Anyone know how to downgrade ASUS X570 TUF BIOS?

[555BUK]

Like a fool I flashed my ASUS X570 TUF Gaming-Plus BIOS to latest official version 2607. The BIOS comments said that it fixes fan issues, which I was experiencing on original 1407 BIOS.

Anyways, post-flash the system is experiencing cold-boot issues whenever I set IF above 1800MHz. Previously everything was happy at 1900MHz, with my ram in-sync @ 3800MHz.

I have tried every setting/combination available on the mobo, but upon every single cold-boot the system simply will not startup above IF 1800MHz, and requires a BIOS reset. Warm starts/reboots work fine @ 1900, and all benmarks and tests pass fault-free. Also, running RAM out of sync @ 4200/1800 is fine, so I know the limitation is related to IF-speed only. I guess the new BIOS is somehow limiting IF-voltage during startups.

So, does anyone know how to force a downgrade-BIOS on this mobo, as ASUS EZ-Flash does not allow downgrades?

Edit: Problem found! After a BIOS has been flashed, ASUS is writing something to the USB drive that prevents same BIOS from being flashed again. I have tested and repeated the problem several times using different USB drives and different freshly-downloaded BIOS'.

Solution
1. Freshly format a USB drive in FAT32.
2. Download a FRESH BIOS from ASUS and save to USB
3. Enter BIOS, start EZFlash Utility and flash-away.

#Note: I am unable to flash exactly the same BIOS twice. For example, if I downoad both 1407 and 2607 BIOS' to a freshly-formated USB then I can flash one or both files once-each. If I try to flash either file a second-time I get an invalid-file error. BIOS needs to be freshly-downloaded again before I can reflash.

 

[Slinky69]

I have never done it, but the best link I could find was this one:

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthre...-in-DOS-with-USB-tutorial-Intel-AMD-roll-back

Pretty scary-looking stuff though!

 

[555BUK]

I have never done it, but the best link I could find was this one:

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthre...-in-DOS-with-USB-tutorial-Intel-AMD-roll-back

Pretty scary-looking stuff though!

Thanks for the suggestion. I checked the linked-video comments on youtube, and plenty of people say this procedure doesn't work on X570 boards due to larger BIOS size.

On the positive-side, running my memory in sync @ 3600/1800 allows tighter-timings than 3800/1900, providing almost-equal bandwidth. We're probably talking less than half of one-percent difference within the real-world, but it still bugs me that a BIOS-upgrade decreases performance and stability.

 

[Joxeon]

Try renaming the bios file to the most recent but just add a 1 on the end of the number and see if this works. So 26071 etc.

 

[555BUK]

Try renaming the bios file to the most recent but just add a 1 on the end of the number and see if this works. So 26071 etc.

No joy. The mobo must check the embedded AGESA version, and simply sees older BIOS' as invalid.

I guess that I'll have to wait for the next official BIOS release, and hope that solves high-IF cold-boot problems,

 

[opethdisciple]

You can try inching the speed up in small increments. I remember this was a thing on my x370 board when I was struggling with ram stability.

 

[555BUK]

You can try inching the speed up in small increments. I remember this was a thing on my x370 board when I was struggling with ram stability.

I have had to do that to get up to 3600MHz..

I have a workaround. From cold-boot anything above 3600/1800MHz will fail every-single time. Fans spin-up, but then the PC just sits there doing nothing. If I then press the restart button, system will post as-normal. Also, suspend & resume works fine. It's just a nuissance when things were fine @ 3800/1900 on previous BIOS, and when system is rock-stable @ 1900 once I get past a cold-boot.

I take consolation from there being little real-world difference between 1800 & 1900 IF, and the hope that ASUS revert whatever changes they made within next official BIOS.

Moral of the story - Don't upgrade BIOS' unless you really-really have to.

 

[opethdisciple]

I have had to do that to get up to 3600MHz..

I have a workaround. From cold-boot anything above 3600/1800MHz will fail every-single time. Fans spin-up, but then the PC just sits there doing nothing. If I then press the restart button, system will post as-normal. Also, suspend & resume works fine. It's just a nuissance when things were fine @ 3800/1900 on previous BIOS, and when system is rock-stable @ 1900 once I get past a cold-boot.

I take consolation from there being little real-world difference between 1800 & 1900 IF, and the hope that ASUS revert whatever changes they made within next official BIOS.

Moral of the story - Don't upgrade BIOS' unless you really-really have to.

Coincidentally my x370 board was an Asus too.

Haven't had any problems with my Gigabyte.

 

[555BUK]

Problem found - see original post edit for details.

Now back on 1407 BIOS, and system is happily running @ 3800/1900 again.

 

[Slinky69]

Wow, that's weird! I wonder if you could use the same USB to change the BIOS on 2 different motherboards? If not, that could really confuse people!

 

[555BUK]

I'm just happy to be at 1900 IF, with zero cold-boot issues and 100% stability again.



Here are a few benches I did between original 1407 and latest 2607 official BIOS'


Above results are with all BIOS stock-settings, apart from tightened memory-timing and voltage adjustments (auto CPU volts w/ -0.1V offset, DDR4 @ 1.45V, SOC @ 1.025V). Just one benmark-run each, so some margin for natural-variation.

Full System:-
Ryzen 3900XT, ASUS X570 TUF, 16GB Trident Z 3866MHz (Samsung B-Die), MSI Gaming X 5700 XT, Corsair HX850 PSU, Corsair MP600 NVME SSD, Corsair H100 240mm AIO, Meshify C case.

Conclusion
1407 BIOS is faster at same clocks, plus allows additional 66-100MHz IF / 133-200MHz DDR overclock with same components. Overall, 1-2% faster than latest 2607 BIOS.