7950X Build Woes

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I’ve finally put together the 7950X system I’ve been waiting on parts for the past few weeks. It’s an MSI PRO X670-P system. I decided this time I didn’t want anything fancy - no ARGB! - and figured the PRO mobo would be fine.

Tonight I bench-tested it with the CPU, cooler (NH-D15) and M.2 drives installed. It has a Seasonic 850W PSU.

So, it doesn’t boot. Or rather it did, once, after a few non-booting attempts, and after I’d plugged in the MSI RX 6800 GPU. It reported that it had detected a new CPU then shortly thereafter switched itself off. I’ve not been able to get it to boot into the BIOS since.

The “EZ Debug” LEDs - which are pretty useless IMHO (the light indicates a failure in the device or it not being available) - light up the CPU and DRAM indicators on boot but then go out some time after - a few tens of seconds. I figure since the lights aren’t stuck on that the system actually finds the CPU and DRAM. It did once anyway. The GPU and Boot lights never come on.

After many attempts to make the PC do something again I’ve tried resetting the CMOS by removing the battery and waiting 5+ minutes; I’ve removed the M.2 drives (except the one I can’t reach yet under the cooler) and the DRAM. When I removed the DRAM the DRAM EZ Debug light came on and stayed on. I put one stick back (it had 2 x 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5) and the light came on but then went off as usually happens. I’ve also swapped the Radeon RX 6800 for a GeForce RTX 3050 from an i9-12900 system that was working fine until I pulled the GPU out of it. Still no go - monitor says no HDMI signal, same if it’s plugged into the 6800 or into the HDMI out from the mobo that I believe the 7950X is powering. I tried HDMI and DP on the mobo, 6800, and 3050. I even tried a different monitor just in case. No difference with all those combos.

It looks like someone else had a problem getting an MSI MEG ACE and 4090 GPU booting. This feels similar although my mobo is much more rudimentary with less sophisticated POST codes (i.e. none, just the mysterious “EZ” LEDs). And I did get to the BIOS at least once before it went dark. It feels like a mobo problem, or the CPU. I don’t have another 7000-series CPU to swap with.

I’ve been googling of course, and alternately smacking my head against the table.

I put together a couple of MSI builds this year - a 5950X and i9-12900. Those builds went flawlessly so I’m a bit perturbed by having a non-booting system in bench test.

Thanks for any thoughts, pointers, etc.

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If if booted once… Id reseat the cpu, memory and cooler dah CPU under it. Try again.

Check the socket etc for problems. However if it worked once… just a reseat may be all you need.

Remember memory training takes minutes on first boot. Give it a solid 10mins.

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Yup if the memory led is blinking it might in the memory training process.
Especially with 32GB modules this could take some time.

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Training process can take a super long time, make sure you update bios when you can

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No blinking lights: CPU and DRAM come on when power is applied then go off about 30-60 seconds later. If I understand the almost non-existent MSI documentation regarding EZ Debug LEDs then the fact that the lights go off presumably means that the motherboard has decided that there is no problem with the CPU and DRAM after all. This would seem to be corroborated by the fact that the DRAM light stays on if I’ve pulled it all out of the motherboard.

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I left it powered on for a sufficiently long time to finish any memory training (I have been through this before and it doesn’t need tens of minutes, but I gave it tens of minutes anyway).

I tried BIOS flashback but nothing happened with that. I’m going to remove the CPU and try it next.

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Thanks. I checked the socket with magnifying glass before putting in the CPU - everything looked fine, nothing amiss with any pins.

I’m going to try removing the CPU and attempt a BIOS flashback. Tried with the CPU installed - nada.

I’ve left it powered on for over 30 minutes. Also nada.

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Maybe there’s a standoff installed in the case’s motherboard tray that is grounding the motherboard? Check the case to verify that all of the standoffs that are installed align properly with the holes in the motherboard.

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Slight update:

I made a tech support request to MSI explaining what I’d already tried. They sent me what looks like a hand-crafted (but maybe they have very convincing AI!) response requesting that I do the things I already told them I’d done.

If it’s the mobo or CPU, which is basically what I’m down to, then I’m kind of stuck because I don’t have another - expensive - CPU to drop in just to to eliminate the 7950X.

The previous builds had 7-segment debug LEDs,. At least with those you knew where the boot process had got to if you had a problem. But neither of those builds had a problem! Typical.

I’m going to try a BIOS flashback with the CPU removed. If that doesn’t do it then I don’t know what I can do. Does anyone rent out 7000-series CPUs for component elimination testing…?

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Hardware unboxed had something like this on a live stream recently. I think the fix was a bios flashback (as if the board was bricked). You could Send Steve a message, Im sure he would tell you what he did.

It 8:00 am here so he should be up soon :slight_smile:

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I saw that. He could get into the BIOS, I can’t except for one scant attempt after which it turned off and hasn’t come back to life since. I don’t think it’s the same thing. At least my board isn’t the Godlike…

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I just tried removing the CPU and memory and powering on: the EZ Debug lights indicating CPU and DRAM problem come on and stay on.

I tried BIOS flashback with no CPU in the socket: nothing (other than a red LED lighting as long as the flash button was depressed on the rear I/O panel).

I put the CPU and a stick of RAM back in the board and the EZ Debug lights come on as usual and go off again as usual 30 seconds or so later.

