msi bios flashback light keeps blinking

Flashing BIOS via USB but it keeps blinking for over +30 mins

reddit.com › r › PcBuildHelp › comments › 1et0dbk › flashing_bios_via_usb_but_it_keeps_blinking_for

I have a couple videos on the MSI boards, but none of the AM5 ones yet. So maybe things are different however... It's kind of odd that the CPU power 1 is on the left on that board... but I mean it's -getting power- to the flash bios circuit so you shouldn't need both powered on (might not hurt just to make sure that something else maybe isn't getting power... not sure). The B550-A Pro only has 1 CPU Power Connector so... it's slightly different. I did videos on a B550-A Pro board, and when you push the flash button it does a few quick blinks, and then starts blinking steadily. At some point (and it can take a while), it will stop blinking and the CPU light will stay on. Seeing as this post is from 2 hours ago, if it's still blinking I would assume that it is not able to update. You should be safe to power off the power supply. Make sure that the Bios file is renamed to MSI.ROM exactly and is in the root folder of the USB drive that is Fat32 Formatted. I have a 2 or 4gb drive that I do my updates with because some larger ones seem to have issues sometimes (but not always). Answer from kardall on reddit.com

MSI

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Stuck on eternal bios flash button blinking

August 3, 2022 - MSI Global English Forum

reddit.com › r/msi_gaming › red light keep flashing during bios flash

r/MSI_Gaming on Reddit: Red light keep flashing during BIOS Flash

April 25, 2025 -

Hi everyone,

I just bought a Ryzen 7 9800x3D with an MSI X670e Gaming Plus Wifi mobo.

During first boot the CPU debug light went red. I was expecting this since the CPU is quite new and mobo BIOS is probably not to date. So I tried flashing the most recent one on my new mobo.

It's not my first time, it usually goes fine. I use an old Imac to format a 4Gb usb key to FAT32, download new bios, rename the exec MSI.ROM, put on the key, plug it on the flash USB port and hit the flash button.

Problem is, the red light start bliking but never stops or acclerate or slow down. It just keeps blinking for hours

What should I do ?

Full config : Ryzen 7 9800x3D MSI X680e Gaming Plus wifi 2x16Gb DDR5 Corsair Vengeance RGB 6000MT/s RTX 4090 MSI gaming trio RM 850w Corsair

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Were you able to flash it successfully finally?

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Try resetting your CMOS, I had the same issue with my post light staying red or flashing red. The update added a new BIOS setting and my CPU was not having it, and was preventing me from booting. Unplug your computer, Open your case, look for the JBAT1 pins and either use a jumper or the tip of a screwdriver and short the pins. Unless you have a clear CMOS button. Then just use the button. Hope this helps!

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Tom's Hardware Forum

forums.tomshardware.com › home › motherboards

Question - Flashing Bios - Continuously blinking (MSI B550 Gaming Plus) | Tom's Hardware Forum

January 17, 2025 - i know you said you formated the drives correctly and re-named it correctly.. if you did not do this correctly it would not be "flashing" if you watch mikes unboxing video fully. he says that it can "sometimes " take a while for the bios to fully install.. try 1 more time.. wait upto 40 minutes. .. if it still blinking the red light it could be its still checking..

MSI

forum-en.msi.com › home

endless flashing when bios flash with button

August 28, 2023 - MSI Global English Forum

reddit.com › r/msi_gaming › hey all, when i attempt to do a bios flashback, it blinks three times and stays solid. see comments

r/MSI_Gaming on Reddit: Hey all, when I attempt to do a bios flashback, it blinks three times and stays solid. See comments

December 21, 2022 - Send it back and buy another. Save yourself a headache ... Make sure the file doesn't have a hidden item attached to it. For example, make sure the actual file name is MSI.ROM and not MSI.ROM.ROM.

MSI

forum-en.msi.com › home

Led blinks 5 times, when trying to update bios with ...

March 6, 2024 - Parece que minha placa mãe MSI tá forçando meu ryzen 5 7600x rodar em 88w (eco Mode) sem tá ativado BIOS atualizada

reddit.com › r/msi_gaming › bios flash solid white led

r/MSI_Gaming on Reddit: BIOS Flash Solid White LED

April 28, 2023 -

Hey guys, trying to use the flash button on my Mag Mortar B650M.

I downloaded the file and put it onto a USB drive and renamed the file MSI.ROM.

