help Microsoft Pluton fTPM disappeared from BIOS Randomly

[chaosmaou]

Upon a system restart the other day, I was greeted with the Microsoft Bitlocker recovery key screen. Turns out that the TPM I was using had gone missing entirely from the BIOS -- even though it is fully supported and was working fine before. I did no major system changes. I am not sure if I should suspect my motherboard or CPU as the issue here.

 

I was able to enter my recovery key to get back into my Win 11 Pro install -- but no TPM was detected by tpm.msc or Windows Security . Rebooting into BIOS I can enable either the AMD or Pluton fTPM, but now only the AMD fTPM actually works and will show up as properly enabled in the BIOS.

 

I have had no strange issues since October of 2023 when I made this new build. Haven't had any major issues, PC hasn't had any hardware or software changes in months before the issue. I double checked all BIOS settings and everything else still sets correctly.

 

I have tried:

 

• Resetting the bios to default
• Updating to the latest bios for my motherboard -- went from F11 to F22.
• Manually selecting the Pluton TPM in bios -- it allows me to select it, but the system will always show TPM as NONE under Trusted Computing.
• CMOS Reset

 

I have not yet tried:

• Removing CMOS battery: it's underneath a large heatsink on my motherboard I believe. CMOS reset was successful, so not sure what I could gain from this
• Reseating CPU: I am currently out of thermal paste and waiting on more to come in via amazon. Wondering if a mounting pressure issue is causing a possible issue with socket -- seems highly unlikely but possible.

 

TL;DL No matter what I do, I can no longer get Pluton to show up as the active TPM in my BIOS.

 

System Specs:

 

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
• Motherboard: GIGABYTE X670 Aorus Elite AX Revision v1.2 on latest F22 Bios
• Memory: 2x16GB DDR5 6000 from G.Skill (not sure which exact sticks, they are on my motherboard compatibility list though)
• GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ 7800 XT.
• Cooler: Arctic Freezer II 420MM AIO
• Case: Thermaltake Core P3
• PSU: Corsair RM750
• OS: Windows 11 Pro

[Robchil]

are you using bitlocker? 

what was wrong with internal tpm? 

 

[chaosmaou]

I am using bitlocker.

 

As for the internal TPM, it just disappeared on it's own, as if shut off from the BIOS, but I didn't make that change. That is what appears to have tripped up the bitlocker recovery process -- no TPM, no keys.

 

Since then, I simply cannot force enable the pluton TPM no matter what. It is an option in the BIOS but fails to enable.

[Robchil]

is this a home system?  or for work? 

 

if it's a domain pc, you should get the bitlocker key from active directory. 

if it's a home pc, log onto www.microsoft.com and under user you find your devices, you should find your bitlocker key too. 

 

i wouldn't use bitlocker unless there is sensitive data on the system. 

so far i've never had that so i've never used it as it makes your system slower, with constant encrypting.. 

 

[chaosmaou]

Ah, it's a home PC. I already have entered the bitlocker recovery key no issue as listed in the original post.

 

The issue I have is where did the original TPM go -- pluton is a bit more secure as it allows for easy firmware updates that are automated through windows update.

 

As for bitlocker having slowdowns -- not true at all on newer hardware. AES encryption and decryption on newer CPUs exceeds what PCI-E 4.0 NVMes can even do. I notice less than a 1% slowdown on my 980 Pro before and after encryption with XTS-AES 256.

[Robchil]

17 minutes ago, chaosmaou said:

Ah, it's a home PC. I already have entered the bitlocker recovery key no issue as listed in the original post.

 

The issue I have is where did the original TPM go -- pluton is a bit more secure as it allows for easy firmware updates that are automated through windows update.

 

As for bitlocker having slowdowns -- not true at all on newer hardware. AES encryption and decryption on newer CPUs exceeds what PCI-E 4.0 NVMes can even do. I notice less than a 1% slowdown on my 980 Pro before and after encryption with XTS-AES 256.

that might be true for you.. altho i only tested it on a sata ssd drive back in the days and wrote it off as something i don't need to worry about

 

my board have tpm 2.0.. and set to descrete .. but that's just to get win11 installed.. 

 

..  back to you.. i think i would disable bitlocker on the drives until you have it solved, and start with reinstalling latest bios. it has happend that they corrupt. or try out other bios versions between F11 and F22..