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Asus ProArt B550-Creator - Ryzen with Thunderbolt 4

Reading the Anandtech review it has two Thunderbolt 4 connections, four 10 Gbps USB Type-A's, and two 2.5G Ethernet ports. Looks to be a solid motherboard choice for a mid-range content creation workstation. Something with more power then a "every dollar counts" budget build but less cost then a full fat Threadripper system. Expected April release with an $299 MSRP.

 

https://www.anandtech.com/show/16525/asus-unveils-first-amd-am4-with-thunderbolt-4-the-proart-b550-creator

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  • 2 months later...

So I have this motherboard, but can't get the flipping thing to work with my Universal Audio - Apollo Twin X thunderbolt audio interface yet. 

The main issue seems to be that the Thunderbolt software is intel platform locked during installation and says various versions of "FU". I've reached out to ASUS for some help. I've disabled the Thunderbolt security in BIOS. Which was a pain in the ass to find since you can't really find it normally. It requires a search for "thunderbolt" in the UEFI. 

BIOS thunderbolt search options were: Thunderbolt (enable/disable), Security (none/USB4 only), Wake command (there were two options I have no clue about), Something something MMIO (2x,4x, Don't remember...x)

So if there is a parameter for some kind of power enable/disable that I must do to get it to work. I don't even know where the bleeding thing is.

If someone much smarter than me has a remedy, I will send you all the e-hugs and let's say 20$ to the charity of your choice.  Please help, I really don't want to buy another apple product after several disappointments. 

Thunderbolt Install error 2.jpg

Thunderbolt Install error.jpg

Thunderbolt Install error 3.jpg

 

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i am having the same problem.. commenting to see if you find a solution

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I think it’s a very common issue, I can’t make thunderbolt monitors to work too, and I can’t install drivers the drivers just like you.

Just posting to let the issue be known, waiting for a fix.

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So... What does work? These ports work as USB3.2 Type C ports? But not as Thunderbolt 3 ports? Or just not as Thunderbolt 4 or USB4? 

Asus doesn't supply Thunderbolt drivers for it??? 

I got this board in my Newegg cart, not buying this week, but I do plan to. I have no immediate need for Thunderbolt anything, but having that for future use is the reason I'm choosing this board. If the Thunderbolt ports aren't going to work, I'll just get the ASRock X570 Creator with Thunderbolt 3 ports (And 10GbE!!!). 

This board is still kinda new? Some teething problems are to be expected, but given the TB4 ports are a major selling point for this board, I'd hope Asus would be distributing functional drivers! 

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On 5/9/2021 at 2:59 PM, Habsered said:

So I have this motherboard, but can't get the flipping thing to work with my Universal Audio - Apollo Twin X thunderbolt audio interface yet. 

The main issue seems to be that the Thunderbolt software is intel platform locked during installation and says various versions of "FU". I've reached out to ASUS for some help. I've disabled the Thunderbolt security in BIOS. Which was a pain in the ass to find since you can't really find it normally. It requires a search for "thunderbolt" in the UEFI. 

BIOS thunderbolt search options were: Thunderbolt (enable/disable), Security (none/USB4 only), Wake command (there were two options I have no clue about), Something something MMIO (2x,4x, Don't remember...x)

So if there is a parameter for some kind of power enable/disable that I must do to get it to work. I don't even know where the bleeding thing is.

If someone much smarter than me has a remedy, I will send you all the e-hugs and let's say 20$ to the charity of your choice.  Please help, I really don't want to buy another apple product after several disappointments. 

Thunderbolt Install error 2.jpg

Thunderbolt Install error.jpg

Thunderbolt Install error 3.jpg

 

I’m having the same exact issue. Motherboard for creators my ass. With a price tag like this, how could this happen lol. Such a joke….

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Just installed this motherboard today in hopes of making a very efficient workflow using the caldigit thunderbolt 3 dock, and multiple thunderbolt enabled devices and this has beent the only one to give me no luck. Its a bummer that ASUS didn't give clear instructions on how to make the thunderbolt 4 work. 

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On 5/24/2021 at 11:27 AM, Lesu said:

Just installed this motherboard today in hopes of making a very efficient workflow using the caldigit thunderbolt 3 dock, and multiple thunderbolt enabled devices and this has beent the only one to give me no luck. Its a bummer that ASUS didn't give clear instructions on how to make the thunderbolt 4 work. 

I’ve been talking to asus customer support and they elevated the issue. Hopefully we’ll see something happen soon. So far they haven’t been much help though…

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For those of you who can't get their thunderbolt device working. Did you install Armory Crate when you first loaded windows? The Bios initiates this for you and I believe it's probably the best way to get the chipset drivers which If I remember includes the drivers for thunderbolt.

