[SOLVED] New am5 mobo will not boot usb or bios update

[LastProrican]

I finished my most recent build and I have at a complete loss of what is causing my new build from booting my usb windows install. I will try my best to explain what I have tried to troubleshoot before even asking for help.

When I turn the computer on, and I go into the Bios I am able to see my nvme 2TB, my Ram, bootable usb and I tell the bios to boot usb 1st. But after saving the change my screen will softlock at POST screen (unable to press F12, DEL) I will reset and If I press F12 during initial load of POST I can enter BIOS just fine. I changed from the front IO ports to the mobo USB ports and no changes with the locking..... I reset the RAM sticks and tried every slot (A2, B2,A1,B2) they are all read inside bios no matter the location. I removed the CPU and made sure no pins were bent and CPU is well coated with thermal paste. A search result with Aorus mentioned that sometimes CSM support->Storage boot Option Control to legacy needed to be enabled, but everytime I enabled CSM support my POST screen would never show up and I would have to use the reset pins on the mobo to regain access.

The oddest abnormality was, after many resets, I was able to get the Windows 10 install to appear! It saw the Solidigm nvme and began the installation, and after it finished and restart...it froze on the POST screen once again and I have not been able to repeat the windows screen since....

I then began to believe the (Solidigm NVMe) was the problem (never heard of this brand to begin with...) so I purchashed an Samsung 970 EVO... and inside the BIOS I am once again able to see the nvme just fine but still soft lock on POST. I began to try other nvme slots on mobo but that was a bust also.

The other abnormality was the VERY first boot up a screen that said...

New CPU installed. fTPM/PSP NV corrupted or fTPM/PSP NV structure changed.
Press Y to reset fTPM. If you have Bitlocker or encryption enabled, the system will not boot without a recovery key.
Press N to keep previous fTPM record and continue system boot. fTPM will NOT enable in new CPU, you can swap back to the old CPU to recover TPM related keys and data

I clicked "Y" and I have not seen that screen appear again since then....

I also have tried updating the Bios to F2 and F3c but every time when I click the reboot button the screen with freeze and lock up and the mobo will not update and still show the original revision F1

This is everything I can remember trying after two days of troubleshooting... I have opened a support ticket with Gigabyte believing it is the Mobo

Part list

1. Gigabyte b650 Aorus Pro AX ATS AM5 Motherboard
2. G.Skill flare X5 32 GB (2x16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36
3. Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB Nvme
4. Solidigm P41 Plus Series 2TB Nvme
5. Asus ROG STRIX G 1000W 80+ Gold PSU
6. AMD Ryzen 5 7600x
7. ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 AIO CPU cooler
8. 5700xt ASROCK GPU

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is the "ATS" I see listed in your motherboard model number? I am unable to find any iteration of that board with an "ATS" identifier.

If it is actually just a b650 Aorus Pro AX, then that board has Qflash Plus which means you can flash the BIOS without the system even running or even having a CPU, memory or graphics card installed. I would update your BIOS using the Qflash Plus method and see if this solves your problem.

Keep in mind, there is ALWAYS a chance of bricking the board when updating the BIOS although it is not a very likely outcome on modern systems. I've seen it maybe two or three times in the last ten years here. Never had it happen to me personally, ever. And I've updated hundreds of motherboards, at least.

If you've already tried using Qflash Plus and could not get the BIOS to update then I'd return or RMA the board. Or at the least, contact Gigabyte tech support and see if they have an alternative solution for you. Pretty likely this is a BIOS version problem though.

 

[jojesa]

I finished my most recent build and I have at a complete loss of what is causing my new build from booting my usb windows install. I will try my best to explain what I have tried to troubleshoot before even asking for help.

When I turn the computer on, and I go into the Bios I am able to see my nvme 2TB, my Ram, bootable usb and I tell the bios to boot usb 1st. But after saving the change my screen will softlock at POST screen (unable to press F12, DEL) I will reset and If I press F12 during initial load of POST I can enter BIOS just fine. I changed from the front IO ports to the mobo USB ports and no changes with the locking..... I reset the RAM sticks and tried every slot (A2, B2,A1,B2) they are all read inside bios no matter the location. I removed the CPU and made sure no pins were bent and CPU is well coated with thermal paste. A search result with Aorus mentioned that sometimes CSM support->Storage boot Option Control to legacy needed to be enabled, but everytime I enabled CSM support my POST screen would never show up and I would have to use the reset pins on the mobo to regain access.

The oddest abnormality was, after many resets, I was able to get the Windows 10 install to appear! It saw the Solidigm nvme and began the installation, and after it finished and restart...it froze on the POST screen once again and I have not been able to repeat the windows screen since....

I then began to believe the (Solidigm NVMe) was the problem (never heard of this brand to begin with...) so I purchashed an Samsung 970 EVO... and inside the BIOS I am once again able to see the nvme just fine but still soft lock on POST. I began to try other nvme slots on mobo but that was a bust also.

The other abnormality was the VERY first boot up a screen that said...

