Question MSI PRO H610M-G WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard- I need help with the BIOS

[mraroid]

Hello again friends...

I am trying to boot my new build to my Windows 11 DVD. But nothing I do to the BIOS will let me do this. I am going crazy. I will describe below what I have done and maybe someone here who has this motherboard, or one similar can offer some advice? I did down load the MSI manual for this motherboard and followed it the best I could. I do believe I rolled the + & - for the POWER lamp. I have not fixed that yet. All the rest seem good to me.

I have a PC I just built, and I am using the above motherboard. I installed a Samsung PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD. Going into the MIS BIOS, I was able to go to:

Settings
Advanced
And then select a test to run on the Samsung drive. It tested fine.

I put a Windows 11 DVD in the DVD drive and booted. The light would flicker on the DVD drive, but then boot to the BIOS page. I then booted the computer and pressed F-11. And rather than see a list of which order to boot the computer to, I only saw one thing which when I clicked it, took me back to the BIOS screen.

In EZ Mode I go to
Settings
Boot
And then I see this:

Boot Mode Select
Fixed Boot Order Priorities

Boot Order Option 1: UEFI CD/DVD
" " " 2
" " " 3
" " " 4
" " " 5
" " " 6
" " " 7

When I click Boot Order Option # 1, it opens and shows me this:

UEFI Hard Disk
UEFI CD/DVD (this is in yellow)
UEFI USB Hard Disk
UEFI USB CD/DVD
UEFI USB Key
UEFI USB Floppy
UEFI Network

I have tried many times to select USB CD/DVD and using the arrow keys or the + or - keys to move it around, but I can not.

Also, across the top of the EZ Mode Screen, I have a set of icons that are labeled:

Boot Priority:

The icon are in this order:

UEFI CD/DVD
UEFI USB CD/DVD
UEFI USB Key
UEFI Hard Drive
UEFI Hard Disk Drive

My DVD drive light will flicker when I install and remove my Windows 11 DVD, and sometimes flickers as if it is being read for a very short time, then the BIOS screen appears. I have moved the data cable from the DVD drive to each of the four SATA ports on this motherboard, but no change.

My BIOS says: 7/8/23 BV= E7D461MS.IDO

I am starting to think I am doing something really stupid, but I do not know what it is. I did pull the Samsung M.2 drive and put it in a USB 3.0 enclosure and format it in a Windows 10 machine (with no drive letter), and then re installed it. No help.

Apologies for the very long post, but I wanted to give enough detail so that someone who has experience with this MSI and/or a BIOS like this can tell me what I am doing wrong.

RANT MODE ON: I am 73 years old, almost 74. BIOS in the past were so simple. I miss that. I did an ASUS BIOS about 4 months ago. It was a real head scratchier for me, but after careful reading of the manual I finally got it. But this BIOS has got to me. RANT MODE OFF.

I just want to boot to the Windows 11 DVD in the DVD drive, and then I can load the enclosed MSI driver disk, and install the OS. Then go to MSI and update everything I can. I can not believe I spent an entire day trying to boot to my DVD drive with out success. I have been building desktop computers for my small circle of friends for maybe 12/15 years.

If you have read this far, thank you Any suggestions welcomed.
Many thanks,
mraroid

PS: The DVD drive worked when my friend gave me his computer to upgrade to Windows 11. I have thought about downloading windows 11 from Microsoft, and installing it to a USB 3.0 stick and trying to boot to that if this will never work.... But I would like to get the nice LG blu-ray burner/reader to work if it is not hooked up or optioned correctly.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

thought about downloading windows 11 from Microsoft, and installing it to a USB 3.0 stick and trying to boot to that if this will never work.... But I would like to get the nice LG blu-ray burner/reader to work

you don't especially need to use this DVD drive for the installation for it to work later with Windows.

after the OS is installed it will recognize any working USB devices and they will be available for use.

 

[mraroid]

Hello JohnBohamsGhost.... Thank you for your post. Yes, I could try to install via a USB stick and then see if that works.

So are you saying that perhaps the BIOS can not recognize the LG optical drive with out a driver for it installed first? I had not thought about that option. I have not seen this before, but BIOS settings are changing fast.

