MSI B450 Tomahawk fails to boot into BIOS, proceeds directly to Windows.
MSI B450 Tomahawk fails to boot into BIOS, proceeds directly to Windows.
Hello everyone, my MSI B450 Tomahawk Max came back from service center after the warranty expired. I received a free service instead of a full repair, and I tried building it outside the case. Everything seems to work properly now—after jumpering the front panel, it boots without any debug LEDs. The monitor doesn’t show a loading screen or BIOS splash; it goes straight to the lockscreen, no Windows loading. If I press the default key, it won’t boot into BIOS and my specs are confirmed: MSI B450 Tomahawk Max with Ryzen 5 3600, deepcool, Gamax X3000MHZ, Corsair Vengeance 3000MHz, 8GB Reddragon RX 580, 2x8GB RAM, 600W 80 Gold. It seems the GPU BIOS might be corrupted, but since it has dual BIOS profiles I’m not sure which one is active.
It seems Fastboot is initializing from a saved state. Keep your shift key pressed while selecting the power choice in the Start menu, then click Restart. If done properly, you'll see the diagnostics menu, navigate to Boot Options (likely named something similar), and after reboot you should see at least the Windows splash screen and loading progress. Make sure to press Delete/F2 as soon as the restart button appears.
Previously attempted fixes didn't resolve the issue; only a black screen appears when using the Windows interface. When accessing other applications or services outside the window, it loads normally. I suspect the BIOS may have detected an issue with my card. I've tried restarting via Safe Mode and using the Spam key, but both resulted in a black screen. After rebooting, the system restarts correctly.
Unfortunately, your monitor only supports HDMI input. You can't use a DPI converter. The issue might be related to XMP settings or RAM performance, even though you're running at 4.2GHz and it seems XMP is enabled.
I've encountered the same problem here. My system is an MSI B550 A-Pro R7 5800X paired with a GTX 1080, equipped with 32 gigabytes of 3200MHz RAM. I'm unable to access the BIOS no matter what I try. Every method I use results in a completely black screen with only the GPU debug light flickering occasionally. I've updated the BIOS via the flash button on the motherboard, which seems to have resolved the issue—fans are faster and the software now shows the updated version. However, changing anything is difficult because the system won't display UEFI. I've also removed the CMOS battery and taken out the NVMe drive to force a BIOS boot, but the monitor stayed dark and the motherboard indicated it couldn't find the boot drive. This situation is really frustrating... I've read about this issue multiple times on forums, and I suspect there might be an issue with the AM4 socket.
I was always set up with a displayport, but after your reply I switched to HDMI and it functioned properly! You're in UEFI now—thanks for letting me know! It's quite strange, as I used DisplayPort before because that was the only method that let my monitor reach its full refresh rate. Switching to HDMI each time I enter BIOS feels a bit frustrating. Still, appreciate your feedback!
Great to assist! It seems HDMI is likely the main one. Appreciate you checking it out! Enjoy your setup!