[SOLVED] Please verify my understanding of MSI UEFI settings

[Penniless Film Maker]

Concise:
Please correct me if my understanding of UEFI is not correct.

Background:
I have little or no recent experience building computers. I plan a build using MSI MEG Z590 Ace in the next 4 weeks. I have recently realized that this board has a primary and redundant UEFIs. I have seen how to save the Overclocking Profiles on a USB device but I see no way to store general settings such as fan controls. I have have been advised to take photos of the screens to avoid writings down all of the settings and have realized that the UEFI provides a 'Screenshot' capability that will record to a USB device to accomplish the same end.

Assumptions:
I assume that if one performs a Flash Bios update that all BIOS settings will be lost.
I assume that the Flash Bios will only update the current BIOS ( primary or redundant) based upon the position of the switch on the board. If one wants both updated one must perform the task for each.
I assume that if the primary is inoperative that the priority would be to restore the primary rather than perform any other task.
I assume that if for any reason I had to clear the CMOS I would need to re-enter all fan control information, boot priority, XMP etc.? In the case with only one CMOS image the redundant would also be impacted.
I plan a near stock system using only the most humble of overclocking settings. I hope that these concerns are extremely unlike to actualize.

Questions:
Are there 2 sets of BIOS settings in the CMOS chip?
Can one use conservative settings in the backup BIOS and more aggressive ones in the primary. An example would be turning on XMP for the primary and leaving it disabled for the redundant?
Is there no other way to save UEFI settings than Screenshot? In this case I would create a PowerPoint file with one screenshot per page to capture all of the changes I would need to make to restore my system.

I would be please to be wrong in this case. It would be nice if there were and easer way to restore settings.

 

[Colif]

For a motherboard with so many features to only have 4 pages in the manual for the BIOS is a crime - https://download.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe/mb/E7D04v1.0.pdf

Questions:
Are there 2 sets of BIOS settings in the CMOS chip?
Can one use conservative settings in the backup BIOS and more aggressive ones in the primary. An example would be turning on XMP for the primary and leaving it disabled for the redundant?
Is there no other way to save UEFI settings than Screenshot? In this case I would create a PowerPoint file with one screenshot per page to capture all of the changes I would need to make to restore my system.

Looks like there are 2 different BIOS roms, so yes

BIOS_SW1: Multi-BIOS Switch This motherboard has two built-in BIOS ROMs. If one is crashed, you can shift to the other for booting by sliding the switch.

I don't have mb but I can't see a reason you can't save two different settings simultaneously on the mb since it has 2 different BIOS roms.

I would check with MSI about the settings question as it seems sort of backwards for a board with so much.

 

[Vic 40]

For a motherboard with so many features to only have 4 pages in the manual for the BIOS is a crime - https://download.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe/mb/E7D04v1.0.pdf

A PDF about bios settings

http://download.msi.com/manual/mb/Intel500BIOS.pdf

is a seperate one.

 

[Colif]

i must have missed that one. Sure explains it though.

I don't think it would mention the button in the bios manual anyway.

 

[Penniless Film Maker]

A PDF about bios settings

http://download.msi.com/manual/mb/Intel500BIOS.pdf

is a seperate one.

Thanks for the reference. I have already read this document. It does not answer the question of if there are two copies of the CMOS. If there is not using the backup UEFI should get one running again but if one has the clear the CMOS one will have to re-enter all of the settings manually.

The manuals seems to point out what features they have but omit mention of those features that are lacking. One must infer these from the silence. I hope to have this board in hand within the next 30 days and I will figure it out by trial and error. There is a switch on the board to turn off "All" LEDs on the board but there is no list of what LEDs are included. If it means ALL that is ok. I will be frustrated if "ANY" LEDs remain on.

 

[Colif]

its called multi-bios 2 but that is about as far as I get in an explanation.

MSI 7-series motherboards are equipped with the newest Multi-BIOS II technology; they have two complete built-in BIOS chips, allowing enthusiasts to use the switch on the motherboard to switch and boot up with the second BIOS when the first BIOS is lost or corrupted. Customized BIOS profiles can even be saved on individual chips, providing a safe and convenient design.

https://www.techpowerup.com/162376/msi-announces-the-all-new-intel-7-series-motherboards
last part seems to suggest you can save different profiles on the chips.

