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

[punkarn89]

So I just bought a used Z490 Carbon Gaming Wifi and flashed to the latest BIOS. Everything seems to work just fine. Did a clean install of windows 10, added a secondary m2 drive and so on. Then I stumbled upon this thread. Should I be worried or just leave it now that its working just fine? Or am I going to have problems later on?

Used a 10500 as CPU, but will swap it for a 10600K that I have in another system. Will this cause any issues?

 

[lotust25155a02dd]

So I just bought a used Z490 Carbon Gaming Wifi and flashed to the latest BIOS. Everything seems to work just fine. Did a clean install of windows 10, added a secondary m2 drive and so on. Then I stumbled upon this thread. Should I be worried or just leave it now that its working just fine? Or am I going to have problems later on?

Used a 10500 as CPU, but will swap it for a 10600K that I have in another system. Will this cause any issues?

I would leave it alone if it works . Unless you needed it for windows 11 or a resizeable bar

 

[punkarn89]

I would leave it alone if it works . Unless you needed it for windows 11 or a resizeable bar

I will be adding a RTX 3060, so resizeable bar will be enabled. Will that be an issue? The BIOS i flashed is named E7C73IMS.1C0 the latest one on the support page for z490 Carbon Gaming Wifi

 

[citay]

If you flashed the latest BIOS, then there is nothing to fear, as the problem can only happen during flashing. You can change all the settings you want, enable Re-size BAR and all that, without any risk now (well, unless you raise some voltages sky-high or something). Using a different CPU is also no problem. Just be very careful during installation not to bend any socket pins by accident.

 

[punkarn89]

Ok...so I've encountered an issue. My LAN/Ethernet port doesnt seem to work. Not sure if it worked prior to flashing BIOS, because I didn't test it. And now after I've got everything set up, it's a no go. Tried drivers but nothing, just says something like cant detect cable or cable unplugged after running the official drivers.

Dont know if this might be BIOS related. Onboard LAN is enabled in BIOS.

 

[citay]

Just make a new thread about that, i don't think it has anything to do with the BIOS update.

 

[clough160102eb]

I just upgraded my BIOS from version 7C75vA8 to 7C75vAC through the dragon centre and now the MB will not boot. The update went through to 100% and rebooted. Now I have the same issue, the CPU LED is hard on! Now I have an expensive door stop, not happy!! I wish I saw this before my update, I didn't know there were any issues.

Edit
Date of failed flashing: 10/12/2022
Affected board model: mpg z490 gaming plus
CPU: i7 10700k
Flashing method used: dragon centre
Attempted update to BIOS version: 7C75vAC
Result: Stuck at EZ Debug LED "CPU" after update

 

[clough160102eb]

I just upgraded my BIOS from version 7C75vA8 to 7C75vAC through the dragon centre and now the MB will not boot. The update went through to 100% and rebooted. Now I have the same issue, the CPU LED is hard on! Now I have an expensive door stop, not happy!! I wish I saw this before my update, I didn't know there were any issues.

Edit
Date of failed flashing: 10/12/2022
Affected board model: mpg z490 gaming plus
CPU: i7 10700k
Flashing method used: dragon centre
Attempted update to BIOS version: 7C75vAC
Result: Stuck at EZ Debug LED "CPU" after update

I forgot to mention, I didn't bother trying to fix the MB or do an RMA as I bought the board mid 2020. Obviously MSI doesn't want to know about this issue, so I went and bought a Z590 to get up and running again, seemed to be the easiest option.

 

[Doc_Bucket]

I forgot to mention, I didn't bother trying to fix the MB or do an RMA as I bought the board mid 2020. Obviously MSI doesn't want to know about this issue, so I went and bought a Z590 to get up and running again, seemed to be the easiest option.

Yes, it is slightly ironic. When you buy a certain model of a MB couple of years or so after its release, you have a good chance to pay much less and have a better version of BIOS. If the performance serves your purpose (i.e. mostly what the GPU needs), you do not need the latest CPUs/MBs.

 

[clough160102eb]

Yes, it is slightly ironic. When you buy a certain model of a MB couple of years or so after its release, you have a good chance to pay much less and have a better version of BIOS. If the performance serves your purpose (i.e. mostly what the GPU needs), you do not need the latest CPUs/MBs.

Yeah, it is ironic.
I can't afford to buy a whole new system, I just wanted to get this one up and running and now have a better MB for not a bad price. At least this has the flash button, so when it happens again.......
I have an RTX2070 GPU, so the MB does the job, except I have to run the SSD in the second slot because I'm running the 10th gen CPU

 

[Doc_Bucket]

Yeah, it is ironic.
I can't afford to buy a whole new system, I just wanted to get this one up and running and now have a better MB for not a bad price. At least this has the flash button, so when it happens again.......
I have an RTX2070 GPU, so the MB does the job, except I have to run the SSD in the second slot because I'm running the 10th gen CPU

My story was somehow opposite… First I read this thread, which I discovered when gathering info on Z490, then I decided to buy Z590 Gaming Plus. However, it proved to be flawed, and as it was a warehouse deal, no direct replacement possible. So I gave it back and bought Z490, as I had planned originally, for a good price and with later BIOS. I miss the flash button, that's right, but I know about the risk at least.

