I upgraded my system from a Ryzen 5 3600 and GTX 1660 Super to a Ryzen 5 5600X3D and Radeon RX 9070 XT. After installing the new parts, the computer would not boot, so I put the old CPU back in and started updating the BIOS on my ASUS TUF X570-Plus WiFi motherboard. The update appeared to be progressing, but the screen went black before it finished. Since then, I cannot get any display output. Clearing the CMOS by removing the motherboard battery did not help, and the DRAM warning light stays solid orange while the fans and RAM lighting turn on. How can I recover the BIOS and get the system working again?
2 Answers
Check the motherboard manual's CrashFree BIOS 3 recovery section. If the BIOS update was interrupted or corrupted, the board may be able to reflash it from a USB drive. Use the correct BIOS version for the exact motherboard model, format the drive as FAT32, rename the BIOS file if ASUS requires it, and use the specified rear USB port. Follow the recovery instructions carefully rather than simply plugging the drive into any port.
Double-check that the BIOS file is prepared exactly as ASUS specifies, including any required filename change and USB port. The black screen may indicate that the update was interrupted, so the recovery process could take a few minutes before anything appears. Also, connect the monitor to the graphics card rather than the motherboard video output; these Ryzen CPUs generally do not provide integrated graphics, so the motherboard HDMI port may produce no signal.
The update may have been interrupted because the screen went black while it was running. The fans and RAM lighting still work, but the system now stays on the black screen with the DRAM light solid.
I found the CrashFree instructions and tried using the BIOS file on a flash drive, including an older version, but the orange light remains on and the display is still black.