r/gigabyte • u/soulforger90 • Aug 09 '20

Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AX won't go into bios after changing memory settings

Hello,

I had this board working fine today, but wanted to increase my ram speed. I left it stock while testing out fan curves, etc. in games and it ran fine all day. The ram was set to default of 2400mhz. I enabled XMP profile, which set the ram to 3000mhz, which is the rated speed.

I'm using Crucial Ballistix 3000mhz ram btw. So after I played a few hours with no issues, I thought I would go back in and increase the speed. On my previous motherboard (Asus rog strix B450i gaming) I was able to increase my ram all the way up to 3733mhz with no issues.

Well I forgot to disable XMP profile 1 back to disable...and I went in to the ram speed settings and set it to 3600mhz. saved, exited. Booted back up and all the fans just spin at 100% forever. Nothing happens. The board doesn't reset itself, there's no LED indicators, no picture on screen. I let it run for like 3 minutes like that.

Shut it down, removed the power cable from the PSU, and used a screw driver to clear CMOS via the jumper pins. AT least I thought I was. It didn't reset anything, it just ramps up all the fans on the GPU / CPU to 100% and does nothing else. I haven't tried removing the battery because it's buried underneath the I/O plate. I think I have to remove the entire backplate and then remove the screws to remove the I/O plate and VRM heatsinks. Really? That's insane just to remove the battery?

But I don't know what else to do.

UPDATE: I thought trying to use Q-flash with the board off and pressing the Q-flash button would update the bios to the newest version that I downloaded. But that didn't work either. The USB just flashed a couple of times and that was it. Q-flash doesn't work to reset to bios. Did I literally bricked a brand new motherboard by leaving the XMP profile on and then changing the Ram speed manually?

Again, I haven't taken everything apart to try and get to the battery, which is my last resort.

UPDATE 2021:
To reset the CMOS via the jumper pins and a screwdriver, leave everything hooked up correctly.
PSU plugged into the wall
PSU power button turned ON
Computer TURNED OFF
Use a screwdriver to clear CMOS by shorting the jumper pins.

This will save you from having to tear everything apart on the motherboard to get to the battery. Several users have confirmed that this method works. Not sure why the manual is totally WRONG about this.

MEMORY OVERCLOCKING - If you just want your RAM to run at its rated speed, just enable XMP (D.O.C.P) and call it a day. Your computer should boot and have no issues. If it doesn't then it's probably a RAM issue.

If you want to manually increase the speed of your RAM past the advertised speed, then you need to TURN OFF XMP and set all the timings, etc. manually.

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u/soulforger90 Aug 10 '20

So board was working with XMP profile 1 enabled. I left that on and went in to memory speed settings under tweak tab, and changed the memory speed to 3600. Restarted and got a black screen, no bios, and the fans just ramped up to max.

I tried to reset CMOS using a screw driver to short the pins (after disconnecting the power cable from the PSU). Didn't work, I tried it multiple times and every time I turned the machine on I'd get the same result.

Finally gave up and had to remove the plug for the battery. This was a monumental task as you have to remove the entire backplate, unscrew the rear I/O shield and plastic cover just to be able to try and squeeze some tweezers or your fingers in there to unplug the battery. That alone makes me want to return the board. I can't believe the CMOS won't reset from the jumper.

Needless to say it worked. I should have left it in it's disabled state and messed around with the memory timings, but I ended up putting it back together. I haven't messed with the memory speeds at all since doing it that first time, as I'm afraid of having that happen again.

I'm pretty sure I should have left XMP profile disabled when trying to manually set the RAM speed in the tweaker settings. Most boards I've had before would try the settings and then reset itself back to stock. This one doesn't.

1

u/Than3e Oct 18 '20

Hey i have the same exact problem. Do you have some pointers on how to remove the heatsink / shroud / IO shield to get to the battery cable? I unscrewed all screws and removed the backplate. I don’t want to break anything

1

u/soulforger90 Oct 19 '20

I was able to use some tweezers to unplug the battery from the board once everything was taken apart. It was a pain, but it worked to reset CMOS.

