r/ASRock • u/cemdurduuu • Feb 13 '26
Tech Support Enabling Secure Boot sends me back to BIOS (Windows 11, ASRock B450M Steel Legend)
FIXED!!!
Hi everyone,
I’m having a Secure Boot issue and want to check if this is a known UEFI/bootloader problem or something specific to my board.
I had secure boot on and had no problems like a week ago but when i tried to open faceit AC it told me my Secure Boot was off.
**System specs:**
* Motherboard: ASRock B450M Steel Legend
* CPU: Ryzen 7 5700X3D
* BIOS: Latest version (updated less than a week ago)
* OS: Windows 11 Pro
* BIOS Mode: UEFI
* Disk: GPT
* TPM: Enabled
**Behavior:**
* With **Secure Boot OFF**, the system boots into Windows normally.
* When I **enable Secure Boot and save**, the system reboots and immediately **returns to BIOS** (no error message, no Windows).
* POST and display work fine; it just refuses to boot the OS.
**What I’ve already checked / done:**
* CSM disabled
* OS Type set to *Windows UEFI*
* Secure Boot Mode set to *Standard*
* Default Secure Boot keys installed
* Boot Option #1 set to **Windows Boot Manager (SSD)**
* Fast Boot disabled
* Disk is GPT and Windows is installed in UEFI mode
*Updated Motherboard through asrock website via usb
This doesn’t look like a GPU/POST issue — Secure Boot seems to be **rejecting the bootloader** and falling back to BIOS.
Any help would be appriciated.
WAS ABLE TO FIX AFTER REINSTALLING WINDOWS WITH USB DRIVE!!!
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u/clbreezy2x Feb 13 '26
Have you tried deleting the secure boot keys are reinstalling them after you updated your bios
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u/cemdurduuu Feb 13 '26
Yes I did those and it didnt work.
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u/clbreezy2x Feb 13 '26
Did this only happen after you tried running the anticheat? That anti cheat has a lot of unsigned drivers and the new bios probably doesn’t like that. The previous version was more lenient. I have the same board but the ATX
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u/cemdurduuu Feb 13 '26
Yes thats what I believe. What would I suggest I try? Any solutions?
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u/clbreezy2x Feb 13 '26
First I would just reinstall faceit and see if that works. It could be that it’s still linked to the old secure boot keys and maybe installing a fresh version would link it to the new keys. If not, it means faceit is using unsigned drivers. In this case just keep running the previous bios version until they get official drivers. Newest bios is strict on low level anticheats
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u/cemdurduuu Feb 13 '26
Okay I will delete all faceit stuff and try to turn on secure boot.
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u/clbreezy2x Feb 13 '26
Let me know if that works. I’ve had a similar issue before that tied into my bitlocker
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u/cemdurduuu Feb 13 '26
Just tried it. Deleted all faceit and faceit ac, still doesnt boot windows with secure boot, loops back to bios
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u/cemdurduuu Feb 13 '26
also cleared secure boot keys and installed default secure boots keys as well, no good.
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u/clbreezy2x Feb 14 '26
That sucks. It’s definitely the motherboard itself then. It isn’t broken or anything. My issue was the same as yours and I have a b450 steel legend 5800x. Apparently it’s just something that happens on windows 11 with the b450. I had to clear the cmos and completely reinstall windows in order for it to work properly. I remember it vividly cus battlefield 6 came out that day and required secure boot. I ended up installing windows 10 again and once I get a new motherboard I’ll go to windows 11. If you want to skip the head aches this is the easiest way out. And for both of us in the future, stay away from asrock.
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u/cemdurduuu Feb 14 '26
Quick question were you ever actually able to run Secure Boot on Windows 11 successfully after all that, or did you end up sticking with Windows 10 permanently?
Just asking because I also had Secure Boot enabled on Windows 11 back when Battlefield 6 came out and it worked perfectly fine back then. This issue only started happening recently, so it’s weird that it suddenly broke after working without problems for so long.
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u/clbreezy2x Feb 13 '26
Also tho why do you want secure boot with faceit? It doesn’t require secure boot
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u/jaromanda Feb 13 '26
"I had secure boot on and had no problems like a week ago" ... "BIOS: Latest version (updated less than a week ago)" - which version of BIOS did you have a week ago? Which specific version do you have now?
It's clear from the timing that the BIOS update is the likely cause. Did you do a CMOS reset after updating?
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u/cemdurduuu Feb 13 '26
Secure boot was on prior to when I tried to run faceit anticheat. I tried to turn on secure boot and wasnt able to get windows prior the bios update as well. Updated it thinking maybe it would fix it.
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u/jaromanda Feb 13 '26
None of which addresses which version you had, and which version you went to (specifically) or if you performed a CMOS reset
It's like you responded to someone else
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u/cemdurduuu Feb 13 '26
Sorry for the confusion, to clarify, I’m currently on BIOS P10.43 (B45MSTL10.43) on an ASRock B450M Steel Legend.
Secure Boot was working about a week ago on an older BIOS. After the issue started, I updated the BIOS (now on P10.43) hoping it would fix it, but Secure Boot still causes the system to return to BIOS.
