FM2 A88X Extreme 4+ no POST after fresh install+up

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   Hi, I have a FM2 A88X Extreme 4+ still running original BIOS P1.30 as on the factory sticker, with an A10 5800K APU that has served me well until this week. No OC, just plain vanilla.

After many years of intense usage, lately some months of 2nd computer/low usage with Ubuntu installed I had to move this PC by car and install a new SSD with Windows 7 Ultimate.

Everything went fine, installed Windows 7 64bit Ultimate, original drivers from ASrock allin1, USB3, etc rebooted some times, fine, installed libreoffice some more utils to see everything is fine (hwmonitor, cpuz...) then after updating with latest graphics (APU) driver from AMD's site for this APU:
non-whql-win8.1-win7-radeon-software-crimson-relive-16.2.1-sep20

Selected to reboot, and coincidence or not, nothing, no POST, no video signal just power LED and fans spinning, after checking cables, about a minute decided to hit reset. Still nothing. Checked internal cables (24+4 and 4+4, PSU recent Seasonic 430W model), reseated ram, still nothing, left it running while doing something else and after some time the POST screen pops up like when you have a failed OC and it tells you to go to BIOS screen. Saw nothing special checked temps looked fine, hit discard changes (perhaps a bad choice looking back?) and reboot. Same symptoms again, no POST.

Since the PC went on a short car journey I later tried reinserted the APU in the socket, changed the thermal paste that was still original all dried up. 
Also tried:
Clearing CMOS with header, battery removed, CLR button on the back
Another known good 550W PSU
Just 1 stick of RAM, tried every RAM slot, cleaning RAM with alcohol, vacuuming RAM slots and cleaning mobo
with speaker connected there's no error beeps, even without any RAM
Inserting USB FAT32 with new bios (doesn't read as USB stick has light that remains off)
Assembling outside the box on top of boards anti-static bag
Inserting known good GPU correctly connected PCIe power (fans power up and back down as computer is in a reset loop)

Things I have yet to try: use RAM from another working build, swapping the APU to another motherboard.

With PCI analyzer card it seems to hang on code 36 then restarts at 4F

According to AMI bios codes (I'm guessing it's AMI from another ASrock FM2 board I have)

4F seems to be a dual message (perhaps depends on the AMI version?): "Memory size display started. This will be updated during memory test. Going for sequential and random memory test. Processor in real mode after shutdown."
I guess here it means just processor in real mode after shutdown ?

36 is: "BIOS ROM data area check over. Going to set cursor for power on message.Memory above 1MB calculated."

Since the PCI analyzer shows the code where the motherboard has failed I'm guessing the BIOS ROM check did complete, but the "set cursor for power on message and/or Memory above 1MB calculated" failed. Or possibly the BIOS ROM check failed to complete, depends on how you interpret it.

I doubt AMD driver changes the firmware/microcode of the APU or that Windows 7 authentication somehow destroyed the UEFI bios...

Any ideas?

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Joe_Lewis Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 10 Sep 2020 Status: Offline Points: 37	Post Options Post Reply Quote Joe_Lewis Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: FM2 A88X Extreme 4+ no POST after fresh install+up Posted: 10 Sep 2020 at 10:11pm
	Hi, I have a FM2 A88X Extreme 4+ still running original BIOS P1.30 as on the factory sticker, with an A10 5800K APU that has served me well until this week. No OC, just plain vanilla. After many years of intense usage, lately some months of 2nd computer/low usage with Ubuntu installed I had to move this PC by car and install a new SSD with Windows 7 Ultimate. Everything went fine, installed Windows 7 64bit Ultimate, original drivers from ASrock allin1, USB3, etc rebooted some times, fine, installed libreoffice some more utils to see everything is fine (hwmonitor, cpuz...) then after updating with latest graphics (APU) driver from AMD's site for this APU: non-whql-win8.1-win7-radeon-software-crimson-relive-16.2.1-sep20 Selected to reboot, and coincidence or not, nothing, no POST, no video signal just power LED and fans spinning, after checking cables, about a minute decided to hit reset. Still nothing. Checked internal cables (24+4 and 4+4, PSU recent Seasonic 430W model), reseated ram, still nothing, left it running while doing something else and after some time the POST screen pops up like when you have a failed OC and it tells you to go to BIOS screen. Saw nothing special checked temps looked fine, hit discard changes (perhaps a bad choice looking back?) and reboot. Same symptoms again, no POST. Since the PC went on a short car journey I later tried reinserted the APU in the socket, changed the thermal paste that was still original all dried up. Also tried: Clearing CMOS with header, battery removed, CLR button on the back Another known good 550W PSU Just 1 stick of RAM, tried every RAM slot, cleaning RAM with alcohol, vacuuming RAM slots and cleaning mobo with speaker connected there's no error beeps, even without any RAM Inserting USB FAT32 with new bios (doesn't read as USB stick has light that remains off) Assembling outside the box on top of boards anti-static bag Inserting known good GPU correctly connected PCIe power (fans power up and back down as computer is in a reset loop) Things I have yet to try: use RAM from another working build, swapping the APU to another motherboard. With PCI analyzer card it seems to hang on code 36 then restarts at 4F According to AMI bios codes (I'm guessing it's AMI from another ASrock FM2 board I have) 4F seems to be a dual message (perhaps depends on the AMI version?): "Memory size display started. This will be updated during memory test. Going for sequential and random memory test. Processor in real mode after shutdown." I guess here it means just processor in real mode after shutdown ? 36 is: "BIOS ROM data area check over. Going to set cursor for power on message.Memory above 1MB calculated." Since the PCI analyzer shows the code where the motherboard has failed I'm guessing the BIOS ROM check did complete, but the "set cursor for power on message and/or Memory above 1MB calculated" failed. Or possibly the BIOS ROM check failed to complete, depends on how you interpret it. I doubt AMD driver changes the firmware/microcode of the APU or that Windows 7 authentication somehow destroyed the UEFI bios... Any ideas?