 

[citay]

I forgot to mention, I didn't bother trying to fix the MB or do an RMA as I bought the board mid 2020. Obviously MSI doesn't want to know about this issue, so I went and bought a Z590 to get up and running again, seemed to be the easiest option.

The Z490 can be fixed as well if someone flashes the BIOS with an external flash programming device. You could put it up for sale with the note that only the BIOS is corrupt, but the board otherwise being completely ok, and might make some money back. For someone experienced, this Z490 can be fixed in 10, 20 minutes.

 

[clough160102eb]

The Z490 can be fixed as well if someone flashes the BIOS with an external flash programming device. You could put it up for sale with the note that only the BIOS is corrupt, but the board otherwise being completely ok, and might make some money back. For someone experienced, this Z490 can be fixed in 10, 20 minutes.

That could be an option.
The only common denominator that I can see from this thread is that most of the users processors are unlocked, being ix-xxxxxK. I wonder if that is the underlying issue here, something about an unlocked processor corrupting the flash process?

 

[citay]

That theory would only hold if it was 100% -K CPUs, but i found a handful of cases with non-K CPUs from checking a few pages here, so that can't really be it.

 

[clough160102eb]

That theory would only hold if it was 100% -K CPUs, but i found a handful of cases with non-K CPUs from checking a few pages here, so that can't really be it.

OK, I haven't read every single page in the thread, good theory while it lasted

 

[djbishop0157702da]

Realised today that I never thought to enable Resizable BAR on this PC, but after reading all of this about bricked Z490 boards after BIOS updates I'm afraid to update mine. Is this still an issue today or will I be safe to update? My board is a Z490 Gaming Plus.

 

[clough160102eb]

Realised today that I never thought to enable Resizable BAR on this PC, but after reading all of this about bricked Z490 boards after BIOS updates I'm afraid to update mine. Is this still an issue today or will I be safe to update? My board is a Z490 Gaming Plus.

I have the same MB and updated the BIOS last week and bricked it. If it's working I wouldn't risk flashing it.

 

[Doc_Bucket]

OK, I haven't read every single page in the thread, good theory while it lasted

The problem is linked to a Z490 chipset exclusively, hence most cases with "K" CPUs. Your deduction followed a natural path. I believed at one moment it only afflicted 10th gen CPUs, which would also be a natural assumption – until 11th gen cases appeared.

 

[s_coffma155b02d9]

The problem is linked to a Z490 chipset exclusively, hence most cases with "K" CPUs. Your deduction followed a natural path. I believed at one moment it only afflicted 10th gen CPUs, which would also be a natural assumption – until 11th gen cases appeared.

I had the same issue a few weeks ago. First time I updated my Z490 motherboard to bios 7C80v1C so I could run my new 11th gen i9 11900k cpu. I followed the instructions to a T. It blacked screened so I swapped my old it i5 10900k cpu. Still the same issue. Because I wasn't sure if it had anything to do with the video card. I figured it was worth a shot to change video cards as a test. I run an RTX 3080 MSI card z490 mb and an Alienware Alienware 240hz 4k monitor. So I pulled out the video card and disconnected the monitor. I put in my old eVGA GTX 580 Classified card and my 10 year old 22inch HP monitor. Not sure if it was coincidence or not but it fired up. It was a little hangy until I did another restart. But as soon as everything seemed stable I put the 3080 back in and the Alienware monitor. Everything was working great. Well today I did a MSI center update under the advanced tab. Now I can't recall what it even was and now I'm back to a black screen. I'm going to give back through the same process of changing cards and monitor. I'll get back to share if it cures the problem again.

Okay update. Yes when I pull the MSI 3080 card out and put my old eVGA GTX 580 Classified card in and connect my old HP VGA monitor it works again. First boot says no GOP drivers are installed. Or something like that. Then I reboot again and it starts like normal. I can put my 3080 back in and everything will work properly. So what's going on? Is there a default vga driver for old version GPU's that is not default in the bios for new GPU's? Some one smarter than me needs to explain why this fixes the black screen issue twice weeks apart with two different updates.

 

[s_coffma155b02d9]

I just upgraded my BIOS from version 7C75vA8 to 7C75vAC through the dragon centre and now the MB will not boot. The update went through to 100% and rebooted. Now I have the same issue, the CPU LED is hard on! Now I have an expensive door stop, not happy!! I wish I saw this before my update, I didn't know there were any issues.

Edit
Date of failed flashing: 10/12/2022
Affected board model: mpg z490 gaming plus
CPU: i7 10700k
Flashing method used: dragon centre
Attempted update to BIOS version: 7C75vAC
Result: Stuck at EZ Debug LED "CPU" after update

I had this problem as well and I fixed it. Well at least it fixed it for me twice now.

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/warning-z490-boards-problem-with-recent-bios-updates.367575/post-2164181