Anybody successfully flashed to 0650 BIOS for their Maximus IV Gene-Z

[alecela]

AND have it working? I tried a few times at home AND at the service centre w/ the Asus service engineer. We deduced that the BIOS is not good for my rig at all. Was wondering if it's an isolated case that someone else might have better luck!

I've been using various Asus boards for more than 10yrs now but this was my 1st time to the service centre!!! :(

[Raja@ASUS]

0650 works fine on my board here. The only change over 0402 that I know of is an Intel microcode update to enhance DRAM compatibility.

-Raja

[Alexia]

0650 is ok for me too. I've flashed it via bios, using a usb stick, and the mobo rebooted fine. I'm using your same ram sticks, Alecela, but a i7-2600 as cpu. The rest is uninfluential, i guess.

[alecela]

Interesting. One thing I did notice is that during the 1st reboot after flashing to 0650, I would get a sequence of different codes but it would always end up in code 19. Then any subsequent reboot would start w/ 10 then quickly to 19 and hang there. According to ROG connect, the board/BIOS is trying to detect the memory (code 19) so perhaps the new BIOS is a bit sensitive to the RAM? But then again Alexia above got exactly same RAM as mine so I'm puzzled.

More importantly, now I'm FREAKING out about flashing to new BIOS. I don't want to having to go to the service centre again! Now if only I can figure out how to 'get' that RC BIOS Flashback function...

[Alexia]

According to ROG connect, the board/BIOS is trying to detect the memory (code 19) so perhaps the new BIOS is a bit sensitive to the RAM? But then again Alexia above got exactly same RAM as mine so I'm puzzled.[QUOTE=alecela;20822]More importantly, now I'm FREAKING out about flashing to new BIOS. I don't want to having to go to the service centre again! Now if only I can figure out how to 'get' that RC BIOS Flashback function...

my rams are, more exactly, the CMZ8HX3M2A1600C9 kit (2 x 4 GB). Yours are exactly the same model of mine?
Aside that, your problem seems quite strange. Have you tried pressing "memory OK" button on the mobo? when i switched from a 4 GB OCZ module to the present kit, i had to 'reset' the ram settings with "memory ok" button since gene-z wouldn't like to boot at all.. unfortunately i don't remember which was the debug code at that moment.

About service center, at least you have a service center near home.. mine is 800 kms far away.. and i should take apart my pc to have the bios re-flashed, sic..

AFAIK: Bios flashback capability, according to official Asus features chart, is NOT included, in any way, in Gene-Z board. It's only for Extreme boards, unfortunately.

[Spathi]

Does not mean it is the same even with the model number.

Might be bad ram or just wonky profiles inside the ram, there is one post on the net about having trouble detecting that brand/model of ddr3 to 1333, which is the default for sandy.

If you have to get a different ram get 1.25V 1600 as it will be more useful for Ivy Bridge later maybe...

[alecela]

[QUOTE=alecela;20822]According to ROG connect, the board/BIOS is trying to detect the memory (code 19) so perhaps the new BIOS is a bit sensitive to the RAM? But then again Alexia above got exactly same RAM as mine so I'm puzzled.

my rams are, more exactly, the CMZ8HX3M2A1600C9 kit (2 x 4 GB). Yours are exactly the same model of mine?
Aside that, your problem seems quite strange. Have you tried pressing "memory OK" button on the mobo? when i switched from a 4 GB OCZ module to the present kit, i had to 'reset' the ram settings with "memory ok" button since gene-z wouldn't like to boot at all.. unfortunately i don't remember which was the debug code at that moment.

About service center, at least you have a service center near home.. mine is 800 kms far away.. and i should take apart my pc to have the bios re-flashed, sic..

AFAIK: Bios flashback capability, according to official Asus features chart, is NOT included, in any way, in Gene-Z board. It's only for Extreme boards, unfortunately.

Hmmm, mine's SLIGHTLY different: CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 (4Gb x 2). I did literally try to press every buttons/set every jumpers on the board but no help! The problem is that I did NOT switch into any new RAM. It's the same set of RAM for shipping BIOS (0208) when I flashed to 0650...

