IME / Thunderbolt Firmware issue - Asus MAXIMUS Z690 HERO

Hey guys!

I really hope i got the right forum to post this in. I found alot on this Forum about the IME thingy and thats the reason why im here and i hope you guys can help me.

Today i decided to update my Bios… after the Update my Audio Interface isnt working anymore. Its a Thunderbolt 2 Device and after some research i got it.

With the Bios 2204 they updated the IME & Thunderbolt firmware. Thunderbolt 2 Devices are not supportet on Thunderbolt 4 anymore… so i managed to go back before that version (2103) but that will not fix it because of the IME Version…

Is there anything i can do? To rollback the ime? Because i found this guide:

I used that guide to roll back the bios. It also looks like there are is a IME Version included? He also used that “Flash Programming Tool”. But maybe i got that wrong.

Dont know what todo. The only reason why i bought this board was my Audio Interface… now i cant use it anymore…

Read a little in these threads, seems that the Thunderbolt firmware is somwhow included in the firmware update package. But it’s not clear if it’s used from it’s place in bios region or if it’s residing in a separate chip that get’s updated in a separate process after a bios update- and might have it’s own rules regarding ‘downgrade’ even if there’s a different but older module in bios region.

Can’t find a reference to Thunderbolt in ME configuraton, but might be that PHY modules and Thunderbolt firmware versions depend on each other.

You can try to locate all SPI chips on the board and to read them, this way you’ll find all separate firmwares, maybe one can identify the Thunderbolt firmware.
But if downgrading this firmware alone will be possible or if this requires ME and / or configuration or driver modules in bios? Would require a lot of reading and testing and a rather high chance of bricking functions.

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Yeah its something else. The Thunderbolt Firmware Update was this NVM 36. It was also patched separately at the install process.

Thunderbolt 1/2 device can’t be detected after updated Thunderbolt4 FW to NVM36.

After updated the FW of ThunderboltEX 4 card to NVM 36, or after updated BIOS newer than 2201 of Z690 series MB which has onboard thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 1/2 devices cannot be detected anymore.

After Intel update thunderbolt FW version to NVM 36, it no longer support thunderbolt1/2, and can only support Thunderbolt 3/4 devices now.

The onboard thunderbolt FW of MB is built-in BIOS. If you still want to use Thunderbolt 1/2 devices, please help do not update the new FW of ThunderboltEX 4 card and BIOS which newer than 2201.

Thats from the Asus Site.

But i kinda gave up. Was looking 5 hours for a solution yesterday and i couldnt find anything at all. So i think i need to sell my audio device what kinda sucks… i bought that board (Asus Maximus Hero z690) only for that reason.