[SOLVED] What is the safest way to upgrade AsRock 970 Extreme4 BIOS to 2.80

Deyan Dobromirov

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Jun 19, 2015
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Hello,

I decided to upgrade from Phenom II x6 to FX-8350 and I need to upgrade the BIOS from 2.50 to 2.60, because this version is required if I need to install the new CPU.
On the Mobo website I found they only offer version 2.80:
https://www.asrock.com/MB/AMD/970 Extreme4/index.asp#BIOS

I wiped a USB 2.0 flash drive and created 2 GB partition on it:

1. AsRock Instant flash utility ( FAILED ) ( During boot F2 > Advanced > Instant flash = F6 )
Put the BIOS in the flash drive, but when I invoke Instant flash it is stuck on "\temp":
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L0F6QRDS0-BHklra4n4OJ4WfsEr04aXS/view?usp=sharing

2. Using Free dos ( It might work maybe or MS-DOS 6.22 )
Installing the thing in a bootable flash drive, boot dos and use the DOS executable to run the update on free DOS.
https://www.asrock.com/support/BIOSIG.asp?cat=DOS6

3. Windows flash utility I see it only runs on XP/Vista ( I avoid updating BIOS under windows ):
https://www.asrock.com/support/BIOSIG.asp?cat=Windows5

4. AsRock App-Shop utility has BIOS upgrade option:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iPZe9pkIv1RjRu-P7tixZKO73p6PDCQ-/view?usp=sharing

What will you guys advise ?
 
Last edited:
Solution
Based on the availability of FX-83** chips I am unable to get one, so I overclocked my phenom to 3.6 GHz which is the same or maybe better using my Noctua NH-D15S to cool it.
You say you made a 2GB partition. Is that the full capacity of the drive? If not use the whole drive. Also is it MBR or GPT? It should be MBR with a FAT32 partition.

Also when you unpack the BIOS files. Are you leaving them in the folder created? Take the contents out of the main folder and put them directly in the flash drive.
 
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Deyan Dobromirov

Honorable
Jun 19, 2015
23
0
10,520
You say you made a 2GB partition. Is that the full capacity of the drive? If not use the whole drive. Also is it MBR or GPT? It should be MBR with a FAT32 partition.

Also when you unpack the BIOS files. Are you leaving them in the folder created? Take the contents out of the main folder and put them directly in the flash drive.

The flash drive is 16 Gigs. MBR FAT32
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r7CTUBKLjSUaCm9JoYsJQX9X_WPIcsVb/view?usp=sharing


I am already doing exactly like that described also in the manual. Extracting "970EX2.80" and placing only it and the old bios "970EX2.50" if I dont succeed updating it the first time. So my flash drive contains:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pHfJagN8sGF1cQYnwMu87luQog3fqwPz/view?usp=sharing

970EX2.80
970EX2.50

And nothing else. It is formatted to FAT32. The instant flash must list only the compatible ROMs, but it is not. It is stuck on \temp despite the drive being totally empty. Does it create this temp folder in the update process ?
 
Last edited:

Deyan Dobromirov

Honorable
Jun 19, 2015
23
0
10,520
Based on the availability of FX-83** chips I am unable to get one, so I overclocked my phenom to 3.6 GHz which is the same or maybe better using my Noctua NH-D15S to cool it.
 
Solution