I stuck it in and press the Flash bios button and the white LED blinked for a bit, the PC turned on, but now the LEd is just solid white.

All the videos online had a red LED, what does this mean?

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The color of the EZ DEBUG LEDs are meaningless. White LEDs are usually on the cheaper MSI boards and RED are for the more expensive boards. Anyway, the LED you need to be paying attention to is the RED LEDs on both the flash drive and on the USB port marked for BIOS Flashback ... You should also follow this video to the letter to avoid problems ... https://youtu.be/O8MwV-3oWzY The biggest issue with BIOS Flashback is the flash drive can't be GPT -- it has to be MBR. And there's compatibility issues. If one flash drive doesn't work, try another. Sometimes, 32GB or larger USB sticks are classified by their manufacturer as "USB Hard Disks" (i.e. Patriot Rage) instead of "USB Removable Media" or "USB Flash Drive" (Sandisk, Lexar) and that could also account for the issues with BIOS Flashback because it can be expecting a specific classification and rejects devices that don't conform to that classification ...

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My experience had been that the flash drive must be a FAT32 format any other file format caused a solid white light after the initial blinking stopped

reddit.com › r/pcbuildhelp › flashing bios via usb but it keeps blinking for over +30 mins

r/PcBuildHelp on Reddit: Flashing BIOS via USB but it keeps blinking for over +30 mins

August 15, 2024 -

What should I do? USB is 2.0 and 4gb.

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I have a couple videos on the MSI boards, but none of the AM5 ones yet. So maybe things are different however... It's kind of odd that the CPU power 1 is on the left on that board... but I mean it's -getting power- to the flash bios circuit so you shouldn't need both powered on (might not hurt just to make sure that something else maybe isn't getting power... not sure). The B550-A Pro only has 1 CPU Power Connector so... it's slightly different. I did videos on a B550-A Pro board, and when you push the flash button it does a few quick blinks, and then starts blinking steadily. At some point (and it can take a while), it will stop blinking and the CPU light will stay on. Seeing as this post is from 2 hours ago, if it's still blinking I would assume that it is not able to update. You should be safe to power off the power supply. Make sure that the Bios file is renamed to MSI.ROM exactly and is in the root folder of the USB drive that is Fat32 Formatted. I have a 2 or 4gb drive that I do my updates with because some larger ones seem to have issues sometimes (but not always).

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I’d update the board with a cpu and ram installed. Maybe also in a case with a cooler and if you have a gpu.

Find elsewhere

Google Bing Mojeek

reddit.com › r/msi_gaming › pc won’t boot + flash bios blinking forever

r/MSI_Gaming on Reddit: PC won’t boot + Flash BIOS blinking forever

March 7, 2024 - Clearing CMOS would've fixed the bad XMP/expo...since that doesn't, have to assume bad BIOS flash. I'd reformat the stick with fat32. Pop the file on there. Follow the manual to the T for using the flashback-and don't call it dead until 15 minutes ...

reddit.com › r/msi_gaming › bios flash is taking forever

r/MSI_Gaming on Reddit: Bios flash is taking forever

July 19, 2025 -

I have the mother board MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS I tried updating the bios using MSI center but it took over an hour so I figured I would just turn off the pc and use the bios flash button (I know it's a bad idea but it was stuck) now when I try to flash the bios the red led keep flashing and the dram led is on but it's still taking forever more than an hour I tried downloading an old bios into the USB iam using the fat32 format changed the name of the file to MSI.ROM and I even took all the parts off (CPU, GPU, ram, ssd) but still nothing works is it dead or is there still hope

