B450 tomahawk bios flashback help

[Yiannis15]

Hello I bought a b450 tomahawk and a ryzen 5 3600. How can I flash the bios so it will support my ryzen 3rd gen? During the bios flashing my motherboard will be at risk? 

[Tom H]

tomahawk has a flash bios button on the back that allows you to flash bios without cpu installed. You copy the new bios on a usb stick formatted with fat32

 

go to page 40 of the tomahawk manual. I suggest to clear your cmos first before doing the bios flash

 

[another_member]

Hello,

To run Flash BIOS Button do exactly that:
- Connect/Verify the PSU to CPU_PWR1 and ATX_PWR1 (using only cables furnished with it).
- Get an USB drive having no more than 16GB(physical size) and create on it a single FAT32 (not FAT) partition (same size as the drive). Verify it with CHKDSK.
- Download the letest BIOS from MSI..
- Extract then copy the file "E7C02AMS.140" on the empty root of the USB pen.
- Rename "E7C02AMS.140" to "MSI.ROM".
- Plug the USB stick into the "Flash BIOS Button" port on the back panel:

- Power on and wait 5s.
- Press the "Flash BIOS Button" button on the back panel.
  => Does the LED next to the button (and the USB pen light if there is) flash (you could have to wait around 2mn after to have pressed the button)?
        . If definitevly not, try with another USB pen because Flash BIOS Button seems to not recognize some model (I don't know why).
. If yes, be patient because load process can run around 10mn.
- If Flash BIOS Button has ended successfully, power off your PSU, unplug the power cord and wait 10s after all mobo's leds light off.
 

 

Your Mobo will not be at risk during flashback, just remeber to connect everything except both power cables. 

[Yiannis15]

7 hours ago, Tom H said:

tomahawk has a flash bios button on the back that allows you to flash bios without cpu installed. You copy the new bios on a usb stick formatted with fat32

 

go to page 40 of the tomahawk manual. I suggest to clear your cmos first before doing the bios flash

 

Will I have to power on the PC or not for the bios flash to work?

[Yiannis15]

7 hours ago, Catchears said:

Hello,

To run Flash BIOS Button do exactly that:
- Connect/Verify the PSU to CPU_PWR1 and ATX_PWR1 (using only cables furnished with it).
- Get an USB drive having no more than 16GB(physical size) and create on it a single FAT32 (not FAT) partition (same size as the drive). Verify it with CHKDSK.
- Download the letest BIOS from MSI..
- Extract then copy the file "E7C02AMS.140" on the empty root of the USB pen.
- Rename "E7C02AMS.140" to "MSI.ROM".
- Plug the USB stick into the "Flash BIOS Button" port on the back panel:

- Power on and wait 5s.
- Press the "Flash BIOS Button" button on the back panel.
  => Does the LED next to the button (and the USB pen light if there is) flash (you could have to wait around 2mn after to have pressed the button)?
        . If definitevly not, try with another USB pen because Flash BIOS Button seems to not recognize some model (I don't know why).
. If yes, be patient because load process can run around 10mn.
- If Flash BIOS Button has ended successfully, power off your PSU, unplug the power cord and wait 10s after all mobo's leds light off.
 

 

Your Mobo will not be at risk during flashback, just remeber to connect everything except both power cables. 

Will I have to power on the PC for the flash to work?

[Tom H]

as per the instructions, you need to have CPU_PWR1 and ATX_PWR1 plugged into the motherboard. The manual will clearly tell you what those are if you're not sure...essentially the power to the motherboard (top left) and the peripheral power (right middle). The power supply will need to be on,  and plugged into the outlet but that's it. 

 

Just follow the instructions above to the letter. Also do a clear your cmos via jumper before you flash the bios. This is a crucial step that they don't list in the manual and I believe is one of the reason why many people have issues updating the bios on this board

[Tom H]

Just now, Tom H said:

as per the instructions, you need to have CPU_PWR1 and ATX_PWR1 plugged into the motherboard. The manual will clearly tell you what those are if you're not sure...essentially the power to the motherboard (top left) and the peripheral power (right middle). The power supply will need to be on,  and plugged into the outlet but that's it. 

 

Just follow the instructions above to the letter. Also do a clear your cmos via jumper before you flash the bios. This is a crucial step that they don't list in the manual and I believe is one of the reasons why many people have issues updating the bios on this board

 

[Yiannis15]

5 minutes ago, Tom H said:

as per the instructions, you need to have CPU_PWR1 and ATX_PWR1 plugged into the motherboard. The manual will clearly tell you what those are if you're not sure...essentially the power to the motherboard (top left) and the peripheral power (right middle). The power supply will need to be on,  and plugged into the outlet but that's it. 

 

Just follow the instructions above to the letter. Also do a clear your cmos via jumper before you flash the bios. This is a crucial step that they don't list in the manual and I believe is one of the reason why many people have issues updating the bios on this board

To reset cmos I just have to remove the motherboard battery?

