@CircuitDaemon
@Lost_N_BIOS
Just want to clarify some points:
- There are no Intel ME in any AMD motherboard so don’t try to look for one or flash one in a Formula (Z or not).
- There is no onboard video support on a Formula (Z or not). Meaning there MUST be a video card pluged in. This means that:
1- The motherboard Bios is NEVER responsible for the GPU in a Formula (Z or not).
2- The only 2 things having direct influence on the GPU are: 1- The driver in Windows and 2- The Bios of the video card.
- On some video cards, the temp point set by default on the video card depends on which Bios is installed in the card. (I am talking of original ones, i am not even talking of the mod you can do with the GPU Bios)
- UEFI or Legacy for the GPU Bios don’t influence the temp settings. Only the speed at which the video card is initialized at startup and, maybe, some of the power down features to save energy. If you have a system running in UEFI/GPT, then it may be worth to change the GPU Bios for UEFI too if it is a legacy one to gain some stratup speed. (If the card have a UEFI Bios available)
- Take also note that some video card had an Hybrid Bios that automatically changed from Legacy to UEFI and vice-versa as needed. But those are rare.
- GPU-Z is the most known program to get infos for your video card. But it is not the only one: “GPU Caps Viewer” is also a very good one to get some additional infos.
They seem to be faulty but it’s also a problem specific to that model. I never heard about it before but it seems that there’s some hardware issue with the 840EVO series that cannot be fixed through firmware and the only solution from Samsung is to run a tool that will “fix” the file system to reduce the performance impact of the problem. The thing is that it only works if your drive us working independently and therefore RAID is not supported.
Also, both SSD’s are now over 4 years old and have been working 24/7 for at least 3 years. At first I thought that a Windows 10 update had broken something in the RAID driver and kept trying to fix that with different versions, but in the end I got tired and just decided to run one of them normally and not in a RAID and found out that the issue kept occurring. Then I connected them to another computer and just tried copying some files to them and the same would happen. I would get about half of the original write speed (like 250MB/s) and then they would suddenly drop to 30, 20, 10MB/s and finally nothing. Most large files wouldn’t even copy completely as they would keep getting stuck. It took me days to try that to confirm because it all seemed software related to me and I didn’t expect both SSD’s to fail at the same time in an almost identical way, and it’s a shake because most of my drives are Adata and are older than those Samsung’s but not a single one has failed yet.
That’s why this time I got the SX8200, according to all reviews it’s currently one of the best NVME drives you can get for that price and has performance that competes with the higher end models. I expect to upgrade to Ryzen soon so I can take full advantage of it.
Thanks @phoenix48 - I would have known that if I downloaded BIOS, I don’t keep up with Asus board names so didn’t recognize right off the bat it was AMD 
And I didn’t look up the board for anything either, was only dropping a quick comment based on what he described. Sorry for all that, I would have noticed everything you mentioned if I looked up the board or tried to further help.
So it’s an Evo840 RAID only issue then, usually when the drive is not 4 years old? I’ve never heard either, thanks for the tip, learn something new every day!
Hello everyone, I can not install the version 5 mod, tell me what to do, the file renamed, the extension changed to CAP, but the motherboard does not install it via bios flash back, maybe I’m doing something wrong
Simply, I want to prepare the motherboard (Crosshaiir V Formula Z) for installation (plextor m9pe(Y) ) as a system disk for Windows
Understood, updated, but do not see any changes in Bios. In the whole one of these days will come Plextor M9pe(Y),
I hope I understand what to do next.
I apologize for my English, I use translation
Hi all, new user here so sorry if my questions sound dumb.
I was wondering if the modded bios you offer is of benefit to only those looking to add an M.2 SSD or would anyone that uses the crosshair v formula-z find a benefit in the line of performance gains?
I have a Samsung 840 pro 256 SSD, a Samsung 850 pro 512 SSD and 3 WD HDD’s connected to my board. I am also running with an AMD FX-8350 cpu (at stock clocks), a sapphire R9 390 GPU and 8 gigs of system ram.
If the modded bios would benefit a setup like mine, in what components listed above would I see some kind of performance gains? I mean will everything just run faster, will I see better transfer speeds with my drives and will the boards network card perform better?
I am also wondering if you can link to the flashback tool needed to install the modded bios?
@AntonNext
I understand you wish to eventually boot in nvme over PCIe. It usually requires to install Windows on a GPT drive (Windows install will do that part) using a USB key that MUST be formated in GPT too. This is usually the step that people forget the most often.
