u/PairStrong

I'm dealing with a very weird intermittent boot/POST issue and I’m pretty much at the point of replacing the motherboard, but I want to document the full story in case anyone has seen this before.

Specs:

• CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT
• RAM: 32 GB DDR5 6000
• Motherboard: ASRock B650 Pro RS, ATX
• Storage: 2 TB NVMe, originally my Windows 11 drive
• OS: Windows 11

Original issue:

The PC had been working normally for around a year. Then one day it started failing to boot normally.

On power-on, I would often get:

• black screen
• no motherboard/logo splash screen
• no automatic Windows boot
• motherboard debug/status LED stuck on BOOT

The weird part is that sometimes I could get into BIOS by pressing Delete, and if I manually selected the Windows drive from Boot Override, Windows would boot fine. So the drive and Windows installation did not seem dead at first. It felt more like the motherboard was not remembering or properly using the Windows Boot Manager / UEFI boot entry.

Sometimes after entering BIOS and saving/exiting, it would boot. But on the next cold boot or after a couple restarts, it would go back to the same black screen/BOOT LED behavior.

Things I tried early on:

• Reseated the NVMe
• Checked cables/connections
• Cleared CMOS
• Disabled Fast Boot when I could get into BIOS
• Ran "powercfg /h off" in Windows
• Rebuilt the UEFI boot entry using:

mountvol S: /S bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

The issue still came back.

BIOS flashback mistake and correction:

At one point I tried BIOS Flashback. I accidentally flashed the BIOS for the B650M Pro RS instead of the B650 Pro RS. After that, the board got stuck on CPU + DRAM LEDs.

I then reflashed the correct BIOS for the ASRock B650 Pro RS using BIOS Flashback, with the BIOS file renamed properly. Flashback completed normally and the board started POSTing again, so the wrong BIOS mistake seemed corrected.

After the correct BIOS flash, the PC temporarily behaved better, but the original intermittent problem eventually came back.

BitLocker complication:

After the BIOS/CMOS/TPM changes, Windows asked for the BitLocker recovery key. The key is tied to my Microsoft account, but that account recovery is currently delayed because the recovery email/security info was outdated.

Because of that, I removed the original 2 TB NVMe and I am not touching it anymore. I am treating it as a protected data drive until I can recover the BitLocker key.

At this point, the BitLocker issue is separate from the POST issue. The motherboard still has the same intermittent POST problem even with the original NVMe removed.

Bare minimum testing:

I tested the system with a bare minimum setup:

• no NVMe / no SSD
• no SATA drives
• no GPU
• monitor connected to motherboard video output
• one RAM stick only
• tested RAM sticks individually
• keyboard only
• cleared CMOS
• EXPO disabled/defaults when BIOS was reachable

Same behavior.

Sometimes it reaches BIOS. Sometimes it gets stuck with no display. The problem did not change with the bare minimum setup.

That is what makes me think this is not Windows, not the NVMe, not the GPU, and not the old boot entry anymore.

CMOS battery:

I replaced the CR2032 CMOS battery.

After replacing it, the board booted normally twice. Then it went right back to the same old issue: intermittent no display / not reliably reaching BIOS / BOOT LED behavior.

So the new CMOS battery did not permanently fix it. It only seemed to temporarily reset the board enough to work for a couple boots.

Current symptoms:

• Sometimes it reaches BIOS
• Sometimes it gets stuck before any logo/splash screen
• Sometimes pressing Delete works, sometimes nothing comes up
• It does not consistently remember/use boot behavior
• It happens even with no drives installed
• It happens with bare minimum hardware
• Clearing CMOS or changing the CMOS battery temporarily helps, then the same issue returns

Current suspicion:

I’m strongly suspecting motherboard failure, possibly BIOS/NVRAM/UEFI state corruption or some board-level POST issue.

Current likelihood in my mind:

1. Motherboard / BIOS / NVRAM issue
2. RAM issue, less likely
3. PSU issue, possible but less likely
4. CPU/socket issue, possible but lower
5. NVMe / Windows / BitLocker, not the POST issue

Next step:

I ordered a new AM5 motherboard and it is arriving today. My plan is to test it first with:

• CPU
• cooler
• one RAM stick in A2
• no old NVMe
• no GPU at first
• monitor connected to motherboard output
• keyboard only

If the new motherboard reaches BIOS reliably, then the old ASRock board was almost certainly the issue. If the same exact problem happens on the new motherboard, I will start suspecting PSU, RAM, or CPU.

