Thunderbolt stopped working after latest Motherboard BIOS update (2204)

[raugam111]

Hello everyone.

I have an ASUS ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WIFI D4 motherboard and an ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 connected to it on the last PCIe slot.

I am running Windows 11 and use this device for music production which is my work (I require thunderbolt for my studio).

My build had been working perfectly fine with thunderbolt when I had BIOS version 1304. I did however have a different issue at the time where my machine would not post if I set any XMP (I or II) on. I was working with the BIOS load defaults and had to work with my RAM at 2666MHz despite it having a capacity of 4000MHz.

I noticed I was very behind on the BIOS updates so I thought perhaps this XMP issue would be fixed if I did the update. I updated to the latest BIOS version 2204 and it fixed the XMP problem. However, thunderbolt functionality completely stopped - which is even worse because now I can't really work. And for the record, I updated Intel ME before updating the BIOS.

Under "Device Manager" I see "Thunderbolt(TM) Controller - 1137" has a yellow triangle on it and when I see it's properties it shows an error message saying "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems (Code 43)". Also, if I go to the Thunderbolt Control Center app and click on "About" it shows the correct application version but the "controller driver version" has a weird "N/A". No devices get recognized when connecting via thunderbolt. I can tell it is passing electricity since my CalDigit thunderbolt hub's led lights up when connected but Windows does not recognize the device and it does not work. No thunderbolt devices work with different cables and everything so the the issue is clearly related to whatever changed in thunderbolt when updating the BIOS.



I tried looking for more info on the "Event Viewer" but all I see is an Error stating the device "had a problem starting" with problem status 0xC00000E5. Which after doing some research does not really help me pin down a solution.



I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the thunderbolt drivers and thunderbolt control center, updated all other drivers, completed all Windows updates and optional updates, removed the ThunderboltEX from the PCIe slot and then placed it back in... but it made no difference. Finally, I found that ThunderboltEX 4 had a TB & PD firmware update I could try. I followed the instructions and when launching the Shell.efi from BIOS I got a weird message for "Thunderbolt Nvm" which says "No support update ,Please check Thunderbolt installed correctly and try again, or contact Asus customer service". For the "Cypress PD" part of the firmware update, it completed with no issues and is now version 129. I don't understand why it does not want to update the firmware of TB though and I don't understand what it means by "No support update".



I wish I could easily just go back to BIOS 1304 so I can have thunderbolt back but I'm scared to try since after BIOS version 2004 there are notes stating that rolling back to earlier versions is not supported. My only hope right now is that rolling back to BIOS 2103 or 2004 will resolve this. I'll report on that here but I was hoping someone had any ideas on what I can do to fix this. I really can't reinstall a fresh Windows OS since that would delete all my studio settings, configurations, plugins, programs which took years of putting together.

[DezM]

All the workarounds/solutions above (and in other posts) didn't work perfectly for me. I have the latest BIOS 2305, Intel FW and drivers for all components of my Z-690 ProArt Creator board. Sometimes my Thunderbolt 4 connections show up, and sometimes they do not. A 2nd restart of the computer will have my T4 devices show up. Inconsistent. BIOS 1304 was perfect. 2305?......NOT.

I suspect the BIOS is the culprit and needs to be addressed by Asus......quickly.

[scriv]

@DezM Have you tried switching your Thunderbolt cable end for end by chance or even a different TB cable? I know it seams silly but I've had inconsistent TB connections in the past like you've describe and the solution was simply to shut down my PC, disconnect the TB device, reverse the cable and reboot. 

[DezM]

Never had to do that during BIOS v1304. Now at BIOS v2305 it's inconsistent. My PC remains on during the day and is shutdown at night. Luck of the draw when I restart.

I have a new OWC Thunderbolt Pro Dock and a new SanDisk SSD Thunderbolt drive attached to their TB4 ports.

[scriv]

Only a suggestion because inconsistent TB connection issues are typically caused by TB cable issues. Plus, it's usually simple to swap cables and test if that's the case.

Of course the issue may have nothing to due with the cable, as you've noted, and I wouldn't disagree that the recent BIOS updates seem to be breaking things. They certainly did for me.

It could also be that the OWC dock is trying to verify TB 1 & 2 support, which your TBex4 may not have because of a BIOS communication / FW issue with it. If you've updated the TBex4 firmware to NVM 36, there is no TB1 & TB2 support.

As noted on OWC site with respect to their Pro Dock:

Host Port Requirements

• Thunderbolt (USB-C) port (backward compatible with Thunderbolt 2/Thunderbolt¹⁾

[DezM]

I don't need TB1 or TB2 support. My Z-690 ProArt Creator board supports Thunderbolt 4.

The OWC dock I mentioned above and the external SSD are Thunderbolt 3. See attached. Right now it's working.

When it's not working, it looks like this:

[scriv]

Ya, inconsistent connect issues are a pain to sort out. I do see that you're using TB Driver 1.41.1353.0 when ASUS only supports up to TB Driver 1.41.1193.0 on your MB. Don't know if that's causing an issue but it certainly did on my MB. I had to uninstalled all other TB drivers and use ASUS' 1.41.1193.0 version to get the TBex4 working correctly.

[DezM]

So when you downgraded to 1.41.1193.0, you got consistent TB connections? What board do you have?

I figured having the latest would be best.

[scriv]

No, I had no connection at all until I downgraded to the 1.41.1193 driver, as I described in my solution post above. My MB is the Z790-P-WIFI.

[DezM]

Interesting. I will try that out if it persists.

[DezM]

So I uninstalled the newest Thunderbolt 1.41.1353.0 driver. Rebooted and downgraded to the Thunderbolt 1.41.1193.0 driver. My TB connections were intact.

But then when I shutdown and than started the PC again, my TB connections were gone. This solution did not work.

It seems after a shutdown, I lose TB. But if I then Restart, I regain my TB.