[SOLVED] MSI B550-A PRO Motherboard --- the BIOS Update light stays on ?

[MarsColonist]

I was trying to do the bios update for the MSI B550-A PRO motherboard to enable use with an AMD Ryzen CPU. I was attempting to do the "Updating BIOS with Flash BIOS Button" directions on page 46 of the manual.

I downloaded the latest BIOS file for my motherboard. I renamed the file MSI.ROM, and saved it on the root of the USB drive. I connected the PSU to CPU_PWR1 and ATX_PWR1. I connected the USB drive to the BIOS flash port.

Powered on the PSU, then pushed the flash button. The red light flashed a few times, then went solid red. But the manual says the light will flash a while, then turn off when the BIOS update process is complete.

It's been a while, and the light is still on solid red with no flashing. What should I do now?

I searched the web for this error, and one person claimed a solid red light (for an earlier MSI motherboard) indicated that the motherboard doesn't recognize the flash drive. And some other people are saying you need to format the flash drive to FAT32 format, which I didn't do because the manual directions I referred to earlier in this comment did not direct me to format to FAT32.

So the red light is on right now. I read somewhere that interrupting the power during the BIOS flash process can be really bad to do, so I don't know how to proceed. Should I power the system off, remove the USB, check the USB format and see if I can get it to FAT32 and then replace the BIOS file on it and try the flash process again? Or would turning off power and doing this cause some sort of problem?

And why would FAT32 format be necessary if the manual doesn't direct me to do it? How to proceed?

 

[drea.drechsler]

I was trying to do the bios update for the MSI B550-A PRO motherboard to enable use with an AMD Ryzen CPU. I was attempting to do the "Updating BIOS with Flash BIOS Button" directions on page 46 of the manual.

I downloaded the latest BIOS file for my motherboard. I renamed the file MSI.ROM, and saved it on the root of the USB drive. I connected the PSU to CPU_PWR1 and ATX_PWR1. I connected the USB drive to the BIOS flash port.

Powered on the PSU, then pushed the flash button. The red light flashed a few times, then went solid red. But the manual says the light will flash a while, then turn off when the BIOS update process is complete.

It's been a while, and the light is still on solid red with no flashing. What should I do now?

I searched the web for this error, and one person claimed a solid red light (for an earlier MSI motherboard) indicated that the motherboard doesn't recognize the flash drive. And some other people are saying you need to format the flash drive to FAT32 format, which I didn't do because the manual directions I referred to earlier in this comment did not direct me to format to FAT32.

So the red light is on right now. I read somewhere that interrupting the power during the BIOS flash process can be really bad to do, so I don't know how to proceed. Should I power the system off, remove the USB, check the USB format and see if I can get it to FAT32 and then replace the BIOS file on it and try the flash process again? Or would turning off power and doing this cause some sort of problem?

And why would FAT32 format be necessary if the manual doesn't direct me to do it? How to proceed?

Well, it's not working now so format it FAT32 and try again. The routine that does this is extremely simple with very little error checking.

It's also very picky about the flash drive. Try a different one...or maybe several until you get one where it works.

Also be sure to extract the BIOS file from the distribution library, rename it and put it in the right location on the formatted USB flash drive.

There's a lot of youtube vid's on doing it. The good thing about watching several is you get an idea of how they've overcome the various problems that too often present.

 

[MarsColonist]

But right now it is powered on and with the flash drive in there, I suppose attempting to flash. Is it okay to turn the power off and take the flash drive out then to proceed with the rest of the stuff you are suggesting? Wasn't sure if that would cause a problem with the motherboard to interrupt whatever it was doing with the USB.

 

[drea.drechsler]

But right now it is powered on and with the flash drive in there. Is it okay to turn the power off and take the flash drive out then to proceed with the rest of the stuff you are suggesting? Wasn't sure if that would cause a problem with the motherboard to interrupt whatever it was doing with the USB.

How long has it been on like that? i know it can take a while, but if it's failed it may never turn off.

I think a couple hours with no change in the LED and I'd turn it off and try a different flash drive.

 

[MarsColonist]

When I go to format to FAT32 in windows explorer, there is a window with different options such as "Allocation unit size", and the default selected is 4096 bytes despite the USB drive being 8gb. But another drop down menu says 7.45gb, so I guess this is okay?
Go ahead and format to FAT32 with the 4096 bytes allocation size?

EDIT: The drop down menu that had 4096 selected as the "Allocation unit size" also has an option called "Default allocation size" ... would that be a good choice for doing this?

 

[MarsColonist]

Well i formatted the drive that way, and things seemed to be working. Got the flashing red light indicating it was working. And then the flashing light stopped flashing, as the instruction manual said. There is another light near the big 24 pin atx power supply cable though that is steady on. It's like a white LED color I guess. Not sure if this is a problem. Picture at link below.

I don't think that white light was on the first time I tried this earlier, but I'm not sure.

EDIT: Here is a better picture of that new light... apparently it isn't "JUST" to the left of the atx power cord. it's a little further over:

https://flic.kr/p/2kFYNhP

View: https://flic.kr/p/2kFYNhP

I am guessing the CPU light from the debug lights in the photo shown above is on after doing this because I did the BIOS update without the CPU installed, as the manual says I can do. So I'm guessing the BIOS update was probably successful this time? I'm going to proceed I guess.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

"there is a window with different options such as "Allocation unit size", and the default selected is 4096 bytes despite the USB drive being 8gb. But another drop down menu says 7.45gb, so I guess this is okay?"

FYI: "allocation unit size" refers to the size of each cluster, not the capacity of the drive, so what you are seeing is quite normal.