Tuf Gaming Z790 Pro Wifi bios issues

[ducky124]

Ever since updating my Bios to 1662 and above, my system takes excessively long to boot up. It can hang on the Tuf Gaming boot screen sometimes for up to a minute before starting to load Windows 11. If I downgrade to to 1661 all works perfect. I have tried resetting Bios to factory default before and after the update but does not help. ASUS support was no help, they told me to wait for an updated Bios. I tried the 166 beta but it does the same thing.  I need some good suggestion.

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-14700KF 3.40 GHz
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.8 GB usable)
Samsung SSD 990 PRO 1TB

[achugh]

Hi @ducky124 what do you see if your DISABLE Fast Boot and also DISABLE ASUS Logo Display in the Boot Menu? Does it make any changes to your boot speeds? If there is not change then go back into BIOS and ENABLE CSM on top of these two boot configurations and check if there is any change with all three configurations.

Can you also share if you are using any RAID setup on your machine or not?

[ducky124]

Sorry for the delay, but I need to have a stable system for the last few days. I finally tried your suggestions. None of the made a difference. I have no RAID setup

[achugh]

Hi @ducky124 I am sorry to hear that these changes did not help and I totally get that sometimes it takes time to give these suggestions a try.

My understanding is that starting with BIOS 1662 a CLEAR CMOS is needed to reset the BIOS settings to the new defaults. There is also the latest BETA BIOS 1666 that is available for your board with the latest 12B microcode.

May I suggest the following:

1. Whatever BIOS version you are on (I think you are using 1661 for now), save the BIOS Configuration data on to a USB drive as the CMO file. This should save all the calculated values where in the BIOS you see AUTO written into this file.
2. Now upgrade your BIOS to the version you would like to try say 1663.
3. Once the BIOS is loaded, it will prompt you to press F1 to go into BIOS. Once you BIOS press F5 to load new system defaults followed by F10 to SAVE and EXIT.
4. Disconnect the power cable to your PSU and follow the instructions for your board to CLEAR CMOS.
5. Connect the Power Cable to your PSU and start your PC.
6. If the CLEAR CMOS is successful, you will again see a message to press F1. If you do not see this message then go back to STEP 4 and try again.
7. Assuming you see the message, press F1 to enter BIOS, press F5 to load new system defaults, F10 to SAVE and EXIT.
8. Now test if your boot slowness is gone or is it still being observed.

In this above test, you have not changed any system settings and are running your system on the Intel Default configuration. This will confirm if the problem exists with Intel Default profile or not. If you still have a problem with Intel Default profile then our options are limited and we will need to work with ASUS support team most likely to get the help.

In this state of continued issue, you can load your old working BIOS again (say 1661) and then go into BIOS to load your profile settings using the save CMO file from the drive to get back into working state again.

Good luck!

[ducky124]

it seems like alot of hoops to jump through just to install a new BIOS.  I originally contacted ASUS support about this and they had no answer for me. 

[achugh]

Every once in a while things get harder. A lot of it is attributed to Intel making changes to stabilize the CPUs too. Since the defaults have been changed by Intel there isn't anyone like ASUS development can do much here. A one time CLEAR CMOS should get you back on the new setup after which you should be able to go back to the normal experience you are used to where you simply just run the BIOS updater to upgrade your BIOS.

At the end of the day, it is up to each individual like you, me and others what they want to try on their system. It is part of the fun and pain of working with a DIY system. 

If you do eventually give these steps a try or try something else and post back here, we will continue to work together. If you do not post back, I will assume you found your happy medium to live with and we may connect again in case you have any further questions or concerns on a future post here.

Have a great day!

[ducky124]

I'll probably try this in the next day or so. Unfortunately my CMOS reset jumpers are blocked by case fans so it's not as simple as jumping them and restart.

[achugh]

No problem. Take your time. When you are ready, please post back with your results here and we can resume this discussion in case you need any further help. If this information solves your problem, I would love to hear back and I am sure other community members will appreciate it as well since everyone gets helped from previous confirmed solutions too. Good luck!

[ducky124]

Unfortunately, this did not solve my problem. It is taking over 60 seconds from computer start to start loading windows.  

https://youtu.be/NuTtLD7hDnA?si=Exlyz-Dc1_DvJ4Gs

hers is a quick video of the boot. Note, nothing happens until the 1:05 mark

[achugh]

Hi @ducky124 I am sorry to hear you are still having problems. Thank you though for keeping your camera still to clearly see the AMI BIOS screen with details. I noticed that 1:06 mark you have 7 drives in your system, all of them under RAID Controller. Are you really using RAID setup like you have either drive mirroring or data striping features being used i.e. RAID 0, 5 or 10? Or you simply are using these drives via RAID Driver? If you have not setup RAID but are simply using RAID Drivers then you will gain performance by using these drives directly (without RAID).

There are a couple of posts here on this forum where people have reported this slowness with recent versions of BIOS. They are mostly using RAID although this slowness is NOT exclusive to RAID setup i.e. there are also reports with non RAID setup as well.

Is it possible for you to have your OS Drive not under RAID? For best performance, it is recommended to keep the OS Drive as normal and only keep your data setup under RAID, if needed. This will allow for a quick boot process as well as general Windows performance will be much better.

If you do not want to switch your setup from RAID to normal (without RAID) just for the OS Drive then I believe you should stay on the previous BIOS as there isn't any information I am aware about on how to solve this problem for you. Others are also waiting for ASUS Development Team to look into this issue. So far ASUS Development team has not found the problem yet with regards to this slowness when using RAID setup.

Have you tried enabling CSM in Boot Configuration as well as FAST BOOT mode? Both these configuration can help to speed things up but I am not sure how much they will work for you.

My personal guess is that the newer BIOS is waiting for the RAID initialization which is connected to the Intel ME Firmware. Maybe the older BIOS logic for this initialization is different like it may not be waiting for Intel RAID confirmation where as the newer BIOS does wait for the confirmation. This is why it is recommended to have OS on a non RAID drive specially for consumer hardware which typically has lower hardware support for RAID like setup.