MSI X570 Tomahawk WiFi Bios Flash button, how to tell if it's worked?

diziet

diziet

diziet

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Does anybody know what it means if the bios flash button only causes the LED to blink for a handful of seconds?

I'm struggling to determine whether i've already updated the BIOS and didn't notice it working the first time or whether something has gone wrong.

Also is the only way to check to install a CPU and GPU so I can view a post screen to check the bios version? Which could be difficult as my only CPU is one of the new Ryzens.

I've downloaded this one from the MSI website:

Version
7C84v14
Release Date
2020-11-04

Renamed it to MSI.ROM on the root of a FAT32 formatted USB drive but I never noticed the LED light near the USB port flashing for any extended length of time so think something may have gone awry.
 
If you are unsure, just try it again. There are a few good guides for this on Youtube.
Clear CMOS (may not be needed on a new board), plug your USB drive into the correct BIOS update USB port, press button. led starts flashing and you wait for the system to restart.
I think mine took about 4 minutes.
 
Oh I've tried some 15 or 20 times already. I'll find more USB drives and keep trying. Stupid question, if I provide a BIOS file that's the same version as the one already installed will it flash it again or abort?
 
LOL.

- USB Corsair Stealth formatted on a mac. No.
- Same drive setup on windows. No.
- SanDisk USB drive, mac or windows. No.
- Cheap USB stick found in a draw from some promotional people. YEP!

Seems the motherboard is really picky about what's acceptable. Maybe USB 3 pen drives, and drives over 4GB aren't recognised or something weird.
 
Last edited:
Comment taken from the above video.

make sure you have your file extensions turned on windows otherwise you're going to end up with MSI.ROM.101
Click to expand...

Easy thing to forget to do and may explain why the light only flashed a couple of times.
 
Aye, fairly sure I had the others formatted and setup correctly. Good advice for anyone that stumbles over this thread in the coming days though.
 
Flashed mine earlier. Assuming it worked. Started with a quick flash which lasted 5-10 seconds, then stayed with a slower flash for a few minutes. It looked like it then rebooted as fans power went off and came back on again.
I'm going with thats what a succesful bios flash looks like :)
 
Are you guys bothering to install the CPU and RAM before attempting the flash for the 5000 series, are after everything is done? I shall be attempting this tomorrow... :/
 
Allattar1 said:
Flashed mine earlier. Assuming it worked. Started with a quick flash which lasted 5-10 seconds, then stayed with a slower flash for a few minutes. It looked like it then rebooted as fans power went off and came back on again.
I'm going with thats what a succesful bios flash looks like :)
Click to expand...

Yes that's what it did when it worked for me.

1Dustin said:
Are you guys bothering to install the CPU and RAM before attempting the flash for the 5000 series, are after everything is done? I shall be attempting this tomorrow... :/
Click to expand...

I didn't, I don't think it would cause any problems if you do but the bios flash button let's you complete this step when you don't have CPU/RAM to hand and/or the system won't POST.

It felt wiser to me to update the BIOS for Ryzen 5000 support before installing the CPU as at least then it won't even attempt to boot with an incompatible CPU.
 
I had some issues but it worked in the end. There is actually an LED built in the mobo by the flash bios button and USB port for it... it can be difficult to see if the mobo is already in the case.

To be sure, kick off the process and look for your USB stick's LED blinking, and for the mobo EZ flash LED. The pc will reset on its own once the process is finished. I then waited a few minutes to be sure before turning it off and plugging all components in.

I was updating for the AMD 5600x.
 
The trick was to use USB 2.0 stick and (optional but good practice) clear BIOS short JBAT1 pins (page 40 of the manual) prior to flashing. At the end of successful flashing mobo should rebooted it itself (power off / on).
I've tried two different USB 3.0 stick without luck.
 
I had some issues which I assumed were due to lack of power (used an old 500GB laptop drive) as it just sounded like it was not powering up fully using the first couple of (old!) usb <> sata adaptors that I tried. Eventually found my more recently acquired cable and the HDD appeared to powerup and I *think* it flashed okay (usb port flashed for several minutes and mobo fan powered on etc). Won't know for sure until the weekend when I should be able to try it :p
 
I am trying to update now. Is the flashing LED, the white one inside the VRM heat sink to right of USB. It blinked a few seconds after pressing the flash button, at rate of about 2x per second, speeding up now and then during the update. It ran for about 7 mins in all then stopped. Did not notice the board reboot or fan stop. The CPU light on EZ Debug LED was also illuminated solid white (no CPU installed). Board now running for 10 mins with no more flashing so turning off PSU.

Does this sound correct? I tried earlier with another (Sandisk) usb which ran for only 2 mins before flashing led stopped.
 
I have been trying to get my x570 tomahawk to work with a 5900 since yesterday.. have given up and am going to get the board sent back to be checked.

Have attempted to flash with 4 different usb drives, all formatted to fat32 and MBR. Last night pretty sure I flashed to v14 bios but failed to get the board to take a flash again today. Last night got the 7 minute USB drive flashing along with the white LED.. board shut down and restarted - this is what you want to see if the BIOS update worked.

Board won’t POST and I simply get the solid CPU debug light ... have fitted the processor maybe 10 times so far and have reluctantly admitted defeat. No way of getting past that little debug light.

Can only think the board is DOA.
 
I could be wrong, but at least on my x570 Tomahawk, mobo rebooted itself. Prior to that when I was using 3.x USB sticks, the led behind VRM woudl blinking for several minutes and it would stay lit without mobo rebooting itself.
 
Bill_adama said:
I have been trying to get my x570 tomahawk to work with a 5900 since yesterday.. have given up and am going to get the board sent back to be checked.

Have attempted to flash with 4 different usb drives, all formatted to fat32 and MBR. Last night pretty sure I flashed to v14 bios but failed to get the board to take a flash again today. Last night got the 7 minute USB drive flashing along with the white LED.. board shut down and restarted - this is what you want to see if the BIOS update worked.

Board won’t POST and I simply get the solid CPU debug light ... have fitted the processor maybe 10 times so far and have reluctantly admitted defeat. No way of getting PST that little debug light.

Can only think the board is DOA.
Click to expand...

With CPU out try to clear CMOS (look in the manual... page 40 or something). The key is to find OLD USB 2.0 drive. It doesn't matter if you format your usb 3.x sticks to FAT32. Maybe try to buy cheap usb 2.0 1-8gb drive. Try everyhting you can before sending your mobo back to be checked.
 
Went out today and picked up a sandisk cruzer something (16gb usb 2.0) as a last ditch attempt.. the only thing that happens when I press the flash button is the board powers up and the white led flashes 3 times then stays lit .. which I believe means the board can’t read the file. Does this with the usb stick that worked last night.

amd7674 - what you describe sounds right.. think the board reboots with a successful flash.
 
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