!!! Warning: Z490 boards - problem with recent BIOS updates !!!

[citay]

What would your next move be?

The RAM. If one stick really is fried, and the other one is questionable, then you need new RAM no matter what. Plus it's much less of a hassle to try first.
I'd get a kit of DDR4-3600 with decent timings.

 

[lotust25155a02dd]

Wow as a person who always updates usually I’m glad I didn’t update my Z490 . I’m on the 2020 Bios . I have poor audio even over usb. I got the “MSI - Aegis RS Gaming Desktop - Intel Core i7-10700KF - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 - 1TB SSD - Black - 10TE-072US PC Computer” from Walmart . ps never use there online reseller . MasterElectronics.com

 

[maio]

Date of failed flashing: Jan 31, 2022
Affected board model: MPG Z490 GAMING CARBON WIFI
CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K
Flashing method used: M-FLASH
Attempted update to BIOS version: 7C73v1A
Result: Stuck at EZ Debug LED "CPU" after update.

Luckily, Amazon sent me a new board immediately, even though I bought it over 1 year ago. Never MSI again.

 

[mau.cast9152102da]

The RAM. If one stick really is fried, and the other one is questionable, then you need new RAM no matter what. Plus it's much less of a hassle to try first.
I'd get a kit of DDR4-3600 with decent timings.

As a final update:
I bought a kit of 2x8GB Crucial Ballistix 3600MHz CL16 from Amazon and the exact same light cycle with one stick, both sticks in simultaneously not working, and XMP causes boot fail. The exact same as my previous kit. The DRAM traces on the board or something whatever got damaged somehow during my hackjob of ripping the PCI-E slot next to the BIOS chip to make way for the programmer clip.

Bought a z590 Tomahawk WiFi and I'm back up and running again. I'll never again buy a motherboard without BIOS flashback. On the bright side, I did successfully flash the BIOS with the programmer, something I'd never done before, even if I didn't succeed in the full repair . Thank you again for making and maintaining this thread, man. Cheers.

 

[Ezmafl]

Luckily, Amazon sent me a new board immediately, even though I bought it over 1 year ago. Never MSI again.

Not here to defend MSI, but when I changed platforms to Alder Lake, I jumped ship from Gigabyte because of ongoing (Z490) BIOS issues, and apparently Gigabyte has current XMP issues with Z690. There's some recurring theme with the implementation of 11th Gen/RKL on the Z490 platform via whatever platform/microcode updates the manufacturers have to include. I had a Z490 Vision D creator board (which was jam-packed with features including TB3 onboard) and, with a RKL chip the PCIe 4.0 "ready" lanes became active. Any BIOS version F20 or higher on that board was garbage -- XMP stability issues, multiple system restarts upon boot-up, BSODs, etc. I tried an i7-11700K and BSODs. I up/downgraded to an i9-10850K using a pre-RKL BIOS, and it was rock solid. They even created a newer BIOS version with a specific warning that you cannot flash back to any earlier versions. Yikes. Motherboard bricking though... Double yikes.

Goes back to if your system is stable, don't update the BIOS unless absolutely needed. I hope those who are affected can get it fixed.

 

[miss5tabilit15be02e4]

OMG thx guys i just ordered 490 gaming plus cuz shes on sale 110 bucks, and what im reading MSI still dont fix the problem, so i think im gonna buy B660 instead

 

[echoE]

OMG thx guys i just ordered 490 gaming plus cuz shes on sale 110 bucks, and what im reading MSI still dont fix the problem, so i think im gonna buy B660 instead

Why not get a z590 gaming plus. Its a good motherboard. Plus it has the bios flashback in case anything goes wrong with a bios update. Just a thought.

Of course depends if you plan to use a intel 11th gen or 12th gen cpu then I guess it makes since why your get the b660.

 

[miss5tabilit15be02e4]

Why not get a z590 gaming plus. Its a good motherboard. Plus it has the bios flashback in case anything goes wrong with a bios update. Just a thought.

Of course depends if you plan to use a intel 11th gen or 12th gen cpu then I guess it makes since why your get the b660.

i wanna power friendly setup z590 imo is no power friendly even 11400 can draw up to 200W and be worst in games than 10400
on b660 i have 12400 on sale right now, but motherboard r not cheap and i still waiting for Hardware Unoxed to do proper Benchmark of many B660 boards on yt, any day now

 

[echoE]

i wanna power friendly setup z590 imo is no power friendly even 11400 can draw up to 200W and be worst in games than 10400
on b660 i have 12400 on sale right now, but motherboard r not cheap and i still waiting for Hardware Unoxed to do proper Benchmark of many B660 boards on yt, any day now

Ok I understand. The Z590 Gaming Plus does support 10th Gen CPU also.

 

[nasko_pen4e124a02a1]

Date of failed flashing: Feb 17, 2022
Affected board model: MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS
CPU: Intel Core i9-10900F
Flashing method used: M-FLASH
Attempted update to BIOS version: 7C75vAA
Result: Stuck at EZ Debug LED "CPU" after update.

What i have to do now?

 

[citay]

What i have to do now?

Either RMA the board through the vendor or MSI, or try to bring it back to life with an external flash programmer. You can read through this thread a bit, a couple people have managed to do that.
After identifying the BIOS chip on your board, you'd flash it with a device that you clamp onto it. You'd have to invest some time and money (though it's pretty cheap).