New CPU installed. fTPM/PSP NV corrupted or fTPM/PSP NV structure changed.
Press Y to reset fTPM. If you have Bitlocker or encryption enabled, the system will not boot without a recovery key.
Press N to keep previous fTPM record and continue system boot. fTPM will NOT enable in new CPU, you can swap back to the old CPU to recover TPM related keys and data

I clicked "Y" and I have not seen that screen appear again since then....

I also have tried updating the Bios to F2 and F3c but every time when I click the reboot button the screen with freeze and lock up and the mobo will not update and still show the original revision F1

This is everything I can remember trying after two days of troubleshooting... I have opened a support ticket with Gigabyte believing it is the Mobo

Part list

1. Gigabyte b650 Aorus Pro AX ATS AM5 Motherboard
2. G.Skill flare X5 32 GB (2x16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36
3. Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB Nvme
4. Solidigm P41 Plus Series 2TB Nvme
5. Asus ROG STRIX G 1000W 80+ Gold PSU
6. AMD Ryzen 5 7600x
7. ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 AIO CPU cooler
8. 5700xt ASROCK GPU

I have seen that fTPM error and that is not the issue.

Reset the motherboard by disconnecting power and removing the CMOS battery.
Remove both NVMe SSDs
Wait 5 minutes and install battery back.

Try updating the BIOS with a FAT32 USB flash drive.

While installing Windows leave only one NVMe SSD, then you can add the 2nd one after Windows is installed.
Make sure the Windows USB flash drive is not corrupted...Try another USB drive or create a new Windows media installation.

 

[LastProrican]

What is the "ATS" I see listed in your motherboard model number? I am unable to find any iteration of that board with an "ATS" identifier.

If it is actually just a b650 Aorus Pro AX, then that board has Qflash Plus which means you can flash the BIOS without the system even running or even having a CPU, memory or graphics card installed. I would update your BIOS using the Qflash Plus method and see if this solves your problem.

Keep in mind, there is ALWAYS a chance of bricking the board when updating the BIOS although it is not a very likely outcome on modern systems. I've seen it maybe two or three times in the last ten years here. Never had it happen to me personally, ever. And I've updated hundreds of motherboards, at least.

That should have been "ATX" I have not tried q-flash I will try tomorrow.

 

[LastProrican]

I have seen that fTPM error and that is not the issue.

Reset the motherboard by disconnecting power and removing the CMOS battery.
Remove both NVMe SSDs
Wait 5 minutes and install battery back.

Try updating the BIOS with a FAT32 USB flash drive.

While installing Windows leave only one NVMe SSD, then you can add the 2nd one after Windows is installed.
Make sure the Windows USB flash drive is not corrupted...Try another USB drive or create a new Windows media installation.

This Mobo has some reset pins, will that not do the same thing as removing the battery? (never had to reset bios before). I have tried two separate USB sticks and ensured they were formatted for fat32. Just tonight I idk tried using a SSD that was in my first computer that works fine but still no boot into the windows USB.

 

[jojesa]

This Mobo has some reset pins, will that not do the same thing as removing the battery? (never had to reset bios before).

Removing the CMOS battery ensures that the BIOS really gets reset.

I have tried two separate USB sticks and ensured they were formatted for fat32

It could be a faulty board.

Just tonight I idk tried using a SSD that was in my first computer that works fine but still no boot into the windows USB.

You should not try to boot your AM5 system with a SSD from another different system.

 

[kerberos_20]

The other abnormality was the VERY first boot up a screen that said...

New CPU installed. fTPM/PSP NV corrupted or fTPM/PSP NV structure changed.
Press Y to reset fTPM. If you have Bitlocker or encryption enabled, the system will not boot without a recovery key.
Press N to keep previous fTPM record and continue system boot. fTPM will NOT enable in new CPU, you can swap back to the old CPU to recover TPM related keys and data

I clicked "Y" and I have not seen that screen appear again since then....

this is not really issue, it just means its not first boot on this mainboard, could be returned or sellere was testing it if it works

This Mobo has some reset pins, will that not do the same thing as removing the battery? (never had to reset bios before). I have tried two separate USB sticks and ensured they were formatted for fat32. Just tonight I idk tried using a SSD that was in my first computer that works fine but still no boot into the windows USB.

look in mainboard manuals, that will tell you exactly how to clear CMOS, 99% of todays mainboards does not use CMOS battery for storing bios user data

Removing the CMOS battery ensures that the BIOS really gets reset.

removing CMOS battery ensures that date/time gets reseted

 

[Darkbreeze]

No. The "reset pins" will NOT do the same thing as turning off the switch on the PSU, removing the CMOS battery and then pressing the power button for five to ten seconds while the CMOS battery is out. This does a hard reset. Sometimes just jumping the pins or pressing a CMOS clear button will leave bits of microcode unchanged or fail to reset the CMOS hardware tables fully. Any time it's necessary to reset the BIOS, it's worth it to do the full reset procedure so there is no doubt it was done fully.

