Question BIOS won't update on Gigabyte board; faulty BIOS chip?

[EstimatedEyes]

Just completed my new build on a Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX ICE board (v 1.0) running an i7-14700k. Posted up on the first try, showing F2 BIOS. Tried to update to the latest version (F5e) using the Q-Flash utility, everything went through normally until the final restart which ended in a black screen. Reset it back to F2 using the onboard QFlash-Plus button, and tried again with F4, same result. F3 same result. Tried both the utility and the button, no dice. Have tried repeatedly with same result. So I am back to F2 with no apparent ability to update, which is a no go with the i7-14700k.

Called Gigabyte tech support and they confirmed I was using correct BIOS and performed the update steps correctly, and were stumped as to what had gone wrong. Thought it might be a faulty BIOS chip on the board. At their suggestion I also tried loading the v.1.1 BIOS for the board but that didn't work either. Tech support said replacing the board was probably required.

I've set up a return for the Board and the replacement is due to arrive tomorrow, but I would really like to avoid a rebuild if at all possible (which, granted, seems unlikely at this point). Just posting here to share my experience, and to see if anyone has any other ideas about how to get it updated. Thanks in advance for your response

Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX ICE 1.0, Intel i7-14700k, Corsair Vengeance DDR5 5200 64 GB (2x32), MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB, Corsair 850W PSU, Peerless Assasin 120SE dual tower, Fractal Design Pop Air.

 

[Lutfij]

If Gigabyte have deemed the board to be RMA worthy then there's no going around it and the board needs to be replaced. If I were you, I'd breadboard the motherboard, devoid of any components and try to flash the BIOS with only the PSU hooked tot he main and EPS connectors.

The other thing you can do is try another FAT32 formatted pen drive and see if that helps. I usually tend to use a really old 8GB pen drive to flash the BIOS for my own builds. You should also try and clear the CMOS once you've verified that the BIOS flashing process was complete.

Here's a guide for a different board, same brand but the concept stays the same;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUatfVVOKRw

 

[EstimatedEyes]

I did try a few different USB keys but no luck. Probably won't try to breadboard this one because by the time I get there I might as well just install the replacement. If it wasn't a new board I would def try that. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[EstimatedEyes]

Solved it! Don't know why this worked but it looks like it did:

In all the prior updates I had the monitor, an older unit without DP inputs, hooked up to the mobo DP output using a DP-DVI adapter. Monitor got a signal with F2 but a black screen after any BIOS update.

This morning, as a hail mary, I switched the monitor cable to one of the DP outputs on my graphics card and ran the F5e update again using Q-Flash utility. Viola, it worked. Booted up and BIOS now showing F5e.

Interestingly, moving the cable back to the mobo output results in a black screen again. Not an issue because I won't be using that output, but curious. Maybe something in the update disables the mobo DP output, at least when used with an adapter?

Anyway, I am up and running on F5e now.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Solved it! Don't know why this worked but it looks like it did:

In all the prior updates I had the monitor, an older unit without DP inputs, hooked up to the mobo DP output using a DP-DVI adapter. Monitor got a signal with F2 but a black screen after any BIOS update.

This morning, as a hail mary, I switched the monitor cable to one of the DP outputs on my graphics card and ran the F5e update again using Q-Flash utility. Viola, it worked. Booted up and BIOS now showing F5e.

Interestingly, moving the cable back to the mobo output results in a black screen again. Not an issue because I won't be using that output, but curious. Maybe something in the update disables the mobo DP output, at least when used with an adapter?

Anyway, I am up and running on F5e now.

Excellent. Good job. This will serve very useful info for forum users.