Replacement CPU/Mobo

Mockingbird · 31 Mar 2020 at 15:13

Hello,

My Gigabyte mobo has recently died, It's a dual bios model and both BIOSes are corrupt and it can't POST or enter bios. Have tried every fix I can find but no joy including shorting the main BIOS to try and force backup, so think it's time to replace.

It's a GA-Z77-DH3, currently mounted with a Core i5 2500K and 16GB of DDR3

Replacing with another of the same spec seems a poor choice (it's a 2012 build) - I don't know if LGA1155 mobos even exist any more.

I'm looking for recommendations for a mobo/CPU/RAM and cooler (wouldn't mind an AIO cooler as the case is a full ATX Coolermaster Centurion 5 so venting out the case seems wise). I game at 1080p and won't be upgrading from that any time soon (2 kids... no money) so I'm basically looking to get the best match to the current GPU for 1080p without overspending. I guess a budget of ~£400 or so, but the leaner the better. My current GPU is a Sapphire NITRO+ RX580 8Gb.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Edit:
PSU is a 2.5 year old EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G3

BongoHunter · 31 Mar 2020 at 15:21

This should do it - though someone will be along with a better suggestion shortly am sure. You can bring down to £400 by swapping 3600X for 3600 CPU (both include a cooler)

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £103.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £239.99
1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G320C6K)= £89.99

Total: £444.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)

What PSU do you have and how old is it?

Edit: Your current PSU should be fine

Mcnumpty2323 · 31 Mar 2020 at 15:24

Just out of interest
Did you try a freedos usb
And use efi flash to force flash both bios?

Mockingbird · 31 Mar 2020 at 15:31

Tried to flash the new BIOS - the UEFI/BIOS interaction buttons (del, F8, F12, End for Q-Flash) don't work, tried with the USB for the keyboard in all the rear panel USB slots.

I've tried Win 10 and Ubuntu bootable USBs (no joy, no apparent interaction at all and without access to the BIOS can't check boot order) and I assume freedos would be the same - is there any reason to suspect it would be different? Can try and make one if so.

Mockingbird · 31 Mar 2020 at 15:43

BongoHunter said:
This should do it - though someone will be along with a better suggestion shortly am sure. You can bring down to £400 by swapping 3600X for 3600 CPU (both include a cooler)

1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £103.99

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £239.99

1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G320C6K)= £89.99

Total: £444.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)

Edit: Your current PSU should be fine

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm surprised to learn a bundled cooler with a CPU gives decent performance - that's certainly a win.
I'll almost certainly take your advice and get this combination - benchmarks on the 3600X seem to suggest it's worth it over the 3600 so I'll see if I can squeak the extra ~£50.

Mcnumpty2323 · 31 Mar 2020 at 15:47

Mockingbird said:
Tried to flash the new BIOS - the UEFI/BIOS interaction buttons (del, F8, F12, End for Q-Flash) don't work, tried with the USB for the keyboard in all the rear panel USB slots.

I've tried Win 10 and Ubuntu bootable USBs (no joy, no apparent interaction at all and without access to the BIOS can't check boot order) and I assume freedos would be the same - is there any reason to suspect it would be different? Can try and make one if so.

It's worth trying
If you disconnect all hard drives
It should only have the USB to boot from
Use rufus to make freedos usb
And put bios file on it~rename bios file to
gigabyte. bin
And put efi flash on the usb
If it boots type efi flash for list of commands
Forgot exactly but its something like
efiflash gigabyte.bin /mb
You get a gui so can see it doing it % and which bios it's doing etc
If I can find the post I did will get you the exact command
Other thing which is quick to try if you haven't
Turn on pc
as soon as its booting up
Hold in power button to shut it off
Let go power button
Press power button immediately
This forces a bios backup write
Assuming they aren't both naffed of course

Mockingbird · 31 Mar 2020 at 15:59

Mcnumpty2323 said:
It's worth trying
If you disconnect all hard drives
It should only have the USB to boot from
Use rufus to make freedos usb
And put bios file on it~rename bios file to
gigabyte. bin
And put efi flash on the usb
If it boots type efi flash for list of commands
Forgot exactly but its something like
efiflash gigabyte.bin /mb
You get a gui so can see it doing it % and which bios it's doing etc
If I can find the post I did will get you the exact command
Other thing which is quick to try if you haven't
Turn on pc
as soon as its booting up
Hold in power button to shut it off
Let go power button
Press power button immediately
This forces a bios backup write
Assuming they aren't both naffed of course

I've tried the power cycle thing to prompt backup write with no joy.
Will try the freedos option now.

Edit: FreeDOS didn't work either the loop never reaches the point of looking for a boot device

David_VI · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:02

Wow I think you're in the exact same situation as me!
I already ordered an upgrade before it failed but was hoping to keep my old mobo and cpu for another build.

