Fatal1ty 990FX Professional - Bad BIOS Flash

Hello there,

MrWavel wrote: Hello there, I'm an owner ( or was, depending of what's happened to the board and how do i recover it) of a Asrock Fatal1ty 990fx professional motherboard. Having a compatibility problem with my corsair memory, i tried to update my BIOS via Windows. Well, my system crashed in the process and now my motherboard bricked. There's a special way to recover my BIOS via USB like many other motherboards in the market ? Or i will have to rewrite my eeprom  ( a winbond 25q32) with the lastest BIOS file ?

Why oh why do they still offer the Windows BIOS update method! The method some people feel the most safe with, is the method most prone to failure. Quite ironic.

You can attempt a recovery, by putting the Instant Flash BIOS update file, unzipped and copied to a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive, into a USB 2.0 port on the board's IO panel. MUST be a USB 2.0 port on the IO panel. I cannot guarantee this will work. It depends upon how badly bricked the BIOS is.

No other special procedure is involved. A failed flash can be detected, and a USB flash drive with a BIOS file is searched for in a USB 2.0 port on the IO panel. That is used to start over. If the power went out during this procedure, for example, when power is restored to the PC, the same procedure is automatically started again.

Start the PC with the flash drive configured as above, turn on the monitor, sit back and cross your fingers. It might take a while, within ten minutes certainly, and if you get activity on the monitor, or your USB flash drive has a LED activity indicator that flashes, there is hope.

Do NOT feel the need to remove the USB flash drive, leave it there, it hurts nothing. If the PC suddenly shuts off, leave it alone, it will turn on again shortly if all is well. If you make it to the BIOS, you are good. Save and Exit before removing the USB flash drive.

Arright, thanks for the fast info. Here's some thoughts about this problem:

When i power up the system, the motherboard does  14 beeps (fast beeps) and while does that Dr.Debug keep telling me about Error "F8".

After the 14 beeps, Dr.Debug changes the info for a "10" error.

For a BIOS that was f**** up in the update, how can it give that error ?

parsec wrote: "... You can attempt a recovery, by putting the Instant Flash BIOS update file, unzipped and copied to a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive, into a USB 2.0 port on the board's IO panel. MUST be a USB 2.0 port on the IO panel. I cannot guarantee this will work. It depends upon how badly bricked the BIOS is...

I'll try your method now,  can i do that in any USB 2.0 port in the IO panel right ? There's no logical sequence in it ?

Aaaaaand... there's a chance to recover the motherboard via AMIBIOS recovery  ( wow that's old )?

Thanks.

ps: I already have purchased a EEPROM WRITER, until then, i will keep "playing" with the motherboard for the mere sake of fun, if it can be said so

MrWavel wrote: Arright, thanks for the fast info. Here's some thoughts about this problem: When i power up the system, the motherboard does  14 beeps (fast beeps) and while does that Dr.Debug keep telling me about Error "F8". After the 14 beeps, Dr.Debug changes the info for a "10" error. For a BIOS that was f**** up in the update, how can it give that error ? parsec wrote: "... You can attempt a recovery, by putting the Instant Flash BIOS update file, unzipped and copied to a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive, into a USB 2.0 port on the board's IO panel. MUST be a USB 2.0 port on the IO panel. I cannot guarantee this will work. It depends upon how badly bricked the BIOS is... I'll try your method now,  can i do that in any USB 2.0 port in the IO panel right ? There's no logical sequence in it ? Aaaaaand... there's a chance to recover the motherboard via AMIBIOS recovery  ( wow that's old )? Thanks. ps: I already have purchased a EEPROM WRITER, until then, i will keep "playing" with the motherboard for the mere sake of fun, if it can be said so

The F8 and 10 POST codes are symptoms of a corrupted UEFI/BIOS, as the 14 fast beep codes are as well.

F8 is the code for, "RECOVERY PPI NOT FND", FND meaning Found.

The 10 code seems to be a Checkpoint code, which is, "CPU MICRO NOT FOUND". "CPU MICRO" refers to the CPU microcode, which is essential for a processor to operate, and is a part of the UEFI/BIOS file/image. Not finding the CPU microcode is evidence of a corrupted UEFI/BIOS.

Regarding how a BIOS can "... give that error", it's not the BIOS producing those codes, it is the POST process.

POST, Power On Self Test, is a set of tests run on the hardware in a mother board, and the hardware connected to the board. The UEFI/BIOS chip is one of those pieces of hardware.

The Dr Debug display simply shows the POST codes of each test as they are executed. If a POST test procedure fails, the code of that test procedure is displayed, as a clue to what the problem is, and the POST process stops. POST codes are not error codes, they simply identify which POST test failed.

The UEFI/BIOS GUI is not available until POST completes successfully.

As I said previously, you could attempt to fix your failed UEFI flash, but obviously it was so bad that the standard recovery procedure could not start, or complete.

See this thread: