Fatal1ty AB350 mini-itx : issues at cold start

Hi K,

I understand your concern regarding the cold boot issues and the RAM frequency settings on your Fatal1ty AB350 motherboard. It seems like a BIOS-related issue. While waiting for a response from the support ticket, you can try a few troubleshooting steps:

Update your BIOS to the latest version available from ASRock's website.
Clear the CMOS by following the motherboard's manual instructions to reset the BIOS settings.
Double-check if any power-related settings, such as fast boot or power-saving features, are affecting the RAM frequency.
If the issue persists, it's best to wait for a response from ASRock's support team or keep an eye out for any future BIOS revisions that might address the problem.

Good to hear. Yeah, they use a proprietary connector on many mini-ITX boards because, I guess, no room. There are a lot of interesting hacks you can do with something like this.

If you have a spot welder (you know, the ones they use to make battery packs), that'd be the perfect solution, but, well, most people don't have that. I'm weird, so I have one. LOL

It's not the best thing to do to a little coin battery, but you can actually solder the leads directly to it, if you're careful with it. Then wrap the whole thing in big heat-shrink tubing, and then stick that thing behind the audio-connector block.

One could even be clever with a CR123A (Lithium Primary, non-rechargeable) for this sort of thing. That thing will probably last for your lifetime for this purpose LOL. But it's a bit of a danger due to its high current capability (accidental shorting can cause bad things, like fires). LOL

Found it : it was not on the board itself but stuck on the side of the I/O panel.

I'll try replacing the battery.

In the meantime, I could try other RAMs (incl. a Patrio Viper that the ASRock support recommended me without more success).

Also, one of my friends could get the XMP profile persisted after a cold boot with the same motherboard and a 5600G.

Also, as I stated, I also experienced the issue with my 2200G. And, I'm not sure anymore, but I think I had the issue with the 2200G even before I upgraded the BIOS or RAM and that at the beginning, I did not have this issue.

To be noted : the PC was not used for few months at some point.

All this make me think that it could indeed be a battery issue. I'll give it a try.

eccential wrote: Wow, that board was released in 2017, so that's over 5 years ago. Could it just be that the CMOS battery needs to be replaced? You know, one of them coin batteries, CR2032 I think.

I can try this. But the thing is that other BIOS settings (ex : drives order preference) is being kept.

I should have a spare battery like that. I'll try with another one. I've ordered a new RAM kit to from 16GB 2666MHz to 32GB 3200MHz. As suggested by ASRock support, I've ordered Patriot Viper model as it seems to be the most compatible one.

I'll see if witht the RAM that should be compatible things are getting better, if not, I'll change the battery.