EEPROM-flashing | My Motherboard bricked itself again, I don't have time to RMA it. So I am gonna flash the EEPROM myself. Need some guidance.

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Ramog

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So I have a z490 gaming carbon wifi, this is already the second time it bricked itself after updating the BIOS.
I was gonna buy this do the 3.3V fix and flash my eeprom with the newest BIOS myself (as far as I understood it, only msi center and m-flash like to fail while doing the update, the BIOS itself is working).
I found the EEPROM IC to be this:
gcrBR1q.png

The description on the manufactures website tells me that 3.3V should be fine as voltage for programming it.

The only question really is, if I need to modify the BIOS image myself (or by somebody else), I read in some forums that they had to to retain MAC Adress and UUID. I know that MAC-Adress should basically just be for networking and is not really important in my case. But what about the UUID? Could not modifying the BIOS image to include this cause any problems when I ever need to RMA the board because of something?
Oh and maybe guidance of things to look out for in general would probably also nice, so that I can prevent rookie mistakes.
 
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Ehm I read a forum post that states that you could flash the BIOS over the TPM/SPI port so I got out my multimeter and started testing for continuity. Its not the clear result I wanted but there is at least some connection.
The sad part is that its not a direct connection, the ones marked with a question mark probed under 100 and where the lowest for that pin. I think I sadly ran into a dead end here, even tho I got so far, even put the 3.3V fix on the programmer already. My fingers are sore from trying to get the clip on and I think it will not hold after the 100th time either so its not worth to tr anymore.
1673644759753.png
 
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darkhawk said:
apply light pressure with one hand to hold the clip down on the chip.
Use the other hand to make the programmer program the chip.

I might have had to do something similar previously as well, but I honestly don't remember. It's been a while. >.<
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sounds rough but I didn't even get an electrical connection most of the time, I am just very exhausted and sad about this, like I even got the clip to fit in the tight space but it was really all for nothing. All the time I tried this I had exactly one feeling: "MSI really doesn't want one to do this" the amount of hurdles with this particular motherboard are insane, sure I could buy a more expensive clip but exams are approaching and I can't just cut up an expensive clip really.
 
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Ramog said:
Ehm I read a forum post that states that you could flash the BIOS over the TPM/SPI port so I got out my multimeter and started testing for continuity. Its not the clear result I wanted but there is at least some connection.
The sad part is that its not a direct connection, the ones marked with a question mark probed under 100 and where the lowest for that pin. I think I sadly ran into a dead end here, even tho I got so far, even put the 3.3V fix on the programmer already. My fingers are sore from trying to get the clip on and I think it will not hold after the 100th time either so its not worth to tr anymore.
View attachment 167955
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That's for the JTPM module......please don't use that. It's not the right connector.

Can you provide a better picture of the board itself around the BIOS chip?
I can probably help.....but I don't have that board exactly and 'good' photos of it are hard to find.
 
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darkhawk said:
That's for the JTPM module......please don't use that. It's not the right connector.

Can you provide a better picture of the board itself around the BIOS chip?
I can probably help.....but I don't have that board exactly and 'good' photos of it are hard to find.
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I mean I know that its another port, I was not planning to plug in a direct cable anyways I was just noticing that it is connected in some way (would be really helpful if they just connected to other pins that are not directly connected somewhere else too)
Here (they where too large for MSI Forum)are some pictures of the board I made for you, hope they have enough detail.
https://imgur.com/a/P1hDf9I
The chip in question is over JUSB2
 
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I am at the point where I wish I wouldn't have bought this specific board... like I love how it looks, I love its features... I just can't believe so many things just went wrong with it on the planning board, why make the bios chip so inaccessible, why doesn't the board just have bios flash back in the first place, and why not have some kind of header to put a new bios on.
I wouldn't be that bitter if it wasn't for the fact that this is the second time of having the exact same problem and me trying for the last 7 hours to get this to work. I might have even screwed my warranty with me doing that, just because I thought: you know I don't like the idea of yet another board ending in landfill because of me. Silly me I guess.
 
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Sadly, I'm not seeing a header anywhere that would be for programming the BIOS. :(
I'll see if my MSI contact can maybe help at all.
 
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darkhawk said:
Sadly, I'm not seeing a header anywhere that would be for programming the BIOS. :(
I'll see if my MSI contact can maybe help at all.
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okay thank you, and sorry if my last post was a bit over the top but I spiralled into something today and was pretty frustrated and scared about stuff regarding the board.
 
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darkhawk said:
It's the weekend, won't hear anything until very early tomorrow morning, if I do at all.
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I am sorry to ask again, but anything new? Its getting really close to my 2 year warranty period and I really like to send it in soon if this yields nothing that can work for me. Tomorrow I will probably pack it soo would be nice if I would hear back because of it till then.
 
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Well, I did find out that you do actually use the JTPM port, but I don't have any idea how it would get connected.
I would suggest just sending it in at this point.
 
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darkhawk said:
Well, I did find out that you do actually use the JTPM port, but I don't have any idea how it would get connected.
I would suggest just sending it in at this point.
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okay, thank you anyways, your help was appreciated.
At this point it seems to just be easier to send it in. If you ever find a step by step manual for the process do let me know, I am sure this could help many other people with that board.
I just decided to order a Z590 carbon and RMA the z490 one and give it to a friend afterwards with my old CPU so he doesn't have to touch bios updates because the board is very good its just a bummer that it does have the update issue.
 
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Yeah. It's somewhat distressing how even Intel is having issues with BIOS updates now, given the issues between Z690 and Z790 as well.
Kinda sounds like no one has any clue how to do things anymore..... :(
 
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