Joe_Lewis Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 10 Sep 2020 Status: Offline Points: 37	Post Options Post Reply Quote Joe_Lewis Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12 Sep 2020 at 6:48pm
	So I tried with a different known good RAM stick, and still same result. Also tried leaving battery out over night while shorting clear cmos jumpers. Then put back to normal press CLR btn on the back with FAT32 USB stick with just latest ROM inserted (someone was successful resuming a failed BIOS update with this method), tried different USB stick models but still no go, just the same loop. Regarding BIOS recovery AMI lists some special codes for bootblock recovery https://ami.com/ami_downloads/AMIBIOS8_Checkpoint_and_Beep_Codes.pdf I took note of a full boot sequence and first hang (then it loops back to 4F) 0F 8254 timer test C0 #N/A b1 Interrupt 19 boot loader 08 (08)CMOS shutdown register test done. CMOS checksum calculation to be done next. BAT command to keyboard controller is issued. Going to verify the BAT command. Going to verify the BAT command. CH-2 of timer initiali- zation over. CH-2 delta count test OK 91 (91)Floppy setup complete. Hard disk setup to be done next. 05 (05)Soft reset/power-on determined. Going to enable ROM. i.e. disable shadow RAM/Cache if any. Going to enable ROM.i.e. disable shadow RAM/cache if any.Chipset initialization over,DMA and interrupt controller disabled. CMOS pending interrupt disabled. 58 (58)Memory size adjusted for relocation/shadow. Going to clear Hit<DEL> message. BIOS ROM data area check over. Going to clear Hit<ESC> message.8259 mask register check OK 92 (92)Hard disk setup complete. About to go for BIOS ROM data area check. 93 Determine COM ports available 94 (94)Hard disk setup complete. Going to set base and extended memory size. BIOS ROM data area check over. 05 (05)Soft reset/power-on determined. Going to enable ROM. i.e. disable shadow RAM/Cache if any. Going to enable ROM.i.e. disable shadow RAM/cache if any.Chipset initialization over,DMA and interrupt controller disabled. CMOS pending interrupt disabled. C5 (C5)Power on delay complete. Going to enable ROM i.c. disable Cache if any. 03 (03)Power on delay complete. To check soft reset/power-on. Any initialization before keyboard BAT is in progress. ROM BIOS checksum(32K at F800:0) passed 46 (46) Memory wrap around test done. Memory size calculation over, writing patterns to test memory. 2b (2B)Toggle parity over. About to give control for any setup required before optional video ROM check. 07 (07)ROM BIOS checksum passed. CMOS shutdown regi- ster test to be done next.ROM BIOS checksum passed, Keyboard controller I/B free. Going to issue theBAT command to keyboard controller. Going to issue the BAT com- mand to keyboard controller.CH-2 of 8254 initialization half way.CH-2 of 8253 test OK 94 (94)Hard disk setup complete. Going to set base and extended memory size. BIOS ROM data area check over. 5b (5B)Timer interrupt OK. 63 Unexpected exception test C7 (C7)ROM BIOS checksum passed. CMOS shutdown register test to be done next. 3b (3B) Hit<DEL>or<ESC>message displayed. Virtual mode memory test about to start, About to start below 1MB memory test. 34 #N/A 36 First protected mode test 4F Memory size display started. This will be updated during memory test. Going for sequential and random memory test. Processor in real mode after shutdown. 60 Address line 20 test b7 #N/A 63 Unexpected exception test 78 Display configuration error messages 92 (92)Hard disk setup complete. About to go for BIOS ROM data area check. b2 #N/A b4 #N/A 68 #N/A 6A #N/A e7? #N/A 70 (70)start of keyboard test. 79 (79)About to initialize timer data area. 05 (05)Soft reset/power-on determined. Going to enable ROM. i.e. disable shadow RAM/Cache if any. Going to enable ROM.i.e. disable shadow RAM/cache if any.Chipset initialization over,DMA and interrupt controller disabled. CMOS pending interrupt disabled. 9A 9A Return after setting timer and printer base address. Going to set the RS-232 base address. 94 (94)Hard disk setup complete. Going to set base and extended memory size. BIOS ROM data area check over. b1 Interrupt 19 boot loader 91 (91)Floppy setup complete. Hard disk setup to be done next. 92 (92)Hard disk setup complete. About to go for BIOS ROM data area check. 94 (94)Hard disk setup complete. Going to set base and extended memory size. BIOS ROM data area check over. 05 (05)Soft reset/power-on determined. Going to enable ROM. i.e. disable shadow RAM/Cache if any. Going to enable ROM.i.e. disable shadow RAM/cache if any.Chipset initialization over,DMA and interrupt controller disabled. CMOS pending interrupt disabled. C5 (C5)Power on delay complete. Going to enable ROM i.c. disable Cache if any. 03 (03)Power on delay complete. To check soft reset/power-on. Any initialization before keyboard BAT is in progress. ROM BIOS checksum(32K at F800:0) passed 46 (46) Memory wrap around test done. Memory size calculation over, writing patterns to test memory. 2F (2F)EGA/VGA not found. Display memory R/W test about to begin. 2b (2B)Toggle parity over. About to give control for any setup required before optional video ROM check. 3F Read 8742 hardware switches 07? (07)ROM BIOS checksum passed. CMOS shutdown regi- ster test to be done next.ROM BIOS checksum passed, Keyboard controller I/B free. Going to issue theBAT command to keyboard controller. Going to issue the BAT com- mand to keyboard controller.CH-2 of 8254 initialization half way.CH-2 of 8253 test OK 84 Keyboard test 44? (44)Interrupts enabled(if post switch is on). Going to initialize data to check memory wrap around at 0:0 5b? (5B)Timer interrupt OK. 53? (53)Memory size information is saved. CPU registers are saved. Going to enter in real mode. DMA CH-2 base register test OK. C7 (C7)ROM BIOS checksum passed. CMOS shutdown register test to be done next. 3b (3B) Hit<DEL>or<ESC>message displayed. Virtual mode memory test about to start, About to start below 1MB memory test. 34 #N/A 36 First protected mode test The question mark means I'm not sure as the sequence is pretty fast even recording with a 120fps camera. So I guess it comes down to trying to hot flash the BIOS in another FM2 board, which I'm not willing to risk or wait some months for a BIOS programmer to arrive from China.

