cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

(Z690 Hero) Removal of unstable 2301 beta UEFI

Brigman
Level 9
Posting here in an attempt to raise an issue being experienced by me - and a multitude of other users posting on overclock.net. MZ690 Hero with 12900K and 2x16MB Corsair Dominator 6000C36.

Back in early December, beta UEFI 2301 for the Z690 boards was made available on the ROG/Strix Z690 thread there. I tried it, hoping it would solve an issue encountered (and reported) with the 2202/2203/2204 series. Ironically, it seems as though it *did* solve that problem.

However, I almost immediately found that a previously 24/7 rock stable system was now suffering 4 or 5 BSODs per day, and would also not reliably resume from standby - either rebooting or halting POST on a variety of Q-Codes (of which 0x55 is the most common, so memory instability). Other posters on OC.net who tried it were also reporting 0x55 a lot. The frustrating thing is that the system was/is stable under load/stress/benchmarking, but will randomly BSOD while idling or carrying out low demand tasks. Updating the ME firmware to 16.1.25.2091 hasn't changed any behaviours either.

After initially discovering these issues I tried to flash back to a stable release build - and couldn't. Any attempt to use either EZFlash or USB FlashBack fails (EzFlash giving the "Selected file is not a proper BIOS" dialog, USB FB gives the solid blue LED after a few seconds). Again, other posters reporting inability to flash back - including some with dual BIOS boards who were experiencing stability issues with the 'other' BIOS after flashing 2301.

Nothing I have tried since has either got the system back to full stability, or enabled regression to a stable UEFI build. I seem to have eliminated the BSOD in Windows by dropping memory bus speed back (from 6200 to 5600MHz) *and* raising the memory controller, RAM VDD and VDDQ voltages. However it *still* won't reliably resume from sleep or hibernation. It either hangs during POST, or reboots while resuming the OS. Which is a major pest as I can't even trust the system to wake by itself and carry out scheduled tasks while I'm away from it.

Instability or other unpredictable behaviour is a risk we all take when trying a beta. However, there was no advance warning given that this build has a regression block on it, meaning we are unable to flash back to a stable build. That sucks a bit.

ROG support - can you please provide some tools (or a modified UEFI with the regression block removed) that will enable those of us currently stuck with 2301 to flash back to a stable one, or at least will fix whatever is clearly causing significantly reduced memory (or other platform) stability for a significant base of users who tried it? Thanks 🙂
400 Views
4 REPLIES 4

Jiaszzz_ROG
Customer Service Agent
Hello, Brigman.

Sorry for the slow reply due to the Lunar New Year holiday and any inconvenience this may cause.
After checking, the 2x16MB Corsair Dominator 6000C36 does not seem to be in the QVL list of the ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO. It is recommended that you refer to the following link to use the memory test in the QVL list: https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-maximus/rog-maximus-z690-hero-model/helpdesk_qvl_memory/
At the same time, please refer to the instructions on page 1-5 of the English version of the user manual for how to install the memory.

Thank you.

Brigman
Level 9
Hi @Jiazzz@ROG, thanks for the response, and hope you enjoyed the holidays 🙂

The presence or otherwise of this RAM kit on the QVL is/should be a moot point given that the system has been running rock stable 24/7 for several months prior to the flashing of this UEFI. The memory *does* work great with this system and had been doing so just fine with the earlier UEFI revisions. Plus, as per my comment above, there have been multiple other reports of instability with the 2301 UEFI build over at oc.net, so this is *not* an isolated incident.


However, I have also tried my other RAM (2 x 16GB Corsair Dominator 5600C36) and it is also unstable with this 2301 UEFI build and exhibiting the same problems trying to resume from S3 (similarly, hanging at 0x55 unless run below its rated speed). I believe the 5600C36 *is* on the QVL, so this also focuses attention back on whatever changes are in the 2301 build that have had major negative effects on system performance/stability.


As an update, over the last couple of days I have tried the 2303 beta UEFI. It seems on first tests to be better than 2301 but still not as good as 2103. However, again, it has an unadvertised regression block on it. I have tried flashing back to both 2204 and 2301, and *both* of them produce the "Selected file is not a proper BIOS" error. Is there a good reason why these beta UEFIs are exhibiting this behaviour - and why is this also not being described explicitly in the changelogs so that users can make informed choices about whether to flash these builds *before* doing so?


Right now I would be happy to be able to flash back to one of the recent public stable builds, and I know other users in the same predicament because they have also flashed 2301 and found no way to roll back. Is there a way this can be made to happen?

Brigman
Level 9
Further to above, the system is continuing to struggle to resume from S3/suspend to RAM while running 2303, hanging on 0x7F, 0x55 or 0x31 Q-codes (so far) and is only stable in Windows with both a 400MHz memory bus speed reduction *and* 0.05v increases in RAM VDD and VDDQ compared with 24/7 stable settings on 2103.

This is in a context where there was none of these problems (and better performance) on builds 2103 and prior.

Is there any way to remove these beta UEFIs and flash back to a stable release build (ideally 2103)? Again I'm not the only person experiencing these issues.

Jiaszzz_ROG
Customer Service Agent
Hello, Brigman.

Sorry to put you through these difficulties. Could you help confirm the content of the setting in BIOS?
May I ask if you could test after clearing the CMOS to reset the BIOS to make sure the settings are relatively stable?
In addition, in the part about flashing back the previous BIOS version, I will confirm at once.

Thank you.