Questions:

1. Has anyone seen an ASRock B650 Pro RS behave like this, where CMOS clear or battery replacement temporarily fixes POST behavior but the issue returns?
2. Does this sound like motherboard NVRAM/firmware failure?
3. Is there anything else worth trying before calling the board bad?
4. If the new motherboard has the same issue, would you test PSU, RAM, or CPU first?

Any help is appreciated. I’ve already spent way too much time chasing this and I’m trying to avoid damaging the BitLocker-locked drive or creating more problems.

I’m dealing with a very weird intermittent boot/POST issue and I’m pretty much at the point of replacing the motherboard, but I want to document the full story in case anyone has seen this before.

Specs:

• CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT
• RAM: 32 GB DDR5 6000
• Motherboard: ASRock B650 Pro RS, ATX
• Storage: 2 TB NVMe, originally my Windows 11 drive
• OS: Windows 11

Original issue:

The PC had been working normally for around a year. Then one day it started failing to boot normally.

On power-on, I would often get:

• black screen
• no motherboard/logo splash screen
• no automatic Windows boot
• motherboard debug/status LED stuck on BOOT

The weird part is that sometimes I could get into BIOS by pressing Delete, and if I manually selected the Windows drive from Boot Override, Windows would boot fine. So the drive and Windows installation did not seem dead at first. It felt more like the motherboard was not remembering or properly using the Windows Boot Manager / UEFI boot entry.

Sometimes after entering BIOS and saving/exiting, it would boot. But on the next cold boot or after a couple restarts, it would go back to the same black screen/BOOT LED behavior.

Things I tried early on:

• Reseated the NVMe
• Checked cables/connections
• Cleared CMOS
• Disabled Fast Boot when I could get into BIOS
• Ran "powercfg /h off" in Windows
• Rebuilt the UEFI boot entry using:

mountvol S: /S bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

The issue still came back.

BIOS flashback mistake and correction:

At one point I tried BIOS Flashback. I accidentally flashed the BIOS for the B650M Pro RS instead of the B650 Pro RS. After that, the board got stuck on CPU + DRAM LEDs.

I then reflashed the correct BIOS for the ASRock B650 Pro RS using BIOS Flashback, with the BIOS file renamed properly. Flashback completed normally and the board started POSTing again, so the wrong BIOS mistake seemed corrected.

After the correct BIOS flash, the PC temporarily behaved better, but the original intermittent problem eventually came back.

BitLocker complication:

After the BIOS/CMOS/TPM changes, Windows asked for the BitLocker recovery key. The key is tied to my Microsoft account, but that account recovery is currently delayed because the recovery email/security info was outdated.

Because of that, I removed the original 2 TB NVMe and I am not touching it anymore. I am treating it as a protected data drive until I can recover the BitLocker key.

At this point, the BitLocker issue is separate from the POST issue. The motherboard still has the same intermittent POST problem even with the original NVMe removed.

Bare minimum testing:

I tested the system with a bare minimum setup:

• no NVMe / no SSD
• no SATA drives
• no GPU
• monitor connected to motherboard video output
• one RAM stick only
• tested RAM sticks individually
• keyboard only
• cleared CMOS
• EXPO disabled/defaults when BIOS was reachable

Same behavior.

Sometimes it reaches BIOS. Sometimes it gets stuck with no display. The problem did not change with the bare minimum setup.

That is what makes me think this is not Windows, not the NVMe, not the GPU, and not the old boot entry anymore.

CMOS battery:

I replaced the CR2032 CMOS battery.

After replacing it, the board booted normally twice. Then it went right back to the same old issue: intermittent no display / not reliably reaching BIOS / BOOT LED behavior.

So the new CMOS battery did not permanently fix it. It only seemed to temporarily reset the board enough to work for a couple boots.

