Q Flash Vs Bios Flashback

[Marie Ota]

Yesedit file as-is in a capsule and then flash back, or extract body of capsule with UEFITool (so actual BIOS) and then edit, then put back into capsule via hex

Then rename encapsulated file to the proper flashback required name.

That BIOS has 2KB capsule. So open stock .cap BIOS in hex editor and open copy of your mod BIOS in hex editor. Select all your mod BIOS, then copy. Then go to stock.CAP BIOS and go to location 800h, and paste the mod BIOS, then save as M8R.CAP and you are done

Yes, ME FW needs to be a specific version, often one lower than your current but not always so check current and you may be OK. If you used the AIO mod tools this will already be using correct latest version for the mod to work, 11.6.xx or 11.7.0.1229 is latest ones you can use

tl;dr: Use an old-fashioned USB 2.0 flash drive, format it FAT32, download the firmware, make sure it's named correctly, and use the motherboard's 'BIOS Flashback' option after powering off the computer.

It started with a combo deal from Micro Center: a ASUS ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WiFi motherboard, a Ryzen 9 7900x CPU, and a G.Skill Flare X5 Series 32GB DDR5-6000 memory kit, all for $599. Quite a beefy upgrade for the main PC I use to compile code and do random Linux-y tasks.

I wanted to enable AMD's 'Eco' mode, which limits the TDP from the stock 170W to either 105W or 65W. And in my own benchmarking (which happened later on, but I'm including the data here because it's kinda insane), the CPU got about 96% of its 170W performance when I limited it to 105W. And at that level, it idled at 45W and maxed out at 206W. Much better.

From there, I could see the BIOS and select it, but when I did, the screen would go to 'Processing', a status bar would start filling, then every time, the PC would just shut down, then try rebooting, and when it did, after the orange DRAM LED lit for a bit, the red CPU LED would light up and stay lit until I removed power from the motherboard.

So next I tried each one with BIOS Flashback, where you make sure the USB drive is attached to a specific port on the motherboard, shut down the computer, and press and hold a 'BIOS Flashback' button nearby until the process begins.

I don't know how motherboard BIOS updates are still so flaky after all these years, but I guess it's better than requiring a USB-to-TTL device and some terminal hacking to flash it like you do on many ARM SBCs!

Yes, you're not just telling him to install AI Suite 3, you're telling him to do the folllowing: install Windows, install drivers, install AI Suite 3 and hope that it's successful. That's possibly multiple hours.

This particular board (B650E-F) does not support BIOS update via Windows - that requires support for EZ Update which is not included when you grab AI Suite 3. I should know - I have the board and I just tried this method based on your comment. :) I'm having similar issues - can't get the latest BIOS installed. I updated it just fine a week ago when I first bought it.

It's not publicly documented anywhere, but some Asus boards support UEFI Capsule Update, which lets you update the UEFI from Linux using `fwupdtool install-blob` and the .CAP file from Asus's website. Works with my B550-I at least.

Capsule Update support is actually a requirement for the Windows 11 sticker they put on the box, if I recall correctly. Asus would just need to push the updates to LVFS to make it hassle-free for Linux users :\

One thing from the get go, one step you shouldn't do is run the Renamer program if you are using EZ Flash 3. Run Renamer only if you are going to use Flashback. The default file .CAP works perfect for me every single time using EZ Flash in the BIOS. In fact, if you rename the BIOS file, EZ Flash wouldn't recognize it.

I bought the same setup at Micro Center. Had some issues getting it to POST at all and couldn't get into the BIOS until I did the BIOS flashback feature. I didn't have any issues with that since I had a USB 2.0 drive formatted with FAT32 and using MBR. I chalk it up to the DDR5 because I also had intermittent booting issues when I used EXPO 1, but they went away after switching to EXPO 2. I also bought two sets of sticks, and I've heard of issues with using 4 sticks of DDR5 so I guess I'm lucky it works at 6000.

Yeah I decided at least at this point to stick with just two sticks of RAM and not tempt fate. It'll be probably a few more BIOS updates before motherboards are really well tuned for higher speed memory profiles.

Thank you so much, I was going crazy with this. Using an older stick with the FlashBack finally worked. I have no idea what AMD did this generation but I've never had that many problems updating the BIOS.

This! I was having issues updating using Asus EZ Update and AI Suite 3, it would not let me boot/POST using a procured i7-4790K CPU that I'd gotten a hold of. Then I saw this post, tried using USB Flashback and it worked!

