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Yup, this killed a weekend of mine as well. I'm surprised this isn't a footnote of every conversation about AMD here. Luckily for me the fix was available from

by gexla 7y ago

Yup, this killed a weekend of mine as well. I'm surprised this isn't a footnote of every conversation about AMD here. Luckily for me the fix was available from my motherboard manufacturer about a week after I bought the chip. Also, the Ryzen 3 seems to be picky in dealing with RAM chips. I couldn't boot my computer with all slots in my motherboard filled. I ended up having to dial down the speed of my RAM in the BIOS as well as manually set some other settings. Also, certain motherboards require an updated BIOS before it can boot off a Ryzen 3. In my case, I had the store I bought the chip from install the chip into the mobo so that they could demonstrate that it would boot up and I wouldn't have to return anything. It took them hours to figure this out and I had to tell them how to fix the problem after arriving because I had previously run across mention of the problem. The fix was to install a Ryzen 2, enter the BIOS, install the upgrade and then go ahead with installing the Ryzen 3 chip. What a PITA that was. It put me off building my own system. Next time, I think I'll get a Dell or something.

eptcyka 7y ago
I was under the impression that it was widely known that X470 motherboards would only support the newer Ryzen CPUs with a BIOS update. This is very often the case for motherboard chipsets that are forward-compatible with newer CPUs. As far as memory goes, you do have to pay attention to what memory the CPU supports, it's not like any DDR4 modules will _just work_ with any motherboard/CPU combo. I just built a ryzen desktop, and everything was pretty much turn-key, as I selected the parts which with my limited amount of knowledge had the highest probability of working together nicely.
- gexla 7y ago
  This was in the Philippines. I wasn't surprised they ran into issues and I knew right away what the issue was. I understand you can't just get any memory. The memory I purchased was reasonably within the required specs and a solid brand. The memory wasn't on the "tested list" but on a relatively new chip that's a small list and in the Philippines, I had a limited choice. This is also a wide problem as I found loads of people who had the same issues. I was able to fix it though, and I have my original RAM installed. If there's a secret sauce to picking RAM other than being on this tested list, it's not widely known. Just finding a thread where someone could explain the problem and the fix was difficult. I guess this is no different from any newly released thing. Better to wait until the quirks get worked out.
  - eptcyka 7y ago
    In your case, I think it might very well just be the fact that this is a completely new platform and all the kinks haven't been straightened out just yet. And yeah, being in a smaller market must suck due to the limited choice :/ Having said that, getting ahold of the 3900x in the UK made me feel like I was too participating in a very limited market, situated somewhere in the middle of the Pacific ocean.
    - gexla 7y ago
      I bet you have to pay a nice premium as well. Anything electronic here is anywhere from 30% to 100% more than I would pay Amazon in the US.
warhorse10_9 7y ago
Out of curiosity, what speed were you trying to boot at? I had an issue getting 4 sticks to run at 3600 MHz 1:1. I got it running at 3200 but this wasnt because of finicky ram it was because memory controller couldn't handle 4 sticks at that high a speed. In hindsight this was even hardcoded into the bios as it tried to set FCLK at 1600 with 4 sticks when the XMP profile was loaded (3600), with only 2 sticks it auto loaded 1800 FCLK.
- gexla 7y ago
  It's Kingston DDR4-2666 (8x4) and I was just trying to run as is. I'm in the Philippines and limited in what I could get my hands on. No boot with 4 slots filled. I could only boot with 2 slots filled. I had to do 2 things. I set the RAM to 2400 and I ran CPUZ, took down the timings from the SPD tab and then set the lowest common manually in the BIOS. I'm now able to boot normally most of the time and the system is solid. Occasionally the system won't POST, but a restart solves that. Motherboard is TUF B450M-PLUS gaming.
  - smileybarry 7y ago
    That's still well below the 4-slot JEDEC max on Ryzen 3000 (2933Mhz), you should definitely be able to boot with that combination. Sounds like either faulty RAM or a bad memory controller, I would try to RMA the RAM or the CPU.
kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
Many newer AM4 motherboards can update BIOS without a processor installed. I recently had to do the same processor shuffle with an older motherboard I purchased because I need legacy PCI slots. It wasn't too painful because the motherboard was a cheap open box special, most likely because someone else couldn't get it to run a newer Ryzen.
ActorNightly 7y ago
Which mobo/chip do you have?
- gexla 7y ago
  Motherboard is TUF B450M-PLUS gaming. Chip is Ryzen 3600.

