MSI a88x-g45 gaming bios flash file type change, help needed

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ImperialGuardsman

ImperialGuardsman

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Hello everyone,

My brother gave me a free MSI board since he was not able to get it to work. Looks like it had an older bios that did not recognize the A10 cpu he wanted to use. I got an older chip and it works. It order to use the current chips, I decided to flash the bios. Here is the problem I am having:

Bios versions up to 7900v16 (when extracted) give you 3 files to put on your jump drive: A small text file, a small application file, and a "160" file. 7900v17 and up give you a small text file and a large application file. The M-Flash feature in the bios does not recognize this new bios file.

I have been able to update to 7900v16 but I cannot go any further. Does this new application require a windows environment in order to work? I have been using this board on a test bench without a hard drive or OS and have been downloading the files on my main computer.

Thank you very much!
 
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clutchc
Oh, no Win environment yet. I wasn't aware you were just doing this in bread board mode.

I downloaded the files you are concerned about to verify what you were saying. It does indeed appear that MSI has eliminated the M-Flash files for updating within BIOS for V17 and 18. I would have to assume they no longer want the end user to do it from BIOS. You could contact them and see if they have an explanation. Curious.

But yes, given that all you have available from the MSI download is an .EXE file, it would have to be flashed from inside the Win environment.
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ImperialGuardsman

ImperialGuardsman

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Really? I always came from the school of thought that A) Don't update the bios unless you REALLY need to and B) never do it in Windows.
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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Suit yourself. That thinking was useful back in the bad old days of early Windows. But never had a problem yet with Win7, and I've done it a bunch of times. In fact, that is my preferred method.
All it's doing is automatically finding the correct BIOS version for your board and flashing the chip. Same thing happens when you are doing it within BIOS but you have to be sure you found the correct BIOS yourself.

What MSI board are you trying to flash?
 
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ImperialGuardsman

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But if you look in the downloads, there are more (https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/A88X-G45-GAMING.html#support_download). Mine shipped with v15 and I was able to update to v16. I have no idea why there are no cpus listed older than v17. The weird thing is that the final two are in a different format that cannot be recognized by the in bios updater.
 
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clutchc

clutchc

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Those are all older BIOSs. Why would you be wanting to use an older BIOS? V17 and 18 are the newest. What APU/CPU are you wanting to use?
 
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ImperialGuardsman

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As I said in the beginning, my motherboard came with V15 and I wanted to update it. V17-18 are in a different format so that the update feature within the bios does not recognize them. The update to v16 worked just fine. The motherboard is not a part of a complete system yet so it is not being used within a Windows environment.

My brother had issues with the board (he said that the USB ports were not working, no keyboard or mouse would work) and gave it to me. He was trying to use an A10 7870k. To be on the safe side, I used a PS2 keyboard (which is all I have) and an A4 7300 because it made no sense to buy the more expensive CPU just to test a potentially dead board. I was able to enter the bios and my PS2 keyboard and my USB mouse worked. I suspect that the older bios may have had issues with the 7870k. That is why I wanted to update it so that I can buy and use my own 7870k (or 7890k). Do I need to complete the system using the A4 and then update the bios in Windows? Why would MSI change the format of the final two bios revisions so that they cannot be update within the bios?

Thanks

 
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clutchc

clutchc

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Oh, no Win environment yet. I wasn't aware you were just doing this in bread board mode.

I downloaded the files you are concerned about to verify what you were saying. It does indeed appear that MSI has eliminated the M-Flash files for updating within BIOS for V17 and 18. I would have to assume they no longer want the end user to do it from BIOS. You could contact them and see if they have an explanation. Curious.

But yes, given that all you have available from the MSI download is an .EXE file, it would have to be flashed from inside the Win environment.
 
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ImperialGuardsman

ImperialGuardsman

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Thanks for the help. I thought that I was going mad. I guess I will have to wait until the full system is assembled.


 
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