AMD AGESA 1.0.0.3ABA Buggy, Company Pulls it from Motherboard Vendors

btarunr · Jul 19, 2019

The latest version of AGESA ComboAM4 microcode that enables 3rd generation Ryzen support on AMD 400-series chipset motherboards has been deemed buggy and pulled from motherboard vendors. AGESA ComboAM4 1.0.0.3ABA (not to be confused with 1.0.0.3AB that's being widely distributed), was originally released to fix an application crash noticed with "Destiny 2." The microcode inadvertantly destabilizes PCI-Express on motherboards, with users of ASUS motherboards complaining of stability issues with the latest BIOS updates that include 1.0.0.3ABA.

Peter "Shamino" Tan from ASUS commented that the company was under a tight schedule to push 1.0.0.3ABA out as BIOS updates, and didn't have the time to properly validate it. "We just got told to pull (was undergoing validation prior) 1003 ABA version," he said, adding the root cause of the problem being "that PCIE speed of BXB-C downgraded from gen4 to gen2,..." He comments "so its not surprising that bugs emerge since the source has hidden bugs that only gets unraveled with thorough testing. combine that with trying to get firmwares out in a tight time frame, kinda damn if you do (release firmware quickly) and damn if you dont (dont release firmware quickly) situation." It's interesting to note that in their BIOS update change-logs, quite a few motherboard vendors omit the full version string of AGESA. You may encounter ComboAM4 1.0.0.3AB being referred to simply as "AGESA ComboAM4 1.0.0.3."

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

biffzinker · Jul 19, 2019

Nothing out of the ordinary for me with AGESA Combo-AM4 1.0.0.3

Primary PCIe x16 v3.0 slot

R00kie · Jul 19, 2019

biffzinker said:
View attachment 127200

Nothing out of the ordinary for me with AGESA Combo-AM4 1.0.0.3

Primary PCIe x16 v3.0 slot
View attachment 127201

Is that the ABA variant though?

silentbogo · Jul 19, 2019

I've upgraded customer's PC to 1.0.0.3AB yesterday, and so far so good. PCIe speeds are normal.
Haven't had a chance to upgrade my AORUS Ultra board to F41a, but I'll test it out later this weekend.

biffzinker · Jul 19, 2019

gdallsk said:
Is that the ABA variant though?

Doesn't say if ABA but I'm still on chipset B350, and Pinnacle Ridge.

Mussels · Jul 19, 2019

i'm on 1.0.0.3AB on my x370 and getting VERY CONFUSED by all these names

xkm1948 · Jul 19, 2019

Intel’s security bugs and AMD’s launch problems. Man.....

bug · Jul 19, 2019

Well, that's unfortunate. The same problem that's causing for Destiny 2 is also preventing up-to-date Linux+systemd installs from booting

I'm sure it will be fixed sooner rater than later, but I wouldn't be one of the early adopters.

Xaled · Jul 19, 2019

Is it really buggy or is it a "way" to cut backward compatibility?

bug · Jul 19, 2019

Xaled said:
Is it really buggy or is it a "way" to cut backward compatibility?

How does a missing firmware version cut into backward compatibility?

silentbogo · Jul 19, 2019

Xaled said:
Is it really buggy or is it a "way" to cut backward compatibility?

Definitely buggy. UEFI is so bloated and overcomplicated that bugs are pretty much inevitable at this point.
That machine I mentioned earlier had a nasty bug too (B450 Aorus M): if I do a clean UEFI windows installation, then the GTX1070 would lose all monitors as soon as I install any version of NVidia driver (can't read EDID and outputs black screen, even though GPU functions properly). On CSM install - no problems whatsoever. Other boards - also no problems (tested on B150, B350, Z170, X470). Spent whole day yesterday trying to figure it out, until I've decided to connect to machine remotely via RDP chasing a wild guess.

Xaled · Jul 19, 2019

bug said:
How does a missing firmware version cut into backward compatibility?

"...AGESA ComboAM4 microcode that enables 3rd generation Ryzen support on AMD 400-series chipset motherboards.."

