Can't boot up or enter BIOS after disabling the 1st boot priority (p9x79 pro)

[zickdsk]

Greetings,
due to my extreme stupidity I am now in a tough situation and I really hope that someone could help me in resolving this issue.

My Desktop PC(motherboard - Asus p9x79 pro) was working just fine with no issues at all (except for a fan error that required me to hit F1 and check my BIOS settings upon startup every time for the last half a year).
As I wanted to use a Linux distribution from a USB stick I wanted to make the USB my first boot priority and my HDD the second one. This is where my lack of knowledge really destroyed me.

As the USB stick was not inserted I saw 2 boot options:
1st - HDD, 2nd - disabled and since the USB was not inserted I decided that if I disable the 1st boot option and make my HDD the 2nd one it could just automatically boot up from the USB as a first option. After I did this and clicked on "Save and reset" (the reset part sounded a bit tricky but I thought "What could go wrong?" ) the computer restarted and never came up.
So, after the restart I am getting only a black screen, no logo, no option to enter bios, not the fan error beep that required me to hit F1, no sound at all - noothing! The funny thing is that my monitor is not even changing its button color to be in an ON state.

Restarted a couple of times with and without a USB(Linux OS) stick in the PC. Tried without the HDD, tried with a different HDD and different GPU - nothing.
I unplugged it from the electricity dozens of times as well as tried the "CLR CMOS"(did the steps properly) button but still no change.

Something I saw is that the red code on the motherboard stops at 06 code and the VGA LED on the motherboard is in ON state. Not sure if it wasn't always working like that to be honest.

The last idea that I have is to update(flash) my BIOS and I will do that today - I just have to download the proper version.

Is there any way to go back to the last working BIOS options( like safe boot or smth) since everything was working just fine yesterday?

Please! I would really appreciate if someone could help me with ideas because my self criticism is killing me due to the fact that I am responsible for my troubles.
Thanks in advance!

 

[rocktalkrock]

You have not done anything disastrously wrong by changing the boot options in the BIOS. Any changes you have made should be reset by clearing the CMOS. Just unplug the computer and try clearing the CMOS again.

 

[zickdsk]

You have not done anything disastrously wrong by changing the boot options in the BIOS. Any changes you have made should be reset by clearing the CMOS. Just unplug the computer and try clearing the CMOS again.

Thank you!
Ok...this is what I thought. Did it two or three times to be exact. These are the steps that I follow.

1 - Unplug the power cord.
2 - Pressing and holding the CLR CMOS small red button on the motherboard for 5-10 sec.
3 - After a couple of seconds I plug in the power cord and power up my PC.
4- Nothing has changed.

Am I missing something? Is there a better approach?

 

[rocktalkrock]

You have not done anything disastrously wrong by changing the boot options in the BIOS. Any changes you have made should be reset by clearing the CMOS. Just unplug the computer and try clearing the CMOS again.

Thank you!
Ok...this is what I thought. Did it two or three times to be exact. These are the steps that I follow.

1 - Unplug the power cord.
2 - Pressing and holding the CLR CMOS small red button on the motherboard for 5-10 sec.
3 - After a couple of seconds I plug in the power cord and power up my PC.
4- Nothing has changed.

Am I missing something? Is there a better approach?

You are doing it correct but 5 to 10 seconds is not very long. You should wait at least 30 seconds.

 

[zickdsk]

You have not done anything disastrously wrong by changing the boot options in the BIOS. Any changes you have made should be reset by clearing the CMOS. Just unplug the computer and try clearing the CMOS again.

Thank you!
Ok...this is what I thought. Did it two or three times to be exact. These are the steps that I follow.

1 - Unplug the power cord.
2 - Pressing and holding the CLR CMOS small red button on the motherboard for 5-10 sec.
3 - After a couple of seconds I plug in the power cord and power up my PC.
4- Nothing has changed.

Am I missing something? Is there a better approach?

You are doing it correct but 5 to 10 seconds is not very long. You should wait at least 30 seconds.

Unfortunately nothing changed after holding the button for almost a minute.
I wanted to clear the CMOS manually but I cannot locate the so-called jumper. In this case should I just remove the battery for 10 sec?

I still have the BIOS flash as a last resort option but I am not sure what version should I install. The sticker on my motherboard has 0906 as the last 4 numbers.

Is there something else that I could try before flashing the BIOS?
Which BIOS version should I flash with?

 

[rocktalkrock]

You have not done anything disastrously wrong by changing the boot options in the BIOS. Any changes you have made should be reset by clearing the CMOS. Just unplug the computer and try clearing the CMOS again.

Thank you!
Ok...this is what I thought. Did it two or three times to be exact. These are the steps that I follow.

1 - Unplug the power cord.
2 - Pressing and holding the CLR CMOS small red button on the motherboard for 5-10 sec.
3 - After a couple of seconds I plug in the power cord and power up my PC.
4- Nothing has changed.

Am I missing something? Is there a better approach?

You are doing it correct but 5 to 10 seconds is not very long. You should wait at least 30 seconds.

Unfortunately nothing changed after holding the button for almost a minute.
I wanted to clear the CMOS manually but I cannot locate the so-called jumper. In this case should I just remove the battery for 10 sec?

I still have the BIOS flash as a last resort option but I am not sure what version should I install. The sticker on my motherboard has 0906 as the last 4 numbers.

Is there something else that I could try before flashing the BIOS?
Which BIOS version should I flash with?

1. Since the motherboard has a clear CMOS button, there is no jumper. Unplug the computer and remove the battery for at least 30 seconds, no less.
2. I thing you should go ahead and update the BIOS. 0906 is one of the earliest BIOS versions, and there have been 19 newer updated versions issued since then. Many list "Enhance compatibility with some USB devices" as one the reasons for the update. The latest stable Version is 4701 issued in 2014/06/23. There is also a newer Beta Version 4801, but you should probably not bother with that one.

 

[zickdsk]

So after removing all cables connecting the PSU to the motherboard, the battery, removing all RAM to hear some sound at least I've decided to flash my BIOS.
After trying three different versions I decided to try the one that the motherboard was shipped with - 0906. After changing two different flash drives the flash sequence started normally and luckily finished just normal.

The PC's monitor finally started and I entered the BIOS. After that it was easy.
Thanks for the ideas!