[Tom H]

there should be 2 pins on the motherboard that when connected via a jumper, will clear the cmos.page 36 of manual

 

[Yiannis15]

So I will flash the bios without CPU. Then I will connect my cpu,ram,gpu and wait to see if it posts to see if the update was successful or the PC will post without CPU ram and Mobo? How can I know if it flashed correctly?

12 hours ago, Tom H said:

there should be 2 pins on the motherboard that when connected via a jumper, will clear the cmos.page 36 of manual

 

 

[Tom H]

do the bios flash, you will know the bios flash completes because the system will reboot. I suggest plugging in one system fan so you can see when the system fan stops, and then starts again. Then power everything down, plug in all your components, then turn power supply on, click on power button on case. That's it. System will not post without cpu/ram plugged in

[Yiannis15]

5 minutes ago, Tom H said:

do the bios flash, you will know the bios flash completes because the system will reboot. I suggest plugging in one system fan so you can see when the system fan stops, and then starts again. Then power everything down, plug in all your components, then turn power supply on, click on power button on case. That's it. System will not post without cpu/ram plugged in

Ok thanks for you help

[Yiannis15]

I hope that everything goes well with my bios flash and my new build

[Tom H]

good luck bro!

 

it took me 2 flashes for it to work.

 

I know you are going to ask so I will explain what happened to me.

 

I did exactly as I suggested above. finished putting computer together, clicked on the power button....and nothing happened. SH!T

 

I then cleared cmos, and flashed the bios via the flash bios button a second time (this time with everything plugged in) and after the second time, the system posted into bios and it has been rock solid since.

[Tom H]

oh one more thing. the first time after the second bios flash, the computer powered, fans turned on, but it took about 1.5 minutes for it to post. So the first time, give it a bit of time before you panic

[Yiannis15]

29 minutes ago, Tom H said:

good luck bro!

 

it took me 2 flashes for it to work.

 

I know you are going to ask so I will explain what happened to me.

 

I did exactly as I suggested above. finished putting computer together, clicked on the power button....and nothing happened. SH!T

 

I then cleared cmos, and flashed the bios via the flash bios button a second time (this time with everything plugged in) and after the second time, the system posted into bios and it has been rock solid since.

I have 2 usbs. One usb 32gb 3.0 and one usb 16gb 2.0. which one should I use for the bios flash?

[Tom H]

16g 2.0, format to fat32

[MMKing]

Video of a different MSI B450 motherboard

[Alvie]

4 hours ago, Yiannis15 said:

I have 2 usbs. One usb 32gb 3.0 and one usb 16gb 2.0. which one should I use for the bios flash?

Use the 16GB 2.0, format it as FAT32.

 

If the LED on the board blinks three times or less, it was unsuccessful. If it blinks for two minutes and power cycles it was successful.

 

If it doesn't do this, do not fret. Firstly, use Rufus to format it with the Non-bootable option selected. Then delete the files it creates in the USB drive and then add the MSI.ROM and try again

[asand1]

7 hours ago, Tom H said:

do the bios flash, you will know the bios flash completes because the system will reboot. I suggest plugging in one system fan so you can see when the system fan stops, and then starts again. Then power everything down, plug in all your components, then turn power supply on, click on power button on case. That's it. System will not post without cpu/ram plugged in

NO. DO NOT PLUG ANYTHING IN aside from the two PSU cables. When the flashback led stops flashing you'll know it's done. Then you can assemble and test. I just went through this with my MSI B450-A Pro.

[Tom H]

20 minutes ago, asand1 said:

NO. DO NOT PLUG ANYTHING IN aside from the two PSU cables. When the flashback led stops flashing you'll know it's done. Then you can assemble and test. I just went through this with my MSI B450-A Pro.

it doesn't matter.

 

I've flashed it with nothing plugged in except the 2 power cables, and I've flashed it with everything assembled. It doesn't matter.

[asand1]

Wierd, heard from another guy that said it did jack with the cpu in. I figured best to do it as MSI says.

[Neftex]

i have bad news for you, msi boards are fucked rn and you can run into many problems even after flashing. for example pc not booting

 

if you can still return the board, i would do it

[Tom H]

6 minutes ago, asand1 said:

Wierd, heard from another guy that said it did jack with the cpu in. I figured best to do it as MSI says.

MSI also doesn't tell you to clear the CMOS first before attempting a bios flashback....in my opinion, this is a critical step from what I have seen, Many people have failures with the bios flashback until the clear cmos first

 

But generally speaking you are correct, follow what the manufacturer suggests

 

in my case, I had to flash it a second time, and I wasn't going to take my computer apart to do it lol

[Yiannis15]

1 hour ago, Neftex said:

i have bad news for you, msi boards are fucked rn and you can run into many problems even after flashing. for example pc not booting

 

if you can still return the board, i would do it

Well its dispatched to come to me. But I don't have another ryzen to do the update with a cpu. So I'm stacked with Msi. Also they have the best vrms. My motherboard will come at the end of July and I hope they release a good bios update