I will down load a Windows 11 image to a flash drive and try that. I can use the product key from the Windows 11 DVD.

Many thinks for this tip. I will try it now.

mraroid

 

[Darkbreeze]

No, the BIOS should recognize and support basically ANY internally connected optical DVD or BD drive, and MOST external ones as well, without the need to install any kind of "driver". User installed drivers don't even have anything to do with BIOS hardware support. That is entirely dependent on the support that is written into the firmware itself. Now, for support of that same hardware in Windows you MIGHT in some cases require a specific driver, but even then the vast majority of optical drives will just automatically be supported through native drivers. It might be necessary to install device specific drivers in order for specific device features to work since most of Windows native drivers are usually generic and basic in nature, but not always, and a lot of vendor specific drivers are natively supported in Windows as well.

Even so, since your drive is an external USB drive it may not support being booted from. Seems pretty unusual these days but not unheard of. Even some keyboards don't want to work at first. Also, it would not be a bad idea to update to the latest BIOS version which is 7D46v1F. Your version currently installed is several months out of date, with this latest one being from November and yours being from July.

Another thing you might want to do is take a look in the BIOS and make sure that the boot mode is not set to Fast boot or Ultra fast boot, or anything like that, because some of those boot modes won't allow some USB devices to be recognized or used until further on in the boot process especially if it's an older legacy type USB device that isn't fully UEFI compatible.

I would recommend that you DO create installation media on a USB flash drive, and install from that, and then worry about making sure your optical drive works after you get that done.

 

[mraroid]

Hello Hello JohnBohamsGhost.... I downloaded a copy of Windows 11 and moved it to a flash drive and now the new computer is up and running.

However, Windows 11 can not see my optical drive (CD/DVD drive). After Windows 11 install, I received a pop up form MSI asking me to update my drives which I did. But after a reboot, no optical drive was visible. Again, I tried diffrent SATA ports in the motherboard but nothing. I have a lot of older computer hardware kicking around the house, but no extra optical drives.

I might have to buy a new one and see if that works.

But your suggestion to try a USB stick worked!!! Thank you so much!!
mraroid

 

[mraroid]

No, the BIOS should recognize and support basically ANY internally connected optical DVD or BD drive, and MOST external ones as well, without the need to install any kind of "driver". User installed drivers don't even have anything to do with BIOS hardware support. That is entirely dependent on the support that is written into the firmware itself. Now, for support of that same hardware in Windows you MIGHT in some cases require a specific driver, but even then the vast majority of optical drives will just automatically be supported through native drivers. It might be necessary to install device specific drivers in order for specific device features to work since most of Windows native drivers are usually generic and basic in nature, but not always, and a lot of vendor specific drivers are natively supported in Windows as well.

Even so, since your drive is an external USB drive it may not support being booted from. Seems pretty unusual these days but not unheard of. Even some keyboards don't want to work at first. Also, it would not be a bad idea to update to the latest BIOS version which is 7D46v1F. Your version currently installed is several months out of date, with this latest one being from November and yours being from July.

Another thing you might want to do is take a look in the BIOS and make sure that the boot mode is not set to Fast boot or Ultra fast boot, or anything like that, because some of those boot modes won't allow some USB devices to be recognized or used until further on in the boot process especially if it's an older legacy type USB device that isn't fully UEFI compatible.

I would recommend that you DO create installation media on a USB flash drive, and install from that, and then worry about making sure your optical drive works after you get that done.

Thanks! I will find the optical drive full name and model number and see if I can find a driver for it. I will also update the BIOS. Many thanks! mraroid

 

[Darkbreeze]

Where is the drive plugged in? Front, back, etc? Which kind of USB port is it plugged into. Black? Blue? Red/pink? Etc.

What is the MODEL of the USB drive.

 

[mraroid]

Where is the drive plugged in? Front, back, etc? Which kind of USB port is it plugged into. Black? Blue? Red/pink? Etc.

What is the MODEL of the USB drive.

