Updating the BIOS

[1ntegerByt3s]

Hello, I hope y'all are having a nice day! 

 

I know I have just ended a thread, but I didn't want to ask the question in the wrong place. After my new graphics card, I found the RTX 3060 to be overkill and I was aware my Ryzen 5 2600 stock was going to bottleneck it to some extent. Therefore, I figured it would be the right time to update my BIOS, because I actually bought a Ryzen 7 3700X a while before I bought a new GPU. Last time I tried to boot the machine after installing the new CPU, it wouldn't post to the BIOS splash screen and a red CPU LED popped up. I assume my BIOS was only compatible with the 2nd-gen Ryzen's out of the box.

https://pangoly.com/en/compatibility/msi-b450-tomahawk/cpu
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/cpu/?compatible_with=Hy97YJ

From the looks of it, my motherboard theoretically should support my CPU (I just checked the websites one more time and I did not see the 5th Ryzen's pop up there, wtf...). Last time I checked my BIOS, my BIOS version was E7C02AMS.120. The problem is that BIOS isn't to be found in MSI's website, so if I happen to brick my motherboard for some reason, I can't flash back to the BIOS I was before. Now, I never updated a BIOS before, so this is why I find this to be a very sensitive topic for me, so I'd appreciate if someone could give me a hand. Thank you.

[JogerJ]

 

Quote

7C02v12

I think this might be your bios version, just check if the release date matches. You need 7C02v18 or above for Ryzen 3000. Afaik Ryzen 5000 isn't supported on this board.

The beta bios also might have better compatibility for Windows 11 if you opt for it

Edited May 9, 2022 by JogerJ

[1ntegerByt3s]

1 hour ago, JogerJ said:

 

I think this might be your bios version, just check if the release date matches. You need 7C02v18 or above for Ryzen 3000. Afaik Ryzen 5000 isn't supported on this board.

The beta bios also might have better compatibility for Windows 11 if you opt for it

How did you find that version? For the non-MAX variant, right? Also, I am running on Windows 11.

[JogerJ]

17 minutes ago, 1ntegerByt3s said:

How did you find that version? For the non-MAX variant, right? Also, I am running on Windows 11.

I just matched the numbers, also since you mentioned ryzen 3000 wasn't supported then. Check release date to be sure. Windows 11 has some issues with ryzen that's supposedly fixed with latest bios version.

[1ntegerByt3s]

15 minutes ago, JogerJ said:

I just matched the numbers, also since you mentioned ryzen 3000 wasn't supported then. Check release date to be sure. Windows 11 has some issues with ryzen that's supposedly fixed with latest bios version.

I found that the build date was 9/21/18, but I don't think that's the release date.

[JogerJ]

16 minutes ago, 1ntegerByt3s said:

I found that the build date was 9/21/18, but I don't think that's the release date.

7C02v12 was released a couple days later, and some of the numbers match. Close enough.

 

If you want to confirm if it's the exact BIOS version, you can try download 7C02v12 and load it in the flash utility but don't flash it. The flash utility will compare and show the build number of the loaded BIOS in the prompt and it probably will report they're the same version.

[1ntegerByt3s]

After several days of finding some free time, I have finally installed the BIOS drivers and load it in the flash. This is the results.

 

@JogerJCan you confirm these files are correct?

[JogerJ]

6 minutes ago, 1ntegerByt3s said:

After several days of finding some free time, I have finally installed the BIOS drivers and load it in the flash. This is the results.

 

@JogerJCan you confirm these files are correct?

looks good to me. first pic is same bios as you have installed, version matches. second pic is v18, quite an old one but worth trying. you can flash even newer bios like v1E later. I looked at the beta bios, seems like it's still older AGESA version which means it'll still have stuttering issue with fTPM on windows 11 (supposed fix comes in version 1207 and above?)

[1ntegerByt3s]

On 5/18/2022 at 1:10 PM, JogerJ said:

looks good to me. first pic is same bios as you have installed, version matches. second pic is v18, quite an old one but worth trying. you can flash even newer bios like v1E later. I looked at the beta bios, seems like it's still older AGESA version which means it'll still have stuttering issue with fTPM on windows 11 (supposed fix comes in version 1207 and above?)

Okay! Looks like I got it working. It rebooted to Windows 11 fine. I was met with a white long dash on a black screen before it made it to the BIOS logo, but it booted fine. However, it appears I now have the first version of MSI Click Bios? Also, I checked my settings and Secure Boot/TPM were off, yet it booted Windows 11 fine. I went to the OS and saw "compatible TPM module not found" and the BIOS boot mode was set to CSM, but I'm assuming it automatically boots in UEFI. What the heck is going on?!

[1ntegerByt3s]

Fortunately, all that matters is that we got the BIOS updated with roughly no issues, and today, I was able to install my new Ryzen 7 3700X onto my motherboard, booted it up, adjusted my BIOS settings, and works like a champ after playing some games for a bit. Thank you again, @JogerJ