PC Won't Post to BIOS After 3 Years of Unuse

[UntitledName]

SPECS:

- ASUS Prime Z370-AII

- Intel i7 8700K

- Corsair Vengeance 16GB 3000MHz DDR4 x2

- EVGA RTX 2080

 

I built my PC back in 2019 and it worked fine for a year until 2020 when I moved countries. I couldn't bring it with me because I didn't have the space for it, but 3 years later I've finally gotten it shipped over. The only problem is that Windows immediately bluescreens upon startup (ACPI BIOS ERROR) and I can't access the BIOS. I've tried removing the drives, moving the RAM around, removing the GPU, and resetting the RTC RAM, but nothing has helped. When removing the boot drive, the computer just goes to a black screen. When booting, the DRAM light comes on for a moment before going off, and then the VGA light comes on for a bit as well. All the fans/lights come on as normal. Any ideas what this could be? I've checked for physical damage, and I see no damage on anything. All similar problems I've found online have been from people who have been able to access their BIOS. The only other thing I can think to do before replacing the motherboard is changing the CMOS battery which I have to wait a few days for.

 

(Also, my PSU is compatible with mains voltage/frequency in this country)

[SupaKomputa]

do a proper cleaning, ram & gpu contacts.

spray contact cleaner on the slots, wait till completely dry before plugging.

[Markski]

ACPI_BIOS_ERROR, as the name implies, means Windows is not happy regarding the state of the BIOS (Specifically regarding ACPI, a power management feature) - I can only guess the bios has become corrupt somehow, but I cannot imagine why.

You have to obtain a new BIOS. However I am not sure how you would do that considering you can't access it.

 

The MSDN documentation on this error suggests disabling ACPI mode while installing Windows, but again, I'm not sure that'd be any good in this case. I think you might need a new motherboard unless there is a physical way to replace it's BIOS.

 

You might also follow the advice from the post above of cleaning and re-seating everything just to be sure. I don't know if it'd help, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

[Echothedolpin]

Replacing the bios battery is a good spot to start as well. It’s less common these days and more common in OEM systems, but sometimes they board won’t post with a dead battery.

[Ebony Falcon]

Need new cmos battery 

[DoctorNick]

24 minutes ago, Echothedolpin said:

Replacing the bios battery is a good spot to start as well. It’s less common these days and more common in OEM systems, but sometimes they board won’t post with a dead battery.

I agree get a CR2032

[UntitledName]

16 minutes ago, DoctorNick said:

I agree get a CR2032

Ordered! I've cleaned out the RAM slots which didn't help, but I'll wait until I've tried a new battery to check the CPU because I literally just reapplied thermal paste yesterday and I don't want to do that all over again while there are other options.

[DoctorNick]

Just now, UntitledName said:

Ordered! I've cleaned out the RAM slots which didn't help, but I'll wait until I've tried a new battery to check the CPU because I literally just reapplied thermal paste yesterday and I don't want to do that all over again while there are other options.

You can try without a battery.. Should boot anyway, cant save the time and bios settings but should boot

[UntitledName]

12 hours ago, DoctorNick said:

You can try without a battery.. Should boot anyway, cant save the time and bios settings but should boot

I just tried without the battery, no luck. It was exactly the same 

[DoctorNick]

8 hours ago, UntitledName said:

I just tried without the battery, no luck. It was exactly the same 

Did you flash a new bios?

[UntitledName]

4 minutes ago, DoctorNick said:

Did you flash a new bios?

All tutorials I've found on flashing the bios get you to do it from within the bios, which I can't do if I can't get to the bios. Will this work if I just remove all other drives?

[DoctorNick]

21 minutes ago, UntitledName said:

All tutorials I've found on flashing the bios get you to do it from within the bios, which I can't do if I can't get to the bios. Will this work if I just remove all other drives?

I see. I read it wrong, I thought you had access to bios, just not windows. Try with a new battery and maybe do this:

Source manual: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/PRIME_Z370-A_II/E14608_PRIME_Z370-A_II_UM_WEB.pdf

 

Download BIOS: https://www.asus.com/dk/motherboards-components/motherboards/prime/prime-z370-a-ii/helpdesk_bios/

Rememeber to run the bios renamer exe

[UntitledName]

20 hours ago, DoctorNick said:

I see. I read it wrong, I thought you had access to bios, just not windows. Try with a new battery and maybe do this:

Source manual: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/PRIME_Z370-A_II/E14608_PRIME_Z370-A_II_UM_WEB.pdf

 

Download BIOS: https://www.asus.com/dk/motherboards-components/motherboards/prime/prime-z370-a-ii/helpdesk_bios/

Rememeber to run the bios renamer exe

Thanks for the suggestion! However neither a new cmos battery nor the bios update has done anything, so I think this means I need to try replacing the motherboard.

[Ebony Falcon]

4 hours ago, UntitledName said:

Thanks for the suggestion! However neither a new cmos battery nor the bios update has done anything, so I think this means I need to try replacing the motherboard.

If ur local u can borrow a board off me

[UntitledName]

19 minutes ago, Ebony Falcon said:

If ur local u can borrow a board off me

Thanks for the offer! I live in Japan though so that's probably not possible lol

[Ebony Falcon]

5 minutes ago, UntitledName said:

Thanks for the offer! I live in Japan though so that's probably not possible lol

Oh haha  

[CommanderAlex]

Something must have gotten jostled in shipping. My only guess is the physical BIOS chip needs replacement or trying a Ch341a programmer tool if you know where the BIOS chip is. 

[UntitledName]

Just for reference, I ended up replacing the motherboard which fixed the issue, so I'm positive it must've been something with the BIOS. If my motherboard had flashback support maybe that would have fixed it, but it's a relief it wasn't some other obscure issue.