Question ASUS MB stuck with "bios is updating. do not shut down or reset the system to prevent system bootup failure."

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May 15, 2021
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My settings are:
  • ROG STRIX Z590-F GAMING WIFI
  • Intel® Core™ i9-11900KF
  • Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD 1TB
  • Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO SL 32GB (2x16GB)
  • ASUS Dual GeForce® GTX 1660 SUPER
  • Windows 10 Home 32-bit 64-bit Swedish USB (Retail).
Hi, whenever I start my newly built PC, I get message "bios is updating. do not shut down or reset the system to prevent system bootup failure." The original BIOS worked fine in the beginning, and Win10 was installed successfully. But then I'm afraid I might have pressed clear CMOS and/or BIOS flashback button by mistake when a display cable was loose and there might have been something on the screen that I should have seen but didn't.
I have tried all the ways I can think of including the ones below below but still get same message. On MB the BIOS led is lighted and according to ASUS general MB documentation it means this: "BOOT LED light is always ON after power on [indicates no boot device(etc:HDD/SSD) or boot device faulty]". I have a M.2 SSD boot drive but I doubt
  • Cleared CMOS both by MB button, and removing battery for hours
  • Removed and reinserted RAM and M.2 SSD.
  • Used BIOS FlashBack with FAT32 USB-stick with latest BIOS from ASUS (ROG-STRIX-Z590-F-GAMING-WIFI-ASUS-0708.CAP renamed to SZ590F.CAP). When doing so, the BIOS led starts blinking constantly for about 6-7 minutes and then it is not lightened anymore. I assume there is a BIOS update installed after that but when my PC is restarted, I first get the usual "press del/f2" to enter bios, but pressing any of those keys have no affect, and then I get the "bios is updating..." message again and the PC is stuck.
I have also contacted ASUS support, but no working answer yet from them...
 
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May 15, 2021
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Thanks for reply. USB Wired, tried several USB ports, the keyboard lightens up during boot så it seems connected. And I tried both leaving the flash USB and remove it before restart. But same behavior unfortunately.
 
May 15, 2021
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When you reset the motherboard BIOS, did you disconnect all power sources before doing so (power cable from PSU, video cable, powered speakers)?
I tested again to update BIOS with BIOS FlashBack after have followed your recommendation to disconnect all cables, and again, after pressing flashback button for 3 seconds, I could see that during apprx 15 seconds the flashback led was constantly blinking slowly, and after that it started blinking faster constantly for about 5 minutes, and I could see on the USB stick that there was activity ongoing since the USB stick led was blinking. After that, the flashback led was not lit anymore. I then reconnected the display, keyboard and mouse and restarted (with the flashback USB stick still inplace. And the result was as before, the system booted and the "press del/F2 to enter BIOS setup" was displayed but nothing happened when I pressed any of those keys. And same message "BIOS is updating..." displayed. So it looks like there was a BIOS installed, but I cannot enter BIOS setup at boot, to restore default BIOS settings with F5. So maybe the problem to try to solve is to figure out how I can get the keyboard work at boot? I have earlier tried to connect the keyboard to different USB ports (2.0, 3.2 Gen1/2) but same result.
 
May 15, 2021
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I have now also tested with another simple USB keyboard but same problem. I have also removed the Win10 M.2 SSD that was booting Win10 successfully before, and replaced it with another unformated M.2 SSD but exactly same problem as before. So it does not seem to have anything to do with with SSD, even if the manual talks about SSD/HD problems when Boot Q-led is lit (as it is in my case). So still, boot does not recognize del/F2 during boot, and then I am back with message "bios is updating..." message again and the PC is stuck...
 
May 15, 2021
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Have you tried with only a single memory stick installed, the CPU and the GPU (remove all storage devices)? Intent is just to access BIOS.
Thanks for trying to give me more things to try. I now tried what you suggested, single mem stick, no SSD/HD. Exactly same problem as before. I also tried again to clear CMOS with the Clear CMOS button but same result. Since it is same result with/without SSD, with different simple USB keyboards, and same result after clearing CMOS, the problem must be "stored" somewhere else than in SSD or CMOS. And I have no clue where that can be...
 