 

I'm a bit surprised to to see people having issues with this board, one person here said they had to disable security in the thunderbolt Bios settings. Those shouldn't even be set by default. You shouldn't have to mess with the BIOS settings at all. BTW the thunderbolt can be found under Advanced and AMD PBS... you don't have to do a search.

 

I have this board running very cleanly. I have an RTX 3090 on the board and a 1080ti inside a thunderbolt eGPU (Razor core x). I haven't had any issues with thunderbolt whatsoever.

 

 

 

 

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On 5/23/2021 at 12:03 PM, Mr.Hubiverse said:

I’m having the same exact issue. Motherboard for creators my ass. With a price tag like this, how could this happen lol. Such a joke….

It's a great board, mine is working great, but it does seem some users are running into issues getting TB drivers installed. How did you install the chipset drivers?

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I have this board and as best I can tell it is functioning beautifully. I do not own a single Thunderbolt device to plug into it however. That's a key selling point, but this is my first Thunderbolt capable device so I got nothing to plug in to try. I've had The B550 Creator a week and I haven't had a new motherboard in many years so this thing is blowing me away!! (5900x and 3080). Crushing benchmarks and finally getting good FPS in MSFS2020 with nice settings!!

BUT I'm having the same issue trying to install the drivers from the Asus drivers page. Maybe that not needed, just old habit with a new system to download and install the latest on the maker's website.

Indeed Armory Crate is enabled in the BIOS by default and it has installed a mess of related things on my Win 10 Pro install. There's no less than FIVE processes or services showing in the Task Manager related to it best I can tell.

Looking in the Device Manager there's a "Thunderbolt(TM) Controller - 1137". It has a driver installed with no warning.error showing, Providor "Intel(R) Corporation" version 1.41.1054.0, date 1/2/2020, digital signer "Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher". 

There's a list of "events" in the properties window, but I can't cut paste it. Looks like the driver is installed and configured, but the last entry does say
"6/6/2021 7:23:42 PM Device not started (nhi)"

Under "Events", there's "Information" and in that box it has this:
 

"Device PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1137&SUBSYS_00008086&REV_00\EB0D60504CC9A00000 was configured.

Driver Name: null
Class Guid: {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}
Driver Date:
Driver Version:
Driver Provider:
Driver Section:
Driver Rank: 0x0
Matching Device Id:
Outranked Drivers:
Device Updated: false
Parent Device: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1136&SUBSYS_00008086&REV_02\EB0D60504CC9A00000"

It's got some memory ranges and IRQ resources allocated, "No conflicts" are reported.

So... Maybe all is well. But still is never a good feeling to download a driver on listed specifically for your board, related to a key feature of that board and then try to install it and it immediately fails and indicates the driver is not compatible. WHY does Asus even have that file on this board's driver page?? There's also a post on the ROG forums about this and the only suggestion posted was "Install the chipset drivers first, then you can install the thunderbolt drivers. Well, I have installed the exact same chipset driver file mentioned and I still get the error "This Platform is not supported".  A vague, mysterious, disconcerting feeling interrupts my otherwise fantastic experience with this board.

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Can someone please tell me if this board supports thunderbolt with Linux?

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  • 1 month later...

I still don't have any Thunderbolt devices to test, but after talking to Asus a while back it seems that Intel driver package installer is simply not meant for AMD platforms. I asked why in hell they put that driver package on the B550 Creator download page and they wouldn't say it was a mistake exactly, but they kinda implied something along the lines of, "Someone may want to unpack the files in the package and have a use for them?" Pretty dumb, and clearly causing tons of confusion. WTF.

But they said the same basic driver should get installed with Armory Crate. And I do see a seemingly functional Thunderbolt driver on the system. So? I guess it's all well and proper? I guess??

Anyone get any Thunderbolt devices working on these ports? The only even USB-C device I have is my Wacom Cintiq Pro 16. But it's meant to work with it's power and display input box. I don't think it's meant to work with video, power, and usb data to all come from one port on the PC? Worth a try I guess, that'd be pretty cool to not need that box. But I think it may need 100W or something? I can't find the spec now, But I think the B550 Creator will only do like 40W from it's TB4/YUSB-C ports? 

 

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I have the same issue with installing the Thunderbolt driver - it throws the Serial IO Platform error (like in the previously posted screenshots).

