Biosupdate on Asus mobo with unsupported CPU

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Rob von Bothmer

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Aug 29, 2014
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I have bought the Asus z97m-plus and Intel i7 4790K cpu. The problem is that the bios on the motherboard probably doesn't have the updated bios for supporting the CPU.

After talking to Asus customer support they can't give me a straight and correct answer as to if the motherboard can be updated even though an unsupported CPU is installed (they wrote "It might work but we can't guarantee it".. uhm.. thanks).

They say that IF it works I will be able to boot to bios and update using the EZ Flash-tool but I need to know if this even is possible before opening the package of the motherboard (the reseller won't accept a return if it has been opened).

Anybody that knows if the cpu runs in "safe-mode" or something so you can update the bios even if the cpu's not supported on the motherboard?

Thanks!
 
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R




Well.. You both were wrong. I installed the 4790K on the Z97M-Plus with bios 0325 (the bios didn't have support for the CPU with this bios) but I was still able to boot into bios and update to the latest bios (with support for the CPU). I have now installed Win7 and everything works great.

This is the solution (answer) to my question.
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Vexillarius

Vexillarius

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Look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1150#Second-generation_Haswell_chipsets

Z97 supports Haswell Refresh out of the box.

It says so here too: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/chipsets/performance-chipsets/z97-chipset-brief.html?wapkw=5th+generation+intel+core+processors


EDIT: Scratch that, my noob is showing again. I looked up the supported CPU list for the mobo I'll be buying in a few weeks and not all Haswell-R CPUs (including the 4790K) are supported by the first BIOS version.
 
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Y0GI

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Here is the list of supported CPUs: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z97MPLUS/HelpDesk_CPU/

It shows that the mobo can use the new i7 IF the mobo has BIOS ver. 0330. I don't know how Asus does their packaging, but MSI puts the installed BIOS version on a sticker on the outside of the mobo's box.

Maybe someone else can chime in here and tell us if Asus puts the BIOS ver. on the outside of the box.

Yogi
 
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Rob von Bothmer

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No Asus does not put bios-version outside of the box anymore, I've checked.

But the question is not what bios-version I have now (as I already know that it has 0325), the question is if I can update bios with a unsupported CPU. I have posted the exact same question on many forums and many have stated that it will work even if it's not supported as it still runs on Devil's Canyon-"architecture", the difference might be that it interprets the CPU as a 4770 or 4790 (without the K).

I will of course post and update after I have tried so that if anybody in the future that has the same question will get an 100% certain answer.

 
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Rob von Bothmer

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Well.. You both were wrong. I installed the 4790K on the Z97M-Plus with bios 0325 (the bios didn't have support for the CPU with this bios) but I was still able to boot into bios and update to the latest bios (with support for the CPU). I have now installed Win7 and everything works great.

This is the solution (answer) to my question.
 
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Solution
Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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The BIOS support page clearly says the i74790 is supported since BIOS version 0325 (Unlocked version K is irrelevant for the purpose of flashing BIOS. Version 0330 only necessary to support unlocked feature.) on the cpu support page listed here:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z97MPLUS/HelpDesk_CPU/

Clearly I am NOT wrong as nothing in my post is inaccurate. I do NOT say you cannot flash the BIOS with a supported cpu installed and clearly your cpu IS a supported cpu for BIOS version 0325. I do not contradict that in my post.

I am also not wrong about it not supporting flashing the BIOS without a cpu installed. So please consider the accuracy of your statements if you're going to call somebody on their bullshit. Doing so is all good, just make sure you're correct when you do it.
 
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