Recently I upgraded my motherboard (to MSI Gaming Plus Max b450) with a newer chipset to have better support my previous upgraded Ryzen 3700X CPU. Obviously, when you ‘upgrade’ a motherboard, it’s rather a full new build again just with existing parts and that the only scenario you are expecting is everything turns back on and hopes it works again. Sadly this isn’t the case, and it is by far the most frustrating build I’ve done!

I hope this tip can save you endless re-tries or hours of reading and watching videos online or even making the wrong decision to RMA your motherboard when things don’t work out.

So what doesn’t work out?

No virtualization.

Unlike what this motherboard’s name suggests, I don’t plan to use it for gaming. I need it to speed up my daily work, and my work involves running docker containers and running virtualized OS. And by default, the setting for AMD’s Ryzen virtualization technology (SVM mode) is disabled.

So let’s enable it in the BIOS. But you will soon realize if you follow most other guide out there by going to Advanced > OC > Other Settings > (looking for CPU features). The setting is missing from my motherboard. What?!

Long story short, after more digging and countless BIOS version flash, the answer lies in the above menu. The SVM mode setting has been moved under OC > Overclocking > Advanced CPU Configurations.

This is where you can change the SVM Mode from Disabled to Enabled.

I hope this solves your issue of enabling virtualization with the MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max motherboard. Unfortunately, there are more headaches for me with this motherboard that I have yet to figure out. The board would sometimes think CPU is not detected. As a result, nothing boots up.

The post Troubleshoot Where To Enable MSI Gaming Plus Max B450 Virtualization appeared first on Next of Windows.

If you’ve followed my previous few posts on CPU upgrades, you’ve learned that updating your motherboard’s BIOS is critical to having a successful upgrade. Regardless of your reason for BIOS updates, here are few different ways I want to share with you when it comes to upgrading a Gigabyte motherboard’s BIOS.

Method One: Install Gigabyte App Center and @BIOS app

The most straightforward method that allows you to update BIOS all within Windows and I recommend most folks use this method. All you need to do is download the utility and run the installer. Follow the onboard instruction to update the BIOS. In order to install @BIOS you need to first have the Gigabyte’s App Center installed.

Method Two: BIOS Q-Flash

The traditional method is to go to the BIOS screen and flash the BIOS version from there. For Gigabyte, the flash tool is called Q-Flash. You download the binary and put it on your USB, boot into the BIOS screen and find the version from USB to proceed with the upgrade.

Method Three: Q-Flash via Dedicated USB Plug Directly

Almost all modern Gigabyte supports this; you need to read and check the instruction menu for your specific motherboard. It would help if you looked for a USB that’s dedicated to Q-FLASH to update BIOS. The most recent one, it’s a USB slot with white strips on the tongue.

Unplug everything else and power on the motherboard, and it will proceed with the BIOS upgrade. For this method to work properly, you want to have a USB drive with LED read/write an indicator to tell when the update is finished. This is a good method to proceed if you have lots of hardware need to perform the same update. It requires no supervision, just the right binary for the bios in the root drive of the USB, and it will proceed with the upgrade.

The post Three Ways to Upgrade a Gigabyte Motherboard BIOS appeared first on Next of Windows.