Current symptoms:

• Sometimes it reaches BIOS
• Sometimes it gets stuck before any logo/splash screen
• Sometimes pressing Delete works, sometimes nothing comes up
• It does not consistently remember/use boot behavior
• It happens even with no drives installed
• It happens with bare minimum hardware
• Clearing CMOS or changing the CMOS battery temporarily helps, then the same issue returns

Current suspicion:

I’m strongly suspecting motherboard failure, possibly BIOS/NVRAM/UEFI state corruption or some board-level POST issue.

Current likelihood in my mind:

1. Motherboard / BIOS / NVRAM issue
2. RAM issue, less likely
3. PSU issue, possible but less likely
4. CPU/socket issue, possible but lower
5. NVMe / Windows / BitLocker, not the POST issue

Next step:

I ordered a new AM5 motherboard and it is arriving today. My plan is to test it first with:

• CPU
• cooler
• one RAM stick in A2
• no old NVMe
• no GPU at first
• monitor connected to motherboard output
• keyboard only

If the new motherboard reaches BIOS reliably, then the old ASRock board was almost certainly the issue. If the same exact problem happens on the new motherboard, I will start suspecting PSU, RAM, or CPU.

Questions:

1. Has anyone seen an ASRock B650 Pro RS behave like this, where CMOS clear or battery replacement temporarily fixes POST behavior but the issue returns?
2. Does this sound like motherboard NVRAM/firmware failure?
3. Is there anything else worth trying before calling the board bad?
4. If the new motherboard has the same issue, would you test PSU, RAM, or CPU first?

Any help is appreciated. I’ve already spent way too much time chasing this and I’m trying to avoid damaging the BitLocker-locked drive or creating more problems.

I’m dealing with a very weird intermittent boot/POST issue and I’m pretty much at the point of replacing the motherboard, but I want to document the full story in case anyone has seen this before.

Specs:

• CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT
• RAM: 32 GB DDR5 6000
• Motherboard: ASRock B650 Pro RS, ATX
• Storage: 2 TB NVMe, originally my Windows 11 drive
• OS: Windows 11

Original issue:

The PC had been working normally for around a year. Then one day it started failing to boot normally.

On power-on, I would often get:

• black screen
• no motherboard/logo splash screen
• no automatic Windows boot
• motherboard debug/status LED stuck on BOOT

The weird part is that sometimes I could get into BIOS by pressing Delete, and if I manually selected the Windows drive from Boot Override, Windows would boot fine. So the drive and Windows installation did not seem dead at first. It felt more like the motherboard was not remembering or properly using the Windows Boot Manager / UEFI boot entry.

Sometimes after entering BIOS and saving/exiting, it would boot. But on the next cold boot or after a couple restarts, it would go back to the same black screen/BOOT LED behavior.

Things I tried early on:

• Reseated the NVMe
• Checked cables/connections
• Cleared CMOS
• Disabled Fast Boot when I could get into BIOS
• Ran "powercfg /h off" in Windows
• Rebuilt the UEFI boot entry using:

mountvol S: /S bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

The issue still came back.

BIOS flashback mistake and correction:

At one point I tried BIOS Flashback. I accidentally flashed the BIOS for the B650M Pro RS instead of the B650 Pro RS. After that, the board got stuck on CPU + DRAM LEDs.

I then reflashed the correct BIOS for the ASRock B650 Pro RS using BIOS Flashback, with the BIOS file renamed properly. Flashback completed normally and the board started POSTing again, so the wrong BIOS mistake seemed corrected.

After the correct BIOS flash, the PC temporarily behaved better, but the original intermittent problem eventually came back.

BitLocker complication:

After the BIOS/CMOS/TPM changes, Windows asked for the BitLocker recovery key. The key is tied to my Microsoft account, but that account recovery is currently delayed because the recovery email/security info was outdated.

Because of that, I removed the original 2 TB NVMe and I am not touching it anymore. I am treating it as a protected data drive until I can recover the BitLocker key.

At this point, the BitLocker issue is separate from the POST issue. The motherboard still has the same intermittent POST problem even with the original NVMe removed.

Bare minimum testing:

I tested the system with a bare minimum setup:

• no NVMe / no SSD
• no SATA drives
• no GPU
• monitor connected to motherboard video output
• one RAM stick only
• tested RAM sticks individually
• keyboard only
• cleared CMOS
• EXPO disabled/defaults when BIOS was reachable

Same behavior.

