Can You Update Motherboard Bios Without Post

Introduction

If you take a mod DIY desktop PC that uses a motherboard from i of the large motherboard vendors from Taiwan (such as ASUS, ASRock, BIOSTAR, Gigabyte, or MSI), there is a good adventure that y'all can flash the BIOS with no CPU installed. This post is about Flashing Your BIOS with No CPU Installed.

Note: This will only work if your motherboard supports this functionality.

Flashing Your BIOS with No CPU Installed — **Flash BIOS Button**

Y'all might be wondering why you would ever need or desire to do such a thing. Well, the most common scenario is if yous are building a new organization from parts. You might take a new CPU that is not supported on your motherboard without a BIOS update. The CPU is physically compatible with the motherboard, and it will work just fine later a BIOS update, but the system volition not POST until you update the BIOS.

This is happening right now to many people who have bought a new AMD Ryzen 5000 Series processor, planning on using information technology with a new B550 or X570 motherboard. This is also happening to people who have bought new Ryzen 5000 APUs, such as the Ryzen five 5600G and the Ryzen 7 5700G. Well-nigh B550 and X570 motherboards will demand an updated BIOS to work with these APUs.

Even though the motherboard is brand new in the box, it very likely is a month or 2 (or more) since it was actually manufactured in Taiwan.

That means that the motherboard will have any BIOS version that was nearly current when it was fabricated . This means that information technology is ordinarily not going to have the nearly current BIOS version, since there are typically multiple BIOS updates that are released in the kickoff few months after the initial release.

I have never bought a new motherboard that had the latest BIOS version when I took information technology out of the box. Ordinarily, this is not a huge consequence, since it is ordinarily pretty easy to update the BIOS if you want to. Just, if yous need a BIOS update before the organisation will POST, what are yous supposed to do?

Different Ways to Correct the Problem

1 way around this is to temporarily install an older, compatible CPU in your new motherboard. Then yous can use a traditional method to update the BIOS to a new plenty version that will support the newer CPU. Of course, this only works if y'all have an older compatible CPU available. Not everyone has that luxury.

Some other method is to get the store where you bought the CPU and motherboard to flash the BIOS for you lot. This will probably piece of work at somewhere similar Micro Center, but information technology isn't going to piece of work with a mail order retailer (at to the lowest degree not that I know of).

In the by, AMD had a program where they would send you an inexpensive, low-stop CPU that you could temporarily install so that yous could flash your BIOS to a new plenty version to support your new CPU. If y'all did non return the loaner CPU, they would charge you for it.

AMD at present has updated guidance about how to handle this event. This includes several different methods for updating the BIOS, and includes a "Short-Term Processor Loan Boot Kit" that y'all can get. You will have to jump through some hoops to get it though.

Unable to Boot New Desktop System Configured with AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Serial Processor, and AMD Socket AM4 500 Series Motherboard

Flashing Your BIOS with No CPU Installed

Now, most mid-range and higher up B550 and X570 motherboards accept a feature that lets y'all flash the motherboard BIOS without even installing a CPU, memory, or a GPU. All you need is a ability supply that is connected to the 24-pin main and viii-pin EPS power connectors on the motherboard.

Yous have to utilize another system to download a new BIOS file to a USB 2.0 flash drive, rename the file, so plug it in to a designated USB port on the dorsum of the motherboard. Then, yous press the Flash BIOS button, and await for five to six minutes for the BIOS update to finish. This is a fairly simple process, with some important modest details that are sometimes missed.

So far, I have made eleven YouTube videos almost how to exercise this with eleven different motherboards. All of these videos seem to be adequately pop. They are far more than popular than any of my SQL Server videos!

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Another use instance for this technique is if you have tried to flash your BIOS in the traditional style, and the procedure failed. This is very rare, only as well very bad, since it usually makes information technology so your arrangement volition no longer Postal service. This technique will ofttimes fix that issue, since it uses a completely dissever method for flashing the BIOS.

BIOS Flashing FAQ and Troubleshooting

Frequently Asked Questions

Will this method work on a fully-assembled organisation?
- Aye, information technology will. Make sure to not plow on the organisation with the ability button on the example . Simply press the flash BIOS button. Your CPU and example fans will probably turn on while this is happening.
Does this method work with no CPU, RAM, video card, or monitor attached?
- Yes! That is the whole point of this method.
Do I need to utilize this method if I accept a Ryzen 3000 Serial CPU?
- No, you lot don't. Yous can still use this method, but y'all don't have to. This method is mainly for flashing the BIOS when you have a new CPU that won't work with the current BIOS version
Tin can I do this with the motherboard sitting on peak of the motherboard box instead of on a exam bench or in a case?
- Aye, you can do that. You lot just demand to brand certain the motherboard is non sitting on anything that conducts electricity.
Is the BIOS wink process done when the flash BIOS LED stops blinking?
- Yes it is. It should take blinked for v-6 minutes. If it only blinked for a few seconds, it did non work.
The BIOS flash LED has been flashing for a long time (far longer than v minutes). What should I do?
- It should not take more than than 5-half dozen minutes. If y'all accept waited more than 10-15 minutes and it is still flashing, information technology is not working. At some point, you lot have to give up and plough the power supply off or unplug it. If this happened to you, I would try using a unlike USB bulldoze, and make sure to follow all of the steps exactly.

Troubleshooting Steps

Hither are some general troubleshooting steps for MSI motherboards in case yous have whatever problems:

Did you watch the unabridged video, and follow the directions exactly?
Are you using a USB 2.0 flash drive instead of a USB 3.0 flash drive?
Did yous download the latest BIOS file for your motherboard?
- Brand sure you don't have a BIOS file for a dissimilar motherboard
Do you have file extensions enabled in Windows Explorer?
- This way the BIOS file will actually exist renamed correctly
Did you rename the BIOS file as MSI.ROM (for MSI motherboards)?
- This is very important!
Did you lot rename the BIOS file every bit gigabyte.bin (for Gigabyte motherboards)?
- This is very important!
Is the USB flash drive formatted with FAT32 rather than NTFS or exFAT?
- This is very important!
Brand sure the USB flash drive is partitioned with MBR instead of GPT
Is the renamed BIOS file in the root of the USB wink drive?
- It cannot be in a folder or directory
Are both power supply cables (24-pin principal and 8-pivot EPS) plugged into the motherboard?
Is the USB flash drive in the right USB port (the one with the white outline)?
Did you plug in the USB flash drive before you turned the power supply on?
Is the power supply plugged into a ability source?
Did y'all simply press the Wink BIOS button (rather than turning the organisation on unremarkably)
- You lot practice not desire to plough the system in the normal fashion for this
Did the BIOS flash LED on the motherboard flash for 5-6 minutes, and and so stop flashing?
- If it only flashed for a few seconds, information technology did non work!

Final Words

This is a common trouble with AMD Ryzen 5000 Series CPUs in existing motherboards. This particular issue will be less mutual over time as newer product motherboards prove upwardly in the retail aqueduct. Whatever B550 or X570 motherboard that was manufactured subsequently late October 2020 should take a new enough BIOS version where you won't have to worry about this.

I also accept some related posts here:

Identifying a USB 2.0 Flash Drive
Essential AMD Desktop PC Configuration Checklist
Preparing Your System for Zen 3 Processors

If yous have any questions about this mail service, please ask me here in the comments or on Twitter. I am pretty active on Twitter as GlennAlanBerry.Thanks for reading!