Question GIGABYTE B550 AORUS PRO V2 - no P.O.S.T. - DRAM LED

Jul 26, 2022
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Hi all. At my wit's end with this build. Specs and details below. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

the build
CPU
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor

CPU Cooler
NZXT Kraken X63 98.17 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

Motherboard
GIGABYTE B550 AORUS PRO V2

Memory
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory

Storage
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive

Video Card
Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB PULSE Video Card

Case
be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Black Rev. 2

Power Supply
EVGA 210-GQ-0750-V1 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

Wireless Network Adapter
Gigabyte GC-WBAX210 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax PCIe x1 Wi-Fi Adapter

symptoms
When power is turned on, the computer will not complete P.O.S.T. DRAM LED lights up and stays on. Case fans come on and cooler light comes on, but nothing else happens that I can see. No video.

Fans on GPU were spinning at one point before , but no longer do so on trying to boot.

what I've tried, with no result
different (older) AM4 CPU
different RAM
no RAM
RAM in different slots
different GPU
different monitor
different HDMI cable
DisplayPort instead of HDMI
remove CMOS battery
short CMOS jumper
checked all connections

what I've not tried
no flashing of BIOS as this mobo was supposed to be compatible with the CPU out of the box
breadboarding
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
no flashing of BIOS as this mobo was supposed to be compatible with the CPU out of the box

Based on what, exactly? I'm looking at the box on their website and it only says *3rd Gen" ready. Zen 3 processors are 4th Gen. Do you have a more recent revision that they have not posted to their website that claims out-of-the-box 4th generation compatibility?
 
Jul 26, 2022
5
0
10
Based on what, exactly? I'm looking at the box on their website and it only says *3rd Gen" ready. Zen 3 processors are 4th Gen. Do you have a more recent revision that they have not posted to their website that claims out-of-the-box 4th generation compatibility?

Oh man. This is perplexing.

I saw a review/comment on Amazon where a user clearly stated that they installed a 5900x and it posted without issue. However, I see what you are pointing out on GB's website.

That said, why would I get a DRAM error and not CPU error? Also, why would it not POST with an older AM4 CPU (Ryzen 7 1700x)?

From your sig I see you have the same CPU paired with a 3rd gen-compatible ASUS mobo - did you have to flash a new BIOS to make that work?
 

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
Bios update would probably be a good idea here. Thankfully, all Gigabyte B550 boards have their Q-flash plus feature. Taken from a Gigabyte manual.

1-3 Using Q-Flash Plus
A. Before you use Q-Flash Plus, follow the steps below in sequence:
1. From GIGABYTE's website, download the latest compressed BIOS update file that matches your motherboard model.
2. Uncompress the downloaded BIOS file, save it to your USB flash drive, and rename it to GIGABYTE.bin. Note: The USB flash drive must use the FAT32/16 file system.
  1. Insert the USB flash drive into the white USB port on the back panel.
  2. Connect the power cables to the 12V power connector (connect either one if there are two) and main power connector.

B. Using Q-Flash Plus Press the Q-Flash Plus button and the system will automatically search and match the BIOS file in the USB flash drive on the white USB port. The QFLED and the Q-Flash Plus button on the rear panel will flash during the BIOS matching and flashing process. Wait for 2-3 minutes and the QFLED will stop flashing when the BIOS flashing is complete.
• Before using the Q-Flash Plus function, make sure that your system is off (S5 shutdown state).
•If your motherboard has a BIOS switch and a SB switch, reset them to their default settings. (Default setting for the BIOS switch: Boot from the main BIOS; default setting for the SB switch: Dual BIOS)
• After the main BIOS is flashed, the system will reboot automatically and then DualBIOS™ will continue to update the backup BIOS. After completion, the system will reboot again and boot from the main BIOS.
• Q-Flash Plus will update the main BIOS only if run without the CPU installed. The system will shut down upon comple
 

DSzymborski

Titan
Moderator
Oh man. This is perplexing.

I saw a review/comment on Amazon where a user clearly stated that they installed a 5900x and it posted without issue. However, I see what you are pointing out on GB's website.

That said, why would I get a DRAM error and not CPU error? Also, why would it not POST with an older AM4 CPU (Ryzen 7 1700x)?

From your sig I see you have the same CPU paired with a 3rd gen-compatible ASUS mobo - did you have to flash a new BIOS to make that work?

It's not even compatible with the 1700X at all. Almost certainly they saved room for future microcode by only including microcode for 3rd generation Ryzen processors. You can see this from the compatibility list.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550-AORUS-PRO-V2-rev-10/support#support-cpu

All 3000-series compatibility out of the box with the F1 BIOS it shipped with.

And yes, I did have to flash the BIOS to make my ASUS x570 motherboard work with the 5900X. The problem is that there were a ton of b550/x570 motherboards made before Zen 3 came out.

There may be a BIOS sticker somewhere on your motherboard that indicates what version is preinstalled.

Now, there could be something else going on, but you definitely want to eliminate BIOS issues as a source of your problem.
 
Jul 26, 2022
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I flashed the correct BIOS per the instructions. The process seemed to function properly. It took roughly 7 minutes, including a brief restart near the beginning, and then shut itself down.

However, once it was over with, I could no longer power up the system. I disassembled everything, reassembled one by one, but still no power. PSU is fine per the trusted paper clip test.

I can only assume the mobo was bricked somehow in the process.
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
I flashed the correct BIOS per the instructions. The process seemed to function properly. It took roughly 7 minutes, including a brief restart near the beginning, and then shut itself down.

However, once it was over with, I could no longer power up the system. I disassembled everything, reassembled one by one, but still no power. PSU is fine per the trusted paper clip test.

I can only assume the mobo was bricked somehow in the process.

I honestly think that PSU might be way under powered for that GPU. A 6800XT is a major power hog and a 750W gold PSU would barely begin to power it. I'd suggest at least an 850W or even a 1KW PSU for that particular GPU. If you have another GPU handy, try that and see if it powers on.
 

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
750w is perfectly adequate for a 6800xt with 5900x. RDNA2 also doesn't have the terrible power spikes, that the RTX 30 series has either. I would argue maybe for a better quality PSU. The 750w GQ isn't a fire starter, but it isn't exactly top notch either.

Total power consumption, using a 3950x.

Power.png



OP, it might be worth trying to do the Q-flash again, without the CPU installed. One last shot, before RMA.
 
Jul 26, 2022
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UPDATE - Bad CPU (as well as a bricked mobo).

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and suggestions. It helped me to reach the end of the build and the user (my college-bound older son) is installing an OS on it as I type this.