ASRock TPM 2.0 Module on ASRock H81M-HDS and Secur

Hi stormryder, I was following the topic "TPM 2.0 and Windows 11 (Intel) Support" but it seems someone hid or deleted it. I was going to better answer your motherboard and understanding of the conversation with what Xaltar and BlahBG were saying and what you said in that conversation. I will answer you in more detail here about your motherboard, what you understood with a bit of misunderstanding about TPM1.2 and TPM2.0 and some of Xaltar's claims that can also have confusing interpretations. Also, what you confuse about fTPM(PTT) and dTPM, in reality one is independent of the other, and a motherboard not having fTPM support does not mean that it does not support TPM or update to TPM 2.0.

I hope you have notifications enabled in this topic to receive the notification email.

I hope the guy with the z170 received the email with my message saying that his has TPM 2.0, since that thread is offline/hidden now.

First of all, I'll say upfront that I found several motherboards with beta BIOS made in 2018, well before Windows 11 existed, including yours with version 2.30A available on its website. Since there are no notes about the inclusion of TPM 2.0 in the description of your motherboard's beta BIOS on the website, it may not work or may only support a specific chip like the Nuvoton 650 from that time and not an Infineon 9665. But the TPM 2.0 files are present within that beta BIOS that is on the website.

In that thread, the user pcguy417 posted months before you that he had the same motherboard and was having problems enabling TPM 2.0, but it's not clear which chip he used and if he followed the correct order for installing TPM 2.0. He tried the beta and other older versions but had no chance of recognizing it because the TPM 2.0 codes are only in the beta BIOS.

pcguy417 wrote:

Posted: 23 Jun 2024 at 6:37pm
I am having TPM 2.0 module issues like most in this thread. Mine is on an H81M-HDS version 1.05 with bios 2.30 currently. Can anyone shed some light on this here or in my thread - https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=44801&PID;=127550?��

For motherboards of your generation, I've already found ASRock BIOSes with TPM 2.0 support and beta BIOS available on the motherboard's own website:
H81M-HDS - BIOS 2.30A - https://www.asrock.com/MB/Intel/H81M-HDS/index.br.asp#BIOS
Z97 Extreme4 - BIOS 2.60A - https://www.asrock.com/MB/Intel/Z97%20Extreme4/index.asp#BIOS
Z97 Pro4 - BIOS 2.61 - https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z97%20Pro4/index.asp#BIOS
SABERTOOTH Z87 - BIOS 2302 - https://www.asus.com/br/supportonly/sabertooth_z87/helpdesk_bios/

Motherboards with beta BIOS supporting TPM 2.0, shipped to users by ASRock and others reposted on the forum:
Z97 Extreme6 - BIOS 2.80A - https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9091&PN=1&title=asrock-z97-extreme6-and-tpm2s-module
Z97 Killer - BIOS 2.60A https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9019&PN=1&title=fatal1ty-z97-killer-tpm

In this thread, it appears that user Qant2m managed to get support to send him the BIOS for his B85M Pro4 with TPM 2.0 support. He didn't provide a driver link but will send it to anyone who requests it via private email message.
https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=19375&KW=tpm&PN=3&title=bios-does-not-support-tpm-2-0

In this thread, user Wingklip managed to obtain the F9d beta BIOS version with TPM 2.0 support for his Z97X-UD5H-BK motherboard. He shared the BIOS in the thread. Also in this thread, user Silpion obtained the F8e beta BIOS version with TPM 2.0 support for his H97M-D3H motherboard and shared it in the thread. User Tris also received a beta BIOS with TPM 2.0 support for his B75M-D3H motherboard and shared it in the thread in April.
https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/discussion-tpm-2-0-on-unsupported-motherboards/91560/11

In that conversation, you initially posted in this thread:
https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=19151&PID=186869&title=tpm-2-0-support-and-windows-11-intel#186869

stormryder wrote:

