Question Gigabyte X670 GAMING X AX V2 (rev. 1.0) - No POST - Red DRAM LED Constantly

Nov 29, 2024
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Hello,

I bought built a new system today and no matter what I try, I cannot get it to POST. When I press the power button, the CPU LED on the motherboard flashes very briefly, a fraction of a second, then the DRAM one comes on and stays on. There are four LEDs total which are just for troubleshooting - DRAM, CPU, VGA and BOOT. The motherboard states that each one should turn on briefly, then turn off during a normal boot sequence. On mine, the DRAM one just won't go away. No signal gets to the monitor and the system will not POST.

I checked the QVL and my RAM kit is listed as valid. I initially had the RAM in slots A2 and B2. I tried A1 and B1. I tried one stick in A2. One stick in B2. The other stick in A2. The other stick in B2. And so forth - all possible physical combinations of each RAM stick. No dice.

I tried clearing the CMOS by jumping the two pins for ~15 seconds. I tried pressing the "CMOS_SW" white button, and also holding down that button for ~15 seconds. Interestingly, the "CMOS_SW" button is drawn on the diagram in the manual, but it is unlabeled and the manual makes no mention of it. Seems silly. I assume one of these two will accomplish the same as removing the CMOS battery, correct?

I've tried updating the BIOS via Q-Flash Plus. I watched a video explaining how it should be done and followed all the steps. The latest BIOS on Gigabyte's website is F32d. When I pressed the Q-Flash button on the rear I/O panel, the orange LED started flashing, the system turned on (lights, fans) for about 5 seconds, then the whole system switched off. The video said the BIOS flash should take 5-6 minutes, so obviously something went wrong. I tried again, this time the orange light started flashing, the system came on again, then the orange light stopped flashing after 4-5 seconds. The system stayed on for about 30 seconds, then switched off. I tried again - this time the orange light stopped flashing after 4-5 seconds, but the system stayed on for the correct 5-6 minutes, then switched off. I tried booting normally but still no effect. I re-downloaded the BIOS file, formatted the USB stick and put another a new copy of the BIOS onto the stick and tried flashing again. Behavior was the same as my last attempt, and still no POST.

I'm currently plugged in to the onboard graphics HDMI out on the motherboard to my monitor. I've tried removing my GPU, still nothing.

I've read that I need to wait for "memory training". I've tried many times by waiting 10-20 minutes to make sure the training isn't taking a bizarrely long time, but still no help.

I've triple-checked all the connections throughout the entire system. I took the CPU out and checked for bent pins. Thermal paste application looked good and I have a Noctua NH-D15 air cooler I'm re-using from my old system, so I know it works and isn't causing a CPU overheat.

At this point I'm at a loss as to what to try. I don't have access to other hardware to try swapping out RAM sticks or CPU. I'd like to keep trying before I give up and return items. I can't even pinpoint which hardware is the failure point, if it's even hardware at all. My gut tells me there's still an issue with the BIOS being inoperative or not updating correctly, but I can't be sure. I know the 9800X3D is very new and it is not uncommon for a motherboard to require a BIOS update to work with brand-new CPUs, but if that's the case, wouldn't it make more sense for the "CPU" LED to be on, rather than the "DRAM" LED?

If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

Specs:
X670 GAMING X AX V2 (rev. 1.0)
Corsair Vengeance DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (CMK32GX5M2B6000Z30)
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X NVMe SSD
 
Nov 29, 2024
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I forgot to add my PSU:

CORSAIR RMx Series, RM750x, 750 Watt, 80+ Gold Certified, Fully Modular Power Supply

The PSU was also carried over from my old system which ran flawlessly.

GPU is an EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra.
 
Nov 29, 2024
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UPDATE: I got my hands on a different set of RAM, but that made no difference. I also tried a different USB drive - a 2.0 instead of a 3.0. I also put BIOS version F31 on it, rather than F32d, which apparently is a beta version.

This time the BIOS flash behaved differently - the orange light stayed flashing for the entire 5-6 minutes. It then turned off, the system seemed to restart (fans spun up to full, then backed down), but it did not shut itself off as the video guides said it should. Now the "VGA" LED is on, and has been for about 10 minutes. I hesitate to manually turn it off in case I interrupt something, but nothing has happened for 10 minutes and it doesn't look as though it ever will. So, some different behavior, it seemed like I may have cracked it, but alas no. Still stuck.
 
Nov 29, 2024
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I finally got it. Apparently one must use a USB 2.0 flash drive - a 3.0 will not work. As soon as I tried this, the BIOS flashed successfully and the system booted straight away.

Hopefully this helps someone else out there who finds themselves in this situation.