Question Red CPU light on b450 gaming plus max -MSI

[Happy_love_]

Hey everyone! I built my first build yesterday and everything was going fine. I kept trying to boot windows from a USB stick and it never worked. On my last attempt I tried it but just got a black screen. Thinking this was the end of this test, I turned off the PC. When I tried again, I got nothing on display, no bios nothing. Just a red CPU light on my Mobo.

I’ve tried everything, from flashing the Mobo again, to taking out all the parts and putting them back in. To checking all the plugs. I even hard reset my motherboard by taking out the battery. Nothing works!

Hoping somebody on here can help me with this problem.


Specs:
CPU: RyZen 3600
Ram; Viper steel 8x2 16 gn 3200
GPU: RTX 590
Ssd: Crucial 250gb
Motherboard: b450 gaming plus max by MSI

Any help would be amazing! Thank you!

 

[alexoiu]

Apparently, board, or CPU, assuming that the power supply is not defective. Try RMA-ing them both, if under warranty.

 

[refillable]

It shouldn't be a coincidence that I just (very recently) built a system for myself with the same CPU and board that you have (as well as this memory). I am having a lot of trouble getting the PC to boot reliably. Sometimes I can boot it normally, but sometimes it won't post and will have the CPU LED glowing bright red. I can, however, hard reset it multiple times and boot just fine. The PC, however, works normally when it boots.

What I can found is that it seems to be a known issue with seemingly all B450M boards with Ryzen 3000 CPUs. B450M boards from MSI are known to be the most reliable ones, more reliable than ASUS, ASrock and GB. Reviews on Newegg are mostly positive, but a lot of negative reviews point out to this CPU bug we're experiencing here. I've been into PCs since I was 7 years old, and so I was skeptical as I never had heard anything like this before. So, I gambled and bought this MSI board only to find that it has the same issue.

RMA-ing is a way to go for you, perhaps. Your issue sounds more severe. But my PC boots 75% of the time normally, and the rest it'd take 2-3 resets before it boots normally. I guess I have to sleep this PC in the meantime, wait for an updated BIOS or alternatively upgrade to a B550 board when it comes out.

 

[MunichResident]

I have the same issue

To reproduce one can do the following:

• When your PC POST and the MSI logo appears with <del> ,
• try Ctrl+Alt+Delete -> this should reboot your PC, but 1 in every 3 attempt fails, gets to EZ CPU led then the only way is to force reset the PC by pressing power button ~10 seconds.

I posted this issue on MSI forum: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=328565.msg1946006#msg1946006

If there is any updated I will let you know.

 

[MunichResident]

The suggestion from MSI forum was to disable the XMP profile or any overclocking. I did it. It works so far without any issues

Overclocking Details:

1. I had set my CPU ratio to 36 instead of Auto and Clock speed to 3600. Because I do not need any boost clock, just the base clock speed of Ryzen 3600. This option kept my CPU temp was less than 52*c in normal/gaming operation.
2. Yes, I had turned on XMP profile (default DDR4-3200 DIMM CL16-18-18-38 Dual Kit) to 3200 MHZ - G.Skill F4-3200C16D-16GVKB - because it is supported by MSI B450 Motherboard (see below)

- (see the attached picture for RAM compatibility)

G.Skill

F4-3200C16D-16GVKB

2133MHz

3200MHz

3200 MHz

SK hynix MFR

1.35v

DUAL

8GB

√ | √

I took your advise, tried to turn off all over clocking:

1. I set my CPU ratio and clock speed to Auto. Now my CPU temp is on average 58c on normal and 60 - 68c on Gaming which is ok.
2. I turned off XMP profile for RAM, so now the default recognized speed is very low - 2133MHz

Now, it looks like my PC boots / POST ok - I tried to reboot couple of times it started without any issues.

But, the Gaming motherboards are supposed to support such overclocking features right? What is the purpose of running my ram at 2133 MHz when it supports 3200MHz?

Any advise? Do you think this problem will be fixed on next BIOS update or so?

 

[MunichResident]

Well I got a good news for anyone looking out for a safe OC Ram config.

Here it is:
Go to BIOS-> Overclocking -> Memory Try it ! -> Select DDR4-2933 (14-15-15-15-35) FCLK - 1467 Mhz

My PC boots fine under this. If I go one level high and try the DDR4-3200 both options - then Boot fails. I did not dare to try any higher frequencies either! . Good luck!

I am happy that MSI BIOS has this pre-configured frequencies to try out. However, the fail safe switch to default frequency in case my PC cannot boot with the frequency did not work - even after enabling that feature and setting the counter to 1. I had to manually reset CMOS and do everything from the beginning.