cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

i7-4790k not working with Maximus VI Formula - ME firmware won't upgrade

cOuSlEGNoRId
Level 7
Hello,

I'm trying to put an i7-4790k into my Maximus VI Formula. It currently has a 4770 non-K. When I put the CPU in and boot, it's just sitting with code 00 and a blank screen. Reading around I found a thread somewhere on here talking about the Intel ME firmware needing to be upgraded. That thread was saying it should be 9.0.30.1482+. I'm fairly sure I have 9.0.2.1345, which explains why the new CPU isn't being recognized, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to upgrade it. The aforementioned thread keep saying to upgrade the BIOS, but I'm already running the latest 1603 BIOS for the mobo, and it apparently didn't upgrade the ME firmware. I'm also trying to install ME driver 11.0.5.1189 from the mobo page, but it's failing every time. Reading though the logs I can't figure out why. Coincidentally, reading through the logs is how I found out that I currently have 9.0.2.1345.

Please, somebody help me. I have a new $380 CPU sitting on my bed, laughing at me.
3,279 Views
5 REPLIES 5

Menthol
Level 14
What bios version are you on? It sounds like you may need to update the bios or maybe you don't have the CPU seated correctly or the heatsink is not tightened evenly or to tight

I'm on 1603, as I wrote in the post, which is the latest (and last) available version for my mobo. The CPU was seated correctly. Heatsink, or water block in my case was seated correctly. The only clue I have is the ME firmware not being up to the version it should be to recognize the Devyl's Canyon CPU. I'm trying to figure out how to upgrade it. I'm wary of messing with BIOS down/upgrades because last time it wiped out my RAID array. I'm backing up now in case it gets destructive.

I messed around with downgrading to 1505, then back to 1603, and back to 1505, and then back to 1603. It didn't do anything. The 4790k refuses to boot and it just sits with 00 code. I have the 4770 back in and it works fine. In fact, I've swapped them twice while trying to make it work. It's not the mobo as far as I can tell. I doubt it's the CPU. I'm pretty sure it's the damn ME firmware which is simply not upgrading as it's supposed to with the BIOS.

The thread I was talking about earlier is here: https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?48855-Must-Do-s-for-making-4790K-work-with-Maximus-VI-Moth...

There's also a post on it about using the BIOS Flashback functionality, but honestly, all it is is a different way to install BIOS. I doubt it would do any better job than the EZ Flash utility. I could be wrong.

I'm open to suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Interesting... I just opened the 1505 and 1603 files with ME Analyzer (1.34.1 r106) and it says that they both have ME 9.0.30.1482 embedded in them. Yet when using MEInfo, it says the installed version is 9.0.2.1345. Why isn't the BIOS upgrade also upgrading the ME if it's in there?

After some more messing around this morning, I did a BIOS update to 1603 using the USB Flashback process. This time it completely overwrote the BIOS and updated the ME to 9.0.30.1482. I then put the 4790k in and it booted up. After some fine tuning of the BIOS settings, I got Windows 10 to boot up as well, though it had me scared for a few minutes when it wasn't booting. I think it came down to disabling CSM and enabling secure boot. Did a bunch of stress testing and temps are where I expect them to be. With that, I'm not fully upgraded, and I've concluded that upgrading the BIOS doesn't always upgrade everything. In the case of the ME, a USB Flashback is required, probably because this way bypasses everything as the computer isn't running and is able to completely upgrade everything.