BIOS Unusable: MSI B350 Gaming Plus ATX

[mr_drapaz]

SPECS

MSI B350 Gaming Plus ATX
Ryzen 5 1600 (no overclock)
Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000 MHz 2 x 8GB (running at 2133 MHz)
Powercolor Red Devil RX 580 (no overclock)
Masterwatt lite 600w PSU
240GB SSD (Windows Installation)
500GB HDD (Storage)

So basically I just recently bought the above parts and build my first gaming PC, but i'm having a problem with the motherboard BIOS.

The initial BIOS that came with the board was a mess; switching between the "EZ Mode" and Advanced Mode would just layer on top of each other and was just generally unstable.
Therefore my initial thought was to update the BIOS, thinking that the original BIOS was one of the first versions and that the later ones would be more stable.

Therefore I downloaded the latest BIOS update for the board (https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/B350-GAMING-PLUS) which at the time of writing was version 7A34vMC. I then flashed it with a FAT32 formatted 8GB USB stick using their M-Flash software. The update completed successfully, with the update not being interrupted in any way.

After being updated, I head to the BIOS to see if everything is stable, and I am greeted with this:

It seems that the BIOS is not loading every thing it should do, with only the information in the above image being displayed. The mouse and keyboard does not work in the BIOS whatsoever. I cannot even use M-Flash to reflash an older BIOS as it was a feature in the BIOS. MSI does have a flashing solution using DOS, but I cannot wrap my head around it and having no success doing it.

The strange thing is that the PC still does post and goes to Windows; only a few minor stuttering issues which I think is related to the BIOS and my RAM running at a low MHz.

If anyone can help it would be really appreciated; MSI support just keep giving me solutions that I have already tried such as CMOS resetting and it's just not really helping.

If you need anymore information please feel free to ask, and thanks in advance for any help!

Edit: Image link didn't seem to work, should work now.

 

[Ralston18]

Have you tried a new CMOS battery?

Your photograph appears to show a lot of dust. How clean is the inside of your computer?

Dust and the resulting heat buildups are not good for electronics anywhere.

Air flows are important also. Ensure that all of your devices have the recommended air flow clearances.

 

[mr_drapaz]

Have you tried a new CMOS battery?

Your photograph appears to show a lot of dust. How clean is the inside of your computer?

Dust and the resulting heat buildups are not good for electronics anywhere.

Air flows are important also. Ensure that all of your devices have the recommended air flow clearances.

I don't think it would be the CMOS battery, it's a completely brand new build with a new motherboard. It does also boot into Windows too and is fully functional which I don't think would be possible with a dead CMOS battery.
The dust you're seeing is just from my Virgin TV Box and PS2 (need to give them a good clean!) however the PC is dust free (new build). You just can't see it as it's situated behind the display.

 

[Ralston18]

Not sure about all the details with respect to what all you have tried to to date.

Are you referencing/using the following MSI links?

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=299476.0

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=108079.msg800577#msg800577

My thought is that even though the BIOS update appeared to go well the actual installation suffered some corruption but still manages to work through it.

And you mentioned running RAM at low MHz - reason(s)? Just wondering about that with no particular intent other than to gather more information that might be helpful to anyone following your post.

As for new build - understood. All should be expected to work and should work. But when it comes to batteries in almost any product the batteries are likely to be the cheapest available....

Still, one thing I would do is to doublecheck all connections, seatings, jumpers, etc. to ensure that all are fully and firmly in place. May look and even feel correct but then you discover that some little push actually snugs it into place even more.

 

[mr_drapaz]

Not sure about all the details with respect to what all you have tried to to date.

Are you referencing/using the following MSI links?

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=299476.0

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=108079.msg800577#msg800577

My thought is that even though the BIOS update appeared to go well the actual installation suffered some corruption but still manages to work through it.

And you mentioned running RAM at low MHz - reason(s)? Just wondering about that with no particular intent other than to gather more information that might be helpful to anyone following your post.

As for new build - understood. All should be expected to work and should work. But when it comes to batteries in almost any product the batteries are likely to be the cheapest available....

Still, one thing I would do is to doublecheck all connections, seatings, jumpers, etc. to ensure that all are fully and firmly in place. May look and even feel correct but then you discover that some little push actually snugs it into place even more.

Yeah sorry, i'm trying to be as detailed as possible in what I have done so far so I apologise if my descriptions aren't as detailed as they could be.

Having looked at your links, I haven't referenced or seen those posts. I referenced MSI's BIOS update guide (https://www.msi.com/files/pdf/How_to_flash_the_BIOS.pdf) which can be found on the B350 Gaming Plus support page (under the BIOS section, "How to flash the BIOS ( SOP Download)").

I do actually believe you're right; even though the BIOS installed successfully it became corrupted somehow. The frustrating part now is that because the M-Flash tool is part of the BIOS, I cannot access it to revert to say an older BIOS to fix this.

The reason that i'm running the RAM at a low MHz is simply because I cannot get into the BIOS to change it. The motherboard comes clocked at a maximum of 2133 MHz with the stock BIOS, which was why I was trying to update the motherboard to improve the memory capability and get it up to 2933 MHz.

I do actually have another CMOS battery in an old Intel motherboard that I have, would it be a good idea to swap them and give it a test?

I'm unfortunately away from my PC right now, I'll give all the connections a check over when I get home.

Thanks for your help by the way, as frustrating it is I appreciate you taking the time!

 

[Ralston18]

Hold on the battery swap for now as the system does boot despite the BIOS issues.

And you do want to be certain that the other battery in the Intel motherboard is the correct match to the existing CMOS battery. And that that other battery is not drained or even dead.

Does the MSI 350 system boot with the correct date and time?