Sometimes it reaches BIOS. Sometimes it gets stuck with no display. The problem did not change with the bare minimum setup.

That is what makes me think this is not Windows, not the NVMe, not the GPU, and not the old boot entry anymore.

CMOS battery:

I replaced the CR2032 CMOS battery.

After replacing it, the board booted normally twice. Then it went right back to the same old issue: intermittent no display / not reliably reaching BIOS / BOOT LED behavior.

So the new CMOS battery did not permanently fix it. It only seemed to temporarily reset the board enough to work for a couple boots.

Current symptoms:

• Sometimes it reaches BIOS
• Sometimes it gets stuck before any logo/splash screen
• Sometimes pressing Delete works, sometimes nothing comes up
• It does not consistently remember/use boot behavior
• It happens even with no drives installed
• It happens with bare minimum hardware
• Clearing CMOS or changing the CMOS battery temporarily helps, then the same issue returns

Current suspicion:

I’m strongly suspecting motherboard failure, possibly BIOS/NVRAM/UEFI state corruption or some board-level POST issue.

Current likelihood in my mind:

1. Motherboard / BIOS / NVRAM issue
2. RAM issue, less likely
3. PSU issue, possible but less likely
4. CPU/socket issue, possible but lower
5. NVMe / Windows / BitLocker, not the POST issue

Next step:

I ordered a new AM5 motherboard and it is arriving today. My plan is to test it first with:

• CPU
• cooler
• one RAM stick in A2
• no old NVMe
• no GPU at first
• monitor connected to motherboard output
• keyboard only

If the new motherboard reaches BIOS reliably, then the old ASRock board was almost certainly the issue. If the same exact problem happens on the new motherboard, I will start suspecting PSU, RAM, or CPU.

Questions:

1. Has anyone seen an ASRock B650 Pro RS behave like this, where CMOS clear or battery replacement temporarily fixes POST behavior but the issue returns?
2. Does this sound like motherboard NVRAM/firmware failure?
3. Is there anything else worth trying before calling the board bad?
4. If the new motherboard has the same issue, would you test PSU, RAM, or CPU first?

Any help is appreciated. I’ve already spent way too much time chasing this and I’m trying to avoid damaging the BitLocker-locked drive or creating more problems.

I’m dealing with a very weird intermittent boot/POST issue and I’m pretty much at the point of replacing the motherboard, but I want to document the full story in case anyone has seen this before.

Specs:

• CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT
• RAM: 32 GB DDR5 6000
• Motherboard: ASRock B650 Pro RS, ATX
• Storage: 2 TB NVMe, originally my Windows 11 drive
• OS: Windows 11

Original issue:

The PC had been working normally for around a year. Then one day it started failing to boot normally.

On power-on, I would often get:

• black screen
• no motherboard/logo splash screen
• no automatic Windows boot
• motherboard debug/status LED stuck on BOOT

The weird part is that sometimes I could get into BIOS by pressing Delete, and if I manually selected the Windows drive from Boot Override, Windows would boot fine. So the drive and Windows installation did not seem dead at first. It felt more like the motherboard was not remembering or properly using the Windows Boot Manager / UEFI boot entry.

Sometimes after entering BIOS and saving/exiting, it would boot. But on the next cold boot or after a couple restarts, it would go back to the same black screen/BOOT LED behavior.

Things I tried early on:

• Reseated the NVMe
• Checked cables/connections
• Cleared CMOS
• Disabled Fast Boot when I could get into BIOS
• Ran "powercfg /h off" in Windows
• Rebuilt the UEFI boot entry using:

mountvol S: /S bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

The issue still came back.

BIOS flashback mistake and correction:

At one point I tried BIOS Flashback. I accidentally flashed the BIOS for the B650M Pro RS instead of the B650 Pro RS. After that, the board got stuck on CPU + DRAM LEDs.

I then reflashed the correct BIOS for the ASRock B650 Pro RS using BIOS Flashback, with the BIOS file renamed properly. Flashback completed normally and the board started POSTing again, so the wrong BIOS mistake seemed corrected.

