ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE BIOS Update Failure

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1

Hi everyone,

I have a new build:

  • AMD 7970x Threadripper
  • ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE WIFI
  • 128GB 6400Mhz G-Skill ECC RAM
  • 2 x ASUS 4090s.
  • 2 x Corsair AX1600i PSUs

I am trying to update the BIOS using the ASUS EZFLash utility from 0402 to 0701.

When I start the update, at 0% the system immediately shuts down and nothing else happens. If I power cycle the PSUs then the system boots up again with the original 0402 BIOS.

I know that using the BIOS flashback is an option, but I am concerned about trying to force a BIOS update that way if it is not working with the EZFlash utility.

This system is doing some mission critical work at the moment and I can’t afford to brick the motherboard.

Has anyone else had any issues updating the BIOS on this motherboard?
Cheers!

2

My ASRock TRX50 MB does the same thing when flashing the BIOS. The reboot is just part of the process. I freaked out the first time it did too but be patient and let the flash program run it’s course.

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3

Ah, thanks for the tip.

Does the screen stay black through the whole process?
The first time it happened I left it for an hour and nothing happened.

ASUS Support have suggested clearing the CMOS so I’ll try that and give it another shot and see how it goes.

4

With my particular motherboard it was a fairly brief event but the monitor did stay blank for 10-30 seconds before booting back into bios and starting the upgrade. And clearing the CMOS is a another good suggestion.

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Thanks. I’ll try this and let you know how it goes…!

6

OK so that was one wild ride just for a BIOS update.

I tried clearing the CMOS but that did nothing to rectify the situation.

To be sure it wasn’t some extra hardware causing the behavior I took out the second 4090, and Firewire add-in card I had installed in the PCI-E slots.

I then tried the BIOS update again but I did it from an internal NVME drive instead of a USB.

The BIOS started to update after a restart. Then it restarted again at 77%. Another screen came up saying the BIOS was updating and I thought everything was fine, but then after it restarted it was stuck on code 00.

After about 45 minutes I figured this was too long for a BIOS update so I power cycled both PSUs and it then booted fine.

I set the EXPO profiles and now everything seems to be working on the latest BIOS.

I’m not sure whether using the different drive or removing the extra hardware was the fix for this situation but hopefully I don’t have any more issues moving forward.

Thanks for the tip!

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7

Glad you got it sorted out. I’m not sure what it is about the TRX50 chipset firmware that causes this behavior but updating the firmware is strange in contrast to other AMD chipsets I have used in the past.

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Yeah this had to have been the strangest update I’ve done. Normally you just see a bar go from 0 to 100% and then restart. :man_shrugging: