is the CPU the Problem or Motherboard?

[deadman.k.24]

I bought both motherboards on Clearence at Microcenter. 1 Gigabyte mAtx h110m-A and 1 MSI z170A MATE. I paired the Gigabyte one with both i5 6400, and pentium g4400, and it boots. But for the MSI one only the pentium g4400 booted. The i5 6400 didnt post but fans were spinning. Also on the motherboard the CPU LED was RED. So I tried switching out the coolers, and made sure it wasnt the CPU, but there were no difference. Stock and the aftermarket cpu enermax cooler were booting on the Gigabye motherboard for both cpu's but for my MSI mobo, only the pentium g4400 works with both coolers. SO my conclusion is that it has to be the motherboard. ALSO I tried switching out PSU, no difference. Same results. I think the z170 MSI mobo needs a bios update, if so, how do I go about doing it? Both pins on cpu are perfectly fine btw.

Update: I flashed the bios, but it didnt not work. The i5 is still not booting...

 

[Greeko85]

Unless you expect people to look into their crystal balls and try and guess what the issue is you will need to post a lot more info...

 

[deadman.k.24]

Unless you expect people to look into their crystal balls and try and guess what the issue is you will need to post a lot more info...

Hold your horses! I was typing it. >.>

 

[Jesse_20]

Try flashing the bios for the MSI board and see if that helps.

 

[WildCard999]

Use the G4400 to update the BIOS on the MSI.
https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-PC-MATE

How-to guide for updating BIOS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRyFMf0D9Lc

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

yeah, it sounds like a BIOS issue. Use the one working CPU to be able to boot into the BIOS on the board and then flash the BIOS from there then try using the other CPU

 

[Greeko85]

Stick the g4400 on the msi board, update the bios and go from there. As to how to upgrade the bios download the corresponding one from the msi website, extract the files on a usb stick, restart and use MFlash to update the bios