I built my first PC and successfully entered the BIOS on the first boot. I only adjusted a few fan settings and enabled EXPO for the RAM, then shut the system down because I hadn't installed Windows yet. The next morning, the computer powered on but I could no longer get the BIOS screen to appear. What should I check, and how can I recover the BIOS if EXPO caused a problem?
3 Answers
Try repeatedly pressing Delete during startup; F2 is another common BIOS key. If you’re using a wireless or Bluetooth keyboard, switch to a wired keyboard plugged directly into a rear USB port, since some boards don’t initialize wireless keyboards early enough.
Enabling EXPO can sometimes prevent a system from completing memory training, even without manually overclocking anything. Clear the CMOS and return the BIOS to its defaults. Depending on the exact Gigabyte model, this may involve using the clear-CMOS pins or button, or temporarily removing the coin-cell battery with the PC fully powered off and unplugged. Then boot with the default memory settings and re-enable EXPO only after the system is stable.
If there’s no display at all, check where the monitor cable is connected. With a Ryzen 7 7800X3D and a graphics card, make sure the cable is connected to the correct output, then try the other one if available. Also check the motherboard’s debug LEDs to see whether it’s stopping on RAM, graphics, or another component.
The motherboard is a Gigabyte X870 and the CPU is a 7800X3D. The only BIOS changes I made were fan settings and enabling EXPO 1 for the memory.