I cannot get 9800x3d and B650 Tomahawk to POST

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Keystonesteel

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I'll make this as quick of a read as I can.

Bought two memory kits, one from QVL, one not from QVL
G Skill Ripjaws F56000J3040G32GX2-RS5K XMP, but on QVL
And the Flare "EXPO" equivalent that is not on the QVL F56000J3040G32GX2-FX5
I also have a 16GB stick that is being used in an ASRock B650 7600 build with no issues.
9800x3D from Amazon, sold and shipped by amazon
MSI B650 Tomahawk Wifi
Phantom Spirit 120 SE
Known good "2021 version" Corsair RM1000x that I've used for 2 years.

I've spent the last 3 days troubleshooting including using multiple b650 Tomahawk motherboards, and even the 7600 from my other build I cannot get them to post with any CPU or memory kit in any position.

Downloaded bios from here: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B650-TOMAHAWK-WIFI/support#bios
I've started out flashing without a CPU, using a 16-32GB flash drive formatted as MBR FAT32 with the latest "7D75v1L" BIOS renamed to MSI.ROM. I hit the flashback button, the CPU/RAM leds come on and the flashback LED starts to flash. After a few seconds it flashes faster for about 7-8 minutes, then the board power cycles and comes back on.

The mobo will turn on, fans at a reasonable and quiet speed, CPU/RAM lights on. I can let it sit here all day and it will do nothing. At the moment I don't even have a keyboard plugged in, just a monitor on the motherboard's displayport connection. The first board I tried both a 7600 and a 9800x3D and it wouldn't post with either.

I'm at a loss as to what I'm doing wrong, but to have two motherboards with issues seems extremely unlikely.
 
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Keystonesteel said:
After a few seconds it flashes faster for about 7-8 minutes, then the board power cycles and comes back on.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a successful flash.

Keystonesteel said:
The mobo will turn on, fans at a reasonable and quiet speed, CPU/RAM lights on. I can let it sit here all day and it will do nothing. At the moment I don't even have a keyboard plugged in, just a monitor on the motherboard's displayport connection. The first board I tried both a 7600 and a 9800x3D and it wouldn't post with either.

I'm at a loss as to what I'm doing wrong, but to have two motherboards with issues seems extremely unlikely.
Click to expand...

If you search for the forum, we have a lot of people with MSI AM5 600-series boards getting CPU+DRAM LEDs, usually using good components too, and there is no apparent explanation for it. One hypothesis of mine is, it could potentially have to do with the contact between CPU and board. But even that is not easy to test, let alone to fix. You used the same cooler for every configuration? Do you have a different cooler for AM5 available? Can you play with the mounting screws a bit, loosening them slightly instead of fully tightening?

I believe MSI have an issue on their hands with their 600-series boards throwing CPU+DRAM LEDs, i must've seen around 50-100 cases of this by now on this forum. You're definitely not alone. Maybe the tolerances of something are off by a tiny amount, for most people it will work fine, but some get this issue as a result. I can only speculate wildly, because i don't know the real cause, some people have tried almost everything before and couldn't really fix it. Once i see people fixing it, i can give you good things to try. Definitely you should strip down the system as much as possible, you can even leave the RAM out completely. With no RAM, it should only show the DRAM LED, not CPU+DRAM. Unplug internal USB cables and everything but the keyboard. Always test with CPU and cooler mounted on top, but play with the cooler mounting pressure a bit. You can also test with the board outside of the case.
 
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citay said:
Sounds like a successful flash.



If you search for the forum, we have a lot of people with MSI AM5 600-series boards getting CPU+DRAM LEDs, usually using good components too, and there is no apparent explanation for it. One hypothesis of mine is, it could potentially have to do with the contact between CPU and board. But even that is not easy to test, let alone to fix. You used the same cooler for every configuration? Do you have a different cooler for AM5 available? Can you play with the mounting screws a bit, loosening them slightly instead of fully tightening?

I believe MSI have an issue on their hands with their 600-series boards throwing CPU+DRAM LEDs, i must've seen around 50-100 cases of this by now on this forum. You're definitely not alone. Maybe the tolerances of something are off by a tiny amount, for most people it will work fine, but some get this issue as a result. I can only speculate wildly, because i don't know the real cause, some people have tried almost everything before and couldn't really fix it. Once i see people fixing it, i can give you good things to try. Definitely you should strip down the system as much as possible, you can even leave the RAM out completely. With no RAM, it should only show the DRAM LED, not CPU+DRAM. Unplug internal USB cables and everything but the keyboard. Always test with CPU and cooler mounted on top, but play with the cooler mounting pressure a bit. You can also test with the board outside of the case.
Click to expand...
I did use the same cooler each time. I have a Noctua U12A as well, but wanted to use the PS120SE. I did play with mounting pressure including -2 full turns on both screws. I've reseated the memory multiple times too.