Bummer that BIOS flashback is not available for Gene-Z. I wouldn't even dare to think of the new BIOS upgrade now. :-(

[alecela]

Does not mean it is the same even with the model number.

Might be bad ram or just wonky profiles inside the ram, there is one post on the net about having trouble detecting that brand/model of ddr3 to 1333, which is the default for sandy.

If you have to get a different ram get 1.25V 1600 as it will be more useful for Ivy Bridge later maybe...

The whole set are all newly bought and the RAM are working perfectly fine w/ 0208, the shipping BIOS. In fact, I specifically check that the parts/model number of my RAM are listed in the manual before I bought them to ensure compatibility. It just went wierd when I tried to flash to 0650 BIOS.

[jcga]

I was not able to flash the 0650 bios either until I did it though AI Suite II (so under Windows)...

[Spathi]

Don't get to attached to it, stuff happens, I would just swap it, rma or whatever. Maybe try just one stick or a friends first or try the guy at your shop.

I forgot to ask... You are using the RED slots yeah?

That one gets a few hits btw...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9+1333+freeze&oq=CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9+1333+freeze

[alecela]

Don't get to attached to it, stuff happens, I would just swap it, rma or whatever. Maybe try just one stick or a friends first or try the guy at your shop.

I forgot to ask... You are using the RED slots yeah?

That one gets a few hits btw...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9+1333+freeze&oq=CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9+1333+freeze

I'm not attached to the incident at all. I'm just annoyed at the fact that there isn't any way around my problem and any wrong flash in the future would send me all the way back to the service centre. At this point, it's hard to conclude whether there's a problem on my board or my RAM, especially given that I'm typing this from the same setup with 0208 BIOS and it's working just fine.

My two sticks are plugged in the black slots. Any thought there?

If these RAM are no good for the board, then I would have an issue with the fact that they're listed in the motherboard manual.

[alecela]

I was not able to flash the 0650 bios either until I did it though AI Suite II (so under Windows)...

Ok, the key is that you have a 0650 working on your setup now right?

[jcga]

Yes, it works now beside my boot keyboard and mouse problem (same with 0208)

[IronAge]

There is another Bios on the Asus FTP - 0650 has been wiped there.

Version number 0403 dated 06.27.2011.

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/Maximus_IV_GENE-Z/MaximusIV-GENE-Z-ASUS-0403.zip

[gnidaol]

There is another Bios on the Asus FTP - 0650 has been wiped there.

Version number 0403 dated 06.27.2011.

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/Maximus_IV_GENE-Z/MaximusIV-GENE-Z-ASUS-0403.zip


Is 0403 the newest so far???

[Spathi]

0403 is older in the flash program, but I changed back from 0650 to 0403 because ASUS said 0650 was "cancelled". Maybe be something wrong or unfinished in 0650 or maybe 0650 does not support older RAM as well, would be nice to know the reason. Anyway 0403 seems to boot a bit cleaner.. just subjective.

[alecela]

0403 is older in the flash program, but I changed back from 0650 to 0403 because ASUS said 0650 was "cancelled". Maybe be something wrong or unfinished in 0650 or maybe 0650 does not support older RAM as well, would be nice to know the reason. Anyway 0403 seems to boot a bit cleaner.. just subjective.

The interesting bit is that I noticed the zip filesize for 0403 INCLUDING IRST 10.6.0.1002 is over 14Mb but when I looked at my 0650 zipfile it's less than 3Mb! I wonder why the need to bundle IRST w/ the BIOS file. Anyway, I took the leap of faith and flashed to 0403 and I'm typing this from the rig! Has anybody noticed better oc?

[alecela]

A recent uninstallation of the bloomberg desktop software just completely wrecked my setup. So now I'm looking forward to the X'mas while re-installing my PC!!! I figured I might as well take the opportunity to update the latest BIOS/Drivers. Boy I'm so damn wrong. Flashed to the 0902 BIOS and I'm back to the code 19 like a few months ago!!!

Looks like a trip to the service IN ADDITION to the bloody win7 re-installation!