Crosshair V Formula Thunderbolt BIOS Upgrade Issue

[TraspyAble]

Hello there. I've got Crosshair V Formula Thunderbolt rev. 1.01. I bought it in 2012 (unfortunetly guarranty ended in July this year)

I had an AMD Athlon X3 435 installed recently on this board and it was working well but I tought to upgrade it to something bigger. I read some information about FX processors and I decided to upgrade to FX 9590 8-core from AMD. I bought Processor, new PSU (with 8PIN+4PIN) and new water cooler to cool it down.

First of all I upgraded BIOS from 1102 to 1703 by EZ Flash Utility.
I've got Issue with RED CPU LED near the 24Pin connector & no POST at all so I was guessing that I messed up with BIOS Flash. (Both processors old & new one had this ERROR). I checked everything than I flashed BIOS again with 1703 (I found information that C5F and C5F Thunderbolt have the same version of bios but there is something different, so I tried both of them to be sure) - nothing changed.

I realized then that I don't have 4PIN in PSU so I bought new one with both 8PIN+modular 4PIN - again nothing changed.
I tried shifting CPU's to different (tried like 4 CPU's) and I bought new BIOS chip with the newest 1703 BIOS for C5F Thunderbolt...
guess what? Nothing changed.

The Voltage on MB,SB,CPU,DRAM is green and fine. Everything is connected and seems to be working. All fans spin.
The only one thing that isn't working is POST and only error I've got is RED Q CPU LED near 24 PIN con.

Reseated CPU's (were installed propertly from beginning), had done reset CMOS, changed battery, switched BIOS chip - nothing changed.

CPU's, GPU, RAM are fine (tested on other PC's).

I heard that revision 1.01 of this Motherboard had a grief and when Flashing to 1703 (newest) BIOS - **** like this happens.

What else should I do? Today I'll try to flash BIOS to old version like 1102 for ex., maybe this one will help just to support one of the older CPU's. I'm pretty much sure the problems seems to occure with 1703 BIOS (flashed by me or by shop)
The worst thing is that guarantty ended in July this year...

Please help, maybe you've some advice what else I can do.

[MeanMachine]

Hi TraspyAble and Welcome to ROG:eek:

As far as I know, The FX9590, due to the TDP 220W draw is not suitable for your MB, which is limited to 140W TDP.
I think the FX8350 is the chip for you.

[TraspyAble]

MeanMachine wrote:
Hi TraspyAble and Welcome to ROG:eek:

As far as I know, The FX9590, due to the TDP 220W draw is not suitable for your MB, which is limited to 140W TDP.
I think the FX8350 is the chip for you.

Thanks for welcome.


Yes it can be, but support said that it will work.

But the thing is... not only FX give that error (red led error) but every CPU i put in (since I use 1703 - the newest bios).


Btw. You've in signature C5F-Z with FX 9590 which have the same limit of 140 TDP ...

[MeanMachine]

Hi TraspyAble and the info you have is incorrect.

The CVFZ does indeed support the FX9590 and is not limited to 140W TDP. Check here: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/CROSSHAIR_V_FORMULAZ/specifications/
Specs show CVFZ supports CPU up to 220W. Not so with the CVF.
Various Bios revisions are required for differing CPUs and should be updated/ flashed accordingly.

[TraspyAble]

MeanMachine wrote:
Hi TraspyAble and the info you have is incorrect.

The CVFZ does indeed support the FX9590 and is not limited to 140W TDP. Check here: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/CROSSHAIR_V_FORMULAZ/specifications/
Specs show CVFZ supports CPU up to 220W. Not so with the CVF.
Various Bios revisions are required for differing CPUs and should be updated/ flashed accordingly.

You've right. I've got wrong information. On Polish Asus side there was no difference between V Formula & V Formula - Z....

Anyway... I need to return FX 9590 then or just wait until I upgrade my moba...


But... How can I downgrade BIOS from 1703 to 1102 to support mine old CPU ? or which revision and how to check revision of BIOS...

Because right now, any processor I put gave me an red led error. I'm 100% sure that it is because of 1703 version of BIOS. (1102 previously was stable)

How can I downgrade it without POST ? I don't have ROG CONNECT BUTTON to Flashback this thing... can I do it remotely using ROG Cable to laptop or something like this ?

[MeanMachine]

Hi TraspyAble. I have not been in your exact position, so someone with exacting knowledge may come on.
You can try:
Clearing CMOS using the button on the rear IO panel, and see if you can get into Bios.

As you have Bios rev: 1703 installed, it should work. If Bios is corrupt/bricked and it is not possible to use EZ Flash 2 utility, then you may have to get a new Bios chip installed to suit your old CPU. not 100% sure with your MB.
imo The MB is the best choice to upgrade, if your cooling is up to it, but that's just for me. And you now have an FX9590.

Your current bios is 1703, as you said, so that is the correct Bios for the Athlon 435 and FX8350
If you feel there is more life in the CVF MB, then swap to the FX8350 which is supported.

btw: Bios 1703 was not the correct choice for FX9590. current rev: 2201 on CVFZ.

[TraspyAble]

BIOS 2201 doesn't exist for Crosshair V Formula (Without Z) .

I've 2x BIOS chipes with 1703 right now and no one works with any processor (RED LED with every CPU).

It's all started since I updated BIOS to 1703 from 1102.

Is there any way to downgrade BIOS ? or I need to buy a new one with 1102 (which I find stable for my built previously).

I need to check old BIOS ver first, because I can't risk that motherboard don't support CPU's just because of BIOS 1703 grief or something. I believe that it's all BIOS version fault and Motherboard is in good condition. But how to achieve it. Can I flash it by connecting ROG to laptop or something?

[MeanMachine]

Hi TraspyAble

Quote: BIOS 2201 doesn't exist for Crosshair V Formula (Without Z). You are correct.
Just as Bios rev 1703 is not for FX9590 and is not correct for CVF.

Let us recap.
1. You flashed the Bios to 1703 then installed the FX9590 in a CVF MB.

2. You now wish to flash the Bios back to 1102, as you feel this will work. but you can't, you can't access Bios so EZ Flash utility is not available.

3. Bios rev: 1703 supports Athlon 435 and FX8350. So your original chip should work.

Conclusion...

I doubt there is another method other than get a bios chip replacement, If there is I would like to know and also if you wish to continue using the Athlon CPU.

The CVFZ has a flashback port on the rear IO panel. Bios updates can be done with just power to the MB. Unfortunately the CVF does not.
Bios flashing is a risk.

[TraspyAble]

The thing is... I've got bios replacement (with 1703 version too) and its not working with Athlon too.

So if 1703 is truly working with Athlon (I guess so), there must be killed motherboard cpu socket by fx9590 which I put after flash.

I don't see any option either. Get bios chip with 1102 then test Athlon or just leave it saying that it's killed MB.

It's a pity that CVF doesn't have that whole flashback thing and support for fx 9590...

Now I'm stucked because I've got wrong information from Polish site about capabilities of this MB...

Thanks, anyway, for effort.

I hope I'll solve this problem soon or just get another moba.

I owe you one, see ya mate 😉

[MeanMachine]

Hi TraspyAble and in conclusion. :cool:

Quote: The thing is... I've got bios replacement (with 1703 version too) and its not working with Athlon too. Correct.... So why is it not working?
Answer: The Bios was not flashed correctly or corrupted and hence no access to Bios.

Finally; If I were you I would save the CVF for posterity, go the power option and upgrade your MB to CVFZ. imao