power up to display an output, only thing I can think of now, it is nearly 8 years old!

Yes, the PSU can be behind the issues too, for sure. Also see here about your model, I wouldn't be surprised if it started to develop problems after eight years. So if you can also borrow a known good PSU and connect it on-the-fly using its own cables, it's well worth testing as well.

 

[Alyred]

Using the cables that came with the power supply is VERY important. Different power supplies (even some with the same model but different versions) have different pinouts that can fry your components.
That being said... it's  unlikely to be the power supply if the fans and mainboard components are coming up as it's usually an "all or nothing" kind of thing. It's  possible that one or more power voltage rails might have failed without the other ones, but I've only seen that once in my 33 years of PC building and that was hardware from a different age.
Since you're not getting initialization or video at all, my guess would be that your 4060 has given up the ghost (no detected video output) or that yes, somehow your BIOS became corrupted. Neither should have been brought on by the Windows 11 update: BIOS is Flash ROM and loads EFI, which Windows can and is updating with the March 2026 patches for secure boot certificates) after the POST, and would give a "no boot device" error if that had become corrupted somehow, and the video drivers that Windows would have F'd with would also be loaded during windows initialization and wouldn't have made POST fail.

I'd try BIOS reset by finding the pins on your board (check your specific board's manual) and shorting them with the power completely switched off on the back of the power supply, or completely unplugged. Careful with the screwdriver, it has to be metal but you don't want to scratch your board, but you need to hold it there for around 10 seconds connecting those two pins. You're essentially draining the capacitor that is between the battery and the BIOS.
Actually.... with that age of board, your BIOS battery might be drying. Check which kind you have and get a replacement. It's likely a CRC-232 but it should be printed on the battery.

If that still doesn't get you past the POST, try a different video card.

 

[citay]

That being said... it's  unlikely to be the power supply if the fans and mainboard components are coming up as it's usually an "all or nothing" kind of thing.

While this may be so, it's relatively easy to rule out by doing a quick test with a known good PSU. And a good rule of thumb in troubleshooting is, don't assume that things are a certain way, but rather, rule them out properly by doing the actual test. Too many times have I seen people assume that a certain component must be at fault, replacing the component without doing much troubleshooting to narrow down the cause, and ending up with the same problem still. Check here for an impressive example of this method...

So yes, I would try with a different GPU first, going by what the board says (the other GPU can't be too old though, ideally younger than 7 years), but if that still gives the VGA LED, then it's not a bad idea to test with a known good, not too old PSU too.

Careful with the screwdriver, it has to be metal but you don't want to scratch your board, but you need to hold it there for around 10 seconds connecting those two pins. You're essentially draining the capacitor that is between the battery and the BIOS.

Good hint about the screwdriver, be careful, just short the two pins. The battery would be a "CR2032" (20 mm diameter, 3.2 mm height). But normally, a drained battery should not result in a VGA LED. Anyway, the cause should hopefully be found, troubleshooting methodically, from the easiest things first (like a Clear CMOS) to the things that are more of a hassle.

 

[Alyred]

While this may be so, it's relatively easy to rule out by doing a quick test with a known good PSU. And a good rule of thumb in troubleshooting is, don't assume that things are a certain way, but rather, rule them out properly by doing the actual test. Too many times have I seen people assume that a certain component must be at fault, replacing the component without doing much troubleshooting to narrow down the cause, and ending up with the same problem still. Check here for an impressive example of this method...

So yes, I would try with a different GPU first, going by what the board says (the other GPU can't be too old though, ideally younger than 7 years), but if that still gives the VGA LED, then it's not a bad idea to test with a known good, not too old PSU too.



Good hint about the screwdriver, be careful, just short the two pins. The battery would be a "CR2032" (20 mm diameter, 3.2 mm height). But normally, a drained battery should not result in a VGA LED. Anyway, the cause should hopefully be found, troubleshooting methodically, from the easiest things first (like a Clear CMOS) to the things that are more of a hassle.

Yeah, definitely no argument with that: One should always eliminate possibilities one at a time. If it were me, though, I'd definitely try replacing the graphics card first to test. Always could be a power supply issue, but as a tech and with the annoying Pain in the [***CENSORED***] of having to replace the 12V plugs at the top of the board and the mainboard power "stiffness", it wouldn't be my first thing to try eliminating. Different altogether if the mainboard wasn't in a case/on a bench though.

 

[citay]

Yeah, depending on the case and cooler, getting to those cables can be a pain. But before doing anything major with the board for example, the PSU should always be ruled out first. We already know the PSU wasn't the best model and is on the older side for a budget model. So it makes even more sense to test with a different one (perhaps after the graphics card test).