Bricked Motherboard Advice Please

Anderson256 · 12 Jun 2019 at 17:20

Hey all,

I've spent 3 of my 5 day holiday troubleshooting this.

So, I barely touch my PC these days, however I got into a game recently and fired up my 10 year old PC. My old GTX 570 wasn't cutting it so I bought a GTX 1660.

After installing I was getting a B3 boot loop. After some googling the consensus was I needed to to update my BIOS to use the 1660.

I downloaded E7681v43.exe from the support site, and stupidly because it was a .exe I ran it. This might have been where I went wrong so hopefully someone can help me out and I can salvage what's left of this week!

Here's some system info;-

Board: MSI P67A-GD55 v1.0
GPU: GTX 570
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k
PSU: Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular (CMPSU-650HXUK)
Mem: Patriot 2x 4gb DDR3 1600Mhz C9 Black Mamba
OS: Windows 10

I've tried running E7681IMS.430 from a FAT32 USB Stick. A3 Loop continues.
Only thing I can do is hit F11 to open boot options.
Tried with different RAM modules in different slots.

After clearing CMOS I was able to get this to show up;

https://imgur.com/a/Y0pwb98

Does this mean that the update was successful?

If you need any more info I'll try my best to provide it and I'd greatly appreciate any help you could give.

Thanks!

tamzzy · 12 Jun 2019 at 17:25

silly question first.
you backed up everything important right?

Anderson256 · 12 Jun 2019 at 17:27

There was nothing of value on it, was literally a fresh install with one game lol

tamzzy · 12 Jun 2019 at 17:32

ah ok.
now remove all your drives except your main drive.
and all but 1 stick of ram.
and all your usb peripherals except 1 kb and 1 mouse
then restart and see if you can continue (ie press F2)

Anderson256 · 12 Jun 2019 at 17:42

Okay, so now it says "WARNING!!!! PLEASE PRESS ANY KEY AND INSERT TO YOUR USB"

If I just hit a key the boot loop continues.

tamzzy · 12 Jun 2019 at 17:49

okay.
try this:
restart and enter setup (F1)
then you'll need to configure your boot sequence to the ssd (i'm assuming your ssd is the one with windows installed, and the disk you left connected)

Anderson256 · 12 Jun 2019 at 18:02

Now instead of looping at A3 it says D7. Still not able to use any function keys or delete to open any BIOS menus.

tamzzy · 12 Jun 2019 at 18:06

which usb ports are you using for the kb/mouse?
post a pic

Anderson256 · 12 Jun 2019 at 18:28

I've tried every USB port, currently using top 2.0 ports. What would you like a pic of?

tamzzy · 12 Jun 2019 at 18:32

Anderson256 said:
I've tried every USB port, currently using top 2.0 ports. What would you like a pic of?

are you using the usb ports closest to the ps/2 port?
should be the ones connected to the intel ich iirc

Anderson256 · 12 Jun 2019 at 18:43

Yep that's the ones I'm using currently.

Also, tried putting in a USB with the BIOS update file and got this

https://imgur.com/a/XXYAmTS

Anderson256 · 12 Jun 2019 at 18:56

Side note, I'd like to order a new CPU and mobo in case there's no fixing this.

Any suggestions that are relatively cheap and will work with Corsair HX 650W, Patriot 2x 4gb DDR3 1600Mhz and my GTX 1660?

Thanks.

tamzzy · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:05

Anderson256 said:
Yep that's the ones I'm using currently.

Also, tried putting in a USB with the BIOS update file and got this

https://imgur.com/a/XXYAmTS

sounds like the intel management engine needs updating.

did you follow this to a tee?
https://storage-asset.msi.com/file/pdf/Bios_update_SOPAll.pdf

if you didn't then i guess use the backup bios...

Anderson256 · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:13

tamzzy said:
sounds like the intel management engine needs updating.

did you follow this to a tee?
https://storage-asset.msi.com/file/pdf/Bios_update_SOPAll.pdf

if you didn't then i guess use the backup bios...

Oh damn, I ran the .exe from my downloads folder instead of a USB drive iirc....

How screwed am I?

tamzzy · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:16

Anderson256 said:
Oh damn, I ran the .exe from my downloads folder instead of a USB drive iirc....

probably why you can't update the intel management engine then.

Anderson256 said:
How screwed am I?

i think your board has dual bios?
if so then flick it to bios 2
and try loading with your old gpu

pastymuncher · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:18

It looks like the first answer in this thread could be relevant to you. Do not flash the bios in windows as that is the easiest way to brick a MSI motherboard of that era.

Anderson256 · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:42

tamzzy said:
probably why you can't update the intel management engine then.

i think your board has dual bios?
if so then flick it to bios 2
and try loading with your old gpu

It does not have dual BIOS afaik.

pastymuncher said:
It looks like the first answer in this thread could be relevant to you. Do not flash the bios in windows as that is the easiest way to brick a MSI motherboard of that era.

Yeah that's quite relevant! Shoulda done my research before trying this. I can't get past the "BIOS ME update file not found" message cause I ran it in windows.

Thanks for the advice anyway guys, appreciate it

tamzzy · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:47

sorry can't be of any better help though

Journey · 12 Jun 2019 at 19:56

Anderson256 said:
If you need any more info I'll try my best to provide it and I'd greatly appreciate any help you could give.

Read the recovery thread here- https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=174985.0 the section called when it all goes wrong.

There are a few other options but that is where to start, at least your board is booting so you should be able to boot to a bootable USB drive and re-flash from the DPS prompt, again help is in that guide.

Anderson256 · 12 Jun 2019 at 20:21

tamzzy said:
sorry can't be of any better help though

No worries man, worst case I have a reason for some other upgrades!

Journey said:
Read the recovery thread here- https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=174985.0 the section called when it all goes wrong.

There are a few other options but that is where to start, at least your board is booting so you should be able to boot to a bootable USB drive and re-flash from the DPS prompt, again help is in that guide.

Thanks, I'll start working my way through it