Z690 EDGE WIFI DDR4 - Unable to boot past the BIOS..

[hypno-moon9155102d9]

Hey people, I was wondering if there was anyone out there who can help me?
I received, today, the motherboard I ordered (Z690 EDGE DDR4) and set upon replacing my old MOBO with this. I bought it to run an i912900k or whatever... a '12th gen' (this is all foreign language to me)..
Put everything together fine and turned it on, updated the BIOS, downloading the latest version from the website on a different PC onto the flash drive, restart. The issue is, I cannot get the computer to actually boot past the BIOS? Before the hardware upgrade ie the MOBO, I had Windows installed on a WD BLUE SSD and that's what I plug into this new MOBO via the sata. When I look at the specs, I can see the SSD I just cannot see it within the BOOT settings or amongst the icons towards the top. I have also two WD BLUE M.2 installed into the MOBO which also I can see within the specs but which do not show within the boot settings (not that it matters as they don't have my operating system on them but they would appear on my last MOBO BIOS). I even tried plugging in an old spin up hard drive that has Windows on it and that doesn't appear in the boot settings nor does the pc boot past the BIOS with it plugged in.
I hope this makes sense. My head is killing my trying to figure this out, it really shouldn't be this complicated. Thanks in advance!

 

[citay]

I'm afraid it's a bit complicated though. So bear with me.

Why it's not booting your old installation: Your Windows was installed with the previous motherboard's BIOS being set to a different BIOS mode.

A modern BIOS can be in two modes: Legacy/CSM (Compatibility Support Module) and the newer UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) mode. Since all BIOSes are UEFI BIOSes nowadays, naturally they work best when set to UEFI mode. But also, every modern BIOS can be set CSM/Legacy mode, in order to behave like an old BIOS from many years ago. This is so it can work with older operating systems which have no or only limited support for UEFI, such as Windows 7. The problem lies in the fact that switching between those two BIOS modes after you have installed Windows will make the boot process fail.

So when going from an old board, which was set to CSM mode for better Win7 compatibility (or if it's really old, it won't even have had a UEFI mode available), to a new board which is gonna be set to UEFI mode for all the modern improvement that brings, the old Windows will not boot at first. Why not? When Windows detects a CSM/Legacy BIOS during installation (for example on an old board or an old BIOS), it prepares the boot drive to have an MBR (Master Boot Record). When it detects a UEFI BIOS during installation, it will prepare the boot drive with a GPT (GUID partition table) instead of an MBR. And the BIOS set to either mode (CSM vs. UEFI) will only boot from a drive that was prepared accordingly for that mode (CSM needs MBR, UEFI needs GPT).

As for the solution, the question is, can you back up your data and then do a fresh install of Windows with the BIOS in UEFI mode, like it is now? That's the cleanest way.
You are trying to use a Windows installation from an old system, but Windows sets a lot of internal variables according to the hardware and configuration it detects during installation. So the best thing would be to do a fresh install of Windows using a USB stick prepared with the latest Media Creation Tool for Windows 11. Why Win11 and not Win10? For a 12th/13th gen CPU with the different cores (P-cores and E-cores), Windows 11 is advised because it handles that better. Plus you save yourself from a lengthy upgrade to Win11, come 2025, because that's when Win10 support will end and it will get no monthly security fixes anymore, quickly rendering it unusable.

To prepare a Win11 boot USB stick, run the Media Creation tool, then select "Create installation media (USB Flash drive)". After it's done, boot from the drive/stick by pressing F11 during boot for the boot menu and select the drive/stick there. I explained the Windows installation procedure a bit here. There is no need to set the boot order manually, Windows will automatically add itself as the boot drive. Win11 will accept the same license key as Win10. Once in Windows, install the Intel Chipset drivers first, then Serial I/O and Management Engine (all from the MSI support site). These will get rid of all the unknown devices in the device manager and set everything up correctly for the power saving modes to work and so on. Then Intel LAN and Realtek audio driver. By that time you should be online and Windows Update can do the rest.

There are also two quick and dirty fixes to make it boot again, but they have downsides:

The first is to set the new board's BIOS to CSM/Legacy mode. However, CSM mode is outdated, it was only needed for Windows 7, but for anything after that, UEFI mode is better, and Windows 11 will actually require it. You can't install (or upgrade to) Win11 when the BIOS is in CSM/Legacy mode. So this will only cause problems down the road.

So the better second option is to convert the boot drive from MBR to GPT: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-convert-mbr-disk-gpt-move-bios-uefi-windows-10
There's other tutorials you can find on that procedure as well. It doesn't take long, and the BIOS can use the drive as a boot drive in UEFI mode afterwards.
This way, you can use your old Win10, and will have no trouble updating to Win11 later. Much better than just setting CSM mode and delaying the problems.

But even that second option, where you at least have the BIOS set to the modern UEFI mode, will still have the issue of Windows setting itself up according to the hardware it detects during installation. If you skip that part, things like the turbo modes for the CPU might not work properly. So the cleanest way will always be a fresh install of Windows.

