Issue After BIOS Update - BIOS Menu Freezes

[carbonmeteor]

Updated: Both the motherboard and CPU were returned for RMA. ASUS promptly provided a replacement motherboard within 2 business days. (No diagonsis; I don't know if the board is really damaged ...) The CPU was confirmed faulty, but the local distributer could not povide a replacement without giving a reason. Instead, a refund was issued. more information: 14900k refund hong kong 


Hello,

I'm having a trouble after performing a BIOS update.

Last night, I used the EZ BIOS update tool in BIOS menu to upgrade the BIOS from the stock version 0220 to the latest version 1503. The update process seemed to go smoothly, but when I booted into the BIOS menu, it completely froze after a few seconds. The Q Code displayed was A9, and the Num Lock key stopped functioning. I had to hard restart the computer.

Assuming the BIOS might be unstable, I cleared the CMOS, but that didn't resolve the issue.

I then tried to bypass the BIOS menu and boot directly into Windows, but I encountered a BSOD with the error "NTFS.SYS failed."

In another attempt to fix the problem, I used the BIOS Flashback to flash the original BIOS version. However, the same issue persisted. I suspected that an incorrect Intel ME version may be the problem, I then updated it to a newer BIOS version (0801), but it's still strucking on BIOS menu. I tried a number of BIOS version and same problem persisted.

Before sending the motherboard back to ASUS, is there anything else I can try?

I performed the above steps while the PC was in the minimum hardware requirements.
I cleared CMOS a couple of times by pressing CMOS clear button and removing the battery.

CPU: 14900K
MB: ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI II (original bios ver.0220)
MEM: CORSAIR Dominator DDR5 5200 (PC5-41600) C40 1.25V CMT32GX5M2B5200C40
GPU: MSI 4070Ti
SSD: MX500 (yes, the OS drive is a SATA SSD)
Cooler: Ryujin III

[JohnAb]

Try going back to the last stable BIOS. I don't think it's the motherboard - I had similar problems yesterday after trying the latest BIOS for my board and I also got the A9 error. I went back to the last BIOS and everything is OK again. 

[carbonmeteor]

Thanks for your reply 🙂

I did try to flash back the original BIOS but the freezing BIOS still persisted.

The 1503 BIOS comes with a new intel ME version (2307) which remains here even if Iroll back to an older BIOS later, according to the description of the BIOS. Do I need to install the older version of intel ME (2264) before going back to the stable BIOS? If so, how to do it?

[achugh]

Hi @carbonmeteor ASUS does not provide the tools to rollback ME firmware. This is why the BIOS updates have this note that even going back on BIOS version will not rollback the ME Firmware.

Can you reflash to the latest BIOS, remove your MSI GFX card and check if your BIOS stops freezing? If it still freezes, can you remove one memory stick so that you only have a stick in A2 slot and check? Good luck!