After the correct BIOS flash, the PC temporarily behaved better, but the original intermittent problem eventually came back.

BitLocker complication:

After the BIOS/CMOS/TPM changes, Windows asked for the BitLocker recovery key. The key is tied to my Microsoft account, but that account recovery is currently delayed because the recovery email/security info was outdated.

Because of that, I removed the original 2 TB NVMe and I am not touching it anymore. I am treating it as a protected data drive until I can recover the BitLocker key.

At this point, the BitLocker issue is separate from the POST issue. The motherboard still has the same intermittent POST problem even with the original NVMe removed.

Bare minimum testing:

I tested the system with a bare minimum setup:

• no NVMe / no SSD
• no SATA drives
• no GPU
• monitor connected to motherboard video output
• one RAM stick only
• tested RAM sticks individually
• keyboard only
• cleared CMOS
• EXPO disabled/defaults when BIOS was reachable

Same behavior.

Sometimes it reaches BIOS. Sometimes it gets stuck with no display. The problem did not change with the bare minimum setup.

That is what makes me think this is not Windows, not the NVMe, not the GPU, and not the old boot entry anymore.

CMOS battery:

I replaced the CR2032 CMOS battery.

After replacing it, the board booted normally twice. Then it went right back to the same old issue: intermittent no display / not reliably reaching BIOS / BOOT LED behavior.

So the new CMOS battery did not permanently fix it. It only seemed to temporarily reset the board enough to work for a couple boots.

Current symptoms:

• Sometimes it reaches BIOS
• Sometimes it gets stuck before any logo/splash screen
• Sometimes pressing Delete works, sometimes nothing comes up
• It does not consistently remember/use boot behavior
• It happens even with no drives installed
• It happens with bare minimum hardware
• Clearing CMOS or changing the CMOS battery temporarily helps, then the same issue returns

Current suspicion:

I’m strongly suspecting motherboard failure, possibly BIOS/NVRAM/UEFI state corruption or some board-level POST issue.

Current likelihood in my mind:

1. Motherboard / BIOS / NVRAM issue
2. RAM issue, less likely
3. PSU issue, possible but less likely
4. CPU/socket issue, possible but lower
5. NVMe / Windows / BitLocker, not the POST issue

Next step:

I ordered a new AM5 motherboard and it is arriving today. My plan is to test it first with:

• CPU
• cooler
• one RAM stick in A2
• no old NVMe
• no GPU at first
• monitor connected to motherboard output
• keyboard only

If the new motherboard reaches BIOS reliably, then the old ASRock board was almost certainly the issue. If the same exact problem happens on the new motherboard, I will start suspecting PSU, RAM, or CPU.

Questions:

1. Has anyone seen an ASRock B650 Pro RS behave like this, where CMOS clear or battery replacement temporarily fixes POST behavior but the issue returns?
2. Does this sound like motherboard NVRAM/firmware failure?
3. Is there anything else worth trying before calling the board bad?
4. If the new motherboard has the same issue, would you test PSU, RAM, or CPU first?

Any help is appreciated. I’ve already spent way too much time chasing this and I’m trying to avoid damaging the BitLocker-locked drive or creating more problems.

Hi everyone. I need help diagnosing a persistent boot issue on my PC. The main problem is that the system often refuses to boot normally and gets stuck on the motherboard BOOT LED, but if I can get into BIOS, I can manually boot into Windows just fine.

Specs

• CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT
• Motherboard: ASRock B650 Pro RS
• RAM: 32 GB DDR5 6000
• Storage: 2 TB NVMe Windows drive
• OS: Windows 11

Main issue

The PC had been working fine for around a year. Then suddenly it stopped booting normally.

When powering on normally:

• Black screen
• No display output
• Motherboard stuck on BOOT debug/status LED
• No automatic boot into Windows

At first I suspected the NVMe, so I:

• Removed and reseated the NVMe
• Checked connections
• Cleared CMOS

After that, I could sometimes get into BIOS.

When I get into BIOS, I can manually select the NVMe/Windows drive through Boot Override, and Windows boots normally. Once inside Windows, the system works fine.