Posted: 24 Mar 2025 at 2:20pm
As Win10 support is ending this year, I was looking to update my PC to Win 11 and came across this thread. While the intent of this sticky is good, unfortunately I find the OP to be quite inadequate. I immediately had follow-up questions, such as, what is the exact meaning of "it does not support TPM 2.0?"--does that mean natively, out of the box, the board does not have that capability built in? But what about all those TPM modules all over eBay? Are you saying that such a board will NEVER support TPM 2.0 even with such a module?
...
However, if my understanding is correct, TPM 1.2 and 2.0 are not compatible, and it's a hardware thing. So, I believe that means that a BIOS update can't make a board designed for 1.2 compatible with 2.0 even though the pin layout may be the same. In any case, if your board is listed in the 1.2 section in the above link, there's no point buying a TPM 2.0 module for it as it will not work!
...
I found a TPM 1.2 module for my H81M-HDS,
...

In your understanding, you're mixing things up: 1.2 and 2.0 not being compatible due to hardware issues, and 1.2 and 2.0 not being physically compatible due to "hardware" that should be on the motherboard.

Your first statement is correct, but your understanding of it not allowing connection and functioning on your board is incorrect.

We must define three basic things to separate the physical hardware.

1- The TPM connector chip hardware has a female LPC (TPM1S) and firmware on the chip itself, an internal program that dictates how to use that chip and what instructions it can process due to its internal silicon structure, or whatever it's made of. Or simply because a newer firmware with TPM 2.0 has never been made for a particular chip. In other words, the TPM chip has code that dictates what it can "compute".

2- The motherboard hardware has a male LPC (TPM1S) connector and another firmware in the BIOS to read the TPM chip on that connector. That is, another code to communicate with the code of the TPM chip that is connected to the LPC port.

3- There is no physical "hardware" on the motherboard to specifically support TPM 1.2 or TPM 2.0. What exists are motherboards like notebook motherboards that may already come with a soldered TPM chip. *The Wikipedia images you mention in another answer you gave to BlahBG are of the TPM chip, but they are not usually soldered onto the motherboard, but rather onto an additional PCB board with an LPC connector.

With these definitions, we arrive at 2 conclusions:
1- TPM chip hardware with firmware 1.2 may or may not be compatible with firmware 2.0, because the internal structure may not "compute" the latest instructions.
However, some TPM chip hardware with firmware 2.0 may be compatible with firmware 1.2, such as the Nuvoton 6xx series, which was made during the 1.2 era and has firmware from that time. This is because the TPM can be backward compatible in these cases; the new physical hardware can compute both the new 2.0 instructions and the old 1.2 instructions. So some chips with this TPM2.0 support even have 1.2 firmware from their initial versions, which users downgraded from 2.0 to 1.2, so the chip would work on these older motherboards that only have firmware to recognize 1.2. These TPM chips connected to the LPC are independent of the processor, as everything is done through communication between the chip's TPM firmware and the motherboard's TPM firmware, which must be in compatible versions. In the last case, there are TPM chips that do not have firmware 1.2, as they were developed with 2.0 initially, such as the Nuvoton 7xx.
In conclusion, a TPM 1.2 chip does not compute TPM 2.0. This is what is correct in your statement; hardware 1.2 does not support hardware 2.0 if a firmware 2.0 has not been made for it. But a TPM 2.0 chip can compute TPM 1.2 as well, in addition to being compatible with the LPC connector of older boards. However, the way you point it out, it seems that there is no backward compatibility of the motherboard hardware with TPM 2.0, when in fact the chip's hardware that was not made in version 2.0 is the limiting factor in this case. The motherboard itself limits the TPM version only because the TPM firmware inside it has a BIOS version that was made to read the TPM version on the chip. It doesn't physically limit it because the LPC connector is the same. This only makes it necessary to buy new hardware with a TPM 2.0 LPC chip.

There are some cases of successful TPM chip firmware downgrades. I have the impression I've read about it here on the forum, but it might be in a more recent section that I couldn't find after that topic was hidden, or it might be in another topic I read somewhere. I was even formulating a reply for the guy if I ever find the topic.

