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

fran.b159002e0

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hi guys, i have a msi z490 gaming plus version E7C75IMS.A30 and i really need to update my bios but im afraid about a possible brick .
Are still there problem with last versione 7C75vAC ? Do you recommend to update it ?
 

citay

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I recommend using the Forum Flash Tool as linked here. I have yet to see a bricked board here by using that method (knock on wood).
 

Doc_Bucket

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hi guys, i have a msi z490 gaming plus version E7C75IMS.A30 and i really need to update my bios but im afraid about a possible brick .
Are still there problem with last versione 7C75vAC ? Do you recommend to update it ?
Mine is working fine after using the Forum Flash Tool. Only make sure you remember all your overclock settings for the profiles will be erased. But that's normal for any flash if I am not mistaken.

Even a small change in the previous settings may cause instability in a system that worked without an issue for months. For instance, I remembered all the values, but was not sure about certain advanced CPU settings. And indeed, one of them was set wrongly when I reconstructed the profile, and I was starting to think whether there might be something wrong with the UEFI update… But no, the update is OK.
 
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ktbzz155602db

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I'd like to use the Forum Flash Tool because my mobo keeps randomly shutting down / rebooting.

Is there a specific firmware version that is safe to go to using Forum Flash Tool?
 

citay

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With the Flash Tool i'd just go the latest BIOS version. The last 100% safe versions for M-FLASH are over two years old, they're not of much use.
 

cryomanc3156e02de

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Hi all , i posted here the 10-30-2021 because brick of my motherboard after attempt to update to version V17 .
Now I just received the CH341A and flashed my motherboard Z490 gaming edge wifi to the last bios version 7C79v1C and all work fine again .
Hey, I have this motherboard and am having a VERY difficult time flashing it using the ch341a... Think you could help me out?
 

pjmb

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Z490 New bios releases today 7C75vAD 2023-09-01 guys.... careful now!!!

Updated with SVET forum flash tool, all went smooth.

Seems ME is also the NEW/latest know:
CS ME 14.1.70.2228
PMC 140.2.01.1018
PCHC 14.0.0.7002
PHY 12.14.215.2015

All mCodes seems also updated, to latest know:
1 │ Microcode │ A0650 │ 22 (1,5) │ BE │ 2019-10-10 │ PRD │ 0x16400 │ 0x1B9FF00 │ Yes ║
╟───┼───────────┼───────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────╢
║ 2 │ Microcode │ A0651 │ 22 (1,5) │ C2 │ 2019-11-13 │ PRD │ 0x16400 │ 0x1BB6300 │ Yes ║
╟───┼───────────┼───────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────╢
║ 3 │ Microcode │ A0653 │ 22 (1,5) │ F8 │ 2023-02-23 │ PRD │ 0x17C00 │ 0x1BCC700 │ Yes ║
╟───┼───────────┼───────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────╢
║ 4 │ Microcode │ A0654 │ 22 (1,5) │ C6 │ 2020-01-23 │ PRD │ 0x16800 │ 0x1BE4300 │ Yes ║
╟───┼───────────┼───────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────╢
║ 5 │ Microcode │ A0655 │ 22 (1,5) │ F8 │ 2023-02-23 │ PRD │ 0x17C00 │ 0x1BFAB00 │ Yes ║
╟───┼───────────┼───────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────╢
║ 6 │ Microcode │ A0670 │ 02 (1) │ 2C │ 2020-11-24 │ PRD │ 0x17000 │ 0x1C12700 │ Yes ║
╟───┼───────────┼───────┼───────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────╢
║ 7 │ Microcode │ A0671 │ 02 (1) │ 59 │ 2023-02-26 │ PRD │ 0x19800 │ 0x1C29700 │ Yes

NEW EFI Intel RST RAID Driver - 18.31.4.5599
NEW EFI GOP Driver TigerLake - 17.0.1060
 
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wenom815f002eb

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MPG Z490 Gaming Plus success with SVET forum flash tool from 7C75vA6 to 7C75vAD. Was really nervous when I did this, because this board is no longer under warranty and I already bricked one of these boards with official bios tool back in 2021. Things I did before flash: installed newest Intel Management Engine Driver from Drivers & Downloads -page 2135.15.0.2431, made sure amazon.de has new Z490 Gaming Plus boards available if this one gets bricked (yes they have for around ~110€), made backups from all the important files from my C-drive, made sure my backup PC is working fine and well, disabled secureboot before flashing.

