PLEASE HELP - TUF Z790 Plus Wifi won't boot. Got nothing....

[bntran02]

I'll try to keep it short. Was doing a bios update with EZFlash. 1/3 through it "reboot" on it's own. Screen was just off. I left it for about 10 minutes before giving up and power cycling.

Now, the screen is completely black no matter what I do. Diagnostics LED end state is nothing. No lights for RAM, VGA, CPU, BOOT. Nothing.

Fans and decorative LED's are powering on. I've tried:

-Using CrashFree instructions. Nothing happens

-Holding power + reset and all combinations. I get it to reset but still black screen

-Pulling ramp stucks

-Pulling the Bios battery

-Disconnecting all other USB devices

I get no response from anything. Can't get into bios or anything. 

Any suggestions? I already have another MB on order because this is a business need. It needs to come back up ASAP and ill have to take a loss of it's not recoverable. I am hoping it is but cant think of anything else to do.

My specs:

14900KF

TCreate 128GB ram

Corsair 2TB SSD

Seagate Firecuda 4TB SSD

18TB HDD SATA

24TB HDD SATA

Asus 3080TI

Seasonic 850W PS

[JohnAb]

Have you tried totally cutting the power at the PSU, leaving for a few minutes and then powering up again?

If that doesn't help, what happens if you try to flash the BIOS again? Anything at all?

[bntran02]

Yes, I have. Unplugged and waited a minute or so. Done it like 10 times.

I cannot flash the bios again. There is no response no matter what I do. Just a black screen. Nothing to take action on...

In my haste, I attempted to flash the bios without renaming the file. This is just as likely the root cause of my problems...

[JohnAb]

If you had not renamed the file I don't think it would have flashed at all, so odd if it did. Anyway, not sure what else to suggest, seems most likely that it's the motherboard, but double check all cables and connections, you might get lucky. Try contacting Asus support in your country and see what they can suggest. If under warranty it should be replaced as attempting to flash the BIOS is not user damage in my opinion. Good luck. 

One more thought - are sure that the PSU is working? You can get plugin testers quite cheap, so worth a try I think.  

[Wesley1]

Yeah, it looks like you bricked it.

Do CMOS to remove any overclocking, RAM included.

I think your last resort is to try to start up BIOS recovery option.

https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1012219/

Most ASUS premium boards have flashback feature these days that probably could save you here. There is a small BIOS Flash button with corresponding USB port on back IO panel.
But I'm afraid TUF motherboards don't have it.

The motherboard might need to be send to ASUS specialist computer service.
They will probably save the board and will be able to reflash BIOS or replace BIOS ROM chip.

Also check the LEDs on the motherboard, do any LEDs light up at all? The are 4 LEDs that indicate problems with color codes. 

[bntran02]

The bios recovery option is one i've seen before when attempting to tweak bios settings and I break something. I've always been able to get it to work by holding the reset and power buttons for a few seconds. But this time, no luck. And correct on the reset switch. This motherboard doesnt seem to have one...

I do not have any overclocking. In fact, I believe my ram is underclocked because apparently having 4 sticks is a lot harder to get stable. 32GB x 4

[JohnAb]

I think every motherboard has a BIOS (CMOS) reset switch. I didn't realise that you didn't have a BIOS flashback port, so renaming the BIOS (or not) should have made no difference. You don't need to rename for EZ Flash 3.  

Find that BIOS reset switch - it's your best hope without returning the board I think. If you can flash the BIOS again, download it again and unpack with WinRar, not Windows. Turn off XMP and then try flashing again.

[JohnAb]

I didn't see MyAgapiGC's advice, try that too and good luck.

[bntran02]

The closest I have found is short circuiting two pins. Is this is? It's labeled "CLRTC"

[JohnAb]

Yes, that will be it then. Usually there is also a press switch on the motherboard back plate (where the USB and HDMI sockets are). If you don't have a press button, then short those pins (with the power off). 

You did say that you have already removed the motherboard battery, so I think your BIOS has already been cleared, but no harm in trying.