MSI B350 Tomahawk doesn't boot after Bios update 1.6

[Phoenixflieger]

I am close to despair.

I just updated my running system to new Bios 1.6 via MSI Live update.

Now my system is almost dead.

It doesn't boot up,
it doesn't self reset to safe settings,
removing the battery doesn't help,
jumper cmos clear doesn't work
(no matter if I have power plugged in or not).

Neither screen, pc power LED or USB mouse LED are activated and I have a constant LED on the board indicating the CPU isn't recognized (hence the try to reset to safe settings, since I had a slightly OCed Ryzen 1600X).
System starts with CPU LED on, then graphic card fans power off. That's it.

Anybody any idea how I can get into my bios settings or make my rig booting again?

Win10 pro Creators update
MSI Tomahawk B350, now Bios 1.6 ...
MSI 1070 gaming X
16gb memory, @2667
Ryzen 1600X, used to run @3900 under bios 1.5
worked stable.

 

[Phoenixflieger]

Consumer hotline recommended to replace the board (and not on warranty) via phone. Not even technical hotline ...

I mean are MSI boards that squishy? 2 bios updates and it is toast?

How does a dead board looks like? (description of mine above)

 

[Seanie280672]

Consumer hotline recommended to replace the board (and not on warranty) via phone. Not even technical hotline ...

I mean are MSI boards that squishy? 2 bios updates and it is toast?

How does a dead board looks like? (description of mine above)

The lesson here is never ever use any software to update your bios, manually download the bios file, put it on a USB stick and flash it youself in the bios using the M-Flash tool.

2nd board ive seen today dying from a Windows bios flash, its unsafe and has a very high failure rate.

 

[madmatt30]

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/61m74l/warning_to_msi_b350_tomahawk_users_updating_their/

You can try the above Info , it works for some not for others.

MSI b350 boards seem to have been suffering badly with this scenario , even using the bios based ez-flash has a higher failure rate than I would deem acceptable.

Bios files on usb need to be the same bios firmware as you had 'before' the failed flash.

 

[Phoenixflieger]

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/61m74l/warning_to_msi_b350_tomahawk_users_updating_their/

You can try the above Info , it works for some not for others.

MSI b350 boards seem to have been suffering badly with this scenario , even using the bios based ez-flash has a higher failure rate than I would deem acceptable.

Bios files on usb need to be the same bios firmware as you had 'before' the failed flash.

Thanks, I tried that but the LED of the USB stick never went on, so I guess the MSI board is toast (after 1,5 weeks and 2 BIOS updates). I used to have ASUS boards with Intel CPUs for the last 10 years or so, I regret to have switched to the Ryzen set-up with MSI.
I was so happy to see competitive AMD CPUs (and soon GPUs). Man, was I surprised when I heard that an AMD CPU requires chip set drivers ...

What I take out of it is AMD plays his specs (chipset/CPU/memory/etc) very close to the chest which results in more trouble than necessary.

 

[Seanie280672]

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/61m74l/warning_to_msi_b350_tomahawk_users_updating_their/

You can try the above Info , it works for some not for others.

MSI b350 boards seem to have been suffering badly with this scenario , even using the bios based ez-flash has a higher failure rate than I would deem acceptable.

Bios files on usb need to be the same bios firmware as you had 'before' the failed flash.

Thanks, I tried that but the LED of the USB stick never went on, so I guess the MSI board is toast (after 1,5 weeks and 2 BIOS updates). I used to have ASUS boards with Intel CPUs for the last 10 years or so, I regret to have switched to the Ryzen set-up with MSI.
I was so happy to see competitive AMD CPUs (and soon GPUs). Man, was I surprised when I heard that an AMD CPU requires chip set drivers ...

What I take out of it is AMD plays his specs (chipset/CPU/memory/etc) very close to the chest which results in more trouble than necessary.

The only board that MSI have in the AM4 series to have bios flash back is the Titanium, yes your board is toast, RMA it, next one you get, dont install live update, if I had £1 for everytime I heard of this happening, id be rich.

 

[Phoenixflieger]

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/61m74l/warning_to_msi_b350_tomahawk_users_updating_their/

You can try the above Info , it works for some not for others.

MSI b350 boards seem to have been suffering badly with this scenario , even using the bios based ez-flash has a higher failure rate than I would deem acceptable.

Bios files on usb need to be the same bios firmware as you had 'before' the failed flash.

Thanks, I tried that but the LED of the USB stick never went on, so I guess the MSI board is toast (after 1,5 weeks and 2 BIOS updates). I used to have ASUS boards with Intel CPUs for the last 10 years or so, I regret to have switched to the Ryzen set-up with MSI.
I was so happy to see competitive AMD CPUs (and soon GPUs). Man, was I surprised when I heard that an AMD CPU requires chip set drivers ...

What I take out of it is AMD plays his specs (chipset/CPU/memory/etc) very close to the chest which results in more trouble than necessary.

The only board that MSI have in the AM4 series to have bios flash back is the Titanium, yes your board is toast, RMA it, next one you get, dont install live update, if I had £1 for everytime I heard of this happening, id be rich.

One reason for failure here is that there need to be so many bios updates (I got the board with 1.4, immiditely flashed it to 1.5 and toasted it with 1.6. All within 1,5 weeks).
I think in a year - mid 2018 - the boards, drivers, bios etc for Ryzen CPU support should be very solid and competitive. Any time earlier is at own risk! (if anybody needs a recommendation)

I already talked to my supplier and they want to charge me for the new board ...
So I have to bite the bullet and get a new board, but someplace else (and let them flash to 1.6).

thx for the hint to look after a Titanium (or similiar board with backup bios).
Didn't Gigabyte boards used to have 2nd bios for cases like this?
Anybody any recommendation for AM4 boards with fallback bios?

