Asrock x470 Master SLI/AC bricked after BIOS update

[VVictoria]

Maybe this programmer isn't ideal for this chip, since it's not always recognizing it
Are you sure it's not faulty CPU, do you have another you can try?  Nothing to check with multi-meter.

Does this board have a Debug LED post Code thing?  If yes, what code so you see it stop on?  If not, connect a case speaker, do you get any beeps, if yes what are they?

So it's running, but nothing on screen?  Can you try another graphics card, older one maybe, but not too old.

Did you try writing older BIOS, before those warnings I mentioned initially?  If not, try that now, download one of the earlier BIOS (instant flash version) and see if that makes any difference.

Could be many things went bad, hard to know without more hardware to test with, doesn't always mean bad BIOS flash because it happened to fail right then (good chance it was, but not always).

Unfortunately, it does not have an LED and I cannot find my speaker, but I'll keep looking for it.

[VVictoria]

okay, I tried another of the same graphics card without success. I'll try another, older graphics card soon.

[VVictoria]

Maybe this programmer isn't ideal for this chip, since it's not always recognizing it
Are you sure it's not faulty CPU, do you have another you can try?  Nothing to check with multi-meter.

Does this board have a Debug LED post Code thing?  If yes, what code so you see it stop on?  If not, connect a case speaker, do you get any beeps, if yes what are they?

So it's running, but nothing on screen?  Can you try another graphics card, older one maybe, but not too old.

Did you try writing older BIOS, before those warnings I mentioned initially?  If not, try that now, download one of the earlier BIOS (instant flash version) and see if that makes any difference.

Could be many things went bad, hard to know without more hardware to test with, doesn't always mean bad BIOS flash because it happened to fail right then (good chance it was, but not always).

Okay, I applied the clip wrong. It took a bit of doing but now I've fixed it and I can detect the BIOS chip again. I guess it's time to try another BIOS? Oh man! I just checked, there is a mismatch between the file you sent me and what was written to the chip! I should try writting it again and see what happens.

[Lost_N_BIOS]

CPU new means nothing, still could have died, as could any number of other things on the board. hard to know for sure without other CPU to test in this board and another board to test this CPU in, to rule out the board and CPU in order to make more sure it's a BIOS only issue.

Sometimes larger chip is on the board than BIOS used, but not often. I made the BIOS as I explained before, using your dump to pull both NVRAM volumes from and put into latest stock BIOS 1.90. No need to do into 1.0 if 1.9 didn't work, but we can try same in BIOS right before that if you wanted, however the main issue may be something messed up in those NVRAM volumes anyway, that may be why it failed initially and I'm only copying the error into a new BIOS thus duplicating the problem.

This is why I hoped you had a backup before anything happened. If not, your best bet may be to find someone with exact same board and get them to give you a full BIOS dump using Universal BIOS Backup Toolkit or other backup method (Programmer if they have, unsure if AFU will give full dump or not)

BIOS card thing I mentioned was only in hopes maybe board was running but not putting out graphics output, you could also test the onboard graphics connections too. Try to find speaker, check in old OEM computer in basement/attic/storage etc.

I compared the read/save you sent before, after writing BIOS I sent you and it was 100%. Not sure how it's changed now, except maybe by starting attempt changed some NVRAM or date/times etc in the CMOS. That's probably to be expected since you tried starting it after that.

In order to proceed in a sane manner, we need a clean working dump from running system. However, as mentioned, the board should start simply by stock BIOS programmed in, so something else is wrong I think. Is there other chips on the board, dual BIOS, or EC etc? If yes, dump those and send for me to check.

[VVictoria]

Thank you. I haven't been able to find another BIOS chip and it doesn't seem like this motherboard has another one. On the 20th I should get access to another board of the same model that will be completely stock, so I'll be able to read the BIOS from that board and maybe test the CPU, etc. In the mean time, I've emailed the manufacturer and posted elsewhere to see if anyone has a stock BIOS rom but I haven't had any replies yet.

Is it not possible to mix the MSI BIOS with the rom I provided from the ASRock website? It's very unfortunate that I didn't back up the BIOS before updating it initially. Lesson learned.

[Lost_N_BIOS]

Show me an image of the board, or some review you know of that shows a few good images of the board. Good you will have another sample to dump BIOS from, then we can figure this out maybe.

Mixing BIOS? Maybe some module in rare instances, but you first a working board/BIOS, and taking something from one BIOS to another is only done in rare unlocking setting type instances, never to fix a board. So in general, no that's not something you'd be doing here.

Yes, always backup BIOS before you flash or program, and if you can, always backup entire BIOS via Universal BIOS Backup Toolkit, or Programmer etc, not only BIOS region which is sometimes what AFU or some other software give you. BIOS region backup is always smaller than chip, and often smaller than BIOS download, that's why I wondered if stock BIOS was entire BIOS or partial. Usually that's like 8-12MB from a 16MB chip, or 6MB from an 8MB chip.

[VVictoria]

Show me an image of the board, or some review you know of that shows a few good images of the board.  Good you will have another sample to dump BIOS from, then we can figure this out maybe.

Mixing BIOS?  Maybe some module in rare instances, but you first a working board/BIOS, and taking something from one BIOS to another is only done in rare unlocking setting type instances, never to fix a board.  So in general, no that's not something you'd be doing here.

Yes, always backup BIOS before you flash or program, and if you can, always backup entire BIOS via Universal BIOS Backup Toolkit, or Programmer etc, not only BIOS region which is sometimes what AFU or some other software give you.  BIOS region backup is always smaller than chip, and often smaller than BIOS download, that's why I wondered if stock BIOS was entire BIOS or partial.  Usually that's like 8-12MB from a 16MB chip, or 6MB from an 8MB chip.

Okay, I got a new board of the exact same model with the exact same BIOS chip, although this one has a sticker that says P1.40, whereas mine said P1.10. I read the BIOS of the fresh board, here it is!

[Lost_N_BIOS]

Stoker is just BIOS version installed at factory. That one has 16MB empty at second half too, so now we know this is normal.
Give me serial number of old and new board, and LAN MAC ID"s from both (Should be on sticker near LAN), you can send by PM if you want
Is new one serial, asking because I'm not familiar with how Asrock serials look > M80-B7008400537
And then old one > M80-B4006500101 (I think these are correct!)

For now, you can test, write the new board BIOS to the old board, if it doesn't start still then you know 100% the BIOS is not the issue. If it starts, great, update it to latest version, dump it, then get me the LAN MAC ID and I can fix it for you.

[VVictoria]

It doesn't start but I am having a lot of issues with my flashcat, so I think that's the reason. It apparently didn't write it correctly, only 77% match and I can't get the flashcat back into 3.3v mode, it just shows as not being connected to my PC when I switch to 3.3v.

I found a speaker but it didn't make any noise when I turned on the desktop, maybe because the BIOS is messed up? I'll PM you the IDs. I guess the best thing to do would be to transfer all my parts to the new motherboard and test it. I guess I'll do that. I was having some issues starting the motherboard by jumping the pwr-sw pins, so maybe I need to connect it to my case as well.

[VVictoria]

Okay I tried the other motherboard and it also doesn't Post so it's definitely some kind of hardware issue. I don't know how to diagnose it, though. Do you have any advice?