[SOLVED] Putting in new CPU made motherboard show orange light and blackscreen

[MidnightMeister]

Greetings. I was planning to build a PC for my brother for Christmas, and I decided to go with mostly the same components as I have for my PC for ease of building. I bought a 3070ti for myself while giving my brother my old 1080ti. Essentially, everything was going well with the build, my PC turned on just fine with my new CPU cooler and the 3070ti, updated my drivers, everything was running fine.

Then I tried to boot up my brother's PC. The PC turns on, however it does not open the BIOS, and there is a static orange light on the motherboard on the backside connectors going down all the way to the bottom. (Both PCs have the same motherboard, B550 AORUS Elite V2, as well as the same CPU, Ryzen 5 5600x). On multiple websites it said that an orange light can mean a number of things, so I started experimenting putting in different pieces into my PC and vice versa to see if the orange light disappears and I can go into BIOS. It wasn't the RAM, wasn't the GPU.

As the last thing I tried to loosen the CPU cooler as that's apparently a cause sometimes. Wasn't that either. So then I decided to swap around the CPUs. Once I put the new CPU into my PC, my PC wouldn't load and my motherboard also got the orange light. So basically I think something is wrong with that new CPU. Maybe it's also possible that something is wrong with the new motherboard actually and when I put in my old CPU into it, maybe it bugged it out. I really don't know.

Another possibility for this could be the BIOS flash. B550 mobo apparently sometimes needs a BIOS flash with the ryzen 5 5600x, however when I built my first PC I was lucky and it was already done beforehand. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if an orange light on mobo shows up if it needs a BIOS flash, as maybe this time around it was not done beforehand. I don't know however why putting in the new CPU into my PC would've caused an issue though if it needed a BIOS flash.

So essentially now I have a new PC which I can't even install windows on, and my old pc which has been bugged out by trying to put the new CPU into it, and the orange light won't disappear even when I put in back all my old parts with which it loaded perfectly fine just an hour prior.

I would be extremely grateful if anyone could give some insight into this. I sincerely hope that both PC's didn't break because of a faulty CPU or MOBO..

Specs on my PC:
3070ti GPU
Ryzen 5 5600x CPU
16gb Ballistix RAM
B550 AORUS Elite V2 MOBO
Straight Power 11 PSU
2tb samsung nvme SSD
Noctua NH-15 CPU cooler

Specs on my brothers new PC:
1080ti GPU
Ryzen 5 5600x CPU
16gb Vengeance RAM
B550 AORUS Elite V2 MOBO
Straight Power 11 PSU
500gb SSD + 1tb barracuda HDD
Be silent pure rock CPU cooler
2tb samsung nvme SSD

 

[punkncat]

I would double check the new CPU for damaged pins.

I seem to see that you put the old CPU in the new mobo and it didn't work, and if I understand correctly you are saying that neither works now?

Could be a BIOS issue with the new mobo, but that does nothing to explain why the new CPU doesn't work in yours.

 

[MidnightMeister]

I would double check the new CPU for damaged pins.

I seem to see that you put the old CPU in the new mobo and it didn't work, and if I understand correctly you are saying that neither works now?

Could be a BIOS issue with the new mobo, but that does nothing to explain why the new CPU doesn't work in yours.

Yes, the new pc I can't even install windows on and my old PC won't even load now. Both have the orange light now even when I put all the parts back into my old one with which it loaded just fine just an hour prior.

 

[punkncat]

For some reason I read 450 chipset. The 3600X is good on that mobo from BIOS revision F1, so that should not be the issue.

I cannot find any indication that your motherboard has trouble LED. Are you sure this isn't the light for the Network connector? Looks like this one wants a speaker for debug codes.

Have you tried to reset CMOS?

Might be worthwhile to breadboard components and try things outside the case.

Edit- wanted to point out that you mention the 5xxx series in one spot and then the 3xxx in the parts lists.

 

[MidnightMeister]

For some reason I read 450 chipset. The 3600X is good on that mobo from BIOS revision F1, so that should not be the issue.

I cannot find any indication that your motherboard has trouble LED. Are you sure this isn't the light for the Network connector? Looks like this one wants a speaker for debug codes.

Have you tried to reset CMOS?

Might be worthwhile to breadboard components and try things outside the case.

Edit- wanted to point out that you mention the 5xxx series in one spot and then the 3xxx in the parts lists.

Thank you, I mispelled, it is a 5600x.
Could I kindly ask you what a CMOS is? I'm not too well versed MOBOs
Edit: I have put in the network connector and no, the orange light is still there.

 

[punkncat]

When you apply settings in the BIOS they can be cleared via the CMOS pins on the board. This way, if you set something incorrectly and it doesn't boot (such as say XMP, etc.) you have an 'out' to reset stock parameters.

The 5600X could be issue in the new board due to BIOS revision, as stated before. It wants F10. Just the same, the fact that both boards are not working now point to a physical issue IMO.

 

[MidnightMeister]

When you apply settings in the BIOS they can be cleared via the CMOS pins on the board. This way, if you set something incorrectly and it doesn't boot (such as say XMP, etc.) you have an 'out' to reset stock parameters.

