Windows Can't install Windows 20H2 on MSI B450i

kvn95ss

Member
Disciple
Whenever I install the latest Windows 10 (Insider latest or 20H2), I would get stuck in "Getting devices ready: 75%" or so.

I disabled the LAN with my BIOS, then Windows runs with no issue. I'm able to set up and using USB to ethernet dongle I can update the system.

HOWEVER even after installing the ethernet drivers, Windows gives blackscreen if I have my LAN enabled. I just can't seem to make Win10 boot with the ethernet enabled.

I tried updating the system (used a USB to ethernet dongle for that) and even after update it would still give me black screen if LAN was enabled.

Any helps and inputs appreciated.
 

TheCoolerPlayer

Well-Known Member
Disciple
The below is what I would try to remedy this, in order (if 2 doesn't work then 2, if not 2 then 3 and so on):
1. Reset windows updates
2. Do an "in-place" windows upgrade (google it)
3. Motherboard BIOS update
4. Reinstall Windows
5. Just decide you've had enough of Windows and move to Linux/Hackintosh :p

I'm personally going to do 5 since over the last 2 years of ownership of my laptop, 90% of the problems are caused by just the goddamn OS alone. It truly amazes me how Microsoft, a company with an almost singular focus on developing software (for retail customers) has screwed up Windows so badly.
 
Last edited:

kvn95ss

Member
Disciple
> Linux/Hackintosh

Already have both lol (Mac for logic). If only MacOS had KVM as well. Having issues with KVM GPU pass through, hence going back to bare metal windows. (I'm able to pass my RX 570 to win10 kvm, but whenever I run any GPU oriented task the app crashes without any error. Even Adrenaline / Radeon software won't load lol).
 

TheCoolerPlayer

Well-Known Member
Disciple
kvn95ss said:
> Linux/Hackintosh

Already have both lol (Mac for logic). If only MacOS had KVM as well. Having issues with KVM GPU pass through, hence going back to bare metal windows. (I'm able to pass my RX 570 to win10 kvm, but whenever I run any GPU oriented task the app crashes without any error. Even Adrenaline / Radeon software won't load lol).
Click to expand...
I see. The only reason I am on Windows is for VR, and that I keep procrastinating it every weekend haha. Hopefully someday soon™ :p
 

TheCoolerPlayer

Well-Known Member
Disciple
kvn95ss said:
Oh hadn't noticed that there's a beta bios. Will try it out!
Click to expand...
If you've not done so already, I'd recommend going through steps 1-4 I mentioned earlier. MSI's beta BIOSes aren't exactly known to be the best for stability.
Though point 5 in my post was in jest, I can vouch for steps 1-4 since I face similar windows update problems every few weeks. So first try the 1st thing, if it doesn't work, go to 2, then if that doesn't work only then try out bioa update, and if that doesn't solve it as well then just reinstall windows, not much else left after that.
 

SunnyBoi

Well-Known Member
Skilled
TheCoolerPlayer said:
MSI's beta BIOSes aren't exactly known to be the best for stability.
Click to expand...
The latest beta BIOSes on my X470 Gaming Plus are much better than the stable ones. If the BIOS update can help, go ahead and do it
 

TheCoolerPlayer

Well-Known Member
Disciple
SunnyBoi said:
The latest beta BIOSes on my X470 Gaming Plus are much better than the stable ones. If the BIOS update can help, go ahead and do it
Click to expand...
If I'm not wrong, X470 has a much better BIOS support and gets more regular updates than the B450 line, especially the non-Max line. It's very unlikely that the update issue is due to mb bios since I'm assuming it was working fine previously. It's most probably a windows thing, hence my suggestion.
 

TheCoolerPlayer

Well-Known Member
Disciple
Ah I see. Anyway, I would still doubt it's just the mb causing havoc, unless it hasn't updated windows at all since it being installed on it. In general, it is a good rule to not touch mobo bios if everything's working well - rarely is it the cause for thing such as windows not getting updated. For me, an in-place upgrade fixes the problem of bad windows update 90% of the times, rest of the time I have to just reinstall windows. Of late, windows update has had quite a few problems, starting with the 19H2 and 20H1 updates. I've personally faced the personal files data loss caused by 20h1 (or maybe 20h2), windows update getting broken and not allwing to update me to 20h1 (which I desperately needed for one of my softwares) etc. An inplace upgrade fixes most problems whch would otherwise require reinstallaion of windows.
 

kvn95ss

Member
Disciple
Hello guys, turns out one BIOS setting (Enable 4G memory) which is required for macOS was messing with windows. Should have read the Dortania guide better, might have caught it earlier lol.
 

Titokhan

Member
Disciple
kvn95ss said:
Hello guys, turns out one BIOS setting (Enable 4G memory) which is required for macOS was messing with windows. Should have read the Dortania guide better, might have caught it earlier lol.
Click to expand...

Some earlier implementations of "Above 4G Decoding" were indeed buggy, but newer firmwares as well as recent Windows 10 builds are mostly free from any glitches related to extended memory mapping. That being said, it really doesn't explain the correlation between above-4G-decoding and the presence of the on-board Ethernet controller.

Just curious, which BIOS version are you running at this moment?
 

kvn95ss

Member
Disciple

While MSI is not listed, the effects are certainly the same. Adding the boot-args breaks my macOS. Oh well, guess I know what I'm doing today.
 

SunnyBoi

Well-Known Member
Skilled
kvn95ss said:
While MSI is not listed, the effects are certainly the same. Adding the boot-args breaks my macOS. Oh well, guess I know what I'm doing today.
Click to expand...
update to the latest BIOS. the above 4G option is present. somehow its linked to resizeable bar support
 

kvn95ss

Member
Disciple
EDIT - I had made a spelling mistake in my config.plist, I had typed ```ncpi``` instead of ```npci```.

Added Manjaro to BlessOverride, and now have triple boot lol
kvn95ss said:
View attachment 105249
While MSI is not listed, the effects are certainly the same. Adding the boot-args breaks my macOS. Oh well, guess I know what I'm doing today.
Click to expand...