Radeon RX 7000 BIOS update procedure

Hello all.

It has been brought to my attention that some people have experienced bad flashes
while updating to the latest security fix vBIOS for RX 7000 series cards.

The issue has been pinned down to a driver problem that causes flashes to fail in
some cases.

During the vBIOS update process, the procedure provided by ASRock requires all
graphics drivers to be completely removed beforehand. If the drivers are not
fully uninstalled, the vBIOS update may fail and potentially result in vBIOS
corruption.

If you have experienced a bad flash and your card is preventing your system from
POSTing then ASRock advise that you contact them using their support form.

https://tw.asrock.com/events/tsd.asp

I hope this helps.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. There is almost nothing that would make me flash
my vBIOS, mostly because I know it is far less refined of a process vs a regular
motherboard BIOS flash.

I always flash vBIOS updates using Windows Safe Mode. That completely cuts out
the chance that any drivers or other software will interfere.

Unfortunately, quite often the OS will try to install drivers even when you uninstalled
them. You can get around this using Display Driver Uninstaller (Search for DDU) and
set it to not automatically install drivers but given you have to enter safe mode
to properly use it anyway, may as well flash the vBIOS in safe mode.

I just snooped around a bit and found the SOP for the 2023 Vbios update instructions - It specifically mention the bios flashing software not allowing the flash to run if it finds drivers on the system - really makes you wonder how this check was removed if the procedure is that fragile https://download.asrock.com/Manual/QIG/Update%20vBIOS%20SOP.pdf

It does help actually seeing your seniority on this forum - thank you. I would also expect it to be a formality, but the silence still is uncomfortable.

I haven't had issues with Asrock hardware before, and I don't know their customer support to be flagged as poor in general, but some pc component manufacturers for sure has a tendency to silence problems away if at all possible.

Seeing people already beginning to resolve this themselves by buying flashing equipment, sharing roms, getting help from professionals etc., thereby voiding the warranty, speaks a little into this lack of confidence in general for me sadly.

A lot of this could be halted by a quick "we're on it" message from Asrock even if they don't have the actual procedure set up yet (which is understandable)