New PC posts, cannot boot from USB to install Windows

[IHostileI]

Hey everyone, I'm on my last leg here and decided to make a post here as a last ditch effort.

I have just built a new system, part list here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zHVqyK

I receive a post and am able to access the BIOS just fine. But when I attempt to boot from my USB for Windows installation, I am either met with a blank screen with a single, static underscore in the top left OR just a blank screen, tends to be a coinflip. Addtionally, if I have the USB plugged in, if I wait too long to press DEL to enter BIOS, I freeze and will be forced to restart.

Here are the list of remedies I have attempted:

I have tried reinstalling the flash drive with Windows 10 three times, Windows 11 once.
I have tried reinstalling the flash drive with Windows 10 using another PC.

I have also tried a Master Boot Record Windows installation and a GPT Windows Installation (for the newer UEFI) using Rufus USB.

I have tried all 12 USB ports on the new system for USB installation.
I have tried booting from the flash drive on 3 other machines - I'm able to install Windows to all of them.

I am able to see all files on the USB in the BIOS, so I know the system can see the contents of the flash drive. 
I have tried starting the PC with 1 RAM dimm, no GPU, swapped RAM dimms, no SSD, a different SSD, etc.

I have made sure the SSD works in another system.
I have tried updating the BIOS, it freezes when I attempt to press the "Ready to Restart" button, resulting in keeping the same BIOS version when manually restarted.

I have not attempted using a different USB stick because I don't have easy access to another. However, like previously stated, the USB works in other machines, so I'm not sure how likely it is for this to be the problem.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated because I'm currently stuck with a very rainbow paperweight.

Thanks!

[svmlegacy]

Try to clear CMOS if you haven't already, and if it still won't let you update the BIOS, initiate a RMA on the motherboard.

[IHostileI]

8 minutes ago, svmlegacy said:

Try to clear CMOS if you haven't already, and if it still won't let you update the BIOS, initiate a RMA on the motherboard.

I have cleared CMOS by removing the battery and by connecting the jumper pins, motherboard confirms the reset upon the next boot, still unable to update BIOS or boot from USB

[Thomas4]

Yes, I agree RMA the motherboard, you've done more than you should had to do.

[Bombastinator]

What is your boot order in bios?  Is usb drive (or some equivalent) on it?  If your instal or your usb stick was bad it wouldn’t have worked on the other machines. Clearing cmos should reset any changes you made in the bios screen and reset everything to default. is the bios listing  any drives besides the USB?

[IHostileI]

5 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

What is your boot order in bios?  Is usb drive (or some equivalent) on it?  If your instal or your usb stick was bad it wouldn’t have worked on the other machines. Clearing cmos should reset any changes you made in the bios screen and reset everything to default. is the bios listing  any drives besides the USB?

The only thing I can select as a boot option is my flash drive.
Which in itself is an oddity, as I installed Windows onto my M.2 drive using another machine as an attempted bypass to installing it on this new machine.
That M.2 drive is not listed as a boot option, despite it being formatted as a boot drive with a Windows installation.
I can see that the M.2 drive is recognized by BIOS as an M.2 connection, but it is not available to boot from.

[Bombastinator]

6 minutes ago, IHostileI said:

The only thing I can select as a boot option is my flash drive.

So the boot order has only one thing?  

There should be a mess of stuff, including usb external CD.  Maybe even floppy. (I assume you have neither) 
As I understand it, The boot order is the list of places the bios checks looking for a bootable file. So #1 is where it checks first, etc…  if it finds a bootable thing it immediately boots off it.  Frequently for this reason USB external drive is before internal drive so if your internal drive OS is messed up you can boot off a usb key without having the bios even look at the hard drive.  Back when CD drives were everywhere it was common practice to have CD in front of internal hard drive.  That was how Linux liveCDs worked.  You just slapped the disk in and the machine would boot off it instead of the hard drive.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Bombastinator

[IHostileI]

1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

So the boot order has only one thing?  

There should be a mess of stuff, including usb external CD.  Maybe even floppy. (I assume you have neither) 
As I understand it, The boot order is the list of places the bios checks looking for a bootable file. So #1 is where it checks first, etc…  if it finds a bootable thing it immediately boots off it.  Frequently for this reason USB external drive is before internal drive so if your internal drive OS is messed up you can boot off a usb key without having the bios even look at the hard drive.

Boot order only shows my flash drive as Boot Priority #1. When I attempt to boot from it using BIOS or just a normal restart, I get a blank screen (display still on, just blank) or a blank screen with an underscore.

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, IHostileI said:

Boot order only shows my flash drive as Boot Priority #1. When I attempt to boot from it using BIOS or just a normal restart, I get a blank screen (display still on, just blank) or a blank screen with an underscore.

Well that’s weird.  There should be a default list.   I’m wondering if we’re talking about the same thing.  Do you have any m.2 drives installed? Have you always had that usb key in the same port?  

Edited December 15, 2022 by Bombastinator

[IHostileI]

3 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Well that’s weird.  There should be a default list.   I’m wondering if we’re talking about the same thing.  Do you have any m.2 drives installed? 

Yes, I have a 2TB M.2 drive installed; however, it is not found within the boot order menu. (despite it having a working installation of Windows on it)

[Bombastinator]

3 minutes ago, IHostileI said:

Yes, I have a 2TB M.2 drive installed; however, it is not found within the boot order menu. (despite it having a working installation of Windows on it)

Well it wouldn’t be but if you’re going to install onto it internal hard drive would have to be in the boot order.   
what motherboard do you have?  I think I need to look at the manual, which should be online.  There should be pictures of the bios screens in it, so we’re at least looking at the same thing.