May 15, 2021
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It sounds like your BIOS is corrupted, as mentioned earlier. You only feasible option may be to RMA the board with Asus.
Yes I realize that an ASUS RMA is now probably the only way forward. But I really appreciate that you tried to help me out with things to try that I had not thought of myself.
 
May 15, 2021
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When doing this - did you extract CAP file from ZIP archive first?
Or may be you just renamed ZIP archive itself?
I unzipped first on other computer, renamed .CAP file, and copied it to USB stick. Tried several reformatted FAT32 USB sticks with only the renamed .CAP file on it. As I now understand it, the BIOS can be corrupted so that a new BIOS loaded by flashback procedure does not work. I guess that if the "old" BIOS is corrupted, it cannot load the new flashed BIOS.
 
May 15, 2021
15
1
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My settings are:
  • ROG STRIX Z590-F GAMING WIFI
  • Intel® Core™ i9-11900KF
  • Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD 1TB
  • Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO SL 32GB (2x16GB)
  • ASUS Dual GeForce® GTX 1660 SUPER
  • Windows 10 Home 32-bit 64-bit Swedish USB (Retail).
Hi, whenever I start my newly built PC, I get message "bios is updating. do not shut down or reset the system to prevent system bootup failure." The original BIOS worked fine in the beginning, and Win10 was installed successfully. But then I'm afraid I might have pressed clear CMOS and/or BIOS flashback button by mistake when a display cable was loose and there might have been something on the screen that I should have seen but didn't.
I have tried all the ways I can think of including the ones below below but still get same message. On MB the BIOS led is lighted and according to ASUS general MB documentation it means this: "BOOT LED light is always ON after power on [indicates no boot device(etc:HDD/SSD) or boot device faulty]". I have a M.2 SSD boot drive but I doubt
  • Cleared CMOS both by MB button, and removing battery for hours
  • Removed and reinserted RAM and M.2 SSD.
  • Used BIOS FlashBack with FAT32 USB-stick with latest BIOS from ASUS (ROG-STRIX-Z590-F-GAMING-WIFI-ASUS-0708.CAP renamed to SZ590F.CAP). When doing so, the BIOS led starts blinking constantly for about 6-7 minutes and then it is not lightened anymore. I assume there is a BIOS update installed after that but when my PC is restarted, I first get the usual "press del/f2" to enter bios, but pressing any of those keys have no affect, and then I get the "bios is updating..." message again and the PC is stuck.
I have also contacted ASUS support, but no working answer yet from them...
I called ASUS and they gave me info on where to find the BIOS version that was originally on the motherboard (that BIOS version is on printed on the motherboard sticker) and when I flashed that version in, everything works fine including booting Win10. And I will definately not try to update BIOS to newer/latest version if I have no BIOS related issues...
 

COLGeek

Cybernaut
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I called ASUS and they gave me info on where to find the BIOS version that was originally on the motherboard (that BIOS version is on printed on the motherboard sticker) and when I flashed that version in, everything works fine including booting Win10. And I will definately not try to update BIOS to newer/latest version if I have no BIOS related issues...
Great news. Is your system fully up and running now?
 
May 15, 2021
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Excellent! What is the BIOS version that is working properly?
The BIOS version that worked was 0232, the one that was originally on the motherboard. The one I tried many times was the latest 0708. There is also a ver 0605 between them. From Win10 I used EZ Update tool and EZ suggested ver 0605, but when I tried to use EZ update to update BIOS to thet version, I came back to the original problem with "BIOS is updating..." even if I waited severla hours to be sure. So I reverted back to flashing in original ver 0232, and at first I got the "BIOS is updating" message again and I got a little bir worried, but after a couple of minutes I came into BIOS and then Win10 ok. So I still have an issue that I cannot update BIOS, but right now I am happy with the original BIOS ver 0232.
 
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