Question I updated the BIOS and now I get a black screen ?

[Súneor]

Hello. New user here.

So I wanted to upgrade my PC and I needed to upgrade my MOBO to do so, so I asked on the Reddit forums of this line of MOBOs a couple of questions about the process.

Here's the post:

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/GAAB350/comments/10y9i5t/upgrading_cpu_a_few_questions_about_the_process/


In short, I have a Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming (rev 1.x) with BIOS version F10 and I needed to update it to F51g. I did the chipset upgrade and updated to F31. Nothing seemed wrong, but after restarting, the BIOS was still on F10, so I updated it again.

However, this time the PC started but it didn't recognize my keyboard or mouse and there was no signal to the monitor. I waited around thirty minutes in case it was doing some restarts or something like that and then I shut I down and started it up again, with the same result.

I've removed everything from the PC, changed the socket of the only RAM stick I have ( a Crucial CT8G4DFD824A.C16FBD1) and tried changing the GPU; I've also tried clearing CMOS but nothing has worked.

What should I do? Anything I missed or where did I screw up? Should I be thinking about buying a new motherboard?
Thank you for your help.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:

I've also tried clearing CMOS
Can you walk us through how you did this?

Nothing seemed wrong, but after restarting, the BIOS was still on F10, so I updated it again.
The board has 2x BIOS chips, if you updated the BIOS and then a reboot landed you on the BIOS version prior to update, it's likely your board kicked into the secondary BIOS chip. Now if that's what has happened and you corrupted that as well, you have n other option to recover your platform since it's got no onboard button to recover the BIOS or to reflash it without external aid.

If both your BIOS chips are indeed dead, you're going to need a CH341A BIOS Programming toolkit. This is an assumption, perhaps your platform will revive if you've run through some other troubleshooting steps.

FYI, I tend to update the BIOS one step at a time and verify that each BIOS update was successful by also booting into the OS GUI and stay there for a while. That way I know things were in working condition before jumping to the next BIOS version.

 

[Súneor]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:

I've also tried clearing CMOS
Can you walk us through how you did this?

Nothing seemed wrong, but after restarting, the BIOS was still on F10, so I updated it again.
The board has 2x BIOS chips, if you updated the BIOS and then a reboot landed you on the BIOS version prior to update, it's likely your board kicked into the secondary BIOS chip. Now if that's what has happened and you corrupted that as well, you have n other option to recover your platform since it's got no onboard button to recover the BIOS or to reflash it without external aid.

If both your BIOS chips are indeed dead, you're going to need a CH341A BIOS Programming toolkit. This is an assumption, perhaps your platform will revive if you've run through some other troubleshooting steps.

FYI, I tend to update the BIOS one step at a time and verify that each BIOS update was successful by also booting into the OS GUI and stay there for a while. That way I know things were in working condition before jumping to the next BIOS version.

Specs:
CPU: AMD AthlonX4 950
Motherboard: GA/AB350/Gaming (rev. 1.x)
Ram: 8 Gb (Crucial CT8G4DFD824A.C16FBD1)
SSD/HDD: Seagate Barracuda, 1TB, HDD
GPU: Gigabyte Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070
PSU: Seasonic FOCUS+ 650 Gold (SSR-650FX)
OS: Windows 10 Home
Monitor: Hanns-G HE 225

Can you walk us through how you did this?
There are two pins that, according to MOBO manual, when you close the cicuit it clears the CMOS. I've also tried to take out the battery and put it back in after a couple of seconds, but the same thing happens: black screen and it doesn't recongize keyboard or mouse.

If both your BIOS chips are indeed dead, you're going to need a CH341A BIOS Programming toolkit.
So one person in the reddit post pointed out that the reason it doesn't boot to BIOS anymore is because I made a mistake updating to version F31, when I should've updated to F25, the last version that supports Athlon X4 APU.
In theory, the motherboard is not dead, but neither my current CPU (Athlon X4 950) nor the CPU I am upgrading to (Ryzen 5 5600) are supported by the version in the BIOS, so I need a CPU that supports it or to flash with the device you mentioned. Is this correct?

If so, my other question would be how would I use that toolkit? Because I have no idea and I don't feel particularly confident in my abilities right now after the mess I got myself into.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Lutfij]

The best way to clear the CMOS is to disconnect from the wall and display, then remove the CMOS battery, press and hold down the power button for 30 seconds to drain any residual power then replace the battery after 30 mins.

CPU: AMD AthlonX4 950
Motherboard: GA/AB350/Gaming (rev. 1.x)
Had you asked about the process before you jumped head first into it, you might've been in better circumstances than you're in now.

In theory, the motherboard is not dead, but neither my current CPU (Athlon X4 950)
If you have access to a 1000 or 2000 series Ryzen processor(not APU, mind you) then maybe you can prove me wrong and yourself right that the BIOS isn't corrupt and your board is actually fine.

my other question would be how would I use that toolkit?
There are many tutorials on YT that you can follow through. I've looked at these.

Because I have no idea
With the amount of resources you're dropping into this, IMHO, you're best off getting a better board with some more bells and whistles.

 

[lolvatveo]

newer bios will support more cpu, so latest bios will support your cpu. your bios is dead, bios should not be updated via @bios. you have to create a small partition about 100mb formatted fat32 with your drive and extract the latest bios file into it, use qflash to flash the bios. there is one last way to save, how to boot using m_bios as explained: https://superuser.com/questions/114...o-boot-in-the-backup-bios-by-shorting-pins-on