Question Asrock B450M Pro4 and Ryzen 5 2600 Boot Issues

[pcswig13]

I recently purchased (new) an Asrock B450M Pro4 (vP4.60, BIOS Nov 2020), and a new Ryzen 5 2600. I also have 8gb of Patriot 2400 RAM. The board is advertised as supporting the 2000 series Ryzen processors, but this setup boots straight into the UEFI every time. I can't get it to boot to a Win 10 HDD. Did Asrock drop support for the 2000 series Ryzen? I have tried several BIOS changes (boot drive order, etc) to no avail. Any ideas on this?

 

[kschendel]

If it boots into the BIOS, I should think that indicates that it's compatible with the CPU. Maybe try a full CMOS reset (battery out, power unplugged, etc).

Asrock says that you can't downgrade the BIOS, but I'm not sure that's 100% true; I'm pretty sure I've seen a thread somewhere on a way to do it. Unfortunately I can't remember where atm.

 

[pcswig13]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will give it a try.

 

[solidsnake1298]

Did you install a fresh copy of Windows 10 on the HDD you mentioned, or was it an existing install?

If it is an existing install you will need to check what mode your are booting into, UEFI or legacy modes. You may be in legacy mode and need to switch over to UEFI mode.

 

[pcswig13]

Resetting the CMOS resulted in the boot process stopping at the Asrock logo screen and stopping. I powered it down again, unplugged it, tried booting with only 1 stick of RAM. Same results. I have found that the specific Patriot memory I am using is not on the Asrock QVL list. I have not had a RAM issue with other builds I have done, but maybe it is the RAM ?

 

[solidsnake1298]

If it was a RAM issue it would not boot at all.

Did you check if you are in legacy or UEFI mode?

 

[solidsnake1298]

Also, when you are in the "Boot" tab, what boot options do you have? Is your Windows 10 HDD listed?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

In order to help you best, it is important to address the questions being asked. Does the HDD already have win 10 on it? Is it plugged in to SATA 1-4? Are you using slot A2 when testing with 1 stick of ram?

 

[PClark99]

If you are using an nvme ssd it has to be in the slot closest to the CPIU. The lower slot isn’t nvme compatible.

 

[pcswig13]

Good morning all. Thank you for the suggestions and questions. I have it working now, but still not sure what actually fixed things. I tried multiple memory configurations (single stick in A2 slot as suggested), two sticks in A2/B2, and the HDD was a test unit I had installed Win10 on to run a basic test of this build while waiting on receiving the Win10P license for this specific machine. The end result was to be an nvme boot drive (Samsung 980/500gb) and an older HDD as the data drive. I got the Win10P license late yesterday and cleared the CMOS again. Then I created a bootable USB stick for the OS install, installed the nvme only, installed two sticks of RAM into A2/B2, and while it was very slow to display the Asrock logo on boot up, it read the USB stick and the install ran fine. I have the OS activated and things are running fine. One of the strangest sequence of issues I have had. Thank you again for your help!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Good morning all. Thank you for the suggestions and questions. I have it working now, but still not sure what actually fixed things. I tried multiple memory configurations (single stick in A2 slot as suggested), two sticks in A2/B2, and the HDD was a test unit I had installed Win10 on to run a basic test of this build while waiting on receiving the Win10P license for this specific machine. The end result was to be an nvme boot drive (Samsung 980/500gb) and an older HDD as the data drive. I got the Win10P license late yesterday and cleared the CMOS again. Then I created a bootable USB stick for the OS install, installed the nvme only, installed two sticks of RAM into A2/B2, and while it was very slow to display the Asrock logo on boot up, it read the USB stick and the install ran fine. I have the OS activated and things are running fine. One of the strangest sequence of issues I have had. Thank you again for your help!

The bold bears emphasizing for searchers looking for answers. I have worked with a fair number of 3 and 4 series AM4 boards that do this initially. Some even do it every time the CPU or ram are changed, after clearing CMOS. It is colloquially referred to as training. I have had boards that take over a minute to complete it. Some will appear to be stuck in a form of boot loop, but after 5-6 cycles, succeed. Some require changing UEFI settings to boot quickly, like fast boot and delay start or whatever.