@Tag446
Yes, it will benefit any system because the mod includes not just the new NVMe module but also many more updates. Here are all the updates in the latest v5 vs the original Bios:
- CPU microcodes all updated to the latest (Last check 2018-08-17)
Original (before):
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ AMD ║
╟────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────────┬───────┬──────────┬──────╢
║ # │ CPUID │ Revision │ Date │ Size │ Offset │ Last ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 1 │ 00100F40 │ 01000085 │ 2008-05-01 │ 0x3C0 │ 0x742F4C │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 2 │ 00100FA0 │ 010000BF │ 2010-02-17 │ 0x3C0 │ 0x7444BC │ No ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 3 │ 00100F62 │ 010000C7 │ 2010-03-11 │ 0x3C0 │ 0x7452D4 │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 4 │ 00100F43 │ 010000C8 │ 2010-03-11 │ 0x3C0 │ 0x745E94 │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 5 │ 00100F41 │ 010000C6 │ 2010-03-11 │ 0x3C0 │ 0x746694 │ No ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 6 │ 00680F00 │ 06000017 │ 2010-10-29 │ 0x980 │ 0x74AA0C │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 7 │ 00680F01 │ 0600011F │ 2011-02-27 │ 0x980 │ 0x74B394 │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 8 │ 00600F10 │ 06000425 │ 2011-04-08 │ 0xA20 │ 0x74BD1C │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 9 │ 00600F11 │ 0600050D │ 2011-06-27 │ 0xA20 │ 0x74C744 │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 10 │ 00600F20 │ 06000822 │ 2013-01-03 │ 0xA20 │ 0x74D164 │ No ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 11 │ 00600F12 │ 0600063D │ 2013-03-06 │ 0xA20 │ 0x74E164 │ No ║
╚════╧══════════╧══════════╧════════════╧═══════╧══════════╧══════╝
After:
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ AMD ║
╟────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────────┬───────┬──────────┬──────╢
║ # │ CPUID │ Revision │ Date │ Size │ Offset │ Last ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 1 │ 00100F40 │ 01000085 │ 2008-05-01 │ 0x3C0 │ 0x742F4C │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 2 │ 00100FA0 │ 010000DC │ 2011-10-24 │ 0x3C0 │ 0x7444BC │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 3 │ 00100F62 │ 010000C7 │ 2010-03-11 │ 0x3C0 │ 0x7452D4 │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 4 │ 00100F43 │ 010000C8 │ 2010-03-11 │ 0x3C0 │ 0x745E94 │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 5 │ 00100F41 │ 010000DB │ 2011-10-24 │ 0x3C0 │ 0x746694 │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 6 │ 00680F00 │ 06000017 │ 2010-10-29 │ 0x980 │ 0x74AA0C │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 7 │ 00680F01 │ 0600011F │ 2011-02-27 │ 0x980 │ 0x74B394 │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 8 │ 00600F10 │ 06000425 │ 2011-04-08 │ 0xA20 │ 0x74BD1C │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 9 │ 00600F11 │ 0600050D │ 2011-06-27 │ 0xA20 │ 0x74C744 │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 10 │ 00600F20 │ 06000852 │ 2018-02-06 │ 0xA20 │ 0x74D164 │ Yes ║
╟────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────────┼───────┼──────────┼──────╢
║ 11 │ 00600F12 │ 0600063E │ 2018-02-07 │ 0xA20 │ 0x74E164 │ Yes ║
╚════╧══════════╧══════════╧════════════╧═══════╧══════════╧══════╝
- OROM AMD RAID MISC 4392 v3.2.1540.6 -----> v3.3.1540.19
- OROM AMD RAID MISC 4393 v3.3.1540.17 -----> v3.3.1540.19
- EFI AMD RAID v1.0.0.45 -----> v1.0.0.49
- EFI AMD Utility v1.0.0.45 -----> v1.0.0.49
- OROM LAN Intel Boot Agent GE v1.3.51 -----> v1.5.86
- EFI LAN Intel PRO/1000 UNDI v5.0.12 -----> v8.3.10
- ASMedia 106x AHCI ROM v0.93.1 -----> ASMedia 106x AHCI ROM v0.97
- -----> SAMSUNG_M2_DXE (New feature) Added support for AHCI for boot from SSD with PCIE
- -----> NvmExpressDxe_4 (New feature) Added support for boot from SSD with PCIE
- -----> AMD AHCI ROM v3.3.2.0 for DEV_4391 (Missing module added) The module was missing in the original BIOS for the device 4391
Note: The addition of the missing module AMD AHCI ROM v3.3.2.0 for DEV_4391, if you use your system in AHCI mode, should give you an noticeable improvement in startup time of up to 13 seconds for Windows.
To be more specific to your system, the biggest differences should be seen in AHCI startup time and in also getting the new microcode Spectre protection for your CPU. You can check the protection status before and after the upgrade by installing and using the “SpeculationControl” module in PowerShell (Google it to find it, latest version is v1.0.10). Other minor improvements may or may not be perceptible (even if they are there for sure) in using the AsMedia controller, or also in using the AMD controller in RAID mode. The only improvement that is almost surely to be completely not perceptible is the Intel boot agent for the Network chip.
Flashback is a feature in the Motherboard that use a specific usb port on the back to use it. It can not be downloaded. You just use it. Google it or see your user manual for more details.
@Phoenix48
Thank you very much for your reply.
Is there a way to verify the bios updated properly after flashing? I ask because I can not see any changes within the bios. I expected after flashing that all of my settings would return to default but they didn’t and the bios date also appears the same as before trying to flash.