Once more, thank you Svet for making this tool available for all of us, it definitely saved a lot of trouble. My PC has also been more stable than ever before, USB-related problems (random usb-drive disconnects) I had seem to have vanished, even my AMD FreeSync Premium Pro screen with HDR turned on is flickering less or maybe not even at all. So this was monumental update for me.
 

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obsolete120159f02ea

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Flashed 7C79v1D from 7C79v17 on Z490 Gaming Edge wifi using SVET's flash tool. Was super nervous being I bricked the same board last year. Everything worked like a charm. Thank you SVET!!
 

bern157f02dc

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Sep 18, 2023
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Flashed 7C80v1D from v17 on Z490 Tomahawk using SVET's flash tool. I held my breath on reboot and everything came up fine.
Thanks citay for the Thread and SVET for the tool - you are amazing!!!
 

junglifie159402e6

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In case you all don't have options other than buying a programmer, there are eBay sellers that can send you a programmed one for less than $20. It's the fastest way for me, with just soldering, just try and search your model mb chip. https://www.ebay.com/itm/403557337690
Going this route, although I purchased another MOBO that will get here sooner. I should have done my research before updating my bios, but MSI's handling of this issue is unacceptable-never buying MSI products again.
 

mtaica152802cc

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Going this route, although I purchased another MOBO that will get here sooner. I should have done my research before updating my bios, but MSI's handling of this issue is unacceptable-never buying MSI products again.
This is the best route if you don't have another computer to use the programmer. We should all ditch MSI along with Nvidia. They do this stuff on purpose so you could send them the MB and have them charge you, that is if you got the receipt. I bought this MB used on Amazon, and it was working fine until the bios update. I won't choose anything critical with MSI in the name next time.
 

citay

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They do this stuff on purpose so you could send them the MB and have them charge you, that is if you got the receipt.
You can accuse them of not handling this problem well at all, and that would be true, but you can't accuse them of having planned this. This can only happen on Z490, and only with BIOS updates from a certain version onwards. It is some freak problem that they sadly have not fixed or fully prevented yet in newer updates (although we get a lot less cases nowadays than we got initially). They will not charge for RMA either, this is all under warranty, they will fix it for you free of charge. Except maybe the shipping (not sure), which they don't profit from. So to think that this is some clever money-making scheme, while it would simultaneously make the affected people very wary of buying another MSI board, that assumption can easily be refuted.

In newer boards (unless you buy the very cheapest board models), they now usually added a Flash BIOS Button function, with which you can update even a corrupt BIOS. So there is no danger of a repeat of this issue with most newer MSI boards. Plus i don't know any other board model series which is affected like Z490 is. I know, "once bitten, twice shy", but the probability of this happening on an MSI board with a different chipset, and not being able to recover, is very low indeed.
 

mtaica152802cc

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You can accuse them of not handling this problem well at all, and that would be true, but you can't accuse them of having planned this. This can only happen on Z490, and only with BIOS updates from a certain version onwards. It is some freak problem that they sadly have not fixed or fully prevented yet in newer updates (although we get a lot less cases nowadays than we got initially). They will not charge for RMA either, this is all under warranty, they will fix it for you free of charge. Except maybe the shipping (not sure), which they don't profit from. So to think that this is some clever money-making scheme, while it would simultaneously make the affected people very wary of buying another MSI board, that assumption can easily be refuted.

