GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-D3H FM2+ AMD A88X BIOS problem

[Austin Harrison]

So i recently bought te motherboared in the title and after plugging eveything in properly the only thing that happens is all the drives, fans, and lights boot up but the display doesnt turn on. I have gone over check lists and have tested other ram and even a different PSU but still the same thing happens. I then went back to look up reviews to see if anyone was having the same problem and apparently the defualt bios that come on the mobo are not compatible with my cpu (AMD Athlon X4 860K Black Edition CPU Quad Core FM2+ 3700Mhz 95W 4MB AD860KXBJABOX) and need to be updated. i cant really update the bios since i dont have another cpu that is compatable with the motherboard and i cant actually get to a a boot sreen or windows. So i guess my question is does anyone know if this is tha actual reason that im not getting any display to the screen even though the PC seems to boot up fine.

 

[photonboy]

1) There is likely a SERIAL NUMBER you can check through Gigabyte to see if the BIOS version is new enough. I'd be surprised if it wasn't new enough unless it was sitting on a back shelf some where and not a recently manufactured board.

2) If it's compatible with the CPU then something else is the problem like the VIDEO CARD or Display. You'd need to be able to SWAP out components somehow to test.

You've done the power supply and system memory so it's likely something else.

 

[photonboy]

What video card are you using?

The motherboard video ouputs are there for an APU (CPU+GPU) so if you used one of those then you'd get no video out because you have no GPU.

 

[Austin Harrison]

What video card are you using?

The motherboard video ouputs are there for an APU (CPU+GPU) so if you used one of those then you'd get no video out because you have no GPU.

So i actually havent used my gpu because i was checking the bare components before going any further. Are you saying that there is no on board graphics and thats why im not getting a display? Also i dont know where i would find a list from gigabyte to be able to check if the bios are up to date. Do you know where i could go?

 

[photonboy]

What video card are you using?

The motherboard video ouputs are there for an APU (CPU+GPU) so if you used one of those then you'd get no video out because you have no GPU.

So i actually havent used my gpu because i was checking the bare components before going any further. Are you saying that there is no on board graphics and thats why im not getting a display? Also i dont know where i would find a list from gigabyte to be able to check if the bios are up to date. Do you know where i could go?

Hey,
I think we've solved the problem.

No, you don't have a GPU installed. The motherboard outputs require an APU to be installed (which is a CPU + GPU combo). You only have a CPU with no graphics portion thus no video output.

*So...
1) Shut down
2) Add video card
3) Hook monitor to video card
4) Start up...

The BIOS is a non-issue if you see something on the display since obviously the CPU would be working.

1) Then, I'd run Memtest86 for a full pass. Get free version from memtest86.com .
2) Then attach HDD/SSD etc and install Windows
3) Drivers etc. (Windows 10 may install all or most drivers, though I'd install video again for sure. If using AMD GPU note the Crimson drivers are pretty new thus possibly buggy but I'd use them unless you find a reason not to).

 

[Austin Harrison]

What video card are you using?

The motherboard video ouputs are there for an APU (CPU+GPU) so if you used one of those then you'd get no video out because you have no GPU.

So i actually havent used my gpu because i was checking the bare components before going any further. Are you saying that there is no on board graphics and thats why im not getting a display? Also i dont know where i would find a list from gigabyte to be able to check if the bios are up to date. Do you know where i could go?

Hey,
I think we've solved the problem.

No, you don't have a GPU installed. The motherboard outputs require an APU to be installed (which is a CPU + GPU combo). You only have a CPU with no graphics portion thus no video output.

*So...
1) Shut down
2) Add video card
3) Hook monitor to video card
4) Start up...

The BIOS is a non-issue if you see something on the display since obviously the CPU would be working.

1) Then, I'd run Memtest86 for a full pass. Get free version from memtest86.com .
2) Then attach HDD/SSD etc and install Windows
3) Drivers etc. (Windows 10 may install all or most drivers, though I'd install video again for sure. If using AMD GPU note the Crimson drivers are pretty new thus possibly buggy but I'd use them unless you find a reason not to).

So after reading what you said on the 24th i hooked up the gpu and tried that but with no luck. So i did some more research on the motherboard and apparently even though it says its compatible with my current cpu the bios are not. Apparently the manufacture is shipping them out with old bios that do not recognize the newer model of cpu that i currently own and would require me to buy an older model and install that then update the bios. After that i should be able to use the current and better cpu on the motherboard. I also looked around on other manufactures that make similar boards and i guess they are all running into the same problem with shipping out mobos with old bios.