I would ask on here, if anyone knows it should be them - https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?forums/gaming-motherboards.122/

 

[Vic 40]

When you clear cmos you will have to re-enter settings yes, don't think boot order wil be affected, but enabling XMP and maybe other OC setings will need to be done. This also needs to be done when you've updated the bios.
As said can OC settings be stored in the bios as well.

Think with those leds they mean those that make it look prettier, not the ones that might be needed to show a failure.

 

[Colif]

Think with those leds they mean those that make it look prettier, not the ones that might be needed to show a failure.

yeah, its likely RGB/ARGB that is turned off, no board would allow you to turn off the warning lights, but they would also only show if there was a problem.

 

[Penniless Film Maker]

When you clear cmos you will have to re-enter settings yes, don't think boot order wil be affected, but enabling XMP and maybe other OC setings will need to be done. This also needs to be done when you've updated the bios.
As said can OC settings be stored in the bios as well.

Think with those leds they mean those that make it look prettier, not the ones that might be needed to show a failure.

Thanks for the information guys. Here is my confusion:

I understand that a standard board has a chip called "BIOS". This is a non-volatile electrically alterable ROM. This thing remembers its programming when the power is off.

A standard board has something called a "CMOS" chip. This is where settings are stored. This thing requires constant power to remember things. For this reason a battery is provided on the board.

When one wants to reset to default values. One can use the rear panel erase button or remove the battery. This will erase all settings including overclocking settings. These boards provide overclocking profiles that can be stored in the CMOS and on an external USB. For this reason one need not worry about having to re-enter the information in an overclocking profile. But I am concerned about the other settings? There are 8 Fan headers that can be adjusted. I am asking if there are two CMOS memories such that if one has to erase or update the BIOS will one have to re-enter all the data just to establish functionality?

It is ok with me that there is only one. That means that one can run immediately upon switching from primary to redundant BIOS but if there are two it means that one must ensure that the redundant on is set the same as the primary. I assume that there is only one CMOS and I will learn the truth within the first hour of operation. I can just set up one fan, power off, set the switch to redundant BIOS and reboot. If the fan has not reverted to its default state there is only one CMOS. If it is back in its default state, I have two. I see no evidence to support the notion that the overclocking profiles store information unrelated to overclocking. I do not see a way to save other settings other than "ScreenShot" with will save screen captures to USB.

I have suspected that ALL LEDs did not include the debugging LEDs for some time. I do not know if that includes the 2 digit display at the top of the board or the XMP LED next to the DIMM slots? I actually do not care about the headers which I may not use as all. I also wonder if the Power and Reset switches on the board have internal lighting? Does the LED off switch turn these off as well? I will know this stuff in the fullness of time but I am surprised that these questions are not made clear in the manuals. While I am not anti-RGB I would like to darken this thing at times and that includes the 2 digit display at the top and if the Power and Reset have lights, once this thing is in the case, there will be little need to have them on.

 

[Colif]

Some of your questions about the led lighting is best asked on MSI board I linked to. People there would own boards and be able to tell you yes or no.

if its anything like the X570 Ace

For my x570 Ace, I went into bios and clicked on led indication control. This turned off my red led to the bottom right power and reset button. It also turned off the led display for CPU temp but that's fine because my gpu is on top of it. Hope this helps if you haven't figured it out yet. I also did a bios update but not sure if that option was on previous versions.

link

My board has only 1 strip of rgb and I can't see it from where I sit. Its not as expensive and feature rich as your board so no led at all on it. Not even the night light that used to show on older boards to show they had power. Handy since most cases have windows now.
If covered the rgb strip on gpu; and I turned the rgb off on mb, ram and AIO I wouldn't be able to see anything at all inside PC.
Case is black, mb is black, gpu is black, ram is black, dark tint on glass. I need to use a torch to see my nvme drive as its so dark inside case even with rgb on. Camera can barely see it under the CPU
note: camera can see better into case than I can and even it can't see that much. Brighter rgb doesn't help that much to overcome the glasses tint.

reflections don't help.

I only have rgb as it was easier (at the time) to get a case with a window than one without, and I figured, can't fight it. I can eventually just turn it all off but then it will be impossible to see into case at all.