Can I ask how you know it was the mobo that failed and not the cpu?
Mine starts up and turns off, then repeats. Sometimes i get Dvi input on the monitor but nothing shows before it turns off again.
The last thing I did before it failed was load an old profile on the bios.

Tried the backup bios shorting trick and no dice.

Mcnumpty2323 · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:02

Mockingbird said:
I've tried the power cycle thing to prompt backup write with no joy.
Will try the freedos option now.

Ok
Not on pc so you may find my post about it faster than I can as I suck at stuff on a phone
The mb bit in command is telling it to flash main and backup

Mockingbird · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:05

David_VI said:
Wow I think you're in the exact same situation as me!
I already ordered an upgrade before it failed but was hoping to keep my old mobo and cpu for another build.

Can I ask how you know it was the mobo that failed and not the cpu?
Mine starts up and turns off, then repeats. Sometimes i get Dvi input on the monitor but nothing shows before it turns off again.
The last thing I did before it failed was load an old profile on the bios.

Tried the backup bios shorting trick and no dice.

The telltale thing I believe from other forum posts is the blue backdrop "Gigabyte UEFI dualBIOS" screen with no other text - it seems to appear in all the threads on these BIOS issues. That said, I don't have a way to test the CPU separately.
https://images.app.goo.gl/nKLTcvwGB993LmTd8

Mcnumpty2323 · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:06

David_VI said:
Wow I think you're in the exact same situation as me!
I already ordered an upgrade before it failed but was hoping to keep my old mobo and cpu for another build.

Can I ask how you know it was the mobo that failed and not the cpu?
Mine starts up and turns off, then repeats. Sometimes i get Dvi input on the monitor but nothing shows before it turns off again.
The last thing I did before it failed was load an old profile on the bios.

Tried the backup bios shorting trick and no dice.

Try freedos and efi flash as I said
Got mine boot able twice after bad bios flashes
Am trying to find my post with the exact command as its got to be 100% correct
Even a space in wrong place it won't work

Mcnumpty2323 · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:09

Found it
efiflash gigabyte.bin /db
D and b tells it both bios chips
If you only want to do 1 guess you remove the d or b
Good luck hope it helps you guys

David_VI · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:10

Mcnumpty2323 said:
Try freedos and efi flash as I said
Got mine boot able twice after bad bios flashes
Am trying to find my post with the exact command as its got to be 100% correct
Even a space in wrong place it won't work

Mine wasn't a bad flash but a profile change, but guessing that somehow writes to bios and maybe that failed?
Id be interested if you can find the correct info, I'm not really a techy but know the basics of building. Never used a usb stick to fix a bios though.
Edit: thanks for the info!
Sorry for hijacking thread

Mockingbird · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:10

Mcnumpty2323 said:
Try freedos and efi flash as I said
Got mine boot able twice after bad bios flashes
Am trying to find my post with the exact command as its got to be 100% correct
Even a space in wrong place it won't work

X570 Aorus Pro reverted back to F3 Bios
?

Mcnumpty2323 · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:11

Mockingbird said:
X570 Aorus Pro reverted back to F3 Bios
?

That's the one

David_VI · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:13

Mockingbird said:
The telltale thing I believe from other forum posts is the blue backdrop "Gigabyte UEFI dualBIOS" screen with no other text - it seems to appear in all the threads on these BIOS issues. That said, I don't have a way to test the CPU separately.
https://images.app.goo.gl/nKLTcvwGB993LmTd8

Mine doesn't display anything, just shuts off. Maybe not the bios then?

On your original post, I ordered a similar upgrade, same mobo and ram but a 3700x. Hopefully arrives soon.. Not shipped yet!

Mcnumpty2323 · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:13

Can't remember the exact thing yo do making the freedos usb in rufus
One was select freedos from a drop down list
The other may have been select MBR from a list

Mcnumpty2323 · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:14

David_VI said:
Mine doesn't display anything, just shuts off. Maybe not the bios then?

On your original post, I ordered a similar upgrade, same mobo and ram but a 3700x. Hopefully arrives soon.. Not shipped yet!

Maybe not the bios
But doubt trying this will hurt anyway

David_VI · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:16

Mcnumpty2323 said:
Maybe not the bios
But doubt trying this will hurt anyway

If the system doesn't stay on surely I can't flash a bios?

Mcnumpty2323 · 31 Mar 2020 at 16:20

David_VI said:
If the system doesn't stay on surely I can't flash a bios?

Not sure
Boot it to the USB and wait to see if it shuts down before trying anything
If it shuts down did you try removing bios battery for at least 10 minutes?