The user karakarga received a 1.2 module with firmware 2.0 and managed to reinstall the old 1.2 firmware to run on his 3rd and 4th generation Intel X79.
https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/request-latest-firmware-for-asus-tpm-m-r2-0-module-13-pin/99877/4
The user TKMaker also managed to downgrade.
https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/request-asus-x79-deluxe-with-cpu-ratio-and-tpm-adjust-problems/37605

2- Older motherboard hardware like these was manufactured during a time when TPM 1.2 was more widespread and TPM 2.0 was in its early stages, where their BIOS firmware only had codes to recognize TPM chips with firmware 1.2. For these boards to recognize chips with TPM 2.0 firmware, the motherboard needs to have the TPM 2.0 code in its firmware to recognize the TPM chip connected to the LPC with the same firmware version, TPM 2.0. The LPC pin connections on ASRock boards are the same on these boards or on newer ones like the z370, but nothing prevents the motherboard from not running TPM 2.0 if the BIOS is updated with TPM 2.0 firmware. As long as both are on the same version, they will know the instructions the chip has and "computes," and they can "communicate" normally between the motherboard's BIOS hardware and the TPM chip hardware. When PPT or fTPM is used, it's on the processor; when dTPM is used on the LPC connector (TPM1S), it's the motherboard firmware that activates and connects to the chip, and this is independent of whether your processor supports TPM or not. The motherboard alone recognizes and delivers the TPM to Windows.

In conclusion, with a new TPM 2.0 chip connected to the motherboard's LPC connector, even if it's an old motherboard, if the BIOS has the firmware coded for TPM 2.0, it will recognize the TPM 2.0 correctly. This is the mistaken deduction in your conclusion, and in your conversation with BlahBG, that there is a hardware limitation that prevents the motherboard from recognizing the chip, when there is no such hardware limitation, only a firmware limitation.

The ASRock 17-Pin LPC TPM1S connectors have the same pinout, and if the board has the correct firmware for TPM 2.0, it communicates normally with the TPM 2.0 and works. It's the same connector up to the 300 series, for example, the 8th generation Intel processors, and the oldest one initially supported by Windows 11. Even though 8th generation processors largely come with support for the virtual TPM 'Intel PPT' to enable TPM 2.0 even without the chip physically installed in the LPC connector, a Z370 Extreme4, for example, also supports installing a physical TPM 2.0 chip in the LPC connector and enabling it on the Trusted Platform page in the BIOS. *It's funny that theoretically it's possible to enable the two different TPMs on this board.

Some of my references on this:
H81M-HDS Manual, page 24, TPM Header (17-pin TPMS1):
https://download.asrock.com/Manual/H81M-HDS.pdf
Z97 Extreme4 Manual, page 25, TPM Header (17-pin TPMS1)*This was incorrectly named 'Serial Port Header' in the manual on the page, but the beginning is correct:
https://download.asrock.com/Manual/Z97%20Extreme4.pdf
Z370 Extreme4 Manual, page 25, TPM Header (17-pin TPMS1):
https://download.asrock.com/Manual/Z370%20Extreme4.pdf
8th and 9th Generation Intel Datasheet, page 11, S/H-Processor Line Platforms:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/content-details/337344/8th-and-9th-generation-intel-core-processor-families-and-intel-xeon-e-processor-families-datasheet-volume-1-of-2.html
FAQ ASRock PTT, Question 500, TPM2.0 module is required in Windows 11 specification, does it need TPM2.0 hardware module?:
https://www.asrock.com/support/faq.asp?id=500
ASRock TPM-S Module:
https://www.asrock.com/mb/spec/card.asp?Model=TPM-S+Module
TCG Trusted Computinggroup, TPM 2.0 Library:
https://trustedcomputinggroup.org/resource/tpm-library-specification/
Nuvoton NPCT42x Datasheet:
https://media.digikey.com/pdf/data%20sheets/nuvoton%20pdfs/npct42x_preliminary_rev1.1.pdf
Nuvoton NPCT650 Datasheet:
https://www.datasheetcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Nuvoton-NPCT650.pdf
Nuvoton Product Selection Guide 2019, page 74, Trusted Platform Module (TPM):
https://cdn.promelec.ru/upload/items/2021/12/13/nuvotonpsg.pdf
Nuvoton Product Selection Guide 2026, page 128, Trusted Platform Module (TPM):
https://www.nuvoton.com/export/sites/nuvoton/files/product-related-information/NuvotonPSG.pdf
Intel, What is the Trusted Platform Model (TPM) and how does it relate to Intel® Platform Trust Technology (Intel® PTT)?
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000094205/processors/intel-core-processors.html
Intel, What is a Trusted Platform Module (TPM)?:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/learn/what-is-a-trusted-platform-module.html