But after shutting down and turning the PC back on normally, the same issue comes back:

• Black screen
• No output
• BOOT LED stuck
• No automatic boot

So the core issue is:

«The PC only boots reliably when I manually select the Windows/NVMe drive from BIOS. Otherwise, it gets stuck on BOOT LED with a black screen.»

Behavior pattern

The weird part is that the problem is inconsistent.

Sometimes:

• It will not even get into BIOS
• It stays black screen with BOOT LED on

Other times:

• I can enter BIOS
• The drive appears
• I use Boot Override or Save & Exit
• Windows boots normally

That makes me unsure whether this is:

• A motherboard/NVRAM issue
• A Windows Boot Manager/UEFI boot entry issue
• An NVMe detection issue
• A CMOS battery/settings persistence issue
• An AM5 memory training/POST issue

Things I tried

Before updating BIOS, I tried:

• Clearing CMOS
• Reseating the NVMe
• Checking BIOS boot order
• Disabling Fast Boot
• Disabling Windows Fast Startup with:

powercfg /h off

I also tried rebuilding the UEFI boot entry from Windows using:

mountvol S: /S bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

The issue did not really improve. The system still behaved inconsistently. Sometimes it would not reach BIOS, but if it did reach BIOS, I could still boot Windows manually.

BIOS update situation

I updated BIOS using BIOS Flashback because I could not reliably get into BIOS.

I accidentally flashed the B650M Pro RS BIOS first, which was my mistake. After that, the board got stuck on CPU + DRAM LEDs.

Then I corrected it and flashed the proper BIOS for the ASRock B650 Pro RS using BIOS Flashback. The Flashback LED blinked normally and stopped blinking, so it appeared to complete correctly.

After flashing the correct BIOS and clearing CMOS, the system was able to boot again, but the original boot problem still remains.

Even after the correct BIOS flash, the PC still sometimes gets stuck on the BOOT LED and does not boot normally. If I can get into BIOS, I can still boot manually from there.

So it does not seem like the BIOS version alone was the root cause.

BitLocker complication

After the BIOS flash / CMOS reset / TPM changes, Windows triggered BitLocker recovery.

Now my main Windows drive asks for the BitLocker recovery key.

Unfortunately, the recovery key is tied to my Microsoft account, and my Microsoft account recovery email is an old one that does not receive anything anymore. I updated the recovery email, but Microsoft says the security info change takes 30 days.

So now I am trying not to wipe the original NVMe because it contains important data that is not fully backed up.

The BitLocker issue is not the original problem, though. The original problem was already happening before this:

«The PC would not boot normally and would only boot through BIOS Boot Override.»

What I am considering doing next

I am trying to isolate whether this is the motherboard, NVMe, Windows boot entry, CMOS battery, or something else.

Options I am considering:

Option 1: Remove the original NVMe and test with a Windows installer USB

This would show whether the board can reliably POST and boot external media with the encrypted NVMe removed.

Option 2: Borrow a SATA SSD temporarily

I may be able to borrow a SATA SSD and install Windows on it with my original NVMe removed.

If the PC boots reliably from the SATA SSD, that might suggest the motherboard is okay and the original NVMe/Windows/boot path is the issue.

Option 3: Buy a new SSD

If another drive works, I may buy a good SSD, install Windows there, and keep the original encrypted NVMe untouched until I can recover the BitLocker key.

Option 4: Replace CMOS battery

This is cheap and easy, but I do not know if a weak CMOS battery would cause this kind of boot behavior.

Option 5: Replace the motherboard

I am considering this because BIOS access and boot behavior have been inconsistent, but I do not want to replace the board if the real issue is just the drive or Windows Boot Manager.

Main questions

1. Based on this timeline, does this sound more like motherboard/NVRAM/CMOS, NVMe, Windows Boot Manager, RAM training, or something else?
2. Can a bad UEFI boot entry cause the board to hang on BOOT LED before Windows loads?
3. If the NVMe boots fine when manually selected from BIOS, does that mostly rule out the drive physically failing?
4. Is replacing the CMOS battery worth trying before buying a motherboard?
5. Would testing with a borrowed SATA SSD be a good way to isolate the issue?
6. If a clean Windows install on another SSD boots normally, would that point away from the motherboard?
7. If the PC still gets stuck on BOOT LED with the original NVMe removed, does that strongly suggest motherboard/RAM/GPU/PSU instead of the drive?
8. Any known ASRock B650 Pro RS issues with BOOT LED, boot order, NVRAM, or Windows Boot Manager entries?