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It's bricked. You'll need to use BIOS Flashback to recover. For this to succeed with the highest compatibility rate, you'll need a SanDisk or Lexar USB 2.0 flash drive under 32gb -- it can't be a 3.x flash drive -- and partitioned as MBR and formatted to FAT or FAT32. Both NTFS and exFAT are not compatible. FAT is for storage devices under 4GB in capacity and have the highest compatibility. FAT32 is for storage devices over 4GB but under 32GB and most flash drives fresh out of the package default to this configuration. For best results, insert the flash drive into a computer with a working Windows environment and use Diskpart's "clean" and "convert MBR" commands on the flash drive to ensure it is wiped clean. Then use Disk Management to create a new simple volume, entire capacity, formatted to FAT32, give it a drive letter, but no label. From here, copy and paste both the "msi.rom" file and the readme file to the root of the flash. The presence of the readme file can help fool BIOS Flashback into detecting the flash drive as an old school USB HDD and some people have had success that way. Safely eject the USB stick into the BIOS Flashback port and with the power off, press and hold the button for 2 seconds. The LED behind the BIOS Flashback port should slow blink first for a few moments then start blinking faster. The fast blink means BIOS Flashback is reading the "msi.rom" file from the USB and reprogramming the BIOS - it should fast blink for 5 to 7 minutes straight. Then it should go back to a slow blink pattern for about 15 seconds and finally stop blinking. You may also hear a click from the PSU indicating the BIOS update succeeded and the motherboard shut off. It's now safe to remove the USB stick and boot up. Give your board up to 90 seconds to memory train and reboot 2 or 3 times but once you see an underscore cursor in the top left corner of your display, your system is about to POST and display the MSI "Pro Series" logo. Press DEL at this underscore cursor to automatically enter the BIOS. You may get a screen of text saying "New CPU detected. Press F1 to clear the fTPM or F2 to continue". Press F1 here instead.

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Are you using the correct USB port? This is why we always warn people not to use MSI Center for BIOS updates (or anything TBH) You might find this thread useful

reddit.com › r/buildapc › flashing bios, light flashed for only 15 seconds then turned off (msi z690-a wifi)

r/buildapc on Reddit: Flashing Bios, light flashed for only 15 seconds then turned off (MSI Z690-A Wifi)

July 31, 2023 -

I'm trying to flash the bios of the MSI Z690-A Wifi Motherboard and when I pressed the flash bios button the led only flashed for ~15 seconds before turning off. Does that mean the flashing worked or did I do something wrong?

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I just went through a similar process on my Gigabyte Z690 Pro - hope I can help. If you’re installing via USB, you need to check the following: You need to ensure that you’ve got the right bios update for the motherboard version and revision - easy to get wrong ensure the USB is Fat32 ensure the BIOS download was extracted and that only the BIOS file was copied to the USB apparently the BIOS file needs to be renamed as MSI.ROM (but double check this yourself to be sure) the USB with the BIOS update needs to be in the right USB port for the update to function (usually labelled BIOS or otherwise indicated (check manual if unclear) most people say you need to ensure no components have been installed. I ignored this myself and had all components installed already - but if it isn’t working, might be worth uninstalling any parts you might already have fitted Hope this helps :)

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A successful flash usually takes around 5 min. 15s would mean it was unsuccessful. Try with bare minimum components, MB, PSU and USB with bios file. Anymore components can cause interference with the flashing.

reddit.com › r/msi_gaming › flashback button flashing red over 30 minutes, what do i do now?

r/MSI_Gaming on Reddit: Flashback button flashing red over 30 minutes, what do I do now?

May 31, 2023 -

I'm trying to do a bios update on my 550 A PRO so that it recognizes my Ryzen 7 5700x. I made sure my flash drive was FAT32 and the bios was in the root. I also renamed it to MSI.ROM as instructed. From what I've seen the flashback is only supposed to take 10 minutes max, so what do I do now?

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Is it a slow flash or a fast paced flash? Either way, the system is having issues with the USB stick. If you have another one and access to another working computer, try following this video ... https://youtu.be/O8MwV-3oWzY Anyway, with the BIOS Flashback feature, you can try updating the BIOS as many times as you want without fear of bricking the board because the feature is designed to add official CPU support and revive bricked or corrupted boards. That's not to say it isn't failsafe, but it is much better than not having it at all. I've seen BIOS Flashback work using different devices such as USB SD card readers.

reddit.com › r/buildapc › msi flash bios light not blinking but stays on

r/buildapc on Reddit: MSI Flash Bios light not blinking but stays on

October 12, 2021 -

Guys I need help right now I have an MSI B550 Torpedo and I’m trying to flash it so I can use my Ryzen 5 5600x cpu but the bios light stays on and not flashing. Should I wait like an hour to turn off the system since I know it’s bad to turn off while bios process is going on.

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light stays on = bricked RMA time.

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My red led light at the usb port stayed on this B550 Tomahawk using an 8GB FAT32 drive I bought for Flash BIOS purpose, so I put the ROM onto the 32GB FAT32 usb drive intended for windows instead, and that appears to get around that issue, after a few minutes, seemed to flash ok. I'm pissed that they old me a 5800X3D cpu/board bundle that had zero chance of working out of the box.

MSI

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Updating Bios via Bios Flash Button - LED doesn't stop ...

