Weird and specific BIOS issue

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anaxim155002d7

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I don't really have a better summary of my issue.
My setup:
Linux Mint latest version
X870E GAMING PLUS WIFI board
RX 9060 XT
32GB DDR5 RAM

I'd gone into the BIOS to fix up the levels on fan activation and discovered that when I exit BIOS, whether or not I changed anything nor saved, the next boot just straight up refuses to happen.
The only way I managed to work around this is with the Clear CMOS button, which let me boot up fine.
But it leaves me with an issue: I cannot make any changes to the BIOS.
This is compounded by a unilateral refusal of my setup to let me update the BIOS: I either go into the BIOS to initiate the update and it immediately fails to do it OR try doing it from the motherboard itself, which also fails. And then I'm back to clearing CMOS.

Literally any help appreciated.
 
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Has the mainboard's BIOS updated to the latest 7E70v1A52 to check?
 
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zerijelly said:
Has the mainboard's BIOS updated to the latest 7E70v1A52 to check?
Click to expand...
I have not tried this specific method of updating, so I'll try it. Every method I did try (trying to boot in M-FLASH, flashing directly from USB in the correct port on the motherboard, newer and older flashdrives, trying to update to immediate next version or most up-to-date one) had failed before.
 
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anaxim155002d7 said:
I have not tried this specific method of updating, so I'll try it. Every method I did try (trying to boot in M-FLASH, flashing directly from USB in the correct port on the motherboard, newer and older flashdrives, trying to update to immediate next version or most up-to-date one) had failed before.
Click to expand...
I have just tried the method exactly as described in the above video, which has failed in the same way as previous attempts had failed to boot into M-FLASH. What happens once I try to boot the PC in _any_ way after BIOS is 0 signal to the monitors and the red, yellow and green POST lights turning on and staying on when the computer starts up.
 
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How did the flashing with the button method fail? Did it only flash for under a minute, or did it keep flashing for over ten minutes? Those are the usual ways for it to fail. Then you have to try with a bunch of different USB sticks (the older and smaller, the better) to find one that the button method likes.

Also, how does the flashing via M-Flash fail? This is weirder. While the button method is known to be very picky sometimes, a failure with M-Flash is not common.
 
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citay said:
How did the flashing with the button method fail? Did it only flash for under a minute, or did it keep flashing for over ten minutes? Those are the usual ways for it to fail. Then you have to try with a bunch of different USB sticks (the older and smaller, the better) to find one that the button method likes.

Also, how does the flashing via M-Flash fail? This is weirder. While the button method is known to be very picky sometimes, a failure with M-Flash is not common.
Click to expand...
USB size and age: I have a cheap 10-ish years old one with 4GB.
Button failure: starts with relatively quick flashes then some slower flashes after I let go and followed up by solid active.
M-FLASH failure: the act of entering and then exiting BIOS prevents the PC from booting. I don't even get as far as signal to display.
UEFI failure: very possibly a Secure Boot issue. From the F11 boot menu, when I choose the thumb drive it simply loops back to the boot menu.
 
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Oh ok, so you can't even enter M-Flash properly. What EZ Debug LED is on when that happens? They are top to bottom: CPU - DRAM- VGA - BOOT.

I suggest to try on the board's HDMI port, fed by the iGPU. Your graphics card might be involved in these issues. You might even have to take out the graphics card to force the iGPU to be used. That should have a better chance of entering M-Flash and updating the BIOS, and then you could try again with the graphics card.
 
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Alan J T said:
If you have windows installed
Click to expand...

No need Windows to be installed on the same machine to able to flash it,
the flashing is not bound to Windows,
the USB key can be prepared in any PC and move the USB key to the target PC to flash it.
Just like Flash button or M-Flash you can prepare the USB key in another PC and move the wanted PC to flash.

anaxim155002d7 said:
UEFI failure: very possibly a Secure Boot issue. From the F11 boot menu, when I choose the thumb drive it simply loops back to the boot menu.
Click to expand...

Disabled Secure Boot in BIOS Setup 1st.
 
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Svet said:
No need Windows to be installed on the same machine to able to flash it,
the flashing is not bound to Windows,
the USB key can be prepared in any PC and move the USB key to the target PC to flash it.
Just like Flash button or M-Flash you can prepare the USB key in another PC and move the wanted PC to flash.



Disabled Secure Boot in BIOS Setup 1st.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I feel like you haven't read any of my posts here - if I enter BIOS, the only way to get the computer to boot is by doing a CMOS Clear. I cannot disable Secure Boot. Making the USB was a non-issue, but it didn't work all the same.
citay said:
Oh ok, so you can't even enter M-Flash properly. What EZ Debug LED is on when that happens? They are top to bottom: CPU - DRAM- VGA - BOOT.
Click to expand...
Forgot to mention the LEDs. Yellow, Red and Green.
 
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anaxim155002d7 said:
Unfortunately, I feel like you haven't read any of my posts here - if I enter BIOS, the only way to get the computer to boot is by doing a CMOS Clear.
Click to expand...

anaxim155002d7 said:
I cannot disable Secure Boot. Making the USB was a non-issue, but it didn't work all the same.
Click to expand...

I forgot that you can't save settings and need CMOS reset after made changes in bios setup to able to boot again.
Will prepare a work around to try,

but 1st do test this:
anaxim155002d7 said:
M-FLASH failure: the act of entering and then exiting BIOS prevents the PC from booting. I don't even get as far as signal to display.
Click to expand...