 

[Darkbreeze]

look in mainboard manuals, that will tell you exactly how to clear CMOS, 99% of todays mainboards does not use CMOS battery for storing bios user data

This is incorrect. Which is EXACTLY why most modern UEFI BIOS allow you to save user settings to an external or flash drive location, exactly because it DOES use it for any remaining CMOS registers, for UEFI settings and for the hardware tables.

Even BIOS that state that settings can "survive updating" are mostly full of crap. I have yet to see one that actually will and I've never seen any CMOS, BIOS or UEFI configuration survive removal of the CMOS battery when power is disconnected from the system.

 

[kerberos_20]

No. The "reset pins" will NOT do the same thing as turning off the switch on the PSU, removing the CMOS battery and then pressing the power button for five to ten seconds while the CMOS battery is out. This does a hard reset. Sometimes just jumping the pins or pressing a CMOS clear button will leave bits of microcode unchanged or fail to reset the CMOS hardware tables fully. Any time it's necessary to reset the BIOS, it's worth it to do the full reset procedure so there is no doubt it was done fully.

uefi does not use physicaly CMOS ram to store any inportant data there, its using nvram
this storage (NOR flash) is partitioned, when you reset bios with clear cmos pins, it actually indeed does not resets anything on its own, but it will trigger nvram reset settings flag, so on powering up, uefi will load fail safe bios default values, some user settings will still remain, like stored saved profiles

his mainboard mentions only to use screwdriver to reset clr_cmos pins then load optimised defaults after entering bios....so just follow manuals

 

[kerberos_20]

This is incorrect. Which is EXACTLY why most modern UEFI BIOS allow you to save user settings to an external or flash drive location, exactly because it DOES use it for any remaining CMOS registers, for UEFI settings and for the hardware tables.

Even BIOS that state that settings can "survive updating" are mostly full of crap. I have yet to see one that actually will and I've never seen any CMOS, BIOS or UEFI configuration survive removal of the CMOS battery when power is disconnected from the system.

umm mine asrock x370 gaming X pretty much works without cmos battery, i dont use CSM, so boot cache is stored in firmware...
now that its mentioned, boot cache doesnt get reseted when you reset cmos/nvram settings or reflash bios, but this is usualy issue with linux

 

[Darkbreeze]

I can show you hundreds, literally, of examples on this site alone so, whatever man.

 

[LastProrican]

The cmos battery has some "bar" over the lower half of the top housing for the battery. I looked in the motherboard manual and it just mentions "remove battery" other mobos are a simple flip up...this one will not allow that.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Can you post an image of what you mean by "bar"?

How to post images on the Tom's hardware forum​

 

[LastProrican]

Can you post an image of what you mean by "bar"?

How to post images on the Tom's hardware forum​

I can share it once I get home=).

 

[Darkbreeze]

Cool.

 

[jojesa]

The cmos battery has some "bar" over the lower half of the top housing for the battery.

Did Gigabyte happens to place a motherboard metal cooling plate over half of the CMOS battery again?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Probably there, I guess, to ensure that the bottom of the M.2 heatsink assembly never comes in contact with the top of the CMOS battery and shorts it out. Although, if it's metal, not sure how much of an improvement that would be so might not be the reason at all unless it's not actually metal or unless the M.2 heatsink actually IS the "metal bar" we are talking about. Which seems likely.

 

[LastProrican]

 

[Darkbreeze]

It's just like this. If you use a plastic spunger or plastic flat blade tool of some kind like those that come in kits for working on phones you should be able to apply pressure on the side opposite that metal retainer that goes over the top and pry it TOWARDS the retainer. Seems like there's something acting as a spring for retention pinched back in behind the edge of the battery under that piece so doing this should allow it to pop up on the side you are prying on in order to lever it out.

 

[LastProrican]

It's just like this. If you use a plastic spunger or plastic flat blade tool of some kind like those that come in kits for working on phones you should be able to apply pressure on the side opposite that metal retainer that goes over the top and pry it TOWARDS the retainer. Seems like there's something acting as a spring for retention pinched back in behind the edge of the battery under that piece so doing this should allow it to pop up on the side you are prying on in order to lever it out.

thank you for the demonstration, but sadly after resetting nothing has changed. I have sent the mobo back for a replacement.

 

[LastProrican]

I wanted to give an update to everyone that has given advice and solutions, I have sent the motherboard back for a replacement and hope to have better luck with the next one. I will inform if any changes with new board arrives.

 

[Darkbreeze]

 

[LastProrican]

I'm back now that holidays are over, regrettably I have the replaced Mobo and even bought new Ram to try. I am out of ideas... I am trying all slots on the NVMe slots. My ez debug light stops on "boot" I tried the device self test short and long and both passed.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, what happens with this with everything off the board except a single stick of memory. No drives attached whether SATA or M.2, no graphics card installed (Use the integrated graphics and make sure to fully remove the graphics card), no other PCIe cards and nothing else plugged into the motherboard except the CPU, one stick of memory, your keyboard and your mouse.