Question Used motherboard won't post into BIOS

[liberty610]

Hi all,

I got a hand me down PC from a family member that I am trying to do a tear down and rebuild for a music partner of mine to do some home studio audio recording with a DAW. The motherboard I have is an Asus Prime B350-Plus, and I can not get it to post. I installed a system speaker on it and I am getting 3 (I believe short) beeps in the beep code.

It had 2 sticks of ram in it originally, and I have tried every configuration with them. One stick only, both sticks, all the different slot combos, ect. I also took a stick of ram out of my main Desktop PC that I know works fine and tried it on this board. No luck. Same 3 beep code.

I have two different smaller GPUs I use for my test bench setup that do not require external PSU power. Their fans kick on when I power it up, so I know they are getting some power to them. The board's RGB LEDs light up just fine as soon as I flip the power switch on the PSU as well, and the CPU cooler fan comes on. I never get a signal from the HDMI on either GPUs. Just a black screen and the beep code.

I also tested the PSU with my tester, and no issues there. Any other suggestions as what maybe causing this to not post?

 

[COLGeek]

What CPU do you have installed in that motherboard?

 

[drea.drechsler]

Hi all,

I got a hand me down PC from a family member that I am trying to do a tear down and rebuild for a music partner of mine to do some home studio audio recording with a DAW. The motherboard I have is an Asus Prime B350-Plus, and I can not get it to post. I installed a system speaker on it and I am getting 3 (I believe short) beeps in the beep code.

It had 2 sticks of ram in it originally, and I have tried every configuration with them. One stick only, both sticks, all the different slot combos, ect. I also took a stick of ram out of my main Desktop PC that I know works fine and tried it on this board. No luck. Same 3 beep code.

I have two different smaller GPUs I use for my test bench setup that do not require external PSU power. Their fans kick on when I power it up, so I know they are getting some power to them. The board's RGB LEDs light up just fine as soon as I flip the power switch on the PSU as well, and the CPU cooler fan comes on. I never get a signal from the HDMI on either GPUs. Just a black screen and the beep code.

I also tested the PSU with my tester, and no issues there. Any other suggestions as what maybe causing this to not post?

I believe 3 short beeps means a base ram failure during POST. Have you reset CMOS?

And what CPU are you using to test this out? If you've no idea what BIOS revision the board is on your best bet is to be using a 1st gen, or 1000 series, CPU.

 

[liberty610]

What CPU do you have installed in that motherboard?

It is a Ryzen3. I am not sure the exact one, but it is the same one that was installed in it when it was working, so I am pretty sure the BIOS that was loaded on it can handle it. I also tried pulling the CMOS battery to clear any potential BIOS mis-haps. That didn't work either.

 

[COLGeek]

It is a Ryzen3. I am not sure the exact one, but it is the same one that was installed in it when it was working, so I am pretty sure the BIOS that was loaded on it can handle it. I also tried pulling the CMOS battery to clear any potential BIOS mis-haps. That didn't work either.

Knowing the exact model helps. Sounds like a DOA motherboard.

 

[drea.drechsler]

It is a Ryzen3. I am not sure the exact one, but it is the same one that was installed in it when it was working, so I am pretty sure the BIOS that was loaded on it can handle it. I also tried pulling the CMOS battery to clear any potential BIOS mis-haps. That didn't work either.

Try with a single stick of memory in each of the DIMM sockets.

 

[liberty610]

Try with a single stick of memory in each of the DIMM sockets.

I did that.

It had 2 sticks of ram in it originally, and I have tried every configuration with them. One stick only, both sticks, all the different slot combos, ect. I also took a stick of ram out of my main Desktop PC that I know works fine and tried it on this board. No luck. Same 3 beep code.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I did that.

Either CPU or motherboard could be defective.

Are you POSITIVE the board/cpu combination was functional when it was taken out of service?

The very early BIOS's for Ryzen on AB350 boards were pretty much trash. It was common to get in a condition they called "cold brick" where it would refuse to train memory. The only way I could get my AB350m Gaming board to boot would be to pull the battery and leave it out overnight while also leaving the CMOS reset pins shorted together. Also disconnect power from the PSU to be sure none is applied.

 

[liberty610]

Either CPU or motherboard could be defective.

Are you POSITIVE the board/cpu combination was functional when it was taken out of service?

The very early BIOS's for Ryzen on AB350 boards were pretty much trash. It was common to get in a condition they called "cold brick" where it would refuse to train memory. The only way I could get my AB350m Gaming board to boot would be to pull the battery and leave it out overnight while also leaving the CMOS reset pins shorted together. Also disconnect power from the PSU to be sure none is applied.

I personally did not see the board fully functional before I tore it down. But my family member who gave it to me was using it for gaming just before I got it. I will try tp pull the CMOS battery overnight and see what that does. I highly doubt the BIOS was ever updated from the stock version that was installed on it.

 

[drea.drechsler]

... I will try to pull the CMOS battery overnight and see what that does. I highly doubt the BIOS was ever updated from the stock version that was installed on it.

If the BIOS was never updated all it'll run is one of the original launch Ryzen CPU's: 1400/1500/1600/1700/1800 (i think) or the 'X' variants. Even a 1600X could be sketch if it's one of the AF versions that came out much later. So you'd best have the CPU that was original to the board.

Also be sure to short the pins as it sits overnight. Hopefully this works.