The only thing I did not try is to boot with CPU and no memory. That said after hearing about the 600 series issues, I don't really want to deal with this issue any more and having 2 issue prone boards from two vendors left a feeling of unease of these boards.

I'm going to try and return both of them. Appreciate the suggestions though.
 
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citay said:
Sounds like a successful flash.



If you search for the forum, we have a lot of people with MSI AM5 600-series boards getting CPU+DRAM LEDs, usually using good components too, and there is no apparent explanation for it. One hypothesis of mine is, it could potentially have to do with the contact between CPU and board. But even that is not easy to test, let alone to fix. You used the same cooler for every configuration? Do you have a different cooler for AM5 available? Can you play with the mounting screws a bit, loosening them slightly instead of fully tightening?

I believe MSI have an issue on their hands with their 600-series boards throwing CPU+DRAM LEDs, i must've seen around 50-100 cases of this by now on this forum. You're definitely not alone. Maybe the tolerances of something are off by a tiny amount, for most people it will work fine, but some get this issue as a result. I can only speculate wildly, because i don't know the real cause, some people have tried almost everything before and couldn't really fix it. Once i see people fixing it, i can give you good things to try. Definitely you should strip down the system as much as possible, you can even leave the RAM out completely. With no RAM, it should only show the DRAM LED, not CPU+DRAM. Unplug internal USB cables and everything but the keyboard. Always test with CPU and cooler mounted on top, but play with the cooler mounting pressure a bit. You can also test with the board outside of the case.
Click to expand...
I have a new 9800x3D sitting here, and I just can't figure out which board to get. Several people said they are using the B650 Tomahawk without issue. Then there's this post you say you've seen hundreds of issues. B850/X870 have also been having issues. It's like, my 9800x3D is just an expensive paperweight at this point. Because of the state of motherboards, I'm afraid to waste time and money on anything right now.
 
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Mattech said:
I have a new 9800x3D sitting here, and I just can't figure out which board to get. Several people said they are using the B650 Tomahawk without issue. Then there's this post you say you've seen hundreds of issues. B850/X870 have also been having issues. It's like, my 9800x3D is just an expensive paperweight at this point. Because of the state of motherboards, I'm afraid to waste time and money on anything right now.
Click to expand...
For what it’s worth I took a chance with the ASRock B850 riptide and my buddy built on a Gigabyte b850 aorus elite. Neither of us had issues with our boards yet
 
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Well, yeah, i can only report what i read here on the forum. Some people are unlucky with their 600-series board and get this CPU+DRAM LEDs problem. With the 800-series boards, the probablity of getting that definitely seems to be much lower, however, there you have to deal with an (at the moment) very immature state of BIOS development. If i had to get an MSI AM5 board right now for myself (not that i plan to), it would probably be the B850 Tomahawk Max WIFI, knowing full well i had to put up with some BIOS shortcomings for a while, and do frequent BIOS updates.
 
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citay said:
Well, yeah, i can only report what i read here on the forum. Some people are unlucky with their 600-series board and get this CPU+DRAM LEDs problem. With the 800-series boards, the probablity of getting that definitely seems to be much lower, however, there you have to deal with an (at the moment) very immature state of BIOS development. If i had to get an MSI AM5 board right now for myself (not that i plan to), it would probably be the B850 Tomahawk Max WIFI, knowing full well i had to put up with some BIOS shortcomings for a while, and do frequent BIOS updates.
Click to expand...
I do believe there was a recent update today? that people on the B850 Tomahawk says helps.
 
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Keystonesteel said:
For what it’s worth I took a chance with the ASRock B850 riptide and my buddy built on a Gigabyte b850 aorus elite. Neither of us had issues with our boards yet
Click to expand...
Please be aware, if you aren't already, of the dozens of fried CPUs happening on the ASRock boards. There is a stickied thread on the ASRock Reddit, and GamersNexus just did a video about them yesterday. Could possibly be voltage issues. Keep an eye on your voltages. Specifically VSOC.
 
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the wonders of agesa 1.2.0.3
not a specific MSI issue, reports coming from different forums, lots from asrock in particular but everybody knows it's a problematic amd agesa release indeed
especially with the recent 9800x3d cpus
 
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Michele P said:
the wonders of agesa 1.2.0.3
not a specific MSI issue, reports coming from different forums, lots from asrock in particular but everybody knows it's a problematic amd agesa release indeed
especially with the recent 9800x3d cpus
Click to expand...
That's why my new 9800x3D is just sitting here, with no new motherboard in sight. Never imagined buying the world's fastest gaming CPU, only to be let down with the state of motherboards, BIOS's and AGESA's.
 
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