The fact that the EZ Debug lights go off would seem to indicate that the CPU and memory are being found and are operational (but why the wait?).

The fact that the BIOS flashback does nothing other than illuminate a red LED as long as the button on the back is depressed would seem to indicate a problem with the board.

The CMOS battery has been out of the motherboard for about 10 hours so it can’t be that.

I’ll see what the deal with an RMA from MSI is.

The EZ Debug lights are neither EZ nor an aide-a-debug. They might as well not be there for the amount of information I’m getting from them. Nothing corroborated by MSI either which is a bit annoying.

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I’m doing bench testing: the board is on top of the cardboard box it came in. I also transferred it to some stands that came with a B550 Unify board for a while (it’s an unstable arrangement so I transferred the motherboard back to the top of the box in which it came).

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I can either attempt an MSI RMA which will take weeks probably and it’s not guaranteed that MSI will find a problem or accept the return.

Or I can get a new board delivered by Sunday and hopefully, statistically, rule the board in or out.

If I get a new board and the system doesn’t work then it’s a bad CPU and I have two good boards, at least one of which I have to return.

If I get a new board and the system works then I have a bad board which I have to return.

Anybody been through returning an opened but not working motherboard to Amazon?

The worst case scenario is that the CPU is defunct. I got that direct from AMD.

Actually, the worst case scenario is that the CPU and motherboard are defunct. And then when I fix those problems discover that the graphics card, memory and M.2 drives are also bad. And then the PSU malfunctions and the house burns down. And then there’s an earthquake. And then an asteroid hits the Earth.

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Seemingly about 90% of the views on this topic are from me hitting refresh while I try to figure out my next step…

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I’ve taken the path of relatively minimal resistance: I’ve ordered a new MSI PRO X670-P mobo from Mr. Bezos’ most fine retailer of computer accessories and cheesy comestibles. In just over a week I should have a second bite at the 7950X cherry, if not Wensleydale, and hope it’s not the bloody $700 CPU that’s up shizzle creek without the proverbial paddle.

The next time I’m going to try powering up the motherboard before I put any devices in it and attempt a BIOS flash (ah-ahh Master of the Universe). The procedure I followed this time was the same as that I followed with my previous two builds and those worked perfectly, so I don’t think it’s me. In fact I’m currently using the i9-12900 build with the iGPU (on Debian) because the 3050 I put in it is now earmarked for testing AM5 mobos (it’s working frighteningly well with just the iGPU).

The fact that the current mobo will not attempt to flash the BIOS - fresh MSI BIOS copied to freshly formatted USB stick in Windows 8 (sometimes I have problems if I try to format with FAT or NTFS on Linux) - gives me hope (?) that it is a mobo problem and not the CPU. Theoretically I should be able to return the motherboard if it does turn out to be not working/on the fritz from the get-go.

Frustrating however. And the “EZ Debug” LEDs are just a bullet item I’m sure. If you actually need them you wish there was something that actually produced more diagnostic facility than you could garner from the fact that the machine isn’t booting. “There’s a problem, Dave.” You don’t say, EZ Debug LEDs. (EZ, EZ, give me your answer do…)

Oh yeah (ETA): the i9-12900 system that is working fine on Debian with the 3050 removed and relying on the iGPU first booted into Windows 11 (GRUB got its underwear in an uncomfortable configuration at some point with a rash of multi-boot options; I had Debian Bookworm on there too (still do but it messed up the GRUB config, or one of them)). Windows found the iGPU and displayed the Spinning Wheel of Software Inadequacy™ but didn’t boot and in fact if the LED on the CAPS lock key is any indication (no pun) then it crashed. The wheel was still going round for an extended period of time but there were no other signs of life. A data point, perhaps.

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I’ve had these problems a bunch of times because I’m a caveman with a monkey brain but

  • Make sure you have the correct version of the board for bios, I’m sure you got it right but boards with and without wifi use different bios and are incompatible with each other
  • Make sure the bios is named appropriately they almost always need to be renamed and is case sensitive in this case it’s MSI.ROM
  • Make sure the flash drive is in a compatible file system
  • Make sure you’re using the right port, I believe it’s the top blue one

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I downloaded it from the Drivers & Downloads section of the PRO X670-P WIFI page on MSI’s website.

Done & done: it’s the only thing on the USB stick (freshly formatted with succulent FAT32 bits, on a Windows 8.1 laptop)

FAT32 is the best for this application I believe?

Also done: it’s clearly marked and I did consult what passes for MSI’s documentation for this board (very poor in comparison with other MSI boards I’ve built with!) but I also tried all the USB ports in that stack, just in case. Plus: desperation.

I think I’m doing it right, but it helps to have other eyes on it too.

The fact that the BIOS flash-back LED stays on as long as I depress the button on the back panel and does nothing else tells me that the feature is not working which adds fuel to my fire of the mobo being at fault.

Still, you’ve just given me an idea, thanks! I’ll stick the USB stick in one of the other MSI machines I have and see if it recognizes the BIOS. Hopefully, it won’t try to load it because that will brick another machine!

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Maybe a stupid idea but did you already try to connect a monitor,
to the onboard video port on the board?
Instead of the dedicated gpu.

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Certainly did, thanks. That was my first port of call. When nothing was displayed via HDMI I plugged in a graphics card. I tried all the combos of DP and HDMI, iGPU and two dGPUs, and two monitors.