Asus bios roll back help

I updated my ASUS M3A79T-Deluxe benching motherboard BIOS to the latest version (1801). I would now like to rollback the BIOS to a previous version. After spending a little time on the Google machine it appears I need to use the AFUDOS utility as the ASUS EZFLASH2 utility doesn't allow rollbacks. My question is, has anyone done this successfully? I'm just concerned about bricking my board.

Thanks


UPDATE: Here is the Solution. You must use AFUDOS236 ENGINEERING EDITION in order to roll the BIOS back on this Motherboard. Continue to read the full thread if you want the full explination other wise here are the steps needed.

1. Download Rufus (I used version 1.4.10 which included FreeDOS) and copy it to a flash drive that has been formated using FAT32.
2. Download AFUDOS 2.36 ENGINEERING EDITION (It MUST be this version to work) and paste it on the flash drive.
3. Download the bios rom you wish to flash to from the ASUS website and paste that to the drive.
4. Your drive should be loaded like the image below.
5. Reboot your system with the flash drive plugged in and press F8 repeatedly to get to the boot menu. Select the USB drive.
6. In DOS type DIR to get a list of files/folders. (DO NOT POWER OFF UNTIL COMPLETE)
7. Type the following command to save your old rom.
AFUDOS /oold.rom
8. Once complete type the following command. (DO NOT POWER OFF UNTIL COMPLETE)
AFUDOS /i<new rom file name>.rom /pbnc /n
9. Once completed reboot your system and boot into your New BIOS.
10. Load factory defaults and Save settings.

That's it. Fin!

I have always used this to update my BIOS, never any issues. Load your BIOS in a USB Stick and boot into your BIOS..... TOOLs ..... etc. Once you start the process let it go and don't do anything else till its done.

By AFUDOS , I think Blaylock is talking about dos based flash utility. You just need a bootable USB drive with the utility and bios file on it. There should be specific instructions for this in the manual.

Johan45 said:

By AFUDOS , I think Blaylock is talking about dos based flash utility. You just need a bootable USB drive with the utility and bios file on it. There should be specific instructions for this in the manual.

Click to expand...

+1. Used this before on other boards. I see no reason why it shouldn't work on yours.

The ASUS EZFlash2 utility that is built into the BIOS doesn't allow a roll back feature. It tells you the existing BIOS is newer and doesn't allow the flash. I believe the AFUDOS utility was created to do this. Gonna have to try this tonight, just wanted some feedback as I've read of several people bricking their BIOS. I don't want to become one of THEM!

Your board doesn't have two bios?

You may want to update your signature?

This is just Blaylock doing some benching E_D. Hoping a different bios is going to turn a pig into a princess but not likely.

No the M3A79T is only single BIOS but it has some kind of BIOS Crash protection that I'd rather not test out if you follow me.

Update my sig? I believe it is.

Ha! I thought it was an intel board, LOL!

So I booted into DOS via USB and attempted to flash from 1801 back to 1501 using the AFUDOS utility. Here is the message I get which is the same as using the pre-installed Asus EZFLASH2. View attachment 153806

I also tried flashing back to the original 0302 bios with the same result. There has GOT to be a way to flash forward and back. I can't believe that ASUS doesn't have a way, but from everything that I've been reading' this is it.

I'm ready for some suggestions.



EDIT: I tried re-downloading 1501 from the ASUS site just to be sure I had the right one with no luck. Also tried the ASUS BUPDATER from their site, but that one doesn't work at all with this MoBo. Pretty much out of ideas.

Winflash use to revert bios...


How to flash an older bios version on ASUS laptop & desktops now that bioses
are UEFI.

+1 Winflash.....

I actually flashed an unlocked BIOS for a different mobo to an old MSI OEM board Still boots to this day.


For a guy (me) who doesn't bench or diddle around with OCing too much, I did download a collection of BIOS tools a year ago. Flashers, BIOS extractors and most BIOS editors from the BIOS manufactures Award, AMI etc.

Maybe it'll help you here
View attachment 153812

Awesome. Will try. Thanks.