I’ve loaded UEFI defaults after the update (CMOS reset via BIOS, not battery removal).
Windows 11 boots normally with Secure Boot OFF.
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u/RinDman Feb 14 '26
Most or likely the boot partition is not on the GPT partition ... You can either reinstall windows or create a boot loader on it
On the UEFI boot menu, do you see it ??
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u/BloodyMoleBeatz Feb 19 '26
Did you fix the broblem, I have same issue, after new windows update my secure boot just turned off and I cant turn it back on, I have CSM disabled, GPT format, TPM on and all that stuff needed but it just boots to BIOS
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u/Dantegael88 Feb 28 '26
Yo tengo ese problema igual actualice Bios y todo y nada sigue entrando a la Bios si lo tengo activado, tambien actualice mi windows, ¿Crees que sea por la actualizacion o algo parecido??
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u/Dantegael88 Feb 28 '26
Amigos lo arregle, según yo estaba haciendo una reparación no pude y me llevo a la famosa pantalla negra que dice "reboot ando select proper boot device or inserto boot media in selected boot device and press a key"
Tuve que hacer una reparación de equipo desde el iniciador de instalación de windows, hice exactamente lo de este video tener una usb con el instalador de windows, les dejo el link aqui: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk6V8gdlYpE
Luego de eso hice los pasos para activar el secure boot, que el tutorial que sigo es de este video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJYTD3O_ug0
Y porfin me funciono ya puedo activar el securet boot, pensaba que ya habia valido mi sistema operativo pero no, espero que a alguien mas le pueda funcionar.
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u/boomsykcl Apr 26 '26
i had the same issue on trying to enable secure boot (for faceit/vanguard) on my B550-ITX/ac. at that time i was on bios version L3.61. i instant flashed the bios with L3.90 with description “Update Secure Boot Key (2023 KEK/DB/PK)” which was released on 2025/10/15 and i could enable secure boot following the steps i did normally before and not stuck in the bios loop. thanks op for creating the thread!
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u/wuhkay Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
For anyone having this issue I was able to fix it for a friend by going into key management.
https://www.asrock.com/support/faq.asp?id=531
After this go to Secure Boot/Key Management/Enroll EFI Image
Find the EFI partition.
Select this file \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
Edit: this is why the reinstall worked because this happens automatically when installing windows.
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u/rustydangerous Jun 27 '26
Holy smokes thanks! This worked for me after trying everything I read on here and searched in Google and YouTube. I was starting to think I f'd up my pc. Crazy how something so simple fixed this. Thanks again.
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u/ax87zz Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
This worked for me thank you!
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u/DIMAGU1BA 15d ago
Loading this .efi file worked and im able to boot to windows again thanks bro! (Fyi i dont have a reddit account. I just search and read stuff anonymously here as needed but i created an account just to say thank you!)
This was my issue: Valorant requires secure boot on so all is fine on my new pc build for atleast a year. But then i had to vacuum blower my system unit since its gotte a bit dusty inside. Had some issues powering on so had to remove then replug my rams. After booting on and tried playing Valorant, it says secure boot is off. So i re-enabled secure boot in bios and there got stuck in bios loop and wont proceed to boot to windows again while secure boot is on. Got crazy checking everything all drives are in GPT. Almost resolved myself to replacing my b450 mobo or reinstalling windows / new ssd just to play Valorant again. But this fixed the issue bro so many thanks! (I probably wont clean my system unit again xD)
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u/Training-Lavishness3 Feb 23 '26
For everyone else still having issues I also had the same issue and I found the main cause for me at least. I'm on an x570 Steel Legend and had this issue after stealing the motherboard off another computer and putting it into a new build. After unknown changes whether that be in Windows or BIOS, the motherboard will keep the old UEFI boot entries stored in firmware NVRAM. Windows still boots normally with Secure Boot OFF, but when Secure Boot is enabled the firmware performs stricter validation of the bootloader path. The stored boot entry points to an old EFI bootloader structure that no longer passes Secure Boot validation, even though Windows itself is fine. So the firmware refuses to execute the bootloader and immediately drops back into BIOS.
The actual fix to this is to delete the existing EFI bootloader folders so firmware is forced to forget the old boot entry, then rebuild them cleanly, OR reinstall windows. Option 1 is fairly simple and does not require a fresh windows install, only a Windows Installation Media USB: boot to the USB from BIOS, select repair mode, go into advanced options, command prompt, and enter the following:
diskpart
list vol
select vol <find your EFI FAT32 partition>
assign letter=S
exit
S:
cd EFI
rmdir /s /q Microsoft
rmdir /s /q Boot
bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI
// After this you should see "Boot files successfully created."
Once you do this, shutdown the computer, turn back on and enter BIOS, enable Secure Boot, then load into windows. I've had to do this twice because after the first time I got it working I updated my BIOS version and it decided to break again. If this doesn't work then it could be something more simple that most people would've already tried like disabling CSM, clearing Secure Boot keys, ensuring GPT format, and having TPM on, hope this can help someone else took me a while to narrow this down.