You notice your mini is a total mess! :(
You notice your mini is a total mess! :(
Sorry for the heading. Just a bit joked. And really, that’s why I’m here. After nearly a year of sharing my experiences online and offline about these problems, I finally found the missing piece. The trouble I faced was that one of my NVMe drives (my boot drive) wasn’t always visible in post. I also experienced strange BSODs where the C: drive would stop working. Trying to open it with File Explorer or Firefox didn’t help—it wouldn’t respond at all. After a short pause, the BSOD would appear again. Recently, following a BIOS update, it sometimes restarts itself. It would briefly show the Windows logo before shutting down. Whenever I reboot, the graphics BIOS appears, then my keyboard and mouse RGB lights up and everything resets. This causes a loop every time I restart my computer. Looking back through my history here, you’ll see what I’ve been discussing. Most of this has been happening for over a year. My model is an MSI MPG B550 Gaming Edge Wi-Fi, using the Western Digital Black SN750 PCIe Gen 3 1TB drive. This was the last BIOS update I installed to see if it would help. That update actually opened my eyes. I started having boot loop problems. When I searched for this issue with the right details, I found countless posts online about my motherboard and boot loops. I never realized I was searching the wrong terms before. It’s been a flood of information about this board, even on MSI’s own forum. People were trying to run WD NVMe drives on it, and they all had similar issues. Some were worse than me. Luckily, I’m still able to load Windows and work. Essentially, this motherboard isn’t compatible with Western Digital NVMe drives properly. For example, check the last post here: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threa...ue.363511/. There are hundreds of similar stories online. My motherboard just can’t handle WD NVMe correctly. The BIOS update only made things worse. I really need that drive and all the others. So, in my view, here are three options: 1. Remove the WD SSD and rely on what I have left… which isn’t ideal. I’ll have to make a bootable drive. My drives are packed with data. 2. Buy a new motherboard. I’m considering this one from Overclockers—https://www.overclockers.co.uk/... It’s expensive, but I’m over $2000 in payments and tired of buying cheap boards. 3. Switch to a different NVMe drive. I’m leaning toward getting a new board. This one isn’t worth it—it won’t work as I need it. I’m also thinking about swapping it out for something better. This one is clearly not capable of handling my WD NVMe drives. Also, I’m considering replacing my 3700X with a stronger CPU. Yes, I might go all-in and replace the CPU and motherboard. What would you suggest if you were in my situation?
I received your sympathy. I stopped using MSI after the mishap with the B450M Bazooka that CyberPower and MSI labeled as a motherboard in my earlier setup. Odd, since my problems began when I tried WD Blue SN550 M.2. It kept showing a VGA light. Eventually I had to return it via RMA, though it felt a bit anxious afterward. Note: There were some compatibility quirks with that other system's setup. Newer Ryzen (Zen2+) seem to have trouble with Corsair RAM lately, causing crashes. Also, some boards remove support for certain PCIe devices or processors to free up space for others—though I haven’t heard much about this with a B550, mostly older A320 models. If you decide to upgrade, do it right and opt for a B550 with solid VMR cooling so you’re ready for Zen3 later. I’m using the Asus TUF B550 PLUS; a B550 PRO is also available. Updated July 2, 2022 by An0maly_76 Added more info
Sorry to hear that. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably just swap the motherboard. I’m already frustrated and doubt its reliability. Swapping the NVMe would mean either selling it or buying a case to use it as a portable drive—though that would cost extra for something unnecessary. In my country, used motherboards are simpler than new NVMe drives.