Replace MSI B450M Mortar Max but keep existing components

dunxd

dunxd

dunxd

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My 12 year old son's gaming rig has been playing up for a while. Some days it won't power on, other days it does. When it won't power on, the EZDiag light on the motherboard is lit up on CPU. When it does power on my son is more than happy with the performance for the games he plays.

The motherboard is an MSI B450M Mortar Max. I bought a new CPU (Ryzen 5 4500) to replace the Ryzen 5 3400G, but when I switched them over that also isn't working. I managed to get it up and running yesterday with the 3400G after taking all the components out and putting them back one by one, but this morning no luck. I updated the BIOS on the board a couple of months ago while it was powering on, to try and resolve the intermittent issue so I don't think it is a compatibility issue.

Am I right in thinking the problem is with the motherboard?

If so, what motherboards can I replace the B450M Mortar Max with that will support the Ryzen 5 4500, DDR4 RAM and fit in the mini ATX case? I'm ok with an upgrade of the motherboard but not ready to replace the whole thing yet.
 
It could be something silly like the switch on the case. It could also be the power supply.
 
eeii said:
It could be something silly like the switch on the case. It could also be the power supply.
Click to expand...
Swapped out the power supply under warranty six months ago as it had failed completely.

How would I check the switch on the case? It definitely switches the PC on and off.
 
dunxd said:
If so, what motherboards can I replace the B450M Mortar Max with that will support the Ryzen 5 4500, DDR4 RAM and fit in the mini ATX case? I'm ok with an upgrade of the motherboard but not ready to replace the whole thing yet.
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Out of the box: I'd look at B550 (preferably a V2). What might or might not work (depends on the BIOS): A320/520, B350/B450, X570.

Iirc, the 4500 was released pretty late in AM4's lifecycle, so it's usually one of the later CPUs to get bios support.
 
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Tetras said:
What might or might not work (depends on the BIOS): A320/520, B350/B450, X570.
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Sorry - I don't understand what you mean here. If I go for a B550 then am I covered?

Looks like the ones that fit in the case are:

* Gigabyte B550M DS3H (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard
* MSI B550M PRO-VDH WiFi (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard
* Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus WIFI II (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard

With only the Gigabyte available for purchase today at Overclockers, but all available ***elsewhere*** including the non WiFi variants. *** no competitor links ***
 
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dunxd said:
If I go for a B550 then am I covered?
Click to expand...
You're not, no. B550 was released June 2020 and the Ryzen 4500 was released April 2022. It's just more likely that a V2 B550 board will have a shipping bios with support, than those other boards I mentioned (especially if you're buying used).

If you get a board with USB flashback, then you can still update the BIOS with an unsupported CPU.

No flashback: B550M DS3H
Flashback: B550M Pro-VDH, TUF B550M-Plus II
 
Thanks for clarifying. *** No competitor links ***

I'm ok with flashing new BIOS, but after having one board (possibly) failing I am a bit reluctant to go used.
 
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dunxd said:
Swapped out the power supply under warranty six months ago as it had failed completely.

How would I check the switch on the case? It definitely switches the PC on and off.
Click to expand...
Can't really check it
Well not easily
If you have a multimeter
Or just use a led and couple wires and a battery etc
Then you could

Other way would be if the motherboard
Has built in on/off button
Not looked up your board but usually
It's higher end board has them

Could just disconnect the on/off wires from
The motherboard
And try turning it on a few times
By jumping the 2 pins with a screwdriver or similar
If that consistently works
And on/off switch doesn't yes might be switch
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
Can't really check it
Well not easily
If you have a multimeter
Or just use a led and couple wires and a battery etc
Then you could

Other way would be if the motherboard
Has built in on/off button
Not looked up your board but usually
It's higher end board has them

Could just disconnect the on/off wires from
The motherboard
And try turning it on a few times
By jumping the 2 pins with a screwdriver or similar
If that consistently works
And on/off switch doesn't yes might be switch
Click to expand...
 
The on/off is working ok. The fans all start and there is power to the motherboard but the CPU light on EZDiag comes on so no boot.
 
I also found the GIGABYTE B550M AORUS ELITE which looks viable. Also the Asus Prime B550M-K. Any thoughts?
 
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dunxd said:
I also found the GIGABYTE B550M AORUS ELITE which looks viable. Also the Asus Prime B550M-K. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
It would help if you mentioned what features you want/need from the board, because we can't offer meaningful feedback otherwise.

If you just want a basic board to run a 4500 then pretty much anything will do, but as mentioned above, I'd avoid boards that don't have flashback like the B550M-K.

The main difference with B550 boards is the quality of the VRM (and heatsinks, of which the B550M-K doesn't have any), but with a 4500 it doesn't really matter. The rest is boring stuff like USB ports, SATA ports, audio jacks, RGB headers.
 
dunxd said:
My 12 year old son's gaming rig has been playing up for a while. Some days it won't power on, other days it does. When it won't power on, the EZDiag light on the motherboard is lit up on CPU. When it does power on my son is more than happy with the performance for the games he plays.

The motherboard is an MSI B450M Mortar Max. I bought a new CPU (Ryzen 5 4500) to replace the Ryzen 5 3400G, but when I switched them over that also isn't working. I managed to get it up and running yesterday with the 3400G after taking all the components out and putting them back one by one, but this morning no luck. I updated the BIOS on the board a couple of months ago while it was powering on, to try and resolve the intermittent issue so I don't think it is a compatibility issue.

Am I right in thinking the problem is with the motherboard?

If so, what motherboards can I replace the B450M Mortar Max with that will support the Ryzen 5 4500, DDR4 RAM and fit in the mini ATX case? I'm ok with an upgrade of the motherboard but not ready to replace the whole thing yet.
Click to expand...
My old PC did this, changed the battery on the MB and that sorted it.
 
FredFlint said:
My old PC did this, changed the battery on the MB and that sorted it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this tip. I was just searching for recommended motherboards to upgrade my parent's broken PC and came across your post. Changing the BIOS battery fixed the problem.

I was always under the impression a flat battery would cause an error at POST complaining about lost settings. Instead the PC span up the fans but nothing else. No beeps, no screen output, no changes unplugging drives/memory. I was sure it must have been a CPU/MOBO fault.
 
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