Which is bad: my Gigabyte AB350 Gaming 3 Motherboard or my Ryzen 5 1600?

[bomber916]

I have had the worst time trying to get my Ryzen 5 build to work. I can't decide what is wrong, and am hoping that someone out there may have some input.

My build:

• 
  AMD Ryzen 5 1600
  B350 Motherboard (see comments below about this)
  GEIL PC4-24000 (2x8) Ram (gpr416gb3000c15adc)
  Zotac Geforce GTX 1060 (3GB)
  Corsair CX550M (550 Watt power supply)

Every motherboard I have tried has resulted in a CPU error led light on and no POST.

I am currently on my 3rd motherboard. I originally started with the MSI B350 Tomahawk motherboard. When I powered this on, the CPU and RAM LEDs came on. After troubleshooting, I RMAed the board and received a 2nd MSI B350 Tomahawk, and had the same results. I called MSI for support and they verified that everything seemed good.

I RMAed that board and received a Gigabyte AB350 Gaming 3 motherboard, and upon turning it on received a CPU error LED.

I then RMAed the Processor, and still have the the CPU error LED on. I am not sure whether to return the CPU, motherboard, or something else at this point. The ram is on the QVL list for the motherboards.

Here is what I have attempted:

• 
  Build the system on top of the motherboard box.
  Reseated the CPU.
  Checked 24 pin and 8 pin CPU power cables (I did not use the PCI-E power cable in the CPU power header).
  Tried each stick of ram in all 4 slots.
  Used the jumper to reset the BIOS.
  Tried booting both with and without the graphics card.
  Checked voltages coming from the power supply (all good).
  Checked that the CPU fan was plugged into the CPU fan header.

Is there anything else I should try? What part would you send back?

 

[InvalidError]

Check your motherboard's serial number sticker, it usually includes BIOS version. If you got boards that have preloaded BIOS versions older than AGESA 1.0.0.6, there is a fairly high probability that memory compatibility is your problem - Ryzen was extremely picky about RAM before then.

 

[bomber916]

Check your motherboard's serial number sticker, it usually includes BIOS version. If you got boards that have preloaded BIOS versions older than AGESA 1.0.0.6, there is a fairly high probability that memory compatibility is your problem - Ryzen was extremely picky about RAM before then.

How can I determine if this is the case? Does Gigabyte have a website that I can check the bios version it was shipped with?

I don't have any other ddr4 ram to test with.

 

[InvalidError]

As I already said: most motherboard manufacturers put that info on the serial number sticker. If the sticker doesn't give the AGESA version, it should at least have the BIOS version. If you only have the BIOS version, then you can go to the manufacturer's site on the support/download page and look up BIOS versions to see if yours is from before or after the AGESA 1.0.0.6 update.

Since that was back from somewhere around June last year, I'd hope most boards being sold today and even more so RMAs have been updated.

 

[Calvin7]

Model GPR416GB3000C15ADC
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144929&Tpk=N82E16820144929

Read reviews.
One user managed to get it working at 2933MHz by increasing the soc voltage.
-was very difficult to finally get it to run at 2933Mhz

 

[bomber916]

As I already said: most motherboard manufacturers put that info on the serial number sticker. If the sticker doesn't give the AGESA version, it should at least have the BIOS version. If you only have the BIOS version, then you can go to the manufacturer's site on the support/download page and look up BIOS versions to see if yours is from before or after the AGESA 1.0.0.6 update.

Since that was back from somewhere around June last year, I'd hope most boards being sold today and even more so RMAs have been updated.

There is no Bios version or AGESA mentioned on the box.

 

[bomber916]

Model GPR416GB3000C15ADC
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144929&Tpk=N82E16820144929

Read reviews.
One user managed to get it working at 2933MHz by increasing the soc voltage.
-was very difficult to finally get it to run at 2933Mhz

Unfortunately I am unable to even get to the BIOS to try increasing the voltage.

 

[InvalidError]

There is no Bios version or AGESA mentioned on the box.

Many board manufacturers put a sticker on the SO8 flash chips, that's the other place you can look at. The chip itself is about 5x5mm (3/16" square) often located near the CMOS battery and the first BIOS revision with AGESA 1.0.0.6 is F7 dated June 19th.

 

[jackaldrich89]

have you tried booting with 1 stick of ram?