BIOS 2703 Feedback

[JohnAb]

What experiences do people have with the new BIOS release? I haven't tried it yet myself. The support page says that ME firmware will be updated to 16.1.27.2176.

I'm already on a later version (16.1.30.2255) with BIOS 2602. Does anybody know if this could cause a problem? Just makes me a little nervous in terms of what could happen. I'm assuming that if on a later version then the ME update will not happen, but would like to know if anybody else has updated to 2703 with a more recent ME version.

Also, does anybody know if it's possible to go back from this latest version if any problems? Thanks. 

[Enet]

As I said before, I followed the AI OC instructions. Doesn't make any difference. What's worse is that for some reason this latest BIOS update screws up the hdmi handshake on boot up. So all I get is a flashing screen and then sometimes disconnects completely.

[RyanBlakeIT]

I had the same issues as you and the fix for me was to set the optimism to 95 and raise my memory voltage to 1.400V manually. I also raised my MC voltage to 1.300V. Since I'm air cooled I set my cooling value to 125. Now my system has been stable for over 48 hours running various stress tests. It does thermal throttle up to 7% but much better than the crashing or other strange behavior from the instability.

[Enet]

Thanks. Very useful info. They do seem to have gone overboard with reducing voltages. Setting RAM to 6000Mhz has always been a problem on my z690-g but not on my old ITX motherboard, so increasing the RAM voltage makes sense. Bum I'm not sure which setting to change. As for the rest,I did get back close again to AI OC results so if I can do that regularly then I might just leave it that way.

[Enet]

Did some more testing. . I've learned that my PC is rock solid across all cores at  5.3Ghz but is no longer boosting to 5.4Ghz on a regluar basis like I think it did before. Most changes just create more heat and bring the CPU closer to throttling with no improvements I got AI OC kind of stable by manual changes to optimizm etc. I watched what it did on Cinebench and the scores actually went down. When I looked at why it was basically what I said above. More heat but less performance. So I guess I stick with what I have got for now which is still pretty good, and wait for another bios update and try again.

[Enet]

I've been able to get my RAM to a stable 6100Mhz by not using XMP Tweaked and modifying some voltags. My 3DMark scores are where they always have been and my Cinebench scores are respectable and sometimes even within margin of error when compared to my AI OC scores. 

[RonH199]

My update to 2703 turned into a disaster upon reboot. Machine went into immediate bsod and has not been able to boot into normal mode without bsod. I've done a lot to check things out, hardware thoroughly checked, DISM run using repair mode of windows installation, likewise sfc /scannow, memtest, chkdsk /f/r,  all showing OK. Removed Nvidia drivers using DDU since one bsod implicated Ntfs.sys. Restored bios to 2403 which was stable as has been the machine for years now. 

Machine will boot into safe mode but nothing I can do  to get into normal mode. I'm left thinking that a weird problem happened updating the ME firmware to 16.1.27.2176, which shows up as the firmware in Device Manager. Booting using the second bios which I preflashed successfully to 2403 results in the same problem. I'm nowhere near savvy enough to know if ME corruption, maybe non-lethal to booting but enough to screw up the system is a possibility. Before I bite the bullet and rebuild my system from scratch, is my hypothesis about ME a possibiilty and, if so, is it likely the machine is bricked? Does anyone have further ideas or suggestions, I'd really appreciate it.

Macine is z690 Maximus Apex, 2x32 Corsair 5200, Corsair Axi 1200, Gigabyte 4090, Win 11 Pro 22H2 (as you can see I'm new enough to forum that I haven't yet figured out how to include this info permanently)

[RyanBlakeIT]

I'm running a Z690 Hero with BIOS 2703 and Intel ME 16.1.27.2225 and it's stable.  My issues were with my G.Skill Trident Z5 memory sticks (uses Samsung).  Picked up Corsair Vengeance DDR5 @ 6400 (uses Hynix) for $100 and machine has been rock solid since running at DDR5-6000 with my MC voltage at 1.3V and memory voltage at 1.4V.  Looks like there's a new Intel ME firmware that I'd recommend trying along with the latest BIOS update: https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/downloads-for-motherboards/firmware-intel-me-h610-b660-h670-z690-b760-... .  I did notice with the new BIOS that the voltages are pushed too high for vcore if you use the AI feature and you have to adjust them down a little for stability.

[RonH199]

Thanks Ryan, I was able to update the firmware even though I could only boot into safe mode. My problem is extremely stubborn. I’ll see if tinkering with bios memory settings help.

[RonH199]

Update on my BSOD problems, booting into safe mode but not normal mode. After a lot of work using second motherboard, different memory, different GPU which all made no difference to the problem, I replaced the CPU (i9 13900k with i9 12900kf) and discovered that the item causing the problem was indeed the CPU. It was the last item I replaced because I have never had a CPU go bad in over 30 years.

I have no idea what can go bad in a cpu that will cause such an idiosyncratic problem. It was also the last thing I replaced because intel CPU test software passed it on all fronts (albeit I ran it in safe mode). The

[RyanBlakeIT]

Same here, I haven't had a CPU go bad outside of being caused by physical damage as well.  I wonder if you put that CPU into another motherboard (that supports the 13th gen Intel and has the latest BIOS) if it would still have the same issues?  Makes me wonder if it's a BIOS issue or if it truly is bad.  Thanks for the update!