I have an MSI B350 Tomahawk motherboard purchased in May 2018. I am using first-gen Ryzen, which was known to be difficult with certain RAM configurations, so I did not attempt to increase my memory speed beyond the default 1833 MHz until after a BIOS update. I successfully updated the BIOS and booted a few times, then attempted to increase the RAM clock speed in small intervals. This is where my trouble began: after incrementally increasing the memory speed to 3000 MHz, the system failed to boot and entered a boot loop. After 5 failed boot attempts, the BIOS should revert to a stable RAM configuration automatically. As I anticipated, the system boot cycled 5 times, but since then I have not been able to get it to POST. The fans all spin up for a few seconds and then settle down to a normal speed, all system LEDs are working, but I cannot get display output or any POST confirmation. This board has debug LEDs near the 24-pin ATX power connector. The "CPU" debug LED lights for about two seconds, then shuts off. No other LEDs or POST code beeps, and USB has power but the keyboard (caps lock, etc) is unresponsive. At the time I was much less skilled at troubleshooting and just gave up. I am lucky to live near a Micro Center, so I grabbed a new board and figured I'd RMA the borked one.
Fast forward quite some time, and I would like to get this board working if at all possible to pair with a spare 2400G I have laying around. This is proving much more challenging than I anticipated.
System hardware:
B350 Tomahawk
Ryzen 5 1600
Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
G. Skill Ripjaws V DDR4 3000 (4x4 GB)
750 W Thermaltake PSU
In my attempts to troubleshoot, I have tried nearly everything I can think of. I have tried only using two RAM sticks, I tried a single RAM stick in each of the slots, even grabbed a different memory kit to test that. I have tested with a different GPU. I have a working B350 Tomahawk (the one I gave up and bought from Micro Center) and all my components work with that board, as well as the RAM clock I was attempting on the trouble board. My R5 1600 does not have integrated graphics, and I am sure I am plugged in to the correct port on the GPU. I have tried DP and HDMI. The GPU is seated properly and the proper power cables are plugged into it. I've double checked all power connections in the system and even reseated the CPU. Perhaps the most common suggestion for issues like this is to clear CMOS. I have attempted to clear CMOS several times with a jumper. After that didn't work, I (unintentionally) left the board to sit for well over a year with the CMOS battery removed. If that didn't clear CMOS, I'm not sure what will.
At this point, I'm not sure why a RAM overclock on a 2018 BIOS version would have bricked the board, but it looks to be the likely cause. My next step is to try the 2400G in the system since it has an APU, and pray for an output from the mobo HDMI port. If that doesn't work, my last step would be to RMA the board. MSI has a three-year warranty on this board but I doubt I still have proof of purchase lying around, so even that may not be an option.
Does anyone have any suggestions or experience with a similar issue? I would really appreciate any suggestions. This has been a frustrating experience to say the least.
[UPDATE] I was able to POST and get into the BIOS with my 2400G. I flashed the BIOS, reinstalled my 1600 and graphics card, and everything seems to be working now.
Fast forward quite some time, and I would like to get this board working if at all possible to pair with a spare 2400G I have laying around. This is proving much more challenging than I anticipated.
System hardware:
B350 Tomahawk
Ryzen 5 1600
Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
G. Skill Ripjaws V DDR4 3000 (4x4 GB)
750 W Thermaltake PSU
In my attempts to troubleshoot, I have tried nearly everything I can think of. I have tried only using two RAM sticks, I tried a single RAM stick in each of the slots, even grabbed a different memory kit to test that. I have tested with a different GPU. I have a working B350 Tomahawk (the one I gave up and bought from Micro Center) and all my components work with that board, as well as the RAM clock I was attempting on the trouble board. My R5 1600 does not have integrated graphics, and I am sure I am plugged in to the correct port on the GPU. I have tried DP and HDMI. The GPU is seated properly and the proper power cables are plugged into it. I've double checked all power connections in the system and even reseated the CPU. Perhaps the most common suggestion for issues like this is to clear CMOS. I have attempted to clear CMOS several times with a jumper. After that didn't work, I (unintentionally) left the board to sit for well over a year with the CMOS battery removed. If that didn't clear CMOS, I'm not sure what will.
At this point, I'm not sure why a RAM overclock on a 2018 BIOS version would have bricked the board, but it looks to be the likely cause. My next step is to try the 2400G in the system since it has an APU, and pray for an output from the mobo HDMI port. If that doesn't work, my last step would be to RMA the board. MSI has a three-year warranty on this board but I doubt I still have proof of purchase lying around, so even that may not be an option.
Does anyone have any suggestions or experience with a similar issue? I would really appreciate any suggestions. This has been a frustrating experience to say the least.
[UPDATE] I was able to POST and get into the BIOS with my 2400G. I flashed the BIOS, reinstalled my 1600 and graphics card, and everything seems to be working now.
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