Question Too Much Thermal Paste?

[braxus]

I swapped my Ryzen 7950X to the 9950X. I updated the bios and had issues with the update, as it wouldnt boot again. That said I thought Id swap the cpu to see if the bios update kicks in. Nope. When I powered up the system with the new 9950X installed, still wouldnt boot. But now the system wouldnt power down either with the case power switch. Had to flip the PSU switch. Would too much thermal paste cause this behavior? Hopefully the cpu is still ok. Any ideas? System is in my signature.

 

[Teknoman2]

What paste did you use and is it conductive? If not, then that's not the problem.
But if you had problems with updating the bios, you may have bricked the board. It should have a bios flashback button in the back, look for instructions on how to use it and try it.

 

[braxus]

Ive used QFlash before, so I am familiar with the process. For some reason my board doesnt like going abpve F11 for BIOS. I'll try Qflash again. But would all this issue cause the system to not power off? Thermal paste was Noctua NT-H1.

 

[Teknoman2]

Even if you put too much of it, that paste shouldn't cause any problems by spilling on the sides. Does the problem happen with both CPUs or only with the new?

 

[braxus]

The shutdown problem was with the new cpu. It shutdown with the old one, even if it didnt boot. I did the Qflash option with bios 31d renamed to GIGABYTE.bin and did the procedure. Lights on the USB were flashing, then stopped. System didnt automatically shut down, so after a couple minutes flipped the PSU switch. Tried booting again but still nothing. Couldnt power it down either.

I dont believe I bent any cpu pins, as they looked good. I could try removing some memory sticks and just trying one. I did remove the memory when I swapped the cpus.

 

[thestryker]

The thermal paste you're using would have nothing to do with it unless you got it on the socket itself (even then you'd just need to clean it up).

I'd suggest putting your 7950X back in, flashing to the F11 you know works and make sure the system boots.

If that works then I'd suggest going to F20 first (it's the next major AGESA revision) and if that works go up to F30 which was the first BIOS to enable Zen 5 support. At that point put the 9950X in and see what happens at which point you can try the F31 BIOS if it's working. Also double check to make sure you're getting the BIOS for the right revision since for whatever reason there's 3 different sets of BIOS for that motherboard.

 

[Teknoman2]

I didn't even consider the possibility of a wrong bios.
It would be nice if they had a failsafe bios chip on the boards. If something goes wrong, you get a working backup that can't be flashed and allows the pc to work so you can fix it.

 

[braxus]

I have the correct revision bios. I think I did too many Q flash updates, because now the computer seems bricked even after I put in the old cpu again and f11 bios. Im thinking the motherboard has packed it in. I think I'll just get the X870e Aorus Pro board come the end of September and send the old board in for warranty, then sell it. There is something wrong with the board that it would never go above F11, on the 3 separate times I tried updating the bios above that.

 

[thestryker]

There is something wrong with the board that it would never go above F11, on the 3 separate times I tried updating the bios above that.

AMD and Intel both sometimes have software dependencies which is something I absolutely hate. On the Intel side they have their Management Engine which only has native installers for Windows which periodically is mandatory. AMD sometimes needs their chipset software to be updated before the BIOS updates will properly work. Then there's also the AGESA revisions which can sometimes make a difference.

I think I'll just get the X870e Aorus Pro board come the end of September and send the old board in for warranty, then sell it.

This seems like a solid plan as I'd feel exactly the same running into this much hassle.