Now, going back to your specific motherboard. It DOES support TPM 2.0 firmware in a BIOS 2.30A [beta] made by ASRock in 2018 and available on their website to this day. The page doesn't describe the BIOS, but I downloaded it, opened it, and confirmed that the files are there.
I believe that by following these steps you can get TPM 2.0 working normally on the motherboard:
*Remember that TPM 2.0 may require Windows in EFI and GPT, so if it doesn't boot and only repairs Windows, you may have to do a clean install of Windows with TPM 2.0 enabled.
*Correct order of execution for TPM 2.0 to work well: place the TPM 2.0 chip on the motherboard and update with the beta BIOS with TPM
1- install a TPM 2.0 chip;
2- install Versano 2.30A;
3- disable CSM;
4- Enable Secure Boot
5- Enable TPM in the Trusted Computing option of the BIOS.
https://www.asrock.com/MB/Intel/H81M-HDS/index.br.asp#BIOS

In that conversation here on the forum, I found a more interesting one about TPM 2.0 for a Z97 Pro4, which also has TPM 2.0 BIOS on the ASRock website, which might be useful for people with older motherboards, so I added the note about the execution order above. In it, he links to the topic, and in the topic he explains that he is having slowdown problems after installing the TPM 2.0 chip in the connector. He installed the beta BIOS with TPM 2.0 support available for his motherboard, installed the TPM 2.0 chip in the LPC (TPM1S) connector of the motherboard, and enabled TPM in the BIOS.

777N wrote:

Posted: 09 Aug 2024 at 10:34pm
I'm having problems as well with Z97 Pro4.
More info on my thread: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=54897&title;=z97-pro4-long-boot-time-with-tpm-2-0

Within this thread, user cheesechompers3d replied that they had the same problem, and that trying to install the chip on the motherboard first and then flash the BIOS is a good solution.

cheesechompers3d wrote:

Posted: 04 May 2025 at 4:54pm
I had a similar issue with long boot times after enabling TPM 2.0 on my motherboard. One thing to try is re-flashing the BIOS with the TPM module installed, as sometimes the BIOS might need to reinitialize with the TPM enabled. Also, check your 'Boot' settings in the BIOS, particularly around 'Secure Boot' and 'Fast Boot' options, which can sometimes conflict with TPM. As for 'Trusted Computing,' you may need to toggle some of those options for better compatibility.

And user dr_ge replied saying that it worked for him, TPM 2.0 starts up faster.

dr_ge wrote:

Posted: 13 Sep 2025 at 1:47pm
...
Reflashing the v2.61 BIOS with the TPM module installed worked (I used the instant flash), and I am no longer experiencing the five-minute-long halt during a system restart! Thank you for figuring out this solution, as that five-minute-long halt was a major pain!

Lastly, just one funny thing about Xaltar before they leave the topic hidden: he answers correctly, but makes an incomplete and confusing analogy about USB versions, and those do have hardware differences between the 2.0 and 3.0 pinouts. His confusion is about fTPM, dTPM, and a "hardware" that you thought existed for the motherboard that wouldn't support TPM 2.0, but that hardware doesn't exist in the way you describe.
The funny thing is that he uses an analogy of hardware that has differences to explain his point, but in a poorly explained way that makes it seem like he's the one who made a nonsensical comparison of different hardware. lol

Xaltar wrote:

Posted: 11 Jun 2026 at 20:38pm
...
To use your analogy, it's like adding a USB 3.0 PCIe adapter to your USB 2.0
only motherboard.
...