Question BIOS upgrade to v4022 on Asus X570 Plus / Ryzen 9 5950X destroys mobo

Jan 1, 2022
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Long story short, upgrading the BIOS on a new build with Asus x570 Plus (Wi-Fi) mobo resulted in not getting a BIOS screen on bootup, and a lot of time replacing the board, and getting the new board to work. (fyi: the CPU is a Ryzen 9 5950X)

Steps needed to resolve the issue:

1. Called Asus tech support, they said there are some issues with BIOS v4022 and the X570 Plus (Wi-Fi) mobo, and suggested returning it to the store (this is a new build, so mobo was less than 72 hours old).

2. Exchanged the mobo at the store for a new one.

3. However, at first bootup with the new mobo, I couldn't see the BIOS screen.

4. Since it's a new board, power-down and pull the only non-graphics hardware, which was an SSD and reboot. Then I got a BIOS screen immediately after power up - so the problem was most likely the SSD.

5. Next, powered-down and installed SSD back into the mobo, and re-boot, but the same thing happened - no BIOS screen.

6. Then powered up with only the graphics card, but this time installed the SSD when power was up and the PC was running, then rebooted, and the BIOS screen appeared.

My guess is that updating the BIOS in the old mobo (returned to the store) did something to the SSD, because the old motherboard (before the BIOS update) had no problems loading the BIOS screen and/or seeing the SSD. I believe the v4022 BIOS upgrade on this mobo potentially impacted peripheral hardware, since re-installing the new mobo and same parts required trickery to get the new board to boot Win 10 Pro-64 on the existing SSD. For a while it was looking like the SSD got trashed by the BIOS, but I guess it didn't. However, getting the new mobo working was like "chasing a squirrel. "

I did also see some web hits where the recommended BIOS for the Ryzen 9 5950X is v 4002. So do not upgrade BIOS from v4002!
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. On another note, I am curious to know, did you migrate the SSD from an older build while the OS was on it onto the new build? If you did, you're advised to reinstall the OS. There's also a question of how you updated the BIOS on the board, often times the BIOS FlashBack option is half baked, the pen drive used can impact the update process and there were instances where the BIOS file had to be renamed.
 
Jan 1, 2022
7
0
10
As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. On another note, I am curious to know, did you migrate the SSD from an older build while the OS was on it onto the new build? If you did, you're advised to reinstall the OS. There's also a question of how you updated the BIOS on the board, often times the BIOS FlashBack option is half baked, the pen drive used can impact the update process and there were instances where the BIOS file had to be renamed.
I used the same SSD from the old motherboard. Win 10 Pro-64 eventually yielded a "failed to activate Windows" warning, but I called MS and activated it -- seems to be okay now. Why replace the OS on the SSD if the mobo was changed?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Why replace the OS on the SSD if the mobo was changed?
When changing the motherboard and wanting to use the old OS and drive, 3 possible outcomes:
  1. It works just fine
  2. It fails completely
  3. It "works", but you're chasing issues for weeks/months.

You're somewhere between 2 & 3.

Windows is NOT modular like that. You can't just move it between systems/motherboards and expect it to always work.
It does not.
 
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Reactions: pel11
Jan 1, 2022
7
0
10
When changing the motherboard and wanting to use the old OS and drive, 3 possible outcomes:
  1. It works just fine
  2. It fails completely
  3. It "works", but you're chasing issues for weeks/months.
You're somewhere between 2 & 3.

Windows is NOT modular like that. You can't just move it between systems/motherboards and expect it to always work.
It does not.
Thanks - very helpful.