Contrary to Dylanear I don't see anything Thunderbolt related in the Device Manager, using HWInfo, nor in the BIOS. I haven't tried contacting the support yet, but I think I may need to.
When I plug in my phone to the Thunderbolt port it doesn't get powered at all... so I don't even have normal USB functions

Did anyone who had to install the Drivers because it's not working yet (and yes, I tried Armoury Crate as well as manually installing AMD Chipset Drivers and both don't show any errors) actually manage to get anything to work? Does Asus Support provide a link to a correct installer with support for AMD?

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OK, so I dug into this and I now believe everything is installed and working correctly!
Looking around online regarding Thunderbolt, it seems you need more than just an installed driver to fully use these ports as Thunderbolt ports and not just USB4 ports, And maybe even as USB4 ports. There's a "Thunderbolt Control Center". And funny enough, I go poking around on the shiny disk that came with the motherboard and sure enough, in the Drivers\Thunderbolt\Driver\ directory there is a Thunderbolt(TM) Software Installer.exe. But that installer will not install (can't remember what it did exactly, but it did not install any app). In my many, many searches on this I saw one comment somewhere, saying they needed a BIOS update before they were able to load everything needed for Thunderbolt to work on the B550-Creator. Last I looked I was at the latest stable BIOS 2007, there were two betas, I didn't want to "go there" back when I didn't have much reason to think a beta bios would have any specific benefits. But I figured I'd look again and maybe consider using a beta. Well, no need. 2403 is now out of beta it seems. The Asus EZ Update BIOS check said I was up to date on 2007, didn't offer any update options. But the Asus website did list the newer stable BIOS. There's also 2404, but it is still in beta.

Go here. It will only show the 2404 beta at first, I suppose since that is the latest, but if you click "show all" it shows various older versions, the latest non beta being 2403. I downloaded and unzipped 2403, opened EZ Update, pointed it to the extracted bios .cap file (ProArt-B550-CREATOR-ASUS-2403.CAP) and followed the update steps. It reboots, loads the new bios file and reboots again. On rebooting it goes to a black screen with white text saying it's updating the THUNDERBOLT FIRMWARE! NOW we are getting somewhere interesting. Reboot again. Once in Windows I try the AsusSetup.exe in the Thunderbolt driver package. It once again says, Failure, This platform is not supported. So I go into the Device Manager and look at the thunderbolt device and while previously somewhere in the device's properties window I had seen, "This device requires further setup" (though it was also saying "This device is working correctly" and would find no newer driver online or pointed to the driver packages provided by Asus, this time there was no, "This device requires further setup" anywhere. So I try the AsusSetup.exe in the UCM folder in the driver package UCM directory, it pops up a command prompt window that just goes away, I assume it did nothing? I try the AsusSetup.exe in the SerialIO directory, it seem to do about nothing too. So then I try running the Thunderbolt(TM) Software Installer.exe in the Driver directory and IT RUNS AND INSTALLS!!!! Now if I go to the start menu and type "Th" it autocompletes to the Thunderbolt Control Center. Running that I get a window showing "Attached Thunderbolt Devices" and has lines for Port1 and Port2. I can't test further as I have no Thunderbolt devices. (I'm shopping for a TB4 dock and a TB CFexpress reader, in the future I may get a TB to 10GBE adapter). SO EVERYTHING SEEMS SET UP AND CORRECT.

TLDR:
1: Update your BIOS to 2403
2: Install the Thunderbolt(TM) Software Installer.exe installer provided by Asus (on the disk supplied with the motherboard or the Thunderbolt driver package on the Asus website)
3: Launch the Thunderbolt Control Center from the Windows start menu.
4: Enjoy having working Thunderbolt ports on the B550-Creator

Anyone who actually has any Thunderbolt devices want to try this and see if the devices work?????? Please report back if you do!

 

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7 hours ago, inane.ink said:

Contrary to Dylanear I don't see anything Thunderbolt related in the Device Manager, using HWInfo, nor in the BIOS. I haven't tried contacting the support yet, but I think I may need to.
 


inane.ink, look towards the bottom of the long list of devices under "System Devices". If you assume it's going to show up at the top level in it's own category, you won't find it.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Having similar problems. I just built 2 identical systems with the Ryzen 9 5950 processors and MSI GeForce 2070 Ti.  I got this board specifically for the TB feature.  I have a 10Gbs Sabrent TB3 ethernet adapter and a Blackmagic UltraStudio Express TB2 to connect.  When I first started I was on the 0403 BIOS and could not install the TB setups after reading many posts saw to update the BIOS so I did to 2403 and I could indeed install the TB drivers and both devices were working fine! I can reboot and the devices continue to be seen and function.  