In newer boards (unless you buy the very cheapest board models), they now usually added a Flash BIOS Button function, with which you can update even a corrupt BIOS. So there is no danger of a repeat of this issue with most newer MSI boards. Plus i don't know any other board model series which is affected like Z490 is. I know, "once bitten, twice shy", but the probability of this happening on an MSI board with a different chipset, and not being able to recover, is very low indeed.
Maybe, Maybe Not. But to hold potential solutions until the user provides a receipt claiming they paid the full sucker price, is shady. People need their computers for work, and most likely only have one, so it's important to get them back on track ASAP, whether they have receipt or not. They might not do it to make money on repairs sent back, but to provide no potential answers = people have to buy new motherboards, like some already did in this forum. To be honest, MSI is a budget company, and nobody is dumb enough to pay $350-$500 for this brand in the first place, when there are other great brands, so basically everyone buys this brand cheap.
 

citay

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MSI is one of the "big three", ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI. They have board models of all price ranges, you certainly can't call a GODLIKE model a budget model, or MSI a budget company. Budget implies low prices in general. Like every board maker, they have adapted to customers, they offer very cheap boards with barely enough on them to call it a motherboard, and they offer very expensive boards where everything is overkill of the highest order. So again i don't quite follow this line of thought.

Look, i get it, people are rightfully upset about this problem, and in some cases MSI might have handled it badly. The receipt is not to see wether you paid full price, it's about when the board was purchased, so they can see if it's still under warranty. Once they sell the boards to the vendor, they don't know what happens to them, or at what date they're sold to the end customer. If you get a second-hand board, you pay less for it, for this money you saved you may have to accept difficulties with warranty claims, unless you can acquire the original receipt from the seller. It shouldn't even matter whose name it's in, as long as you can produce it when MSI ask for it.

Imagine the following: Someone sells a used board on eBay as defective for 20 bucks. You buy it, you open a warranty ticket at MSI, you can't produce the original receipt and nobody can know if this is still under warranty, but you want MSI to fix or replace this for free now? Which company would do this, that is just bad business, they take all the loss. Of course that is more of a theoretical scenario, people will tend to RMA if it's possible, and not sell it for 20 bucks. So such a board may have user-inflicted damage which is not covered by the warranty. But still, you see where i'm getting at. Some of the assumptions of it all being shady business are lessened when you think about it more.
 

mtaica152802cc

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MSI is one of the "big three", ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI. They have board models of all price ranges, you certainly can't call a GODLIKE model a budget model, or MSI a budget company. Budget implies low prices in general. Like every board maker, they have adapted to customers, they offer very cheap boards with barely enough on them to call it a motherboard, and they offer very expensive boards where everything is overkill of the highest order. So again i don't quite follow this line of thought.

Look, i get it, people are rightfully upset about this problem, and in some cases MSI might have handled it badly. The receipt is not to see wether you paid full price, it's about when the board was purchased, so they can see if it's still under warranty. Once they sell the boards to the vendor, they don't know what happens to them, or at what date they're sold to the end customer. If you get a second-hand board, you pay less for it, for this money you saved you may have to accept difficulties with warranty claims, unless you can acquire the original receipt from the seller. It shouldn't even matter whose name it's in, as long as you can produce it when MSI ask for it.

Imagine the following: Someone sells a used board on eBay as defective for 20 bucks. You buy it, you open a warranty ticket at MSI, you can't produce the original receipt and nobody can know if this is still under warranty, but you want MSI to fix or replace this for free now? Which company would do this, that is just bad business, they take all the loss. Of course that is more of a theoretical scenario, people will tend to RMA if it's possible, and not sell it for 20 bucks. So such a board may have user-inflicted damage which is not covered by the warranty. But still, you see where I'm getting at. Some of the assumptions of it all being shady business are lessened when you think about it more.
Imagine if you had an issue and only needed to update the drivers or bios, and MSI wants you to prove to them you bought it at the sucker price so they could tell you that. I've been on the computer for the last 30+ years, and to see that MSI still has the driver up on their website, just shows how much they care. At the end of the day, it's all about money, because they sell refurbished boards on eBay and Amazon direct from MSI, so you can see where the junk is coming from. If you are a sucker, they will take you for one. We just got to see how many people MSI robbed to fully see their intentions.
 
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