BIOS version on board/pcb and updating with flash bios button, Help!

[TacosBurritos]

Greetings!!
Recently i purchased two B550 boards, the MSI Tomahawk and Gigabyte Gaming X V2, one for me one for family member.

Tomahawk
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B550-TOMAHAWK/Overview

Gaming X V2
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550-GAMING-X-V2-rev-10-11-12#kf

But i have no idea whatsoever about what BIOS version is installed on each one of the boards, Both have the "AMD Ryzen 5000 Desktop Ready" sticker in the box and that doesn't necessarily mean that they are compatible with Ryzen 5700x and Ryzen 5600g since there's an endless amount of topics about people who couldn't boot the system until they upgraded BIOS eventho motherboard claimed to be "ryzen 500 desktop ready"

Who knows? maybe i'm lucky and i got recent versions as i bought the motherboards not long ago (Last month) but maybe im unlucky and i got boards that have been sitting on some shelf for months...anyways, i really don't want to install the CPU's and find out that system won't boot due wrong BIOS version because then i'll have to remove the CPU, waste more thermal paste, clean it with isopropyl, re-apply later and use the flash bios button etc.

Do you know if there's any info about the BIOS version by looking at the board itself or the serial number and other codes in the box and motherboard? 

Now about the Flash Bios Button (MSI) and Q-Flash button (Gigabyte)

Some people say you have to use some old USB drive between 2gb and 8gb size for better results, some say you need to use FAT16 and not FAT32, some say old power supplies won't work (how old? 5y old? 2y? 10 years old?) etc some say you can brick the motherboard and some others claim that you can flash it non-stop multiple times and even if power goes off you can pretty much inject bios no matter what thx to flash bios button, then we have people who followed the instructions from mobo website and flash failed and TBH this is giving me a massive headache already with all the multiple and contradictory answers, or maybe just different results for many people? either way, what do you recommend for both motherboards in case i have to use the flash button feature?

1- Should i get the latest non-beta BIOS for both just to be in the safe zone?
2- What if i flash using the same BIOS version currently installed in the motherboard? (coz again not knowing what version is currently installed is like doing it blindfolded)
3- Can the mobo boot and show BIOS on screen even without CPU installed? i've read that some motherboards can do that but im not sure plus no idea if that can cause any problem or damage to the board or bios itself by booting with no CPU and/or Ram sticks.

Thx for the help!!!



 

[Verrierr]

1- It's much safer to just try to build it and try to turn the system on. If it doesn't POST, you can update the BIOS with the Q-Flash at that point (no need to remove the CPU for that). You're more likely to brick the board by messing with the Q-Flash like features than by trying to POST it with incompatible hardware.

2-Same as if you overwrite a file in Windows. Nothing will happen. You will technically reset settings but a new mobo should be set to all default anyway.

3-Nope that is not happening. You're not gonna get a display out with no CPU.

 

The thing about needing older USB drives isn't really much of a concern with B550 from my experience.

Haven't really heard anything about older PSUs not working with those features but I suppose it would have to do with too little power on the 5vsb rail. If the PSU was designed and manufactured in the last 5y I wouldn't worry about this. If you already have a PSU purchased, you can check yourself or just post a link to it's products page.

[TacosBurritos]

18 hours ago, Verrierr said:

1- It's much safer to just try to build it and try to turn the system on. If it doesn't POST, you can update the BIOS with the Q-Flash at that point (no need to remove the CPU for that). You're more likely to brick the board by messing with the Q-Flash like features than by trying to POST it with incompatible hardware.
 

Haven't really heard anything about older PSUs not working with those features but I suppose it would have to do with too little power on the 5vsb rail. If you already have a PSU purchased, you can check yourself or just post a link to it's products page.

Corsair CX650 and Cooler Master MWE 600w

About the PSU's we have the Corsair CX650, CX550 and Cooler Master MWE 600w.

So do you recommend installing everything except SSD's etc then turn it, see if POST and shows something on screen? and if nothing happens then use flash bios button with latest, stable BIOS available?
I was hesitating about doing it like that, again, some people say CPU shouldn't be installed while doing bios flash, no RAM and pretty much nothing installed except PSU and obviously the motherboard but if it's ok to do it with CPU installed then i'll go ahead and do it this way.

[Verrierr]

On 3/10/2023 at 9:29 AM, TacosBurritos said:

About the PSU's we have the Corsair CX650, CX550 and Cooler Master MWE 600w.

So do you recommend installing everything except SSD's etc then turn it, see if POST and shows something on screen? and if nothing happens then use flash bios button with latest, stable BIOS available?
I was hesitating about doing it like that, again, some people say CPU shouldn't be installed while doing bios flash, no RAM and pretty much nothing installed except PSU and obviously the motherboard but if it's ok to do it with CPU installed then i'll go ahead and do it this way.

Usually when you're flashing BIOS, CPU and RAM is installed, there're even boards which you can flash while Windows is up and running. The fact that you're doing it with hte Q-Flash or w/e doesn't make a difference.

[TacosBurritos]

Alright so no problem by using flash bios button / q-flash plus button having cpu or even ram installed while doing it. Thx!! i was a little worried due all the post in reddit talking about not doing it with any component installed and then people saying that it'll be fine with cpu, ram etc just like you said. 
 

 I like mike's guides but in this video he says that Q-flash won't work with CPU installed... That's why me and probably many others are so confused, not because of mike's video alone but many others repeating the same idea from different sources.

But that's a 2 years old video, now here's a 2 months old video where he says "ideally" or "up to you" or "just in case"  Next video is for the board we talking about the Gaming X V2 
 

The BIOS which adds compatibility with Ryzen 5000G series was released in July 2021 i would be very surprised if bios is not updated as it was bought last month, in 2023 !!!! Might just give it a try and see if post, if it doesn't i flash it and cross fingers, thx for the help!

 

[TacosBurritos]

Sry for double post but, when flashing bios with q-flash button and CPU installed.... do i have to connect the cpu cooler fan to motherboard? you know to the 3 pin cpu connector? kinda sounds like the right thing to do but im not sure, thx!

[Verrierr]

6 hours ago, TacosBurritos said:

Sry for double post but, when flashing bios with q-flash button and CPU installed.... do i have to connect the cpu cooler fan to motherboard? you know to the 3 pin cpu connector? kinda sounds like the right thing to do but im not sure, thx!

Doesn't matter whether you plug it in or not. CPU is not in use during Q-Flash.

[TacosBurritos]

On 3/13/2023 at 1:28 AM, Verrierr said:

Doesn't matter whether you plug it in or not. CPU is not in use during Q-Flash.

TYVM for all the help, i think i got lucky since computer did POST and got video signal with a BIOS screen showing that this motherboard has F14 bios version and the minimum required for 5000g series was F13 so i think there's no point in updating bios unless there's a significant improvement in newer versions right?

Anyways i freaked out a little bit, the 1st time i turned the system on i saw nothing on screen and the rgb in ram modules stopped working after 12 seconds or so, then i waited like 7 minutes and i was thinking "damn maybe this is what happens when BIOS is not compatible, well i guess it's time to use q-flash button and usb stick.."

i pressed the power button like 5 seconds to shut down the system but nothing happened hmm everything was still spinning as in CPU and psu fans, so i hit the power button one more time and looks like the system restarted... Then RGB in ram was on in this rainbow pattern, everything looked fine and finally video signal!!! a bios screen with some info of ftmp bitlocker sht whatever, anyways that was a relief cuz the screen said this computer had F14 bios version  still i wonder what happened the very 1st time i turn it on, that was scary.