Question Stuck on distorted BIOS splash screen

[Technoidy]

I built this PC back in 2022. Never tried to overclock it. It's worked perfectly. I have Windows 11 set to auto-shutoff at 12 AM. Last night I forgot about that and was in the middle of playing Pistol Whip as I have for years, when it auto-shut off. When I went to turn it back on, the monitor had no input. Assuming the PC just got confused about what input to use since my Valve Index was still plugged in and the monitor was off when it booted up, I turned the PC off with the power button, unplugged my Index, turned the monitor on and turned the PC back on.

Now, it shows a "_" cursor in the upper left longer than it used to, then it moves to the middle of the screen, and then it shows the BIOS splash screen forever. Except it's pixelated and slightly distorted like vertical tearing on a video. There's also a white line of what appears to be text in the upper left corner, however it's so distorted it's unintelligible.

Motherboard LEDS behave same as they always have - Red when first turned on, to white and then off.

When I try rebooting and pressing the delete key to enter the BIOS, it does. However, it's empty, pixelated, distorted, and has some lines of unintelligible text. It's also unnavigable, I've tried pressing every key imaginable and nothing changes on the screen.

Specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700 2.1 GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Scythe Fuma 2 Rev.B 39.44 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: MSI MAG B660M MORTAR WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory
Storage: Western Digital Black SN750 Rev2 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: MSI GAMING Z TRIO GeForce RTX 3080 12GB LHR 12 GB Video Card
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

The weird coloring pattern in the first photo is just my camera, the color is correct IRL

 

[CelicaGT]

Try pulling the CMOS battery from the mainboard, let it sit like so for a few minutes then reinstall.

 

[Technoidy]

Try pulling the CMOS battery from the mainboard, let it sit like so for a few minutes then reinstall.

That fixed it! Any idea why that happened? Should I be concerned something might be wrong?
Definitely gonna do a backup & update the BIOS when I get some time.

 

[CelicaGT]

That fixed it! Any idea why that happened? Should I be concerned something might be wrong?
Definitely gonna do a backup & update the BIOS when I get some time.

The BIOS, while called such (It isn't a BIOS per se) and referred to as "firmware" is most definitely software. Sometimes things get corrupted, rare but it happens. Glad to hear it worked for you. As far as the cause? Unknown, the only time I've ever seen something like this was from losing external power. Are these scheduled shutdowns set up through windows? If they are I can't think of a reason why it would be a cause, perhaps there was a power bump somewhere in there. If you suspect such, or have unreliable power then a UPS is probably in order. Otherwise party on as normal.