Darkbreeze... You have been so helpful. It took me several tries but I believer I have updated my BIOS. I went to MSI's web site and downloaded the latest one, which is 7D46v1F. I unzipped the file and then moved it to a flash drive. I rebooted to the BIOS and then clicked on the BIOS FLASH button just before I plugged the flash drive into a USB port. All seemed to go well. No error messages. When I went back to the BIOS menu, it said I had installed "E7D46IMS.1F0" I am guessing that is 7D46v1F? If so, I have been successful.

I was confused when I went to update the BIOS and I saw two files in the BIOS Flash button. One was called "Me Firmware M_16.30.2264" and the other was "ME Firmware Update SOP". I have no idea if I should install them or not. I do not know what SOP means.

Still no support for my optical drive. Next step is to crack open the case and remove all 4 screws holding it into the bay, and then remove it so I can find the full name and model number on it. Then I will go to duckduckgo and see if I can find a driver for it. I have 4 SATA plugs on this motherboard.. I have tried all 4 and the same issue on all of them. Power is OK to the optical drive. the The drive will blink when I press the drive button and then flashes a bit as it tries to read a disk. But it is stopped short after just a second or so.

I hate IObit software. But I did install the Drive Booster software to see if it could see the optical drive and install a driver for it. No luck, so I uninstalled it. All of the IOBit software is quite bad IMHO.

One more question ---- I did a simple hack to Windows 11 so my friend could directly boot to Windows 11 without a Microsoft account. That was simple enough. But later on in the install of 11, I got a pop up that said I needed to enter a password for the local account. Usually I bypass that as most of my friends just want to turn the computer on and have it boot to the Windows desktop. That is what my friend wants. So I went to control panel, to User Accounts, but was unable to find a way to remove the password I made for the local account during the Windows 11 install. Only one user is in this machine, and it is him. How do I remove the local password? Or, should I make a second account for him (which is not admin) and would that let me add him with no password? Would he have to choose between the two accounts when he is booting windows 11?

Suggestions?

I am off now to pull the optical drive and find it's correct model number & name.

Many thanks for all your help! I feel so bad that I could not even boot this computer. I would think that & MSI would have built in support for common optical drives. It is not like I have an off brand, no name optical drive install. Gez!

mraroid

 

[mraroid]

Yea! I found a driver for the optical drive. It was for Windows 8. But I installed it and then went to Device Manager and my optical drive showed up and it said all was well. So I went to "This PC" and and I saw the drive. I put a disk in and it could read it. I am a happy camper! It is an ASUS BW-1281ST The first thing that poped up on Duickduckgo was the correct driver.

One more issue out of the way...
mraroid

 

[mraroid]

Where is the drive plugged in? Front, back, etc? Which kind of USB port is it plugged into. Black? Blue? Red/pink? Etc.

What is the MODEL of the USB drive.

Thanks again for all your help. My issues with a local (not a Microsoft) account is not really a motherboard issue. So I will take this issue to another forum. Thank you again for all your help! At times, I thought I never would see that optical drive show up! I am so happy!
mraroid

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

I tried diffrent SATA ports

i wouldn't even have imagined it was an internal SATA drive.

when you mentioned, "the nice LG blu-ray burner/reader" i just figured it would be a nice new USB external.

haven't actually seen anyone using internal SATA disk writers in quite a few years now.

At times, I thought I never would see that optical drive show up! I am so happy!

glad you got it worked out.

 

[Darkbreeze]

i wouldn't even have imagined it was an internal SATA drive.

when you mentioned, "the nice LG blu-ray burner/reader" i just figured it would be a nice new USB external.

haven't actually seen anyone using internal SATA disk writers in quite a few years now.

glad you got it worked out.

Yeah, it's actually even more surprising that they had problems if it was a SATA drive and not an external USB drive. These days, almost all SATA internal optical drives are just automatically recognized and supported via Windows native drivers. But, that often means running Windows update and checking the "Optional updates" section that included drivers and some other optional items which they probably didn't do. Always a good idea to run Windows update and then scroll down and look for the optional updates link because a lot of devices won't automatically show up in the regular updates and why they don't just automatically install so that you don't have to do this for some devices at this day and age is beyond me.