I'm having a frustrating issue with my PC where it won't boot with my Ryzen 5 2600 CPU. The MSI B450 Pro-M2 V2 motherboard just sits there, showing a solid EZ Debug VGA LED and no POST. A while back, I took it to a local repair shop, and they managed to get it to boot by swapping in a Ryzen 5 5600. I didn't think much of it until the same booting problem came back. Trying to replicate that fix, I bought a 5600 and it booted immediately when I installed it. Strangely enough, after that, I was able to put my Ryzen 5 2600 back in and it worked just fine. It's like changing CPUs resets something in the motherboard. My question is, is this a common issue with MSI B450 boards? Could my motherboard be dying, or is there a chance my Ryzen 5 2600 is defective? I'm losing faith in this motherboard's reliability.
5 Answers
Have you checked how the RAM is detected when you switch CPUs? It might reveal some issues with the memory management that could affect booting.
I think there's a good chance that your Ryzen 5 2600 has a faulty memory controller. This could be causing issues when the board tries to train the memory with that CPU. But since the 5600 works without a hitch, you might want to just keep that as your main CPU since it's a solid upgrade anyway.
Have you tried clearing your CMOS after swapping CPUs? Sometimes the BIOS needs to reset to detect hardware changes properly. If it was trying to boot with the old settings, that could cause issues.
Yeah, I cleared the CMOS by removing the battery and shorting the jumper, but it didn’t help. I was at the point of replacing the motherboard if the new CPU didn’t work.
Honestly, if the 5600 is working perfectly fine, maybe just stick with it. It’s a better CPU anyway, so why go back to the 2600?
It sounds like it could be a BIOS issue. The newer Ryzen 5000 series might not be fully backward compatible with earlier Ryzen CPUs like the 2600. When your motherboard recognizes the 5600, it may reset some settings that allow it to work with the 2600 later on. You might want to check for BIOS updates or settings that could help with compatibility.
That makes sense, I guess I didn’t think of that! I’ll definitely check the BIOS version and see if there are any updates available.
From what I've heard, BIOS updates can sometimes change compatibility, so it’s worth looking into.
Never thought of that! I’ll stick to using the 5600 for now. Thanks for the insight!