The 5600X could be issue in the new board due to BIOS revision, as stated before. It wants F10. Just the same, the fact that both boards are not working now point to a physical issue IMO.

Physical issue with the boards or the CPU you think? Should I try the CMOS on both of them?

 

[Vic 40]

Please read the whole post.


The motherboard has a form of "USB Bios Flashback" (Qflash Plus), use this to flash the latest bios on the motherboard and see if it will post again. The next vid is a general quide, make sure you use the bios for your motherboard,

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Bv0HWJGIY



He says to rename the bios file, if that doesn't work just get the original one at an empty (Fat32) usb stick since there is no mentioning of it in the manual. So only after you put the bios file on the usb stick rename it if you want to try it that way, like that you keep the original name on the original file.

Back i/o that you need to use and instructions from the manual,

There are btw two revisions of that motherboard so make sure you know which version you have, this is important cause minor differences that may be there between biosses. You can find which revision on the left bottom corner of the motherboard.

You and your brother might have each a different revision so why i want to point this out clearly.


Another usefull link,

How to Flash a Gigabyte Motherboard with Q-Flash Plus - Glenn's SQL Server Performance

Introduction I recently released a new YouTube video, called "How to Flash the Gigabyte B550 AORUS MASTER BIOS with Q-Flash Plus". This video walks though and demonstrates all of the steps required to use the Q-Flash Plus feature on this motherboard. Final Words I think this is a useful video...

glennsqlperformance.com

 

[punkncat]

Physical issue with the boards or the CPU you think? Should I try the CMOS on both of them?

I think I would try that first on both. No real issue from clearing CMOS, just defaults settings.


As to the above post about the Q flash. Make sure to read ALL the notes for ALL the available BIOS to be sure there isn't a "bridge BIOS" that is required before going to the next newer one. In this case you cannot verify what is on there unless you can get them to boot and without knowing, if such a bridge BIOS exists you can do more harm than good.

 

[MidnightMeister]

I think I would try that first on both. No real issue from clearing CMOS, just defaults settings.


As to the above post about the Q flash. Make sure to read ALL the notes for ALL the available BIOS to be sure there isn't a "bridge BIOS" that is required before going to the next newer one. In this case you cannot verify what is on there unless you can get them to boot and without knowing, if such a bridge BIOS exists you can do more harm than good.

Thank you guys for the detailed instructions. I also noticed just now that it seems like my fan curve has been disabled on my PC, since the fans are running hard again, so I assume maybe putting in the new CPU did reset the BIOS or some such

 

[Vic 40]

Thank you guys for the detailed instructions.

Did you follow them?

 

[punkncat]

If you continue to run into a wall, it might be worthwhile to consider return or RMA of anything you can. In the case of troubleshooting, it could be worthwhile to consider the lowest price F1 BIOS type CPU that will work with the motherboard.

 

[MidnightMeister]

Did you follow them?

Hi, thank you for the help so far. First of all I have done a CMOS on my old pc as punkncat suggested and my pc managed to boot up into BIOS saying the settings were reset. Once I saved my fan curve again I exited and this screen showed up

I just chose to restart and my pc loaded up normally, everything seems to be working fine, low temps and all. The orange light is still there behind the MOBO and on the IO shield, but I'll assume its fine for now.

I have not tried a CMOS on my brother's PC yet, but I will after this post. If it doesn't work, then I will try the BIOS flash following your instructions. I just have one question. I have a 31gb usb stick. Will that be fine for the BIOS flash? I read around and people say too big of a stick can complicate the BIOS flash, so I just wanted to confirm if 31gb would be fine to do it with.

Edit: I went into the BIOS again to see if there are any LED settings, and I found one, turned it off, and the orange light is gone now. So I think I have successfully fixed my old pc as it seems to be fine now.

 

[Vic 40]

there is a static orange light on the motherboard on the backside connectors going down all the way to the bottom. (
2tb samsung nvme SSD

I just chose to restart and my pc loaded up normally, everything seems to be working fine, low temps and all. The orange light is still there behind the MOBO and on the IO shield, but I'll assume its fine for now.

I didn't read that well i guess, those are not diagnostic leds, they are just visual enhancement. The one from the back i/o down is marking the path of the seperation of the audio part and the rest of the pcb. They keep that seperate to keep "electrical noise" from the other part of the pcb away from the audio part.

You can just keep it on if you like the look, no harm there.

 

[MidnightMeister]

I didn't read that well i guess, those are not diagnostic leds, they are just visual enhancement. The one from the back i/o down is marking the path of the seperation of the audio part and the rest of the pcb. They keep that seperate to keep "electrical noise" from the other part of the pcb away from the audio part.

You can just keep it on if you like the look, no harm there.

Update. CSOM seems to have fixed the new pc aswell! It managed to launch into the BIOS and the version of BIOS was F14 I think? Either way good sign. Put in my usb with windows install and it launched into it and I'm currently in the middle of doing windows updates!

I wanna thank both you and punkncat for all the help, somehow managed to get it all sorted!
Thank you guys again so much!

 

[Vic 40]

You're welcome.

There is a trophy icon next to punkncat's answer that said to clear cmos, click it to close the thread.

 

[punkncat]

Glad it ended up being that simple. Hope you both enjoy your upgrades and new goodies.