Question Motherboard issue, possible because of XMP RAM on AMD platform?

[pete_101]

Hi,
I'm wondering if anyone has seen this issue before and knows if the RAM might be causing it? I built an AMD Ryzen 7000 system late last year using a Gigabyte "B650m Gaming X AX" motherboard, which says it can run both EXPO and XMP ram. At the time ram prices where expensive, but I did find a good deal on some G.Skill Ripjaws DDR5 5200 CL 36 XMP ram.

My system ran fine until I updated the BIOS, the motherboard came with BIOS version F2, but once I upgraded to F5 it couldn't do a restart....it would just sit there with a blank screen until I would have to press and hold the power button to shut it down. I tried clearing the CMOS and updating the chipset drivers, but this made no difference. So I went back to F2 and it worked fine again.

The real problem began later when I thought I'd try a newer BIOS version, I tried F6 and that was a disaster, after every shut down it would take a few minutes to even post. So I tried the latest F7c, it posts just fine as long as I don't enable XMP. If I do enable it, it won't post at all and after a forced shut down and restart it finally gives a message about BIOS settings not being compatible, so I'm forced to disable XMP. I'm also still experiencing the issue where it won't do a restart, shut downs are fine, but not restarts. To make matters worse, Gigabyte has removed the earlier BIOS versions from their support page, with only F6 and F7c being available.

I'm thinking I should just buy some EXPO ram and hope this fixes the issue, I'll probably get faster 6000 CL 30 as it's now down to the price I paid for my current ram last year. But, before I go spending money on it, does anyone have any experience similar to this, and is the issue XMP ram on an AMD B650 motherboard/chipset?

 

[Lutfij]

Just a bit of advice, make sure you have the BIOS physically stored on a drive whereby you can access it for posterities sake. Often times BIOS versions get pulled from the support site when they notice that there's something wrong with it. IMHO, I'm sure they've removed it after the SoC Voltages running too high came to light.

I'd leave them as is, for the time being unless you want to jump ship but you need to understand that the issue is widespread on AM5's platform, not just the X670 chipsets.

ne other thing, did you clear the CMOS after every successful BIOS upgrade/downgrade? It helps remove all settings from the platform.

 

[pete_101]

Just a bit of advice, make sure you have the BIOS physically stored on a drive whereby you can access it for posterities sake. Often times BIOS versions get pulled from the support site when they notice that there's something wrong with it. IMHO, I'm sure they've removed it after the SoC Voltages running too high came to light.

I'd leave them as is, for the time being unless you want to jump ship but you need to understand that the issue is widespread on AM5's platform, not just the X670 chipsets.

ne other thing, did you clear the CMOS after every successful BIOS upgrade/downgrade? It helps remove all settings from the platform.

I should've kept the old BIOS, thought I had it in my downloads folder, but must have deleted it at some stage. Probably keeping it on a USB stick would've been a better idea.

Yes, I always clear the CMOS after a BIOS update...not that I've ever noticed any BIOS setting being carried over (always have to set fan curves, especially the AIO pump speed straight away and then curve optimizer voltages etc.) but it's a simple process to clear the CMOS, so I do it.