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Since 2019, I have had a very nice PC setup at home - based around the following motherboard:

ASUS PRIME AMD Ryzen X470-PRO AM4 ATX Motherboard

However last week I discovered that my computer (which I normally leave on 24/7) was switched off. I attempted to start it up again - to no avail. I then left it a few hours and tried again - at which point I saw FIRE inside the case. I immediately powered it down.

I eventually saw scorch marks on my TV tuner card, which was plugged into a PCI-E slot. I removed the card - waited a few hours - and tried again. Unfortunately, the sparks continued manifesting at the PCI-E slot - which I then saw was ruined beyond redemption.

Okay - time for a new motherboard. Unfortunately the same model of motherboard has been discontinued. I was recommended to go for the wi-fi version of the same board, which is:

ASUS AMD Ryzen TUF GAMING X570 PRO WIFI AM4 PCIe 4.0 ATX Motherboard

The new motherboard was delivered on Sunday - and I spent the afternoon removing the old board, and re-installing the new one. The same CPU was transferred over - and the same graphics card and RAM.

Upon plugging in the existing Windows 10 SSD, however, the new motherboard went successfully through POST - then dropped me immediately into the BIOS screen. I spent some time exploring it - and saw that the SSD was recognised. But I was faced with the message "No bootable drives present".

I used a spare SSD to install Windows 10 from a DVD - which worked. I also plugged my old SSD into the computer with a USB adaptor - and I could see the files were all present.

My question is, then, why the new motherboard can not recognise the old SSD as a boot device? I am prepared to have to re-install some things as the old Windows installation resets itself to the new motherboard. I have done this before: swap motherboards but keep the Windows drive. But that can only happen if the drive itself is recognised as bootable.

Any suggestions please?

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  • The UEFI mode boot process is very different from the old BIOS. If you're thinking about "drives" you're wrong. That said, as long as the correct selections are present in UEFI > Boot it should recognize the old .efi and at least try to boot it.
    – ChanganAuto
    Commented Aug 23, 2022 at 11:01
  • I am sure that my previous motherboard also used UEFI., so there should be no compatibility problems? I just used "BIOS" in this question because it's my default word for the initial boot screen (I'm old!).
    – Chris Melville
    Commented Aug 23, 2022 at 11:04
  • Sure it was (AMD ryzen CPU/GPUs wouldn't work in Legacy) and it isn't a compatibility problem. It was likely an incorrect settings problem: In Boot menu you should have (1) assured the "BBS" or drive order has the old SSD as the first priority and then it should (2) pick up the "old" Windows boot entry automatically but if not you then should choose "Windows bootloader manager" from the (different setting) "OS selection" or similar. You shouldn't expect the new motherboard to pick this up automatically although many actually do.
    – ChanganAuto
    Commented Aug 23, 2022 at 11:10
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    A X570 is not a drop in replacement for a X470. It is a different motherboard chipset altogether, but in this case it doesn't make any difference for the boot-process. I'm guessing the old SSD was set for Legacy/CSM boot and the new motherboard defaults to UEFI only.
    – Tonny
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 9:32
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    I just see that while I was typing Chris has self-answered confirming my guess :-)
    – Tonny
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 9:33

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Looks like the problem is resolved. I will leave this answer, however, for other people's reference.

I just had to change a setting in the UEFI/BIOS about the SSD in "Legacy" mode. It was then immediately recognised, and Windows 10 booted right up - with some adjustments for the new motherboard.

Thank you ChanganAuto for your suggestion :)

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  • 2
    I hope you realize that operating in Legacy/CSM mode isn't optimal. It is possible to do a an in-place conversion to UEFI in some cases, but the process is highly complicated and dangerous. A fresh re-install in UEFI mode is usually the better option, but I fully realize that re-installing a highly custom Windows setup can also be a nightmare. Keep running in Legacy mode may be the lesser evil. I did the conversion on my own X470-Prime rig when I needed to replace the SSD for a bigger one. Cloned the SSD first and converted the new one, so I still had the old SSD as backup just in case.
    – Tonny
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 9:48

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