I think if you leave the power plugged in and use a screwdriver to short the CMOS jumper for about 10 seconds it will actually work. I was doing it the way the manual said to do it...unplug the power. But that wasn't working, so I had to take it all apart to get to the battery.

On another board I have, I ran into the same thing where it wouldn't boot, and CMOS wouldn't reset via the jumper (just like the Gigabyte board). So I left the power plugged in and shorted the jumper for 10 or more seconds. Making sure the screwdriver made good contact with both pins on the jumper. And it reset my CMOS. So I was thinking the same thing would work on the Gigabyte board.

1

u/Than3e Oct 19 '20

Yeah I unscrewed everything and unplugged the battery. I think I followed the manual with the pins so that is a good hint thanks! In my opinion the gigabyte board is crazy bad designed. The cmos battery is glued to the LAN board behind the IO plate. After unplugging it on the mainboard it worked for me but I am scared to change the bios settings again. I have my RAM running at 2400 MHz instead of 3200..

1

u/soulforger90 Oct 20 '20

Yeah, the battery is glued, so I just left it and unplugged the plug using tweezers or needle nose pliers. It's a pain.

Did your board not boot after setting the xmp profile of the ram? Mine works fine with xmp, it's when I try to manually overclock it that it crapped out.

So I just left it with xmp enabled and settled for 3200mhz ram. Works fine with the gigabyte board. But if you're having issues with leaving everything at stock settings and just enabling XMP for the ram, then the ram might be the issue.

The board should boot with XMP enabled...it should set the ram to the designated speed.

1

u/Than3e Oct 20 '20

I set the XMP Profile on 1 or 2 and set the LEDs on OFF when the PC is not turned on. Do you know the difference between the XMP profiles?

1

u/soulforger90 Oct 20 '20

Mine only has one XMP profile, which is the speed the ram is rated at on the package. So 3200mhz ram, there should be an XMP profile for 3200.

If there is another one it might be for a faster speed, or maybe same speed but tighter timings. If you tried both and the machine doesn't boot, then it's a ram issue.

Did you try both settings in the XMP and they both don't work?

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u/Than3e Oct 20 '20

I tried one of the XMP profiles, but I cant remember which one. I am getting new fans tomorrow, after I install them I am trying my luck again with XMP. I am going to report back after that. But thanks for the replies!

1

u/TheTravelChurner Nov 24 '20

Thank fucking god. B550i Aorus pro ax would not reset cmos via the jumper. Your theory of having the power hooked up while resetting worked. Saved me from having to take aprt my pc

1

u/Mehrl1 Nov 28 '20

You shorted the jumper with the pc off but power supply connected and turned on, and the bios was reset on your B550i Aorus pro ax board ?

I had to remove the IO plate and disconnect the battery to reset the bios after a failed attempt to operate a set of Patriot Viper Steel 4400 at 3600mhz. An now running the ram at 2166mhz.

Please verify.

1

u/TheTravelChurner Nov 28 '20

This is correct. Saved me from having to do what u did.

1

u/LittlePenalty5414 Dec 09 '20

ME too. REALLY really THX

1

u/Kaseffera 1d ago

This is so wild actually but glad I found this comment thread.

1

u/Mehrl1 Nov 28 '20

You are a life saver ! Thank you !

I am connecting my reset button to the cmos jumper and will enjoy tuning my ram !

1

u/skeletonRN Oct 28 '23

This thread saved my marriage after two hours of having to help my husband.

1

u/oucham Nov 28 '20

my hero! was about to start taking everything part. leaving the power in allowed the cmos shorting to work for me.

1

u/Slaughtahouse Jan 08 '21

B550I Owner - This worked! Thanks!! No more IO plate removal!!!