What I did to flash:
1. Downloaded >ASUS-Crosshair-V-Formula-Z-2201 MOD v5 (2018-07-11)<
2. Extracted all files with 7zip
3. Using Diskpart in cmd, ran clean command on USB stick
4. Formatted USB stick to FAT32 using quick format
5. Copied C5FZ.CAP to USB stick
6. Shut down PC and installed USB stick into ROG Connect Port
7. Pressed ROG Connect Button until it started flashing then released
After this the ROG Connect button flashed a few times for 3-5 seconds and went out. I restarted the pc and went into the bios. I didn’t see any changes so I assumed the flash didn’t work.
I then went into bios - Asus EZ Flash 2 Utility, located the CAP file on the USB stick and tried to flash. An error popped up saying “Security Verification Failed”.
If it helps, before trying to update the bios I already had the 2201 from ASUS installed from a few years ago. Also it was a few years ago when I updated to 2201 but it seems like when I did that update the whole processes took longer and the ROG Button flashed for much longer.
From the description of what I did, can you see where I might have gone wrong?
@Tag446
You can verify your flashback procedure here: https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1013998/
Follow those steps and see if it makes any difference.
They are starting to set BIOS lock enabled in BIOS now at the HSFS registers, so you can’t even write to the BIOS region with mod BIOS on some board, hitting that wall with Z170 Pro Gaming right now
I solved this issue, unsure if it’s the same one you’re getting now if using FPT to flash, but if it’s error 368 (failed to disable write protection for BIOS region) when trying via FPT I can help you fix this and will be posting method shortly today on another thread.
For flashback, smaller cheaper USB is best, like 1-2GB or smaller. LED on USB will flash for 1-2 minutes, then stop, that is when it’s done. If LED on USB Stays solid, or does not flash for 1 minute or more then USB is not compatible with flashback or BIOS is not proper or some other issue with BIOS such as name or extension,
Just wanted to update… Turned out my install procedure was correct for the flashback, the problem was with my USB thumb drive.
I decided to try a different USB thumb drive and the flashback worked first try.
Always something simple gives us the worst headaches!
So I’m seemingly having trouble flashing this modded bios. I’ve tried every thumbdrive I have, but it seems (unless the system info doesn’t say anything different?) that it will not flash to my motherboard…not sure what I’m doing wrong at this point.
I’ve tried a 512mb memorex, an 8gb pny, a 16gb verbatim, and a 32gb scandisk cruzer…and no such luck? Am I missing something?
I downloaded the modded bios Ultimate version, I formatted my thumbdrive to fat32 with only the one partition, and copied the bios over, verified the name and everything…
When I hit the ROG connect button, it flashes for close to a minute then stops, and I reboot…only to find the bios didn’t change.
Is it in the correct USB port? Formatted to FAT32, BIOS file renamed to it’s recovery name (Open with FD44 editor to get recovery name), and BIOS in root of USB. ROG connect button, is that the same as Flashback button?
Sounds like maybe USB issue still, try more smaller drives, those larger ones I wouldn’t even count as attempts, I’ve only had best luck with smaller drives like 512MB-8GB, and best ones were the 512MB-2GB
You can flash it via FPT, see guide here for method, you will need to gather correct variables for this board using the guide. For this you will need to extract the .rom from the .cap BIOS using UEFITool
[GUIDE] Grub Setup_Var Guide - Fix Intel FPT Error 368 - BIOS Lock Bit Set HSFS W/ Asus Z170 or Other Mod BIOS
Yes, it’s formated to fat32…
I’ll have to look into the recovery name…I had it the same name as the current bios (which is the C5FZ.cap) And I ran it both on a 512mb and 8GB drive…
I don’t know anything about a.rom file since this board has ALWAYS had a .cap bios on it…
That sounds like correct recovery name! Try more smaller USB drives, and make sure it’s in correct flashback port.
.rom file you will know about if you follow the guide I linked. .cap BIOS is a 2kb security capsule, surrounding a .rom BIOS (first 2KB of raw BIOS file in hex is the capsule), that is all. To flash using FPT you will remove the capsule, via extracting the .rom.
That may not be covered in guide, I forget if I mentioned or not. But to do that, you open .cap BIOS in UEFITool, right click on the capsule entry in middle and choose extract body. Or to do manually, open cap file in hex, remove first 2KB, save as .rom
That will be the bios.rom you use with FPT flash method
Interesting. Alright. I’ll have to look into it when I get home from work.
Thanks :0
So I’m looking at your guide, and it looks like it’s all for intel based boards? My board is an Asus ROG Crosshair V Formula Z…which has the ASUS ROG Flashback…I’m just a little confused by your post because I thought you could only go from a .cap to a .cap…not to a .rom file?
And when I try to run the bios through the UEFI Tool…I can’t view the guid… it just shows a bunch of dots and dashes…
edit: So I ran into a new issue…I save the PE32 ‘as is’…and try to use the extractor…and it sits at ‘unknown’ for the protocol…?