I personally always do a fresh install with a new board+CPU, even when i just go to the very next platform (nevermind when skipping several years worth of platforms). I always complain about the amount of work it is to set everything up again, but i always end up being glad that i did it. The programs i never use, i don't install again. The programs i do use, i download the newest versions of everything and have them up to date. The things i could improve in the configuration etc. that i was too lazy for before, i change. Just do a couple programs a day and in one or two weeks you'll have a better setup than before.

If you want to re-use your existing Win10 no matter what (until 2025), then i would do the MBR to GPT conversion, and at least install the newest drivers from the MSI website.

 

[hypno-moon9155102d9]

I'm afraid it's a bit complicated though. So bear with me.

Why it's not booting your old installation: Your Windows was installed with the previous motherboard's BIOS being set to a different BIOS mode.

A modern BIOS can be in two modes: Legacy/CSM (Compatibility Support Module) and the newer UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) mode. Since all BIOSes are UEFI BIOSes nowadays, naturally they work best when set to UEFI mode. But also, every modern BIOS can be set CSM/Legacy mode, in order to behave like an old BIOS from many years ago. This is so it can work with older operating systems which have no or only limited support for UEFI, such as Windows 7. The problem lies in the fact that switching between those two BIOS modes after you have installed Windows will make the boot process fail.

So when going from an old board, which was set to CSM mode for better Win7 compatibility (or if it's really old, it won't even have had a UEFI mode available), to a new board which is gonna be set to UEFI mode for all the modern improvement that brings, the old Windows will not boot at first. Why not? When Windows detects a CSM/Legacy BIOS during installation (for example on an old board or an old BIOS), it prepares the boot drive to have an MBR (Master Boot Record). When it detects a UEFI BIOS during installation, it will prepare the boot drive with a GPT (GUID partition table) instead of an MBR. And the BIOS set to either mode (CSM vs. UEFI) will only boot from a drive that was prepared accordingly for that mode (CSM needs MBR, UEFI needs GPT).

As for the solution, the question is, can you back up your data and then do a fresh install of Windows with the BIOS in UEFI mode, like it is now? That's the cleanest way.
You are trying to use a Windows installation from an old system, but Windows sets a lot of internal variables according to the hardware and configuration it detects during installation. So the best thing would be to do a fresh install of Windows using a USB stick prepared with the latest Media Creation Tool for Windows 11. Why Win11 and not Win10? For a 12th/13th gen CPU with the different cores (P-cores and E-cores), Windows 11 is advised because it handles that better. Plus you save yourself from a lengthy upgrade to Win11, come 2025, because that's when Win10 support will end and it will get no monthly security fixes anymore, quickly rendering it unusable.

To prepare a Win11 boot USB stick, run the Media Creation tool, then select "Create installation media (USB Flash drive)". After it's done, boot from the drive/stick by pressing F11 during boot for the boot menu and select the drive/stick there. I explained the Windows installation procedure a bit here. There is no need to set the boot order manually, Windows will automatically add itself as the boot drive. Win11 will accept the same license key as Win10. Once in Windows, install the Intel Chipset drivers first, then Serial I/O and Management Engine (all from the MSI support site). These will get rid of all the unknown devices in the device manager and set everything up correctly for the power saving modes to work and so on. Then Intel LAN and Realtek audio driver. By that time you should be online and Windows Update can do the rest.

There are also two quick and dirty fixes to make it boot again, but they have downsides:

The first is to set the new board's BIOS to CSM/Legacy mode. However, CSM mode is outdated, it was only needed for Windows 7, but for anything after that, UEFI mode is better, and Windows 11 will actually require it. You can't install (or upgrade to) Win11 when the BIOS is in CSM/Legacy mode. So this will only cause problems down the road.

So the better second option is to convert the boot drive from MBR to GPT: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-convert-mbr-disk-gpt-move-bios-uefi-windows-10
There's other tutorials you can find on that procedure as well. It doesn't take long, and the BIOS can use the drive as a boot drive in UEFI mode afterwards.
This way, you can use your old Win10, and will have no trouble updating to Win11 later. Much better than just setting CSM mode and delaying the problems.

But even that second option, where you at least have the BIOS set to the modern UEFI mode, will still have the issue of Windows setting itself up according to the hardware it detects during installation. If you skip that part, things like the turbo modes for the CPU might not work properly. So the cleanest way will always be a fresh install of Windows.

I personally always do a fresh install with a new board+CPU, even when i just go to the very next platform (nevermind when skipping several years worth of platforms). I always complain about the amount of work it is to set everything up again, but i always end up being glad that i did it. The programs i never use, i don't install again. The programs i do use, i download the newest versions of everything and have them up to date. The things i could improve in the configuration etc. that i was too lazy for before, i change. Just do a couple programs a day and in one or two weeks you'll have a better setup than before.

If you want to re-use your existing Win10 no matter what (until 2025), then i would do the MBR to GPT conversion, and at least install the newest drivers from the MSI website.

Hey thank for the reply and the detailed guide.
I followed as you suggested, with the fresh install, and it worked no issues.. I am extremely thankful hah! You're a legend for that.

 

[citay]

You're welcome, glad i could help!