However as soon as I unplug one of them then that device stops being seen even on reboot. In device manager the TB Controller - 1137 is there and functioning as well as the HSA and Toast Component.  I uinstall the drivers from Device Manager and try to re-install and same problem, works once but upon unplugging, nothing.  I then updated to 2404 BIOS and again TB works once and remains stable as long as I don't unplug them.  Once I unplug either it's game over. I've tried all manner of uninstall/reinstalls, downgrading the BIOS, installing from the DVD, installing from Crate.  I even found one post with newer TB drivers (1.41.1094.0) and again everything will work once.  What am I missing?

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Hi, same but different problem here with this motherboard, tried to follow Dylanear steps to update my BIOS to 2403, everything was fine but in my BIOS, on Advanced/AMD PBS/ I don't have anything related to Thunderbolt, only Data Link Feature Exchange 😬 I tried to update to the latest version on Asus website (2407) but same thing, on AMD PBS, no sign og thunderbolt, even searching the word thunderbolt in the BIOS find nothing. And of course I don't have anything showing up in Device Manager. I don't know if these options were in this panel before updating to 2403, but now I don't have it anymore, and I don't know if I can rollback BIOS update to see, or something similar. I have an external T3 Hard Drive, but it don't detect it on the 2 ports, nothing works, no T3, no USB, and installing Thunderbolt Control Center fail at the end. Error 0x80070643

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Can a Clear CMOS maybe solve this T4 options not showing in BIOS AMD PBS ? 

 

Edit : NVM i just remembered that when using the PCIe_3 Slot, it sharing bandwhith with Thunderbolt 4, I think that's why it doesn't appear at all in my BIOS, I will try to remove the SSD in that slot to see if it change anything !

 

HWINFO.PNG

Edited by SkrazyM4nu
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  • 3 weeks later...

Same problem here, I see nothing in DeviceManager and my bios shows nothing under PBS

 

WIN_20210903_23_31_55_Pro.jpg

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Hey ! I manage to get it showing in bios. 

 

In my PCIEX16_3, I had an M.2 PCIe NVMe adapter in it. In the motherboard manual, everywhere it saying that PCIEX16_3 shares bandwidth with Thunderbolt 4, but it don't share anything, It disable the thing totally !

 

I removed the adapter from PCIEX16_3, and just like that, all settings where here in the BIOS AMD PBS sub menu.

I enable everything like explained above, the device was showing first time in device manager, installed Thunderbolt Control Center !

 

But with evertything installed, when I connect my Thunderbolt 3 LaCie d2 6tb, I have a BSOD 🤨 (SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION - NativeInstrumentsUsbAudioks.sys)

 

My external soundcard, a Komplete Audio in USB A just crash the all thing, not tried it without the sound card to see if the LaCie is showing up, but even when using the Type C port in USB is weird. When connecting my Iphone 12 Pro with the Lightning to USB C, it's detected, showing in Windows and Itunes, but 10 seconds later disappear and stop working.

 

I don't think the ports are faulty, I have an BlackMagic Speed Editor connected to USB C, and it's working perfectly, on both ports. So I don't really know if it has something to do with the power draw of the Devices connected to it, or just some weird interference with all the Devices i'm using in USB 🤔

 

I will try to connect the T3 Drive only, without anything plugged to the computer to see if it was a conflict with my USB sound card ??

 

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So, just tested, when I'm disconnecting the sound card, the T3 drive is showing up in TCC on both ports, but only detected on windows explorer on port 1, don't really know if it's a problem with the port itself or my drive, kinda old now and was always weird, don't really like LaCie and Thunderbold for that, turn on automatically when connected, and other $H!T like that 🙄

 

And after that I tried the USB 4.0 connectivity on those 2 type C ports, with my iPhone, now it's not showing at all on Windows and iTunes (sometimes before that was showing for a couples of seconds), but with some Android phones, works perfectly, pure USB C to USB C, no adapters to be sure. So I think it's an issue with Apple, iTunes and USB 4.0 / T4 🤨

 

For me now it's way better than last month, now I have the 2 ports working, at least in USB 4.0 mode, I don't think I will use T4 for external drives anymore, maybe sound cards and things like that. 

 

Hope that's can help, don't understand why they said "Sharing bandwith" but it's disabled completely 🤔

 

EDIT : while I'm writing, just saw this in ASUS website on the motherboard specs (Not really the same thing 🤡)

T42.PNG.b0d7bf1eeee5603611e0556df98661c8.PNG

t4.PNG

T43.PNG

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