November 29, 2020 - TPM disappears on first boot after long shutdown - BitLocker recovery + Code 45 + “No TPM device found” in BIOS (Modern 14 H / D13MG)

MSI

forum-en.msi.com › home › msi gaming › gaming motherboards (meg / mpg / mag)

[SOLVED] TOMAHAWK B450 MAX BIOS flash error | MSI Global English Forum

August 20, 2020 - If the LED stays ON, not blinking, then disconnect the power · Get another USB and repeat Step 2. - Prepare USB (in my case the 1st USB I used (in the video above) had this issue) Repeat Step 4. - Proceed with flashing. Repeat until you find an USB drive that works (I read that the USB drives should not be bigger than 32GB) Unplug the power cord and then unplug the USB drive. ... It should display a message about system change and BIOS reconfiguration.

Linus Tech Tips

linustechtips.com › the workbench › troubleshooting

Msi mpg X570 gaming plus - Bios flashback blinking 3 times. (Ryzen 5000 series) - Troubleshooting - Linus Tech Tips

May 26, 2022 - Currently having the need to switch to this X570 board and I don't have a 2000 or 3000 series processor. Its been unopened since the guy Buyed this motherboard at launch. But now that I only have a 5000 series processor I was hoping to bios flash it to the latest version so it supports ryzen 5000...

MSI

forum-en.msi.com › home

Flash Bios light not staying on after being pressed.

July 21, 2022 - MPG CORELIQUID K360 V2 got a device descriptor failed after the MSI Agility GD60 got blink and stuck.

reddit.com › r/msi_gaming › what does a solid red flash bios led mean after flashing?

r/MSI_Gaming on Reddit: What does a solid red Flash BIOS LED mean after flashing?

November 14, 2023 -

After inserting a USB with MSI.ROM into the correct port and pressing the Flash BIOS button, the PC boots with the Flash BIOS LED blinking. After 5-10 minutes the PC restarts automatically with the Flash BIOS LED solid red.

Does this mean that the flash was successful or a failure? I ask since I couldn't get my motherboard to POST after switching from a Ryzen 3600X->5600X and tried flashing the BIOS to fix that. Now it won't post with either the new OR old CPU!

For reference, my motherboard is a B450 Tomahawk Max and the debug LED is stuck on CPU.

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https://imgur.com/5bW2mM8.jpg

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Unplug your computer and pull the CMOS battery for 10 minutes. Pop it back in and make sure you have only 1 RAM stick installed in slot A2. Boot up your rig and give it time to memory train and reboot itself 2 or 3 times before you see video. If you don't get a video signal after 90 seconds, shutdown and test each of the RAM slots with that same stick of RAM ... Let us know the verdict ...

Linus Tech Tips

linustechtips.com › the workbench › troubleshooting

MSI Flash BIOS Light won't stop blinking of 30 min! - Troubleshooting - Linus Tech Tips

August 25, 2021 - Hi there! So I have build my pc a hour ago or something but I needed to flash the bios on my MSI B550-A Pro motherboard because I have a Ryzen 5 5600X. I've put all the files on my 64GB 2.0 USB and put it in the USB port right of the Flash Button. Everything is installed and on the BIOS version i...

reddit.com › r/msi_gaming › bios flashback with button taking forever

r/MSI_Gaming on Reddit: BIOS flashback with button taking forever

January 6, 2021 -

hello, I have the b550 a pro motherboard, and I have completely built up my system, I tried to run it and it didn't post which I expected because I am using a ryzen 5 5600x proccessor which needs a bios update. I installed the bios file from msi's official site and I have renamed it to MSI.ROM. I put the flashstick in the correct usb slot, pressed the BIOS button, the red light started flashing and fans started spinning, I waited 10 minutes still flashing, waited 20 minutes still flashing, waited a hour still flashing. I read some things online and people suggest to reset cmos battery which I did after stopping the flash. After I resetted the cmos, than started the BIOS flashback again. It was getting late at night and I decided to sleep while it is still flashing hoping it will end by the time I wake up, I was wrong it still was flashing when I woke up. any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I hope I haven't bricked my motherboard by accident.

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UPDATE: I feel soo so dumb after finding out the problem, the problem was the 8 pin cpu connector wasn't fully connected into my modular power supply, if you have bios flashback problems be sure to check connectors if they are plugged in fully or not.

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still didnt work, also the ez debug light for cpu is on for some reason does this mean trouble?