ROG STRIX X399-E GAMING will not boot after replacing drive and reinstalling Windows 10

[DWREID]

I have ROG STRIX X399-E GAMING mobo with American Megatrends UEFI BIOS version 0305 x64

I had to replace an M2 SSD on the motherboard. It was corrupted so no way to clone the drive.  (system has 2 M2 drives and 3 HDD connected via SATA for data.) I replaced the M2 drive that failed. I created a bootable USB flash drive Using Windows Media Creator. I plugged in the flash drive and started the computer, using DEL to enter UEFI BIOS and override the boot settings to boot from the flash drive. It booted and ran setup. I selected the new drive and unallocated space and allowed setup to partition and format the drive and install Windows 10 Pro. It installed successfully. 

The system restarted and booted into BIOS where I updated the boot order and priority. The new drive with new Windows showed in the list as available to boot. 

I saved settings and exit BIOS. The system booted into the BIOS. No matter what, it boots into the BIOS. If I select the new drive using boot override, it scans the drive and then boots to BIOS. 

Ok... so maybe there is something wrong wtih the install. located a fresh Win  10 Pro ISO and attempted to install it to one of the other drives. It installs and now that drives shows as an option for booting. I select that drive in boot override and ... it boots into the BIOS. 

I've tried clearing the RTC RAM by shorting the jumper on the mobo. That reset some settings but it still only boots to BIOS. 

Stumped now and hoping someone has a solution. I searched FAQ but didn't find anything similar. A Google search did turn up other people with the problem but no solutons. 

My eternal gratitude to anyone who can help. Thanks!

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello, @DWREID 

I apologize for any inconvenience caused by the delayed response, as there have been consecutive holidays at our location in recent days.
Based on your description, the BIOS version you are currently using is 0305.
According to the official website of the ROG STRIX X399-E GAMING, this version was released on September 1, 2017. The latest version available is version 1601, released on May 9, 2023.

We recommend referring to the following link to update your BIOS and perform a clear CMOS operation before once again confirming if the system can boot successfully.
[Motherboard] How to use USB BIOS FlashBack™?
How to clear CMOS?

Thank you.

[DWREID]

I did eventually resolve the problem. Upgrading the BIOS did not solve the problem in and of itself. I'll try to detail what I did in case it might help someone. I do not honestly know how much of this is "what was wrong" and how much of it is "computer witchcraft". 

I upgraded the BIOS and cleared the RTC DRAM. This did not fix the problem. Installing the Windows 10 Pro software on another drive and using boot override to boot from that drive did not work. The Windows Setup could see all of the drives. It could partition and format the drives and install the software. I started to think that perhaps something was awry with Secure Boot and that I should focus on clearing anyting that might have gone wrong there. (Again, I do not know which of these steps fixed the problem.)

I cleared the keys in the secure boot area of the BIOS and set them to default settings. 

I cleared the RTC DRAM one more time. 

I used a bootable flash drive equipped with AOMEI. I booted from that flash drive and then used it to do the following
- Force the drive to be C: by moving other drives to other letters.
- Deleted the partition table
- I created a new MBR partition table and formatted the drive in extFAT
- I knew that Windows Setup would not like that but thought that it might clear anything weird along the way. (wishful thinking?)
- I deleted the partition table again.
- I created a new MBR partition table and formatted the drive in NTFS
- I reset the computer and ran Windows Setup from a flash drive
- I selected the drive to install. Setup complained that it didn't want an MPR configuration but it did want a GPT partition table. 
- Using the options in setup I deleted the partition and then pointed to the unallocated drive and allowed setup to configure the drive as it wanted it. 
- Setup proceeded to install the software
-  At the end of the install setup did a restart on the computer.
- I removed the flashdrive and using Del I forced the boot to BIOS to examine the boot order and priority.
- For the first time since this started, I saw the option for Windows Boot Manager in the boot options. I selected that and did a save and exit.
- Windows began to start.... long pause... then booted into Windows. Every boot after that has been straight into Windows. No pause. Perfect. 

I've reinstalled my applications and the system is running flawlessly. 

Again... some of that is probably superfluous and some of it fixed the problem. At this point I do not know which is which. But it works. 

Thanks for getting back to me. The upgrade in the BIOS i'm certain was part of the solution but was not, in and of itself, the full solution. 

I hope that this is in some way helpful.