[SOLVED] Stuck with secure boot enabled Gigabyte Z790

[AdamAhmed]

Hey everyone, just got a new system built and having a terrible time getting Windows 11 installed on the computer. I have 2 empty M.2 hard drives I am trying to freshly install windows onto.

This is a Gigabyte Z790 Gaming X AX mobo with a Intel 13900kf CPU.

First time starting up the computer it didn’t recognize the hard drives under the available boot drives, but the motherboard did recognize them as M.2 drives plugged in with the correct size and everything. So I realized this was because they weren't set up as GPT drives and saw online that enabling CSM will allow me to recognize these MBR drives as bootable, I enabled CSM and boom computer recognized both drives as bootable as well as my windows 11 usb install drive. I booted from this USB and learned the annoying Windows 11 message telling me I cannot install onto this machine which I found out was because secure boot was now disabled.

So I stubbornly went and got that secure boot active by getting out of setup mode in the bios into user mode and I was able to have secure boot enabled and active. But now of course my drives are not recognized because they are still MBR.
I then realized there’s a terminal feature in windows install that should allow me to convert to GPT… but now I am not able to disable secure boot and enable CSM .

Everytime I enable CSM, disable TPM, disable secure boot, it gets all flipped back to what it was regardless of me trying to save the settings. I’ve tried pressing reset to set up mode, resetting to factory defaults, resetting CMOS, deleting the product keys (it says failed when I try this). Not sure why I cannot reenable CSM support now; the BIOS doesn't seem to want to go back into setup mode which seems to be my main problem, does anyone know why this could be happening.

The only other work around I can think of is to format the USB drive on my macbook as GPT and install a partition/drive manager onto the USB, and try booting from that to convert the M.2 to GPT. But not sure if all that would be possible with a USB, Does that seem like it would work that way?

Thank you for any help at all!!

 

[AdamAhmed]

Just updating this in case anyone else finds a similar problem.
I was able to fix this by doing various upgrades and downgrades of my BIOS.

I started out with version F2, flashed to F3 and received an error message “Secure Boot Violation: Invalid signature detected. Check Secure Boot Policy in Setup” pressed okay to dismiss two times in a row before making it back to the BIOS screen. Still had the same problem.
I then flashed down to F1, received the same error message and the problem still persisted.
I then flashed up to the latest F4c, and then viola!! No error message this time, I was able to enable CSM boot, format the drive to GPT in the terminal in the windows installer and it finally let me install windows without a problem.

Definitely drove me insane there for a bit but thankfully the problem is finally fixed

 

[kv1]

Hi Adam - I updated my Z790 UD AX Motherboard to F4c 2 days ago. I noticed that Gigabyte have unlisted this version from their website. You will notice that the same for your model ( https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z790-GAMING-X-AX-rev-1x/support#support-dl-bios ) . You think something is wrong with F4C update? As of now, F4c is not available for download and i have not come across any news about Gigabyte deferring this version.

 

[Gohanson]

Hi, have the same problem. Can u upload this somehow? Cant find it. Pls help. Cant start my new pc. Stupid windows 11 things...

 

[SkyNetRising]

First time starting up the computer it didn’t recognize the hard drives under the available boot drives, but the motherboard did recognize them as M.2 drives plugged in with the correct size and everything.
So I realized this was because they weren't set up as GPT drives and saw online that enabling CSM will allow me to recognize these MBR drives as bootable, I enabled CSM and boom computer recognized both drives as bootable as well as my windows 11 usb install drive. I booted from this USB and learned the annoying Windows 11 message telling me I cannot install onto this machine which I found out was because secure boot was now disabled.

In UEFI mode a drive is detected as bootable only, if it actually is bootable.
This means, it needs to have OS installed on it.
Until you install windows on it, the drive is empty. It is not bootable and UEFI will not detect it as bootable.

In legacy mode drive will be shown as bootable, even it in fact is not bootable. That's the difference.
But windows 11 requires UEFI. So no install in legacy mode.

So I stubbornly went and got that secure boot active by getting out of setup mode in the bios into user mode and I was able to have secure boot enabled and active. But now of course my drives are not recognized because they are still MBR.
I then realized there’s a terminal feature in windows install that should allow me to convert to GPT… but now I am not able to disable secure boot and enable CSM .
Everytime I enable CSM, disable TPM, disable secure boot, it gets all flipped back to what it was regardless of me trying to save the settings. I’ve tried pressing reset to set up mode, resetting to factory defaults, resetting CMOS, deleting the product keys (it says failed when I try this). Not sure why I cannot reenable CSM support now; the BIOS doesn't seem to want to go back into setup mode which seems to be my main problem, does anyone know why this could be happening.

To install windows 11,

set sata controller to AHCI (not raid, not Intel RST),​

set Trusted Computing to enabled ( can be called fTPM or PTT also),​

secure boot to enabled (may require loading default keys),​

only single drive connected,​

clean target drive before installing windows onto it (windows install will partition drive as necessary, you don't have to worry about MBR/GPT).​