I am trying to avoid wiping the original NVMe because BitLocker recovery is currently blocking access to my data. But the main issue I need help with is the original boot behavior: normal boot gets stuck on BOOT LED, while BIOS Boot Override can boot Windows when BIOS is accessible.

Any advice on the smartest next diagnostic step would be appreciated.

Hi everyone, I need help diagnosing a weird boot issue that has now gotten worse.

My PC had been working fine for around a year, but suddenly it stopped booting normally.

Specs:

• GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT
• CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• RAM: 32 GB DDR5 6000
• Storage: 2 TB NVMe
• Motherboard: ASRock B650 Pro RS

Original problem: When I turned on the PC normally, I got a black screen with no output. The motherboard got stuck with the BOOT debug/status light on.

At first I thought the NVMe might be the issue, so I:

• Removed and reseated the NVMe
• Checked connections
• Cleared CMOS

After that, I was able to get into BIOS. From BIOS, I manually selected my NVMe drive, and Windows booted normally. Everything worked fine once inside Windows.

But if I shut down and turned the PC back on normally, it went back to the same problem: black screen, no output, BOOT light stuck.

If I entered BIOS and manually selected the NVMe, it booted normally again.

Troubleshooting I tried: I followed some troubleshooting advice because it seemed like a Windows Boot Manager / UEFI boot entry issue.

I tried the following:

• Checked BIOS boot options
• Disabled Fast Boot
• Disabled Windows Fast Startup using:

powercfg /h off

Then I attempted to rebuild the Windows UEFI boot entry using:

mountvol S: /S bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

Current problem: After doing this, the system now will not even boot into BIOS.

Now when I power it on:

• Black screen
• No display output
• Cannot get into BIOS
• Motherboard still appears stuck on BOOT LED
• System does not recover on its own

So the issue went from “only boots if I manually select the NVMe in BIOS” to “now I cannot even access BIOS.”

My current planned next steps: I am thinking of trying this recovery sequence:

1. Turn PSU off and unplug power
2. Hold power button for 15-20 seconds
3. Remove the NVMe completely
4. Fully clear CMOS again, including removing the CMOS battery for 5-10 minutes
5. Try to boot into BIOS with no NVMe installed
6. Try HDMI instead of DisplayPort
7. Try motherboard display output instead of GPU
8. Boot with one RAM stick
9. Reseat GPU and RAM
10. If BIOS comes back, update BIOS using ASRock BIOS Flashback or Instant Flash before touching Windows again

Questions:

• Can a corrupted UEFI boot entry or bad Windows Boot Manager entry cause an ASRock B650 board to hang before BIOS?
• Could the motherboard be hanging while trying to enumerate the NVMe?
• Is this more likely a BIOS/NVRAM bug, CMOS battery issue, NVMe issue, or motherboard issue?
• Should I remove the NVMe and try to reach BIOS first?
• If BIOS returns with the NVMe removed, should I update BIOS first or try repairing the EFI partition again?
• Any known ASRock B650 Pro RS issues with BOOT LED / no BIOS / NVMe boot entries?
• Maybe bad CMOS?

Any help is appreciated. This is driving me insane because the system originally worked perfectly once I manually selected the NVMe from BIOS, but now I cannot even get back into BIOS.

Hi everyone, I need help diagnosing a weird boot issue that has now gotten worse.

My PC had been working fine for around a year, but suddenly it stopped booting normally.

Specs:

• GPU: Radeon RX 9070 XT
• CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
• RAM: 32 GB DDR5 6000
• Storage: 2 TB NVMe
• Motherboard: ASRock B650 Pro RS

Original problem: When I turned on the PC normally, I got a black screen with no output. The motherboard got stuck with the BOOT debug/status light on.

At first I thought the NVMe might be the issue, so I:

• Removed and reseated the NVMe
• Checked connections
• Cleared CMOS

After that, I was able to get into BIOS. From BIOS, I manually selected my NVMe drive, and Windows booted normally. Everything worked fine once inside Windows.