I recently released a new YouTube video, called How to Flash the Gigabyte B550 AORUS MASTER BIOS with Q-Flash Plus. This video walks though and demonstrates all of the steps required to use the Q-Flash Plus feature on this motherboard.

Q-Flash Plus is a special feature that lets you flash the BIOS without having a CPU, RAM, or video card installed. The most common reason you would want/need to do this is if you had a new CPU that was not supported by the existing BIOS version on the motherboard.

This situation is happening to a number of people with new Ryzen 5000 Series processors that require a newer BIOS version than was available when the motherboard was manufactured. This feature can also be useful if a more traditional BIOS update (using the Q-Flash BIOS utility or the @BIOS Windows utility) failed.

I think this is a useful video right now because the documentation on the product web site and in the motherboard manual is a pretty sparse. Gigabyte also has their own YouTube video showing how to do this, but it uses a different motherboard.

If you have any thoughts or questions about this post, please ask me here in the comments or on Twitter. You can also follow me on Twitter, where I am @GlennAlanBerry. Thank you for reading!

i think you made this tutorial not very god, the suposed file schould be named at GIGABYTE. bin and not gigabyte.bin, you got to write it in big lethers and not small like you wrote on your tutorial, please rewrite it so the people dont do the same mistake as i did, the file schould be named GIGABYTE.bin

You need to check your facts before you start making incorrect statements and accusations. Renaming the file to gigabyte.bin (all lower case) is what Gigabyte specifies on the web site. Here is the exact text:

More importantly, renaming it to gigabyte.bin actually works. I have done it multiple times for all of my Gigabyte motherboards, and it works every single time. Thousands of people have followed the directions in my videos and it has worked just fine for them.

as you cann see at the Auros homepage here -to-Update-Your-BIOS-Part-2.php they say the bios should be named as GIGABYTE.bin. at the end of the month im gonna buy a Gigabyte B550 AORUS PRO AC and i will see witch einther gigabite.bin or GIGABYTE.bin schould be writen. best regards Claudio Santos

You are probably correct. Q-Flash Plus is very literal and simple-minded. It looks for a file with a particular name in the root of a flash drive that was formatted with FAT32. The flash drive has to be in the correct USB port. If it finds what it is looking for it tries to read the file and then proceed with flashing the BIOS. Otherwise, it just stops.

I know this is an old post, but since no one responded to it with more technical information, there are some very common mistakes that can happen. A common mistake is to forget to plug in the supplemental 8 pin at the top of the motherboard when trying to boot. Flashback will work without it, but making sure that you plug in the 24 plus the 8, or even the 8+4 or 8+8 power will make sure the CPU gets enough power.

I have no idea what might be wrong based on the symptoms you describe. It could be many different things. What CPU are you using? Do you have a discrete GPU? What video port are you using (is it on the GPU or from the motherboard)?

BIOS flashback can help in many cases where things have become corrupted. Make sure to use a USB 2.0 flash drive for flashback, not a 3.0 drive. USB 3.0 flash drives can sometimes seem like they are working, but then fail. Next, check your RAM. Shut down, take out all RAM(computer memory) from the system, then power up. Look for the LED indicators on the motherboard to see that the motherboard itself is trying to POST. Then, shut down, and try a single memory module. Try in slot 2(counting from the CPU, 1, 2, 3, 4), then power on, and see if the BIOS lights indicate it is actually trying to cycle up. You can then try a different memory module in slot 4, see if it comes up or not.

There is probably a problem with your flash drive or how you prepared the BIOS flash file. It has to be renamed; it has to be in the root of the USB flash drive. The drive has to be formatted with FAT32 and plugged into the correct USB port.

Well, you will need to borrow a Ryzen 3000 series processor (or any processor that is compatible with your motherboard) to temporarily install so you can flash the BIOS to a new enough version to support your CPU.

AMD used to have a program where they would send you an older, low-end CPU that you could use for this. Another possibility is the shop where you bought it might be able to flash the BIOS for you. Finally, you might consider just returning the motherboard and getting one that has the Q-Flash Plus feature

I am grateful to you for making this information available to those of us that experience the frustrations that stem from lacking information put forth by manufacturers on important processes such as the one detailed in your video.

There is probably a problem with your flash drive or how you prepared the BIOS flash file. It has to be renamed; it has to be in the root of the USB flash drive. The drive has to be formatted with FAT32 and plugged into the correct USB port. Are you 100% sure you downloaded the BIOS file for your exact motherboard rather than a different model?

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