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FYI: ASUS has removed BIOS v1401 for STRIX B550-F

Terepin
Level 8
Something must be seriously wrong with it and I suspect they removed it for other boards as well.
214 Views
13 REPLIES 13

Running 1602 for several days now. Seems about the same as 1601, but I did not have the USB problems many here experienced. 1601 (and presumably AGESA 1.1.9.0) seems to have fixed my idle/near-idle WHEA reboots. Fingers crossed!

New BETA bios 1801 is out released.

"Update AMD AM4 AGESA V2 PI 1.2.0.0"

I have exactly 0 clues or knowledge what it does.

Hawkhack
Level 8
Why is Asus doing this? Is there no official statement from the company?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/kkytx7/why_is_bios_1401_gone_from_asus_site/

I'm looking for 1401 and I now find out why I can't locate it on the downloads page for the board: Asus has removed it?!

https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-b550-f-gaming-model/helpdesk_bios

I have the B550-F board with 1401 and would like to have this version as a fallback in case I run into issues with a newer BIOS version I was planning on upgrading to as I am troubleshooting an issue with my keyboard. Yes, that's right, I have not upgraded the BIOS on this board in all these years, and no, I have not had any issues with it that others are reporting about. But I also don't play games, and I don't upgrade to newer BIOS just because it's out there. "If it ain't broken don't fix it" is my motto.

But seeing from this thread Asus has actually removed more than one BIOS version for its board/s. They removed 1601 apparently. OK, it was a Beta release. But they kept the 1602??? Which is also a Beta release? Asus I would understand your reasoning if you removed 1601 for being Beta, but not when you remove some Beta and keep other Beta releases. Who the f does this? Once it's out there, it's out there. Why this need to do a half-ass job and then do a history revision and pull away BIOS images without any sort of public statement or explanation?

I tried to get some answers from Asus support and I got none. I asked them to send me a copy of this old BIOS and they said they are "not able" (would not or could not do that).

Them:
Hello.

Thank you for contacting Asus Support.

I am sorry to say that it is within good reason the BIOS version has been taken down, and I would rather recommend that you use any other BIOS version instead.

I am also sorry to inform that I am not able to supply the 1401 Version.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Have a nice day.


Me:
What do you consider to be a "good reason"?

So what can you do then? You can't give me information and you can't give me the BIOS version I requested. What can you do?


Them:
Hello.

Thank you for your reply.

A good reason might have for example been a security or a vulnerability issue with the software, rendering it not able to be used safely.

So I am sorry to say that my hands are a bit tied in this situation, and I would rather recommend to use a other BIOS version instead.

Have a nice day.


Me:
A security issue? Is this something you know for a fact or are you talking with your foil hat on?

I have been using 1401 for about a year now. If it's been removed from the website over security concerns, don't you think we should be at least informed about it? It may not be something that affects me personally. But it could still be useful to know.

Can you tell me what bugs and security issues you have introduced in the versions that came after 1401? The point being: just because something is newer is not necessarily better or more secure than what was there previously.


Them:
Hello.

Thank you for your reply.

I am sorry to say that I do not have full access to what the issue may have been, but as long as it is removed, it is within good reason. I would still recommend to update to a newer version of the BIOS.

There are no bugs as far as I'm aware on the newer versions, but I see they may have run into a issue on a USB connectivity issue that was fixed later in a newer update of BIOS.

Regarding the statement of new is not always better(paraphrase) I wholeheartedly agree, and personally usually use not the newest, but the next to newest update when it comes to any firmware and BIOS.

If you have anymore questions, please let me know.

Have a nice day.


I am utterly disappointed by Asus. Not just because they did not give me the BIOS version I asked for. But also because they did not give me information about potential security risks either. And also by the way they handle support requests. They brush off my requests with blanket answers. Moreover, I initially sent them my request in Swedish! Not in English! But they bluntly replied to me in English. Unprofessional and inconsiderate! They just assumed that I would understand English. This is not a case where messages are auto-translated back and forth between a western citizen and an eastern outsourced support. Asus does have tech support in Sweden and they are native speakers. It's evident by the signature as well. But they don't offer phone support for PC component products, instead you have to mail in those concerns. And as a courtesy they answer in English??? You get what you pay for I suppose.

Coincidentally! I updated the BIOS on my slightly older Z370-F Strix board from Asus to version 3004 which is the latest as of this writing, and the only info provided about it is this: "Support Windows 11 by default, no settings changes required in the UEFI BIOS." After installing it I can no longer disable TPM in the settings. I don't want TPM! Because I don't want Windows 10 to upgrade itself on its own will to Windows 11 when I'm not watching. So I go in and change "Firmware TPM" back to "Discrete TPM", save and reset, computers powers off, powers back on, then powers off one more time, powers on one more time, I go to settings and find that TPM is set back to "Discrete TPM" just as I suspected: it did not take it, refuses to let me disable the damn thing! So I will be rolling back to an older BIOS version on this board. The one before 3004 was 3003 and it's a Beta, so I might back down to 2801. I hate BIOS updates! In my experience they break more things than they fix.

To quote a legend on this: "If debugging is the process of removing software bugs, then programming must be the process of putting them in."

I find it most fascinating to see how most people seem to be under the impression that by keeping their software up to date they are ridding themselves of bugs. This I think is dangerous thinking, especially when it comes to critical software like BIOS/UEFI and especially in this time and age with the "agile" and "lean" propaganda where nothing is tested thoroughly or done precisely, everything is a fade, including the hardware it runs on: working and living in the second.