Joe_Lewis Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 10 Sep 2020 Status: Offline Points: 37	Post Options Post Reply Quote Joe_Lewis Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 Oct 2022 at 1:57am
	So I flashed a newer bios with 2.50 using a raspberry pi and still no go, left it sitting for months on the bench and I was going to throw it in the trash but decided to power it up once more. Booted up perfectly like it never had any problem at all, what can you say? Gremlins? Some freak humidity or mechanic contraction in the board? No idea.

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 27698	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 29 Oct 2022 at 4:02am
	If it was left disconnected from power it could have cleared some bad data cached somewhere. Reading through your post I was about to suggest you disconnect the system from power, pull the CMOS battery and leave it to sit over night. I didn't realize it was a 2 year old post. Glad to see you have it up and running. I would throw linux back on it and keep it as a spare


Joe_Lewis Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 10 Sep 2020 Status: Offline Points: 37	Post Options Post Reply Quote Joe_Lewis Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Nov 2022 at 2:47am
	I didn't flash the bios until many months after the post. In the end I skipped the fancy USB flashers and connectors and just wired the extracted bios chip pin by pin to the raspberry pi. Kind of ghetto but it did work as it read back the flashing without errors. I tried many times with battery out and shorted clear CMOS pins overnight to no avail. I left it for months with the battery in and the clear CMOS pins in normal position before the last try. It's a mystery what bricked it and how it came back. Perhaps the CPU has some microcode that Windows 7 update screwed up? Beats me.