Unupdated AMD Socket AM4 motherboard may refuse POST with Raven Ridge APUs

AMD guarantees Socket AM4 will be supported through 2020 but that doesn't mean you won't have issues when you pair an old-stock AM4 motherboard with one of those new AMD Ryzen 3 2200G or Ryzen 5 2400G processors.

The Tech Report dropped a Ryzen APU into a yet-to-be-updated Gigabyte AB350-Gaming 3 and discovered the system wouldn't even POST. The board was unable to recognize the processor and without access to the BIOS you can't update its version without having to use one of the first-gen Ryzen CPUs.

As the site notes, more expensive motherboards may handle this situation better:

Fancier motherboards from Gigabyte, ASRock, MSI, and Asus might be able to get around this issue thanks to their ability to update firmware without a CPU or memory installed. If your ASRock or Asus board touts BIOS Flashback support, your Gigabyte board offers the company's Q-Flash Plus capability, or your MSI board includes the BIOS Flashback+ feature, you can likely download your board's latest firmware and install it without the help of an older Ryzen chip. That said, we doubt many value-minded builders are considering the very-highest-end Socket AM4 boards to go with their slice of affordable gaming power.

The lesson here is that if you're building a new system, you should definitely check if the motherboard you're buying has one of those "AMD Ryzen Desktop 2000 Ready" stickers. If it doesn't, you may run into trouble.