 

[Seanie280672]

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/61m74l/warning_to_msi_b350_tomahawk_users_updating_their/

You can try the above Info , it works for some not for others.

MSI b350 boards seem to have been suffering badly with this scenario , even using the bios based ez-flash has a higher failure rate than I would deem acceptable.

Bios files on usb need to be the same bios firmware as you had 'before' the failed flash.

Thanks, I tried that but the LED of the USB stick never went on, so I guess the MSI board is toast (after 1,5 weeks and 2 BIOS updates). I used to have ASUS boards with Intel CPUs for the last 10 years or so, I regret to have switched to the Ryzen set-up with MSI.
I was so happy to see competitive AMD CPUs (and soon GPUs). Man, was I surprised when I heard that an AMD CPU requires chip set drivers ...

What I take out of it is AMD plays his specs (chipset/CPU/memory/etc) very close to the chest which results in more trouble than necessary.

The only board that MSI have in the AM4 series to have bios flash back is the Titanium, yes your board is toast, RMA it, next one you get, dont install live update, if I had £1 for everytime I heard of this happening, id be rich.

One reason for failure here is that there need to be so many bios updates (I got the board with 1.4, immiditely flashed it to 1.5 and toasted it with 1.6. All within 1,5 weeks).
I think in a year - mid 2018 - the boards, drivers, bios etc for Ryzen CPU support should be very solid and competitive. Any time earlier is at own risk! (if anybody needs a recommendation)

I already talked to my supplier and they want to charge me for the new board ...
So I have to bite the bullet and get a new board, but someplace else (and let them flash to 1.6).

thx for the hint to look after a Titanium (or similiar board with backup bios).
Didn't Gigabyte boards used to have 2nd bios for cases like this?
Anybody any recommendation for AM4 boards with fallback bios?

Noooo, they want to charge you, sod that, its not your fault and its under warranty, RMA it with MSI themselves then, they will either fix it or send you a new one, not only that but they are aware that sometimes the bios flash is bricking boards.

not sure on your locatin but this is the link to the USA RMA request site: https://service.msicomputer.com/msi_user/support/rma_form.aspx

 

[Phoenixflieger]

Here in EU (or Germany at least) MSI only accepts parts (like motherboards) from the vendor not the consumer.

So I have to convince my vendor first to make a RMA with MSI to get a replacement.
Since I already talked to one of them with the outcome to put a replacement on my cost I am very suspicious now.
I will try again with this information (and maybe talk to MSI first...).

In case this doesn't work out I will look for an alternative (I found that Gigabyte does produce dual bios boards on socket AM4).

 

[Seanie280672]

Here in EU (or Germany at least) MSI only accepts parts (like motherboards) from the vendor not the consumer.

So I have to convince my vendor first to make a RMA with MSI to get a replacement.
Since I already talked to one of them with the outcome to put a replacement on my cost I am very suspicious now.
I will try again with this information (and maybe talk to MSI first...).

In case this doesn't work out I will look for an alternative (I found that Gigabyte does produce dual bios boards on socket AM4).

They do have dual bios, but the AM4 boards have the same bricking problems regardless of the dual bios, google it.

There is another way around it if you want to try it, never tried it myself, but its if you want to spend the extra cost or not, you would need one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LCD-Flash-USB-Programmer-CH341A-25-SPI-Series-Chip-24-EEPROM-BIOS-Writer-Routing-/201971002517?_trksid=p2385738.m2548.l4275

And one of these as your chip is soldered to the motherboard: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-4X-SOIC8-SOP8-IC-Test-Clips-Flash-Chip-Socket-Adpter-BIOS-24-25-93-Programmer/192189602538?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D43782%26meid%3Df11b9d936a2e4185b85518ade2dcc1db%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D171953235156&var=492108569846

Heres a video of how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NYe21nFSDI the extra lead is because your chip isnt removable.

 

[Phoenixflieger]

Wow, I got lucky. I called MSI Germany technical support for vendors, explained my case to the technician, then the chat was like the following:
"Don't mind consumer restriction, just send it in."
"I live in the same town", I said.
"Bring it by then! The whole PC."
"When?"
"Now?"
"Do you need any more details?"
"Not necessary. I plug in my stuff and reprogramm the BIOS."
In the end it took me about an hour including driving to get a running rig with the current BIOS (1.06). I donated 5€ for the (beer) kitty, they are not into coffee it seems ;-)

What I learn from it: Always talk to the source, those who can really do something, not the bureaucrats (aka my vendor in this case. Or MSI office)

THX for the support here, in the end talking to the source was the solution.
Anyway I recommend again to not go for a Ryzen system until 2018. Hopefully all the issues in the bioses of the boards and architecture are settled by then.

 

[Phoenixflieger]

S O L U T I O N
(I cannot choose my own comments as solution, weird...):

Even if it looks like your board is toast (no start, no post, no USB, CPU debugg LED on, etc.), there is a good chance it isn't.

It can be recovered by reprogramming the BIOS.

This is a service from selected vendors and the manufactorer. Usually they charge you for it (maybe 25€), but if you talk to the right person you might just get away with service/vendor warranty/manufactorer warranty.
(funny in English thre is no distinction between the two 'warranties')