Warning to MSI Z490 mainboard owners

If you should own a MSI Z490 mainboard, DO NOT update your BIOS !
I tried to update the BIOS on my MSI.Z490 Gaming Plus board and bricked it because the last four versions of the update software for the BIOS are faulty.
MSI is aware of this problem and supposedly they work on a solution. Until a permanent fix is out, do not try to update the BIOS !!! There was no warning about this on the MSI download page. Only on the MSI forum one can find more information about this.
Please note that this ONLY applies to MSI Z490 boards. All others are fine.

Thanks for that info. But what is a necessary reason to update a working BIOS?

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Sometimes BIOS updates are available for bug fixes, security issues, performance enhancements or to support the latest OS/CPU/Ram releases, for instance I had to update both my motherboard and GPU BIOS to enable Nvidia Resizable Bar.

FYI, these were the last 5 Bios updates released for my board …

Support Windows 11 by default, no settings changes required in the UEFI BIOS.

Add Resizable BAR support for Nvidia RTX 30 series cards to potentially deliver more performance to gamers in select titles.

Improve system performance.
Support Max DRAM Total Capacity up to 128 GB.

Updated Microcode for security issue.
Improved system performance and stability.
Improved DRAM compatibility.
Update ME FW for security issue.

Improved system performance
Update CPU microcode for security issue

Did you unplug kb/mouse power plug, monitor, monitor etc. ?
Push power on button to flush capacitors.
Open case up and look for lithium CR 2032 battery, ( looks like a quarter). Pop battery out.
Look for “clr cmos” pins and short pins either by jumper or a screw driver. Some boards have a bios flashback button, push that.
Remove jumper on clr cmos pins if used.
Put CR 2032 back in . It only fits one way.
plug power, monitor, kb in.
See if it boots up.
If it does not, repeat the above process but wait an hour before putting the cr2032 back in.
I once had to wait overnight for an assus board that had a failed bios update.

Hi @Mauflo12961
The idea was to make my computer ready for Windows 11.

Never use software for bios updates, do it direct in the bios menu.

Hi,
I did update through the BIOS.
Also performed all the steps as mentioned above to revive the system, but no luck. Purchased new motherboard, but not from MSI.

[quote=“Super275327, post:7, topic:500028, full:true”]
Hi,
I did update through the BIOS.
Also performed all the steps as mentioned above to revive the system, but no luck. Purchased new motherboard, but not from MSI.
[/quote] ’

Ah, ok.
You did wrote “because the last four versions of the update software for the BIOS are faulty”

Hi,
This is what I have read in the MSI forum. The BIOS update I tried to perform was the fourth and latest update issued by MSI since I bought my motherboard. Have not updated this MB since new.

Sorry to hear you and others have problems with the bios update. Just wantedt to say I have the MSI MEG z490 unify mainboard and have updated to the last bios version 7C71vAB as of October 2021 several months ago without any problems. Same was with version 7C71vA9 from July 2021. What MSi board do you have? BTW the only change of the last bios version is that it enables the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) by default for win11, what you can easily do manually without flashing a new bios version.

Hi @BachFrosch85590,
Thanks for your thoughts.
My MSI board was a Z490 Gaming Plus, which does not have a BIOS flash button.
But no worries, my new ASUS ROG STRIX Z590 -E Gaming WiFi 6E should arrive tonight.
Anyway, this gave me a good reason to thoroughly clean my computer and move some of the case fans around, which I had planned for a long time.

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Hi
I updated the bios on my MSI Z490 A Pro last week because of issues I was having.
The update went fine through bios.

Updated my MSI MAG Z490 Tomahawk to latest 7C80v1A Bios some weeks ago due to Win11 upgrade. All went fine and i´m still using it

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But updating the BIOS is the most thrilling part after building a PC :smiley: the last time I did it my MSI X570 Gaming Edge WiFi went back to RMA after showing a red CPU debug LED every time I tried to boot it.

No the faulty BIOS are not for the Z versions only. The X570 boards do not function anymore either.
1,5 months ago I updated my BIOS with the MSI Dragon Center.
They said updating a BIOS is no danger at all. Every single forum user has done this over a dozen times, they said (in the computer hardware forum)… haha!

But at least the MSI Gaming Edge WiFi has a reflash button and an older BIOS version was fully functional, and AMD SAM and other features are now alive.