Question Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite issues (No post)

[rafter-dude]

Dear Tom's Hardware forum,

Some weeks ago, my PC stopped booting up (coincidentally it was after a Windows update, but I don't think it has anything to do with it).

My hardware:
AMD Ryzen 7 2700
Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8) 2400MHz C16

Operating System: Windows 10

I looked at the LED of the motherboard and it was jumping quickly from the CPU to the DRAM LED, stayed there and cycled once more through the boot cycle. So no post.
My initial thought was that there might be something wrong with the RAM, so I switched the two sticks out for another stick of RAM. Sadly, that didn't do anything.
As far as I can remember, I did not do anything to the bios (overclocking / update). Looking back through my order history with the vendor, I had the exact same issue about half a year after I bought it, which is a little over two years ago.

So that's why I thought my motherboard is toast, but I'd like to have your opinion, as Googling the issue does not seem to give me any relevant results. All issues that I can see either updated the BIOS or changed some settings there, or had hardware that was not yet compatible with the board.

To test out my theory, I grabbed my old Asus B350 Plus and put everything on there. I booted up the computer and sadly, no luck, no post. I looked through the board documentation and noticed that the 2700 is not supported out of the box. So I put in my old Ryzen 7 1700, changing nothing else (GPU/RAM/etc.) and it booted up just fine. I updated the BIOS, put back in the 2700, but still no post.

I'm just wondering what could be the issue here. I'm still leaning toward my motherboard being toast, as it did get past the CPU LED. What do you guys think?

If I need to provide any more information, please let me know.

 

[Ralston18]

Just to clarify the CPU and Motherboard combinations that you tried without changing anything else:

1) AMD Ryzen 7 2700 & Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite - Stopped booting.

2) AMD Ryzen 7 2700 & Asus B350 - Will not boot. Not supported.

3) AMD Ryzen 7 1700 & & Asus B350 - Successfully booted.

4) AMD Ryzen 7 1700 & Asus B450 - ????

Please correct the combination pairings as necessary to show combinations and results.

Are there any beep codes with any of the boot failures? Some pattern of long and short beeps - listen carefully.

Reference the applicable Motherboard User Guides/Manuals to double check supported components via the QVL(Qualified Vendors List) and all connections.

(It appears that you did so with respect to #2 above.)

Also verify the meaning of any and all lit LED's.

= = = =

Make and model PSU? Wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

PC and PSU - history of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or even bit-mining?

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connectors, cards, RAM, jumpers, and case connections are all fully and firmly in place.

Try replacing the CMOS battery.

 

[rafter-dude]

Just to clarify the CPU and Motherboard combinations that you tried without changing anything else:

1) AMD Ryzen 7 2700 & Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite - Stopped booting.

2) AMD Ryzen 7 2700 & Asus B350 - Will not boot. Not supported.

3) AMD Ryzen 7 1700 & & Asus B350 - Successfully booted.

4) AMD Ryzen 7 1700 & Asus B450 - ????

Please correct the combination pairings as necessary to show combinations and results.

Are there any beep codes with any of the boot failures? Some pattern of long and short beeps - listen carefully.

Reference the applicable Motherboard User Guides/Manuals to double check supported components via the QVL(Qualified Vendors List) and all connections.

(It appears that you did so with respect to #2 above.)

Also verify the meaning of any and all lit LED's.

= = = =

Make and model PSU? Wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

PC and PSU - history of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or even bit-mining?

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connectors, cards, RAM, jumpers, and case connections are all fully and firmly in place.

Try replacing the CMOS battery.

Dear Ralston, thank you for reaching out!

1. - Correct.
2. - As far as I know, it is indeed not supported out of the box, but should be supported with a BIOS update, at least, if I understand the CPU support page correctly.
3. - Correct
4. - Good point, I had not tried that! I'll come back with the results when I have them.

As for the beep codes, I noticed that sometimes I did not get any, and sometimes I got one sustained beep from the Asus Prime B350. It was a bit hard to find what it means, but from what I gathered, that should indicate that nothing in particular is wrong.

Just now I checked the memory QVL, but the one I have is not on the list. But to be fair, it has worked for about two years without issue, so I suppose it should in principle work, even though it's not on the list. I'll also try to change the CMOS.

 

[rafter-dude]

Just to clarify the CPU and Motherboard combinations that you tried without changing anything else:

1) AMD Ryzen 7 2700 & Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite - Stopped booting.

2) AMD Ryzen 7 2700 & Asus B350 - Will not boot. Not supported.

3) AMD Ryzen 7 1700 & & Asus B350 - Successfully booted.

4) AMD Ryzen 7 1700 & Asus B450 - ????

Please correct the combination pairings as necessary to show combinations and results.

Are there any beep codes with any of the boot failures? Some pattern of long and short beeps - listen carefully.

Reference the applicable Motherboard User Guides/Manuals to double check supported components via the QVL(Qualified Vendors List) and all connections.

(It appears that you did so with respect to #2 above.)

Also verify the meaning of any and all lit LED's.

= = = =

Make and model PSU? Wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

PC and PSU - history of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or even bit-mining?

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connectors, cards, RAM, jumpers, and case connections are all fully and firmly in place.

Try replacing the CMOS battery.

Make and model PSU? Wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)? -> I can't find out how old it is, but my guess is at least 5 years old. It's a Huntkey APFC 600. It's not been used for mining, but I did game on it a fair bit. Something like 2-3 hours per day on average.

The Gigabyte Aorus Elite doesn't post with the 1700 either. It has the same LED pattern and doesn't get past DRAM.

 

[Ralston18]

So many things have changed so I suggest a different approach.

First, return to a known, booting configuration: #3 above.

Verify that all installed components are indeed supported. Details matter. For example, some motherboards require that the first physically installed RAM be placed in a specific RAM slot. Memory can be problematic and sometimes work and sometimes not.

You can "cross check" RAM compatibilities via the various RAM manufacturers. However the motherboard's listings are and should be the main source for such information. However, details can be wrong with respect to any product and source.

Do ensure that a new, known working CMOS battery is installed.

If possible, swap in another known working PSU. If modular, be sure to only use the cables that come with the test PSU. Do not mix and match PSU cables.

(I am not familiar with the Huntkey APFC 600. Being 5 years old is enough to make me suspect almost any PSU as a potential culprit. A quick google did not provide any real certainty with respect to the product's overall quality and durability. Other posters may comment accordingly as well. One way or another.)

= = = =

The immediate objective being to establish a working stable computer.

Then methodically change out components one at a time allowing time between changes. During those efforts observe system performance and error logs.

Use Task Manager and Resource Monitor (use only one at a time) to observe system performance.

Use Reliability History and Event Viewer to discover error codes, warning, or even informational events that occur just before or at the time of some problem.

Take your time and keep notes. Eventually, and hopefully, the source of boot failures may be narrowed down to PSU, motherboard, CPU, RAM....

However, there still could be BIOS and/or configuration issues involved. An updated BIOS may resolve one issue but create another.

Or some particular combination thereof. Time consuming and tedious.

I would start with the PSU swap in Configuration #3.