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Motherboards Failed! (But now probably fixed) Asus BIOS FlashBack on Crosshair VIII Hero ready for Zen 3

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by mikemorton, 14 Oct 2020.

  1. mikemorton

    mikemorton Minimodder

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    I thought I was being clever, but now believe I've been either stupid or at best rather naive.

    I'm doing a completely new build and bought the above motherboard, ready to install a brand new Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 CPU when they become available next month.

    I understand the existing BIOS needs to be updated in order for the motherboard to recognise the new breed of CPU, so I rigged up a test bench with just the mobo and PSU.

    I can't carry out a BIOS update any other way as I don't own an AMD CPU. I thought I was getting ahead of the game by updating the board now, and FlashBack is the only way with such a bare bones approach.

    So I duly downloaded and renamed the correct driver onto a FAT formatted USB, then held the FlashBack button down until it started flashing.

    My understanding is that the light should continue flashing while the BIOS updates, then go out altogether when the update has finished, which the Asus website says can take up to eight minutes.

    In my case the light flashed a few times then went solid blue.

    A quick Google search came up with some very different responses. For most people it seems a solid blue light indicates a failed update, while one poster suggested a solid light meant the update was complete - in my case that was about five seconds.

    Other threads said the size and format of the USB affected how it would work, suggesting FAT 32 would never work and it had to be FAT 16. I duly tried again with different stick sizes and different formats, but got the same result each time.

    Is my technique at fault? Is the board faulty? Or did it update successfully? I've no real way of knowing unless I buy the CPU and then find it either works or nothing happens.

    I'd really appreciate your advice please.
     
  2. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    Have you tried doing a "proper" clean out of the USB stick first?


    Also if you haven't been doing so already try using a USB 2 stick rather than USB 3 for better compatibility with Bios flashback.
     
  3. mikemorton

    mikemorton Minimodder

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    Other than formatting the drives (two were brand new, one was older and was reformatted), no, I've not done a proper clean up.

    The already-used stick is USB 2 I'll try that now.
     
  4. mikemorton

    mikemorton Minimodder

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    It took ages to do the clean but we got there.

    Sadly it still didn't work - I got exactly the same result as before, but it was worth a try so thanks for that.
     
  5. Guest-44432

    Guest-44432 Guest

    I'm in the process of putting my build together, so I plan to do mine tonight on a Strix X570-E

    Question is, when did you buy this board? As it could already have the latest version?

    I bought my board the other day, and it arrived yesterday. I have no CPU either.
    So, without sticking a CPU in it, I guess we won't know unless we stick a 5xxx series in, or an older CPU to check the bios.

    I plan to update mine a bit later, so report back if I had any issues too.
     
  6. mikemorton

    mikemorton Minimodder

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    Hi, I bought it from Amazon and it came today. Goodness knows when it was manufactured and which BIOS version it currently has though.

    Good luck with your Strix. Please let us know how you get on.
     
  7. Guest-44432

    Guest-44432 Guest

    Question, are you trying to update using bios version 2206, dated 17th August 2020? If so, then I think our boards are up to date with the latest bios.

    ASUS announced that it's motherboards with a BIOS version containing AGESA 1.0.8.0 code will boot with a Zen 3 processor nestled inside which is the bios above.
    So we may find that our boards are up to date.
     
  8. mikemorton

    mikemorton Minimodder

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    I think you've just saved the day.

    The version I was trying to use was older - presumably it didn't update as that was the version that was already installed.

    I just re-download the BIOS and it's the newer version.

    My blue light was flashing away like a police car and a couple of minutes later has now gone out..

    The funny thing is how I came to download the older BIOS in the first place. I only downloaded it this morning!

    Oh well, faith has been restored, so thanks very much for that last bit of advice!
     
  9. Guest-44432

    Guest-44432 Guest

    Glad to hear it. :thumb:
    Mine finished installing, took about 8mins.
     
  10. mikemorton

    mikemorton Minimodder

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    I just got an email from Asus, and although we both seem to have successfully updated our boards, we may have to repeat the process:

    "The BIOS that enables support for the 5000 Series is not released yet,regularly check the BIOS download section so you can download it when it becomes available."
     
  11. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    AMD said January in the announce video.

    Edit. Wait, that was for X470 and B450. Soz.
     
  12. Guest-44432

    Guest-44432 Guest

    The above bios I mentioned is compatible with a 5xxx series CPU. So we can pop it in and it will work on the 5th Nov.
    That said, I'm certain there will be further Bios updates to come for further compatibility and stability tweaks.
     

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