I managed to screw up the bios

[Grogan]

Jeeze... I took off those overclocking genie/xmp profile settings and configured things manually, the same way hoping to be able to change some of those locked auto settings (like the short and long power limits) but it still doesn't let you change those directly. There's the CPU cooler power setting, then there's a "Lite Load" setting that will lower voltages. I tried some of those and wasn't happy with the result so I put everything back to the same settings.

I found I couldn't compile. I tweaked some settings and set up for a new Proton-TKG build and it failed with an internal compiler error (segfault while compiling with mingw). At first I thought it was new commits to the valve tree, so I did a test build of my system wine-tkg from a tarball (exact same sources I built a few hours ago). Same, compiler segfaulting. Retries had it segfaulting in different places.

So I went to the bios and restored the auto genie and XMP settings, that was working great before. The problem remained, even though everything was back on auto.

I had to reload defaults and then set everything back again and that fixed it.

Bloody Hell, these complex bios programs are good for trouble.

[Zema Bus]

I have one older uefi board that had an issue I had hoped to fix with the latest bios, but instead it ended up with more problems, one of which was not being able to access the bios anymore.

[Grogan]

You said those words, bios update. Right before I came to read this, I was going to go look for a bios update (I don't wanna!).

The bios date is 2021, but maybe I'd be better off leaving it alone. Last night (well, until 8 in the morning) really took the wind out of my sails, with unseen, incorrect bits stored in the settings.

The language can be weird too, ambiguous to understand. For example, as soon as I enable "CPU" (the OC Genie) and "XMP Profile" on the next boot it warns me that I'm using the genie and changing bios settings is not recommended. It also indicates that it's not recommended to use the clear jumper when using the OC Genie. WHAT? That doesn't make any sense, it should restore the board back to defaults without those aggressive genies enabled. Some settings won't clear just by removing the battery either, some of it is stored in NVRAM. The thing about NVRAM is that it's easy to corrupt settings. If bits get written in the wrong order it can affect how they are interpreted. That's why stupid routers need resetting a lot of the time.

[Grogan]

Another thing about bios updates nowadays is that you might get unwanted microcode updates that cripple features and behaviour of your CPU. You can't just stop loading that microcode either, like you could with a blob.

[Grogan]

Back to what I said about the language, MSI are really awful. On their web site, bios updates they make it look like there are two different types of firmware update.

- ME Firmware ver: ME_16.1.30.2330 (download)
- ME Firmware (update SOP)

Both are zip files, but the SOP is just the instructions in a zip file. SOP... like I'm supposed to deduce that it means "standard operating procedure" (I think) instead of some tech acronym or buzzwords abbreviation.

I'm still not sure if I'm going to do it or not, there's one as recent as Jan. 25, 2024. Tempting... put it on a FAT32 stick (also supports NTFS but not exfat) go into the bios and browse for it. Then cry out in anger and horror after what it does to you.

[Grogan]

Well, I officially hate this board.

I copied the bios file to the root of a FAT32 USB stick, but it shows only directories (it has to be its folder). So I had to go back to the OS to put it on the disk again. Just ENTERING and exiting flash mode (doing nothing) loses ALL settings, back to defaults again. It wouldn't even boot (UEFI only vs. CSM enabled).

[Grogan]

Damn, the reason my bios update didn't show up is that you can't update the bios with that M-Flash utility anymore (my guess would be it's too large now), the instructions on the web site are bogus. I wondered why there were firmware flashing .exe's in there along with a .bin file.

The "SOP" (a little text file in a fugly named .zip file) says:

1.Unzip file.
2.Execute MSI ME FW Tool.exe in windows and then it will automatically complete the entire ME FW update.

That's the entire contents of ME-FW-update-SOP-E.zip

Umm, that's unacceptable to put it mildly. What, I'm supposed to install Windows just so I can update firmware?

So I fucked up all my settings for nothing, after just getting them stabilized again last night because of their buggy bios fuckery.

[Grogan]

The bios download was simply the wrong format for the M-Flash method. The "Download" button way off to the right was a different link, and the one I'd want to use. Clear as mud, MSI, sometimes.

I thought it might be too large now, because my last Gigabyte board was like that. It could no longer be flashed using the bios utility and had to be done with software once the flash images got too large. (they added EFI CDROM boot support lol)

[Grogan]

So the new bios, when it comes up with defaults for the first time, presents a big dialog to choose the cooler type, seeing as that's such an important setting that governs power limits. That was foolish the way it was before.

Also, in the new bios, Secure Boot is on by default (I checked and didn't run afoul of it lol... that would have pissed me off)

Apart from that, I don't know much yet (haven't observed behaviour), it's just been sitting here idling. My nephew is here now and we're watching shows and stuff.

[Zema Bus]

I was going to say, the other MSI boards I have didn't make me install Windows to flash the bios A few years ago the other boards i have started changing the default setting of Secure Boot to enabled when flashing to a newer bios. I think that was at the urging of Microsoft.

I wonder if I have a more recent bios than the one yours came with, mine had a big cooler type dialog.

[Grogan]

My bios was dated Jan. 2021 (older than the first bios on their web site). My guess would be that was written before the boards were even sold

But no, I wasn't prompted for anything, it opened to EZ Mode with very conservative clock settings (the intel defaults... 3.2 GHz base frequency with 2133 MHz RAM) but that cooler setting was 4096W/Liquid Cooler by default... every time defaults were reloaded. Even without the Genie and XMP Profile enabled.

[Zema Bus]

I checked mine last night, it's dated January 2023.