MSI B450 Motherboard is showing VGA debug LED, but GPU is fine

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lordviecky

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Dec 11, 2023
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Hello Folks,

This is my PC Specifications:
Mobo: MSI B450 Tomahawk (MS-7C02)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600x (6 Cores) with WraithSpire Cooler
GPU: AMD Sapphire RX 6650XT - 8GB
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3200 2x8GB
PSU: Cooler Master MWE 750 Gold V2
OS: Windows 11 (with latest updates)

Now the problem is 2 weeks ago when I started my PC after turning it off it didnt start. So I started investigation and found that Mobo is showing red VGA debug light.
After trying for a bit I applied for GPU RMA and today I got the replacement and I installed it. But still its not giving display and mobo is showing same vga light.

Things which I tried:
  1. Reset/Clear CMOS battery
  2. Tried different GPU
  3. Reseated CPU
  4. Reseated RAM
  5. Removed SSD, HDD and M.2
One thing I noticed this time is that the Flashback feature is not working. Last time I remember I tried flashing BIOS using USB and Flashback button but this time its not working. Even I used the same USB and formatted with FAT32. Tried with the same BIOS version and latest also but its not working.

Please suggest what could go wrong with my PC, I am suspecting Mobo has gone bad but its reading CPU and RAM I mean if I disconnect one the debug VGAs light up respective LED.
 
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@citay
Yes I tried removing them one by one and at a point they were all removed and I tried to start PC but still red VGA LED.
I tried RTX 2060 (alt gpu), this GPU is not perfect I mean there are some issues with FPS but it atleast gives the display. But it was also not working.

Note: I have tried both GPUs (main and alt) in both of PCIx16 slots, none of them are working.
 
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Well, then why did you RMA the GPU, when the second GPU also wasn't working? You never RMA something until you narrowed it down to that specific part using methodical troubleshooting. The obvious thing before an RMA would be to test the GPU in a different PC. If it works fine there, it can't really be all the GPU's fault.

lordviecky said:
Note: I have tried both GPUs (main and alt) in both of PCIx16 slots, none of them are working.
Click to expand...

Ok, that excludes a problem with the first PCIe slot which gets its PCIe lanes from the CPU directly. This points more to the motherboard instead of the CPU then. But what i would first do is to try to rule out the PSU. The way to test this is by using a different PSU (which has to be known good, not too old, and of decent quality). Your PSU is a good mid-range model, but we cannot just rule it out because of that, we should test with a different PSU. If the graphics card is not getting the proper voltage via the PCIe power cable for example, then it will not want to run. Only after having ruled this out, i would assume that the board developed some kind of problem.
 
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Ok thanks for the PSU suggestion I will try to borrow from a friend.
But the thing is, I have been using this GPU since Jan 2024 and it was working super fine till 18th Nov 2024 evening. I turned off the PC and tried to turn on after around 3-4 hours since then its giving me the issue.
So if I assume that it could be PSU issue then It should show some signs of slow down or FPS drop but that didnt happen.
Also apart from GPU not giving display everything else is turning on like LEDs, fans etc. even CPU is getting power.

PC's Video : Video
 

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lordviecky said:
But the thing is, I have been using this GPU since Jan 2024 and it was working super fine till 18th Nov 2024 evening. I turned off the PC and tried to turn on after around 3-4 hours since then its giving me the issue.
Click to expand...

This doesn't mean too much. PSUs are always good until they're not. And no, if a PSU has a problem, they may not gradually develop. If some component fails, there can immediately be something wrong with the output voltages which make something not want to work anymore.

I'm not saying this is the case here, i'm just saying, ruling out the PSU would be good, it's easy enough to do if you can borrow another one, just connect the cables on-the-fly with the PSU next to the PC. Then it will either be ruled out, and it narrows it more down to the board, or in case the problem disappears, it would be the PSU's fault.
 
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Update:

So I got my PC checked at local repair shop, and they tested each part.
Conclusion: All parts are fine except Motherboard, but he said that motherboard is fine only we need to flash bios but, he is not able to flash the BIOS using USB. Said he has tried 2-3 USB drives.
Can someone help me on flashing the bios on this motherboard. I have gone thorugh the exact steps for flashing the bios using flashback feature.
@citay
 
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lordviecky said:
Conclusion: All parts are fine except Motherboard, but he said that motherboard is fine only we need to flash bios
Click to expand...

Going back to your original description:

lordviecky said:
Now the problem is 2 weeks ago when I started my PC after turning it off it didnt start. So I started investigation and found that Mobo is showing red VGA debug light.
After trying for a bit I applied for GPU RMA and today I got the replacement and I installed it. But still its not giving display and mobo is showing same vga light.
Click to expand...

It worked fine before, and then it didn't want to start one day. This tells me that there's a low chance of it simply being resolved with a BIOS update. A BIOS doesn't suddenly go bad. The most that can happen is that the CMOS battery is dead and the BIOS loses its settings, and then a BIOS update also wouldn't help much.

Yes, with a board developing a problem, you want to try a BIOS update if you have a Flash BIOS Button, sure. But them confidently stating that all it needs is a BIOS flash? I don't quite agree with this. But we'll see.

Anyway, that button is notorious for being very picky about which USB sticks it accepts for it. If you don't get 5-8 minutes of flashing with the Flash BIOS Button, either something about the procedure was wrong, or the board doesn't like your USB stick. I've seen a report of a "Kingston DataTraveler 100 G3 32GB" working where some other sticks have failed, and another report of a "SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 drive, 32 GB" having worked. Personally i've used a "Sandisk Extreme USB 3.0" with 32 GB successfully, see here. Also read here and here. You can also try the MSI USB stick they tend to include with the boards nowadays. The older and smaller, the better. Lastly, see here.
 
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Ok, went through all the links you provided, thanks for it.
I am doing exact steps like FAT32 and MBR.
I will try with the "no label" once.
 
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I figured it out that mobo is bricked somehow and needs to be replaced, anyway its out of warranty and served me well over 6 years.
Will get a new one now.
Thanks everyone.
 
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