 

[nasko_pen4e124a02a1]

Either RMA the board through the vendor or MSI, or try to bring it back to life with an external flash programmer. You can read through this thread a bit, a couple people have managed to do that.
After identifying the BIOS chip on your board, you'd flash it with a device that you clamp onto it. You'd have to invest some time and money (though it's pretty cheap).

Thank you, i checked it out and i will try the programmer. However, i can see that all people that are having same problem are from 3 months ago. So the big question is, why MSI are not fixing that issue/update, and it is available on their official website?!? They do not read their forum in the community or what?!?... So sad, i am really disappointed from MSI, for the first time i am downloading the update from the official website of the manufacturer and i have that kind of problem. That is common for some Cheap Chinese products but not for one of the biggest companies in the sector...

 

[citay]

Yeah it's very unfortunate of them not to handle this properly as they should. They are not reading this forum, the main developers are in Taiwan, they have their own forums there, and i don't even know if they are on one of those. But they should've already put two and two together from the RMAs they're getting, dozens and dozens of Z490 with a bricked BIOS... i don't know what's holding them up. As for cheap Chinese products, you probably mean cheap Chinese no-name products, not big-brand products. Pretty much all electronics come from China or Taiwan nowadays, so that alone is not a sign of bad quality. There are some things MSI clearly need to improve on, that much is clear though.

 

[nasko_pen4e124a02a1]

Yeah it's very unfortunate of them not to handle this properly as they should. They are not reading this forum, the main developers are in Taiwan, they have their own forums there, and i don't even know if they are on one of those. But they should've already put two and two together from the RMAs they're getting, dozens and dozens of Z490 with a bricked BIOS... i don't know what's holding them up. As for cheap Chinese products, you probably mean cheap Chinese no-name products, not big-brand products. Pretty much all electronics come from China or Taiwan nowadays, so that alone is not a sign of bad quality. There are some things MSI clearly need to improve on, that much is clear though.

Yeah, of course i mean cheap Chinese no-name products, most of biggest brands are in China, South Korea, Japan. And they should read this forum as well, because it is in their official website... When they reply to my ticket, i will surely mention it!

 

[Furna]

Yeah it's very unfortunate of them not to handle this properly as they should.

What if MSI identified the issue in some bad batches of EEPROM and the solution to the issue is to RMA the board in order to receive a board with good EEPROM?
I agree they should communicate better anyway declaring they are not handling properly the issue is a different story ...

 

[miss5tabilit15be02e4]

i wrote to MSI to see what they do and omg, they r ignorant @!%$@!% i dont believe, cusotmer service like [***CENSORED***]:
We inform U we dont recieve any information from Team working on BIOS on our motherboard as if any Z490 bios is unstable and crashes motherboards. MSI company blablabla always pzay attention to problems and products - lol. Updates before realise r always tested AND ALL PROBLEMS RAISE BY END USER R MONIT AND SEND TO CHECK OUT
We inform You taht every BIOS update is not neccesery to proper wotking of motherboard and interfernce on bios is ALWAYS at user risk.

So great company, i wrote again if did they read this thread cuz here we have hundrets end users sending info about those verufied good BIOS on z490 fro almost year now

 

[miss5tabilit15be02e4]

Ok I understand. The Z590 Gaming Plus does support 10th Gen CPU also.

supports yeah but only with 2 m.2 slot, first one will be disabled like i said z590 chipset with intel 11 gen cpus r mistake IMHO

 

[kai.johnso152202d5]

Fucked myself and now paying dearly in ~$70 in shipping costs for RMA. My issue is I don’t want the board or any other z490 because it sounds like I’m only in for problems in the future.

Date of failed flashing: Feb 18, 2022
Affected board model: Z490-A Pro
CPU: Intel Core i511600K 3.9 GHz Six-Core LGA 1200
Flashing method used: M-flash via USB
Attempted update to BIOS version: 7C75v2C
Result: Stuck at EZ Debug LED "CPU" after update. To preface my problems, I had added an old monitor to my setup and used VGA to HDMI to connect it as my second monitor into my pc since my GPU only has one HDMI port. To get this to work I had to mess around with the BIOS and turned on IGD multi-monitor among other things. Shortly after, my PC would crash after waking from sleep. The PC would turn on but no input to the monitors. I went crazy for a few days trying to solve this and eventually decided to just update the BIOS. And then I fucked myself even harder. So now I’m looking for recommendations for my next MOBO? Any suggestions—and, no, I will never buy a MSI again after this.

 

[citay]

Since you use an 11th gen CPU, i would always pair it with a Z590 anyways, and they (not only MSI) also made a couple key improvements for Z590, which i talked about here before.

I can't help you too much with recommendations for any non-MSI Z590 models, however, i would always avoid the cheapest models, no matter the manufacturer. Get a popular mid-range board. For example with ASUS, i'd avoid the Z590-P/-V and go for a TUF at least. For Gigabyte, you'd be best off with an AORUS. On the cheapest boards, they try to save money wherever they can, the VRM uses the cheapest components, they use the cheapest sound chip, the cheapest LAN chip, less fan headers, no M.2 heatsinks, and so on and so forth.

 

[pendulum.ad157602d6]

Date of failed flashing: Feb 24, 2022
Affected board model: Z490-A Pro
CPU: Intel Core i5 10400F
Flashing method used: MSI center
Attempted update to BIOS version: 7C75v2C
Result:
Stuck at EZ Debug LED "CPU" after update. Created a support ticket, waiting for their response.
Ticket#803937
I understand there is no solution to roll back the bios?
pulling out the battery and closing the jbat1 did not help