ryzen 7 7800x3d AM5/7800X3d+DDR5 Issues compounded by MSI bios issues, now won't POST in any config after an accidental bootloader erase.

[gooseta]

Hi all, I really hope I can get some help with this issue. It's a ramble explaining the whole timeline of this system (the last month) but theres context that may be useful to potentially diagnosing this thing.. I've tried to condense it here but I am so so tired right now, have spent 24 hours of the last 2 days trying to get this working 100% and this is all on a system that was running perfectly like 3 days ago.

Right now my to-do list is test with my known good old psu, and failing that a new CPU and motherboard? I should be able to get a refund for the board but the cpu will be a harder task.

 

TLDR: Stuck on red and yellow cpu and dram error lights and cannot POST on a system that was hard to get to boot when first assembled and required a new ram kit to boot and use. Switched to beta bios on advice of a comment and old ram worked, then I unwittingly formatted my old drive with my old windows install on it (i had previously booted this system with it as my primary drive but then moved it to slot 2 and fresh installed on a new drive in slot 1, windows in its wisdom decided i only needed a bootloader on my D drive even though both were installed when I did the clean install on the new drive). Following that I attempted a bios update and could boot into the bios but saw no boot manager. Tried to run a windows install usb in this state, multiple BSODS, now won't POST even after extensive troubleshooting, and I'm insanely frustrated because I feel like all my parts are known good whilst also being potentially what's failing or at least causing the system not to advance to post.
Parts used:

• R7 7800X3D - bought open box from ebay, potentially sus?
• MSI B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI - bought new on amazon
• 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6000 (CMK32GX5M2B6000Z30) - bought new on amazon
• 64GB G.Skill Z5 neo DDR5-6000 (F5-6000J3040G32GX2-TZ5N) - bought on ebay sealed
• MSI ventus RTX 4080 - bought used but hasn't had any issues in 2 completely different systems
• 3 2TB M.2 SSDs, 970evo plus (old windows install 1), crucial something (new windows install), and og sabrent rocket, all known good
• Thermaltake GF3 1000W - bought brand new from scan

Summary of issues timeline

Part 1

• Assembled build with G.Skill RAM, encountering solid red or red and yellow LED error indicators on the MSI B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI motherboard. Able to get into bios once but after enabling expo, will not boot into the bios again.
• Tried BIOS update, CPU reseating and booting without RAM. No success.
• Got new Corsair RAM kit, successfully boots on first try; I confirm the BIOS did update to the latest version.
• Try the G.Skill RAM again, same issues
• Return to Corsair RAM, used pc without problems for approximately two to three weeks.
• (At this point, I was using a single drive, the old c drive from my previous machine (samsung 970 evo plus 2tb). I had been meaning to do a clean install with the new crucial ssd I got but it took me a bit to get to, with all the ram headaches etc
• Installed Crucial SSD, into m.2 slot 1, shifted the samsung ssd with my old windows install to the 2nd slot, and successfully install Windows 10 onto the new Crucial SSD.
• Remembered I wanted to run that G.skill ram and thought it may work now that I could boot into windows, and found a comment saying to try an older beta BIOS version (7D75v172) from June 2023; resolves all issues with the G.skill kit and I can boot it with expo enabled or with a custom overclock.