by gexla 7y ago

eptcyka 7y ago

I was under the impression that it was widely known that X470 motherboards would only support the newer Ryzen CPUs with a BIOS update. This is very often the case for motherboard chipsets that are forward-compatible with newer CPUs. As far as memory goes, you do have to pay attention to what memory the CPU supports, it's not like any DDR4 modules will _just work_ with any motherboard/CPU combo. I just built a ryzen desktop, and everything was pretty much turn-key, as I selected the parts which with my limited amount of knowledge had the highest probability of working together nicely.

gexla 7y ago
This was in the Philippines. I wasn't surprised they ran into issues and I knew right away what the issue was. I understand you can't just get any memory. The memory I purchased was reasonably within the required specs and a solid brand. The memory wasn't on the "tested list" but on a relatively new chip that's a small list and in the Philippines, I had a limited choice. This is also a wide problem as I found loads of people who had the same issues. I was able to fix it though, and I have my original RAM installed. If there's a secret sauce to picking RAM other than being on this tested list, it's not widely known. Just finding a thread where someone could explain the problem and the fix was difficult. I guess this is no different from any newly released thing. Better to wait until the quirks get worked out.
- eptcyka 7y ago
  In your case, I think it might very well just be the fact that this is a completely new platform and all the kinks haven't been straightened out just yet. And yeah, being in a smaller market must suck due to the limited choice :/ Having said that, getting ahold of the 3900x in the UK made me feel like I was too participating in a very limited market, situated somewhere in the middle of the Pacific ocean.
  - gexla 7y ago
    I bet you have to pay a nice premium as well. Anything electronic here is anywhere from 30% to 100% more than I would pay Amazon in the US.

warhorse10_9 7y ago

Out of curiosity, what speed were you trying to boot at? I had an issue getting 4 sticks to run at 3600 MHz 1:1. I got it running at 3200 but this wasnt because of finicky ram it was because memory controller couldn't handle 4 sticks at that high a speed. In hindsight this was even hardcoded into the bios as it tried to set FCLK at 1600 with 4 sticks when the XMP profile was loaded (3600), with only 2 sticks it auto loaded 1800 FCLK.

gexla 7y ago
It's Kingston DDR4-2666 (8x4) and I was just trying to run as is. I'm in the Philippines and limited in what I could get my hands on. No boot with 4 slots filled. I could only boot with 2 slots filled. I had to do 2 things. I set the RAM to 2400 and I ran CPUZ, took down the timings from the SPD tab and then set the lowest common manually in the BIOS. I'm now able to boot normally most of the time and the system is solid. Occasionally the system won't POST, but a restart solves that. Motherboard is TUF B450M-PLUS gaming.
- smileybarry 7y ago
  That's still well below the 4-slot JEDEC max on Ryzen 3000 (2933Mhz), you should definitely be able to boot with that combination. Sounds like either faulty RAM or a bad memory controller, I would try to RMA the RAM or the CPU.

kevin_thibedeau 7y ago

Many newer AM4 motherboards can update BIOS without a processor installed. I recently had to do the same processor shuffle with an older motherboard I purchased because I need legacy PCI slots. It wasn't too painful because the motherboard was a cheap open box special, most likely because someone else couldn't get it to run a newer Ryzen.

ActorNightly 7y ago

Which mobo/chip do you have?

gexla 7y ago
Motherboard is TUF B450M-PLUS gaming. Chip is Ryzen 3600.