MSI Z390-A BIOS Update Failure

Topic

Greetings All

My PC has an MSI Z390-A motherboard running WIN 10.  Today I successfully applied the WIN 10 22H2 Feb update.  Afterward I went to the MSI website to see if they had any new drivers.  I noticed a security update available for the BIOS.  According to the instructions, I downloaded and extracted the file to a flash drive and booted into the setup.  From there I selected the Flash option.  The drive appeared but no file. Hitting enter or moving the arrow keys or clicking on different things didn’t reveal the needed file on the flash drive.  It’s there in Explorer along with a text file that doesn’t provide any help. I thought maybe it was because of secure boot, so I disabled it.  No difference.  I thought the file may have been bad, so I downloaded it again.  No difference.  There doesn’t appear to be a way to run this from Windows, but only from within the BIOS itself.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Casey H,

Replies

Casey H wrote:

There doesn’t appear to be a way to run this from Windows, but only from within the BIOS itself.

You’re right, MSI BIOS updates can only be applied from the BIOS itself!

One possible gotcha is, like my Asus motherboard, the USB containing the new BIOS file must be formatted as FAT32, not NTFS.

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Casey H, satrow

n0ads wrote:

One possible gotcha is, like my Asus motherboard, the USB containing the new BIOS file must be formatted as FAT32, not NTFS.

One other thing, Asus requires you to rename the file. They give you a small executable in the zip called a BIOS Renamer. I see it may be the same with MSI.

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/updating-bios.380480/post-2156843

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Casey H

PL1 wrote:

One other thing, Asus requires you to rename the file. They give you a small executable in the zip called a BIOS Renamer.

That only applies if you use Asus’s USB BIOS FlashBack option via the special USB BIOS Flashback port & USB BIOS Flashback button located on the motherboard’s rear panel.

Some MSI motherboards include such an option but, the MSI M-FLASH option @Casey H is using works exactly like the Asus EZ Flash 3 option and renaming the file isn’t necessary.

Note: the 1:15 min mark in the above video clearly shows the downloaded BIOS file can be selected without renaming it.

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Casey H, PL1

n0ads wrote:

That only applies if you use Asus’s USB BIOS FlashBack option via the special USB BIOS Flashback port & USB BIOS Flashback button located on the motherboard’s rear panel.

I see! TIL. I just assumed since the BIOSrenamer.exe file was included, and there were no notes, that it was required. But reading the output message when you DO rename it, it does say it is for the flashback option. Just to see for myself, I CAN in fact see both the original .cap file along with the renamed .cap file.

One thing you mentioned above:

n0ads wrote:

One possible gotcha is, like my Asus motherboard, the USB containing the new BIOS file must be formatted as FAT32, not NTFS.

I have been doing my BIOS updates with my USB drive formatted by NTFS. I’ve read that only FAT32 will work by other people as well. I just thought I’d mention that it works fine for me using an NTFS drive.

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Casey H

Not for me!

If I use an NTFS formatted USB with EZ Flash on my Asus Maximus XI Gene, I get the exact same results as @Casey H.

The BIOS can see the drive but not the .CAP file located on it.

If fact, it doesn’t see any files/folders on it, even a renamed BIOS file… BTTT!

BTW, since most of the references I found for using MSI’s M-Flash option indicated the USB should be FAT32, I’m will to bet that’s the problem.

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Casey H

Thanks all for weighing in.  I reformatted my flash drive to FAT 32, and the update ran without a hitch.  I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.

Casey