But if I shut down and turned the PC back on normally, it went back to the same problem: black screen, no output, BOOT light stuck.

If I entered BIOS and manually selected the NVMe, it booted normally again.

Troubleshooting I tried: I followed some troubleshooting advice because it seemed like a Windows Boot Manager / UEFI boot entry issue.

I tried the following:

• Checked BIOS boot options
• Disabled Fast Boot
• Disabled Windows Fast Startup using:

powercfg /h off

Then I attempted to rebuild the Windows UEFI boot entry using:

mountvol S: /S bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

Current problem: After doing this, the system now will not even boot into BIOS.

Now when I power it on:

• Black screen
• No display output
• Cannot get into BIOS
• Motherboard still appears stuck on BOOT LED
• System does not recover on its own

So the issue went from “only boots if I manually select the NVMe in BIOS” to “now I cannot even access BIOS.”

My current planned next steps: I am thinking of trying this recovery sequence:

1. Turn PSU off and unplug power
2. Hold power button for 15-20 seconds
3. Remove the NVMe completely
4. Fully clear CMOS again, including removing the CMOS battery for 5-10 minutes
5. Try to boot into BIOS with no NVMe installed
6. Try HDMI instead of DisplayPort
7. Try motherboard display output instead of GPU
8. Boot with one RAM stick
9. Reseat GPU and RAM
10. If BIOS comes back, update BIOS using ASRock BIOS Flashback or Instant Flash before touching Windows again

Questions:

• Can a corrupted UEFI boot entry or bad Windows Boot Manager entry cause an ASRock B650 board to hang before BIOS?
• Could the motherboard be hanging while trying to enumerate the NVMe?
• Is this more likely a BIOS/NVRAM bug, CMOS battery issue, NVMe issue, or motherboard issue?
• Should I remove the NVMe and try to reach BIOS first?
• If BIOS returns with the NVMe removed, should I update BIOS first or try repairing the EFI partition again?
• Any known ASRock B650 Pro RS issues with BOOT LED / no BIOS / NVMe boot entries?
• Maybe bad CMOS?

Any help is appreciated. This is driving me insane because the system originally worked perfectly once I manually selected the NVMe from BIOS, but now I cannot even get back into BIOS.

Need help finding some games to buy for my dad for father's day. He plays on an Xbox ONE X and he only plays things in game pass.

His tastes:

Shooters with campaigns (battlefield, gears, sniper elite, Wolfenstein)

Shooter adventure (like tomb raider)

Sports and racing games (F1, FIFA, madden, Forza Motorsport)

Horror games (resident evil, silent hill, visage)

Some other games I've gotten him to enjoy are hitman and dead by daylight.

He's very close minded when it comes to comes to trying different genres and anything very fast paced is a no for him (like modern doom games). I also think he's not much of a fan of science fiction? I'm not sure but I think so since he doesn't seem to enjoy halo or interested in other sci-fi games I've recommended like prey.

I'm looking for games available on previous gen, that haven't been on game pass that could match his taste.

Maybe some cod with great campaign, some other shooter, a good sport game, maybe a cool horror game and maybe something more outside of the box for him like an RPG that is short. Or you know anything that a dad could enjoy lol

Need help finding some games to buy for my dad for father's day. He plays on an Xbox ONE X and he only plays things in game pass.

His tastes: Shooters with campaign (battlefield, gears) Shooter adventure (like tomb raider) Sports and racing games (F1, FIFA, madden, Forza Motorsport) Horror games (resident evil, silent hill, visage) Some other games I've gotten him to enjoy are hitman and dead by daylight.

He's very close minded when it comes to comes to trying different genres and anything very fast paced is a no for him (like modern doom games). I also think he's not much of a fan of science fiction? I'm not sure but I think so since he doesn't seem to enjoy halo or interested in other sci-fi games I've recommended like prey.

I'm looking for games available on previous gen, that haven't been on game pass that could match his taste.

Maybe some cod with great campaign, some other shooter, a good sport game, maybe a cool horror game and maybe something more outside of the box for him like an RPG that is short.