[IHostileI]

2 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Well it wouldn’t be but if you’re going to install onto it internal hard drive would have to be in the boot order.   
what motherboard do you have?  I think I need to look at the manual, which should be online.  There should be pictures of the bios screens in it, so we’re at least looking at the same thing.

GIGABYTE B650 AORUS PRO AX

I enabled CSM support and I now have 4 different boot options. Unfortunately, booting from any of them still produces a blank screen with an underscore.

[Bombastinator]

16 minutes ago, IHostileI said:

GIGABYTE B650 AORUS PRO AX

I enabled CSM support and I now have 4 different boot options. Unfortunately, booting from any of them still produces a blank screen with an underscore.

I’m looking at the manual. Page 34 seems to have what you need.  What happens when you start it up and spam f12?

[IHostileI]

5 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

I’m looking at the manual. Page 34 seems to have what you need.  What happens when you start it up and spam f12?

F12 opens the boot order tab, I can see the following boot options.

Unfortunately, attempting to boot from any of these options results in the same blank screen with an underscore mentioned previously

[Bombastinator]

I wonder if the problem is the case port.  Maybe turn the machine really off (with the switch on the PSU or pull the plug.  Either works, put your usb key in the back panel and try booting.  If that doesn’t work, My temptation at that point would be to shutdown, remove the current install key, make a new install key with a different usb key, and plug it into a different port on the back.  This shouldn’t matter, but it’s perplexing so I’m going off the assumption that for some reason something is messed up somewhere I just don’t know where.   To make a windows install, You download the .iso and use Rufus (a free app) to turn the new usb key into a bootable disk with the install on it. Back port avoids the case.  With an am5 motherboard the bios should be reasonably up to date.  Your motherboard has Qflash though.

[IHostileI]

1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

I wonder if the problem is the case port.  Maybe turn the machine really off (with the switch on the PSU or pull the plug.  Either works, put your usb key in the back panel and try booting.  If that doesn’t work, My temptation at that point would be to shutdown, remove the current install key, make a new install key with a different usb key, and plug it into a different port on the back.  This shouldn’t matter, but it’s perplexing so I’m going off the assumption that for some reason something is messed up somewhere I just don’t know where.   To make a windows install, You download the .iso and use Rufus (a free app) to turn the new usb key into a bootable disk with the install on it. Back port avoids the case.  With an am5 motherboard the bios should be reasonably up to date.  Your motherboard has Qflash though.

I have attempted a Windows install with multiple flash drives, multiple different Windows installation methods (Rufus included), and all 12 USB ports in my system (both front panel and motherboard ports).

None solve the issue.

[IHostileI]

3 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

I wonder if the problem is the case port.  Maybe turn the machine really off (with the switch on the PSU or pull the plug.  Either works, put your usb key in the back panel and try booting.  If that doesn’t work, My temptation at that point would be to shutdown, remove the current install key, make a new install key with a different usb key, and plug it into a different port on the back.  This shouldn’t matter, but it’s perplexing so I’m going off the assumption that for some reason something is messed up somewhere I just don’t know where.   To make a windows install, You download the .iso and use Rufus (a free app) to turn the new usb key into a bootable disk with the install on it. Back port avoids the case.  With an am5 motherboard the bios should be reasonably up to date.  Your motherboard has Qflash though.

Also, I have attempted to flash the BIOS. When I attempt to do this, it freezes before fully updating (have left for 1 hour+) and I need a manual restart to regain control of the system.

[Bombastinator]

24 minutes ago, IHostileI said:

I have attempted a Windows install with multiple flash drives, multiple different Windows installation methods (Rufus included), and all 12 USB ports in my system (both front panel and motherboard ports).

None solve the issue.

I thought you’d only tried it with the one, which worked in other machines.  There have been two motherboards, so it’s doubtful that an m.2 got misinstalled twice. 

[IHostileI]

10 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

I thought you’d only tried it with the one, which worked in other machines.  There have been two motherboards, so it’s doubtful that an m.2 got misinstalled twice. 

Exactly my thought process. I'm not even sure what could be at fault at this point...

[Bombastinator]

12 minutes ago, IHostileI said:

Exactly my thought process. I'm not even sure what could be at fault at this point...

Well m.2 misinstall is the only thing that comes to my mind, unlikely as it is.  

[IHostileI]

3 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Well m.2 misinstall is the only thing that comes to my mind, unlikely as it is.  

I can see the M.2 as a boot option + an M.2 connection in the BIOS though

And I can completely remove the M.2 and I still should be able to boot from USB to get into the Windows installer...

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, IHostileI said:

I can see the M.2 as a boot option + an M.2 connection in the BIOS though

And I can completely remove the M.2 and I still should be able to boot from USB to get into the Windows installer...

Yup.  Won’t have anything to install the OS to of course but at this point forward progress is forward progress.

[IHostileI]

10 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Yup.  Won’t have anything to install the OS to of course but at this point forward progress is forward progress.

m.2 reinstall does not change anything, made 100% sure it's fully in 

[Bombastinator]

2 minutes ago, IHostileI said:

m.2 reinstall does not change anything, made 100% sure it's fully in 

Well crap.  That was all I got.  The computer is basically the motherboard and what you attach to it.  Something is broken that you did not replace, or installed incorrectly or something.

[Bombastinator]

One more thought:  you’ve got more than one USB key, and there appears to be a good enough connection to usb that the bios can detect the key.  What if you erased one key and tried to install windows from the other.  The computer can’t tell one hard drive from another, so to speak, so the other usb key would be just a blank hard drive as far as the computer is concerned.  Maybe pull the m.2 and put in two usb keys.  The install one and a dead blank one. That way there is an install disk to boot off of and a blank disk to install onto.