After run M-Flash, (Say PC will shutdown and will boot again in M-Flash Mode)
wait 20-30 seconds, then when you got the black screen press CTRL+ALT+DEL and wait again 20-30 seconds
see if the Display will be shown in that way under M-Flash Mode.

If needs repeat the procedure 2-3 times (just reboot when you are in M-Flash Mode and have no screen until show up, up to 2-3 times.
 
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Svet said:
I forgot that you can't save settings and need CMOS reset after made changes in bios setup to able to boot again.
Will prepare a work around to try,

but 1st do test this:


After run M-Flash, (Say PC will shutdown and will boot again in M-Flash Mode)
wait 20-30 seconds, then when you got the black screen press CTRL+ALT+DEL and wait again 20-30 seconds
see if the Display will be shown in that way under M-Flash Mode.

If needs repeat the procedure 2-3 times (just reboot when you are in M-Flash Mode and have no screen until show up, up to 2-3 times.
Click to expand...
As mentioned, my keyboard doesn't even connect when booting after exiting BIOS. The 3 LEDs mentioned above are turned on and booting does not continue.
 
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Wow, three EZ Debug LEDs stay lit, that's very unusual. It could even be some kind of communication issue between board and CPU. What I would try here would be a CPU re-seat, and checking for bent pins in the socket, also see here and the following posts. While they are technically all bent, the tips of the pins have to line up in a perfect pattern, with none visually sticking out from the rest. Ideally take some photos of the socket, upload to an image hoster like https://imgbb.com/ and link them here, even if you don't think there are bent pins (sometimes they are not that easy to spot for the untrained eye).
 
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anaxim155002d7 said:
As mentioned, my keyboard doesn't even connect when booting after exiting BIOS.
Click to expand...

No need to exit the BIOS, just run M-Flash.
Then if black screen after next boot after wating 30 seconds,
reboot the system. If keyboard not working, press reset button instead.

Yes, 3 LEDs at once is very unusual.
Check for bent pins,
also try boot with board out of PC case placed over wooden table /card box.

What PSU you use too?

32GB DDR5 RAM
Click to expand...

How many sticks? Which brand and model and which slots are installed?
see >>Posting Guide<<
 
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Svet said:
No need to exit the BIOS, just run M-Flash.
Then if black screen after next boot after wating 30 seconds,
reboot the system. If keyboard not working, press reset button instead.
Click to expand...
I press M-FLASH, it says the system will reboot into M-FLASH. The PC then reboots and I'm stuck with 3 LEDs.
citay said:
Wow, three EZ Debug LEDs stay lit, that's very unusual. It could even be some kind of communication issue between board and CPU. What I would try here would be a CPU re-seat, and checking for bent pins in the socket, also see here and the following posts. While they are technically all bent, the tips of the pins have to line up in a perfect pattern, with none visually sticking out from the rest. Ideally take some photos of the socket, upload to an image hoster like https://imgbb.com/ and link them here, even if you don't think there are bent pins (sometimes they are not that easy to spot for the untrained eye).
Click to expand...
I'm hesitant to take it apart because apart from BIOS doing this, everything runs just fine.
Heck, the entire reason I'm trying to do something is because I just want to smooth out the levels on the CPU fan, which are not exposed to my operating system.
 
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anaxim155002d7 said:
I'm hesitant to take it apart because apart from BIOS doing this, everything runs just fine.
Heck, the entire reason I'm trying to do something is because I just want to smooth out the levels on the CPU fan, which are not exposed to my operating system.
Click to expand...

I understand. But there is something seriously off with the behaviour you're seeing from the board. I can't recall the last time we saw three EZ Debug LEDs stay on at the same time. Sure, CPU+DRAM LEDs, we see a bunch of those on AM5, but almost never three of them. And it would even be weird for a PSU issue to cause three LEDs, but yes, it would be nice to know the PSU model at least.

So my thinking is, with the board behaving this weird, what could be wrong here, and one of the most common things to go wrong with a board is to have some bent pins in the CPU socket. After all, it's an LGA socket, with 1718 tiny pins which are very prone to bending with the slightest mistake during CPU installation. If you have even just one bent pin, let alone a couple, it can cause any number of weird, seemingly inexplicable symptoms. And unless you check for this, you risk that all other troubleshooting ends up being a complete waste of time. Because should there be bent pins, they will be the explanation of everything, guaranteed.
 
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citay said:
I understand. But there is something seriously off with the behaviour you're seeing from the board. I can't recall the last time we saw three EZ Debug LEDs stay on at the same time. Sure, CPU+DRAM LEDs, we see a bunch of those on AM5, but almost never three of them. And it would even be weird for a PSU issue to cause three LEDs, but yes, it would be nice to know the PSU model at least.

So my thinking is, with the board behaving this weird, what could be wrong here, and one of the most common things to go wrong with a board is to have some bent pins in the CPU socket. After all, it's an LGA socket, with 1718 tiny pins which are very prone to bending with the slightest mistake during CPU installation. If you have even just one bent pin, let alone a couple, it can cause any number of weird, seemingly inexplicable symptoms. And unless you check for this, you risk that all other troubleshooting ends up being a complete waste of time. Because should there be bent pins, they will be the explanation of everything, guaranteed.
Click to expand...
OK. Next time I have a car to take in the PC, I will. Let them figure it out.
 
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