X470 Taichi bios 1.60 won't post...

Ouch, I am sorry to hear that beekermartin. At this point I have to agree, time
to RMA the board. I suspect the retailer may have performed a bad flash when
updating the BIOS. If it stated Ryzen 3000 ready on the box but wouldn't POST with
any of the CPUs you tried that is the only conclusion I can come to. If it had been
flashed by ASRock it would have had a new version sticker put on the BIOS chip or
at the very least, the version number would have been sharpied out (according to my
sources at ASRock).

Good luck with the RMA, it sucks to have to deal with this kind of nonsense.

I am guessing it was the retailer or somewhere in the supply chain. This isn't
me defending ASRock or trying to pass blame. ASRock check the checksum of the
ROM and test the boards before repackaging and shipping out to stores/warehouses.
It is always possible a bad board managed to sneak through somehow but with BIOS
flashing it would be almost impossible as they use proprietary EEPROM flashers that
basically do everything automatically, there is little room for human error at the
factory.

The newer X570 Taichi has BIOS Flashback which lets you flash the BIOS even
without a CPU. Unfortunately, it tends to be a high end feature given how much
cost it adds to the product. You can't flash a ROM without a CPU and memory of
some kind so to do this manufacturers have to integrate some kind of rudimentary
CPU and RAM. I would have liked to have seen AMD integrate these into their
chipsets so board manufacturers could support the feature across the entire range
of AM4 boards. A basic single core ARM with some basic RAM wouldn't have been
hard to find space for.

So I finally heard back from a "supervisor" that will authorize an advanced replacement motherboard. I already shipped the defective motherboard out but I still wanted to speed up the process as fast as possible so I can finally get this system built. After a few back and forth emails she sends me a PayPal link to pay $210.00 for the advanced replacement deposit. I quickly paid it and emailed her to let her know I had. She replies with "Perfect, I will start the process of the advancement. Please note that I do have to give our technicians 2-3 business days to test the replacement unit prior to shipping the item out."
I was like WTF?! You don't have replacement boards ready to ship? Why did I bother to pay the "advanced replacement deposit" when the board I am returning will arrive early next week?

Needless to say I am not happy with the ASrock RMA process. This is my first ASrock motherboard that I recommended to a friend for a system I am building. After this experience it will by my last ASrock recommendation! What a complete clusterfuck!

Granted I should have tested everything within the Newegg return policy time and I accept that. With that said I didn't have everything to test it within that time which is my friends fault. I will not make this mistake again when I agree to build a system for someone. I will require they order everything necessary to test the basics within the retailers return window or else I won't build it.

beekermartin wrote: I figured I would update this thread. I received the replacement motherboard and it is working properly. That is the good news. The bad news is the replacement motherboard is used/refurbished. There was thermal paste around the socket, the thermal pad under the M.2 heatsink has dirt in it and the board itself was not clean with obvious signs of use. Not only did it take almost a month to get a replacement board but the replacement board I received is used! I also still haven't received my "advanced replacement" $210.00 deposit yet, They received the defective board last Wednesday late morning and I am still waiting for the refund. I will never use or recommend ASrock ever again. I have used MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS and I have never had an experience like this.

I can't edit the above post but I did receive and email saying my $210.00 deposit has been refunded. I am happy that has been done.

It was definitely not a good experience. Receiving a DOA product can happen. This isn't my first and won't be my last. How ASRock handled the replacement could have been vastly improved.

Again, I take responsibility for not forcing my friend to order everything necessary to test the system within the return window of the retailer. If I would have known the motherboard was defective within the first 30 days of receiving it I could have simply returned it for a replacement. I won't make the same mistake again.