Question Bios file

[rotary616]

I have a Tuf Gaming X570 Plus Wifi motherboard.
On the Asus support page, the latest bios file says to
be 16.19 MB, after the file is downloaded and extracted
the file is over 32 mb (33,558,528 Mb).
The board won't boot and as a last resort i was going
to reflash the chip but not possible with the size difference.
Anyone know the answer?
Thanks

 

[DSzymborski]

I'm not following. It's just telling you how large the download is, 16.19 MB. Naturally, the unzipped file is going to be larger.

I just updated an ASUS BIOS the other day, a 21 MB BIOS file that when uncompressed, was 32 MB. There's no problem with that.

 

[rotary616]

I understand the uncompressed file is going to be larger but it's much larger than the 32mb chip size.

 

[Grobe]

disclaimer: this is just me guessing, you need to read the documentation from the manufacturer to better understand.

Assume the package - when unpacked - include a "readme.txt" file explaining the process of flashing the bios. Maybe there also are included a bootable image file supposed to be flashed to a usb drive, and/or include a windows executable. A bootable image will explain why it is bigger - or maybe the file is common for several version of bios updates.

 

[DSzymborski]

I understand the uncompressed file is going to be larger but it's much larger than the 32mb chip size.

You're making a lot of assumptions about how much of that file will be patched over.

Let's flip it around. If what you say is a problem, well, every BIOS update for this motherboard is about the same size uncompressed. Under your theory, ASUS has released more than 30 BIOS versions on a popular, mainstream motherboard for four and a half years, and nobody has ever noticed that it was impossible to flash the BIOS on these motherboards until you just discovered the issue now, in February 2024.

How likely do you feel this scenario is? Because if that's the problem with your PC, that's basically the scenario that must be true.

Something else is going on. We have to move beyond the non-issue.

 

[Paperdoc]

OK, you're comfortable with the fact that the uncompressed file is much bigger. Your real question is how 32 MB can hold 33,558,528 bytes.

MOST of this is the definition of "MB". You are thinking that it means 32,000,000 bytes. NO. Most computer sizes are done in powers of 2. A KB is 1024 bytes. A MB is 1024 times that, or 1,048,576 bytes. So 32 MB is 32 times that, or 33,554,432 bytes. VERY likely THAT is the actual capacity of the memory chip for your BIOS, so what the update process will do is completely write all of that info from the new file into your chip so there is NO old data left after the update.

Now, that file still appears to be too large by 4,096 bytes. BUT that larger number you got is the amount of space the file takes up on your hard drive, and that is always some multiple of 256 bytes. ONE Sector of an HDD is 256 bytes. BUT the HDD does NOT allocate space to a file by single Sectors. Instead it manages space in Blocks of Sectors, and in your case it appears it uses a Block of 16 Sectors (2^4) for 4,096 bytes of data storage in ONE allocation Block. I would bet that the actual file you got contains a small amount of housekeeping data at its beginning for use by the updating software tool that is NOT part of what will be written to the actual memory chip, and that there also is some completely unused space in that first Block of 4,096 bytes just so that the actual data to be written begins at the start of the SECOND block of the file on your hard disk.

Go ahead and do your BIOS Update. It WILL fit in your chip.

 

[rotary616]

Just to explain better, i have a board that won't boot into bios screen and there's not
a flashback button. My only option is to desolder the chip and use EZP2023 programmer
to reflash bios. When the write starts, it gives error message that the file size is larger than
chip capacity. The programmer recognizes the chip correctly and that its a 32mb chip.
I have reflashed several chips before in the past with success. The board was given to me
so it's not really important that it gets fixed, just curious as to why it's happening with this chip.

 

[rgd1101]

are you try to reflash the windows files to bios with the EZ2023?
did the extract file to .bin file?

 

[Paperdoc]

Just to confirm, you say the system "won't boot into bios screen". To get into BIOS Setup I normally start by HOLDING DOWN the"Del" key immediately after pushing the front panel On / Off button. This ensures that, during its initiation actions, eventually the system will "look" at the keyboard and recognize that keypress. I have found a simple press-and-release of Del is not always sufficient.

IF you can get this to work, then ensure that the BIOS update file you downloaded is on a USB memory stick, and plug that into a rear panel USB 3.2 Gen1 port (see mobo manual p. 2-12, item 2). If necessary, re-do the booting into BIOS Setup. See mobo manual p. 53 re: ASUS Crash-Free BIOS 3 for how this is supposed to work to find that file on the USB stick and write it to your BIOS chip. IF you can get this far, that may restore a valid BIOS to your chip without removing etc. as you have outlined.

 

[Paperdoc]

I may have misunderstood the stage you are at. From your last post it appears you already have removed the BIOS ship from your mobo and mounted it in your EZP2023 programmer unit and tried to write the new BIOS, failing because of file size. If my explanation of file size previously is correct, the issue is that the file you downloaded contains MORE than just the complete BIOS image - it also contains some header or info used by the ASUS update utilities, but your EZP2023 programmer unit does NOT expect that. It requires a file with ONLY the complete 32 MB image of the new BIOS.

I am not sure how you get that "clean" image file. Try contacting ASUS Tech Support and ask whether they can supply such a file.

 

[rotary616]

Thanks for your reply.
I've flashed other asus boards with smaller chip size with no problem, maybe it's just the 32mb chip
that fails, or that particular board.
Your description of the possible problem could very well be correct.
Thanks for taking the time to answer.

 

[Angel Fernandez]

Where you unable to get the BIOS screen up while you had a video card in the TOPMOST PCIE slot? Its a known issue. There is a workaround. Only took me Four days to figure it out. I did a write up. Look at my post for the Asus TUF gaming X570 plus wifi.
Hope it helps