Part 2

• Encountered weird booting phenomenon with Windows, I prompted to choose between two Windows installations upon boot (sometimes this would happen within the blue windows UI you get when you restart to boot into recovery or whatever, sometimes this would happen in a white text on black environment, not sure if that was also windows or that was the motherboard's own boot management?. I've upgraded my C Drive to a new one and moved my old drive to a different slot a couple of times before but hadn't faced this issue and wasn't sure what to do.
• I kept using the system as it was for a few days and it was completely stable aside from this issue. I did not run super thorough stress tests at the time but I did about 25-30 runs of a few of the 3DMark benchmarks, as well as 3 stress tests (also thru 3dmark). Used Testmem5 for about 30 mins with no issue but obviously not the largest sample.
• Created a fresh Windows install usb, got BSODs three times about a minute-2 minutes into the install. Frustrated, I format the entirety of my drive containing my old windows install thru cmd, and as I didn't realise at the time, the ONLY windows bootloader/manager despite having installed windows on 2 disks.
• Once I realized the  drive contained both old Windows install and the only bootloader, I booted and was able to get to the BIOS with all hardware detected, but no bootable drives detected at this point.
• Updated BIOS to latest version attempt to resolve issue.
• System fails to POST after BIOS update, solid yellow and red lights on motherboard with no display output. (CPU and DRAM errors iirc)
• Tried many BIOS updates (I have tried four or five different bioses, all of them show the normal behaviour when attempting to flash a bios through the usb flashback system but instead of eventually rebooting into the bios, the white light would just blink indefinitely, with the red and yellow error LEDs) (to be clear, every bios update I did up to this point used this method, and I used the same usb drive every time.), Tried clearing the cmos multiple times, Tried creating a livecd and seeing if it would autoboot to that, Tried reseating the CPU twice, tried with no ram, one stick, and two sticks of either kit. Tried with no gpu, tried with displayport plugged into motherboard, tried with no ssds, the old windows ssd only, my new crucial ssd with my new install on it only, and with all 3 ssds. Verified connections to the 24 pin, cpu power, gpu power etc were all secure. Unplugged all USB devices. Made sure monitor was not in sleep mode for any of the boot attempts.
• PC is now currently completely unable to post, and I get a solid red and yellow persistent error LED. Have let it sit like this for a while multiple times, no result.
• Given that I've used this system successfully, albeit with quirks, I am really at a loss.. The only thing I can think of is that the CPU is very slightly damaged in a way that causes erratic behaviour with certain bioses/ram, or that the psu is somehow faulty, although I have used this PSU from the start of the build and I've had no observable issues with it, and it's plenty of power for my system. No magic smoke, no fuses tripped etc.

Any help is genuinely appreciated. Pastebin with my full ramble, may have missed something. Also, I was not aware of just how much people experience am5 compatibility issues with ddr5, so if I did something wrong there it's simply because I hadn't followed am5 hardware closely, being on an am4 build for many years.

[TatamiMatt]

just OOC, ram is in slots 2 and 4 from CPU?

[gooseta]

5 minutes ago, TatamiMatt said:

just OOC, ram is in slots 2 and 4 from CPU?

yup

edit: just to add, I had a look for bent pins a few hours ago when I was doing another reseating and the pins looked perfect to me.

[TatamiMatt]

4 minutes ago, gooseta said:

yup

Okay thats good, so does the Pc boot at all with RAM in without the overclock (EXPO etc)? (Apologies if youve mentioned this already)

[gooseta]

The RAM was running at 6000 but on a custom oc profile, not expo, the last time I was able to get past the BIOS, now that I remember that maybe this was the source of the bsods in the windows installer (was running tighter timings but not pushing the voltage really).. anyway no now it won't boot with any ram or with none. I know when I flashed bioses successfully on this board I'd have to re-enable my OC just like i would if it was expo, but that could complicate it. I do doubt that the settings have survived the flashes/cmos clears but I'm pretty unfamiliar with troubleshooting issues like this specifically.

[TatamiMatt]

5 minutes ago, gooseta said:

The RAM was running at 6000 but on a custom oc profile, not expo, the last time I was able to get past the BIOS, now that I remember that maybe this was the source of the bsods in the windows installer.. anyway no now it won't boot with any ram or with none. I know when I flashed bioses successfully on this board I'd have to re-enable my OC just like i would if it was expo, but that could complicate it. I do doubt that the settings have survived the flashes/cmos clears but I'm pretty unfamiliar with troubleshooting issues like this specifically.

yeah RAM issues are awfully annoying and confusing, was the D.O.C.P the exact timings of the previous EXPO profile?

 

And what BIOs are you currently running on? the v172(beta) still?

 

I believe im running a later one

 

7D75v17

 

with 6000CL32 32gb of Gskill trident ram on a tomahawk and 7800X3D myself

 

Also memory context restore is turned off right? I personally have issue where my system isnt stable at all unless memory training is ran before boot 

[gooseta]

Yeah, memory context restore and power down were always off. I've tried booting with no GPU, no cpu, no ram, and nothing but the mobo and can't get a successful flash done or even a video output. Tried my known good PSU just now for all of those and no dice. I want to get a new board and x3d in but even with a good return policy it's such an effort. I'm just hoping I got sold a b tier cpu and maybe messed up the motherboard through endless bios flashback

[Devils11002]

Hi Guys First what I say sorry for my English.I Have New PC with AM5 7500f 32gb 6000CL30 B650 MSI Tomahawk Wifi) when I started PC I see in Mainboard Red light and DRAM Yellow and PC started only when. I started PC this Light appears then not.Memory Context Restore ist Enabled Power Down too and Bios its New from February 2024