Sadly I was unable to get winflash to work either. I tried 3 different versions with the same error "...this is not a notebook". What kind of crap is that? I have yet to come across a single success story rolling back a BIOS on this motherboard. I'm starting to think I'll just leave this BIOS on here and work with it. Pretty dis-heartning.

Thanks for the files Silver. I'm not sure what most of them are so I won't play around with them until I learn what they do.

After six years of monitoring bioses very closely, it became apparent that later bioses that said "Increase Memory Compatibility" were always weaker than first bioses. They tone down the bios 'to increase' memory compatibility in places we normally cannot adjust.

So I seldom flash any bios not stated to fix exactly the issue that I am faced with. No issue no bios flashing. There are some 7 bioses later than the one on my CHV non-Z board and never tried 'em and have no intention of doing so. In all seriousness, I don't think I have ever seen a later bios have more benchable performance than an original bios or close to it. Won't help you now but just an FYI for the future.
RGone...ster.

Ya. I normally don't do bios updates either, unless there's an issue. In this case my Sempy 145 wouldn't post so I assumed if I update the bios it might. Think I might test out my theory now that I'm kinda stuck. I'm not giving up on it, just postponing figuring it out.

Thanks for the help guys.

Do you know for real whether the bios firmware is Award or AMI?
RGone...

EDIT:
ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2
The CrashFree BIOS2 feature now includes the BIOS auto-recovery function in a support CD. Users can reboot their system through the support CD when a bootable disk is not available, and go through the simple BIOS auto-recovery process. ASUS motherboards now enable users to enjoy this protection feature without the need to pay for an optional ROM.

This method was to install the original shipping bios back onto the motherboard. Have you tried such by the how to instructions. That should get you back to where you can flash forward and stop before arriving at the bios you do n0t want.
END EDIT.

Blaylock said:

Sadly I was unable to get winflash to work either. I tried 3 different versions with the same error "...this is not a notebook". What kind of crap is that? I have yet to come across a single success story rolling back a BIOS on this motherboard. I'm starting to think I'll just leave this BIOS on here and work with it. Pretty dis-heartning.

Thanks for the files Silver. I'm not sure what most of them are so I won't play around with them until I learn what they do.

Click to expand...

The "AMIBCPxx.exe" files is the tools to edit (unlock) hidden features in AMI (Award) BIOS's. In the "Mod Tools 1" folder, there's a folder called AMI Aptio - this is the newest tool for the new 4Mb and larger BIOS's.

But yes, trial and error is what I did. Some tools will open some BIOS's, other will say "wtf is is file?"

Oh, MMTool.exe allows you to inject new features and CPU microcodes into BIOS's, but I've never tried it.
In theory, you should be able to make the BIOS recognize unsupported.
Play around with them one day. The best way to learn them.

Now hopefully Bobster's info on the CD recovery will work

It has the AMI bios. The crash free is definitely a possibility for me. From what I've read it has to be a borked install for it to recognize the bad bios and start the recovery process. I've thought about killing it on purpose, but that's a damn gutsy move on a rig that's functioning just fine. Maybe after I get bored with my Sempy, assuming it works. If not maybe play with some of those bios tools and unlock it, eh?

Okay you seem to be able to boot to Usb stick or some form of AFUDOS...

...You initiated AFUDOS but you did NOT use any syntax or switches to allow for RollBack of the bios firmware.

From the location where AFUDOS and the bios rom were located you should have started/begun the flash like this:
afudos /iNEWBIOS.ROM /nr /pbnc

Where inewbios.rom is the bios you plan to roll back to.

Where a space/nr means to NOT check the ROMs IDs. For RollBack of bios.

Where a space/pbnc means to program the boot block, the NVRAM and clear the CMOS.

When you just typed in afudos~1 /i1501 AFUDOS checked the ROM ID and reported that you already had a 'later' bios flashed and said go take a jump. You have to use flashing syntax/switches to tell the flasher what you really wish to happen.

So if you wanted to Roll Back to bios 1501, the flash instructions or typing would look like this.
AFUDOS~1 /i1501.rom /nr /pbnc
Note: there is a space after ~1 >>>> There is a space after .rom >>>> There is a space after /nr

After a bios flash is fully completed, I always clear the CMOS manually so I know it is fully cleared.
RGone...ster.