3rd gen ryzen's backward compatibility

bug · Jul 19, 2019

Xaled said:
"...AGESA ComboAM4 microcode that enables 3rd generation Ryzen support on AMD 400-series chipset motherboards.."

3rd gen ryzen's backward compatibility

That's already provided by the currently available versions, not a new feature.

aQi · Jul 19, 2019

Looks like Amd does not want PCIe 4.0 onto older chipsets. Lol they were not pleased when asus deliberately enabled it on B350 TUF and tested to be perfect.
And i guess x570 sales are below average :pimp:

Mussels · Jul 19, 2019

Aqeel Shahzad said:
Looks like Amd does not want PCIe 4.0 onto older chipsets. Lol they were not pleased when asus deliberately enabled it on B350 TUF and tested to be perfect.
And i guess x570 sales are below average

pci-e 4 on older chipsets is working on plenty of boards, this one particular update (of many!) is just FUBAR.

bug · Jul 19, 2019

Aqeel Shahzad said:
Looks like Amd does not want PCIe 4.0 onto older chipsets. Lol they were not pleased when asus deliberately enabled it on B350 TUF and tested to be perfect.
And i guess x570 sales are below average

Users don't want PCIe 4.0 onto older chipsets either, but they're too dumb to realize it. I think AMD is just (rightfully) playing it safe here.

Older chipsets can only run PCIe 4.0 to the first PCIe x16 slot (the video card) and one additional M.2 slot. It's been benchmarked here on TPU that video cards don't give a rat's ass about PCIe 4.0. And SSDs haven't been bottlenecked by sequential transfers in ages. What good would PCIe 4.0 do for you under these circumstances. Plus, users that are unable to grasp this, won't understand why PCIe 4.0 is confined tot hose two slots and would complain anyway.

Mistral · Jul 19, 2019

Can someone explain why you have to do a microcode update to fix one game, instead of that game getting a bloody patch?

bug · Jul 19, 2019

Mistral said:
Can someone explain why you have to do a microcode update to fix one game, instead of that game getting a bloody patch?

Because you botched the implementation of a hardware instruction that's supposed to generate random numbers. And because, you didn't test properly because releasing.

And it's not one game, as I posted above, it also renders many recent Linux distros unable to boot.

Dave65 · Jul 19, 2019

Is this affecting x570 any or just x470?

bug · Jul 19, 2019

Dave65 said:
Is this affecting x570 any or just x470?

That particular bug is in all Zen2 CPUs, it doesn't matter which motherboard you stick it into. The good news is this instruction being new, it's not used by many programs yet.

Turmania · Jul 19, 2019

AMD with zillion bugs at launch they never learn do they?

voltage · Jul 19, 2019

If Intel did crap like that the internet would bash the heck out of them. double standard

TheGuruStud · Jul 19, 2019

Asus can STFU. I just updated to newest on c6h (still 1002) and CPU is locked at 360 MHz. Idiots. They literally never even tested it lol

Morons pretending they actually try to test anything is laughable.

bug · Jul 19, 2019

TheGuruStud said:
Asus can STFU. I just updated to newest on c6h (still 1002) and CPU is locked at 360 MHz. Idiots. They literally never even tested it lol

Morons pretending they actually try to test anything is laughable.

Any reason you must jump on the most recent firmware so close to release (and then be surprised it's buggy)?

TheGuruStud · Jul 19, 2019

bug said:
Any reason you must jump on the most recent firmware so close to release (and then be surprised it's buggy)?

Bc it's not new AGESA and the original update for zen 2 works fine. They broke a working version.

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

Processor	Ryzen 9 5900X
Motherboard	MSI B450 Tomahawk ATX
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition
Memory	VENGEANCE LPX 2 x 16GB DDR4-3600 C18 OCed 3800
Video Card(s)	XFX Speedster SWFT309 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT CORE Gaming
Storage	970 EVO NVMe M.2 500 GB, 870 QVO 1 TB
Display(s)	Samsung 28” 4K monitor
Case	Phantek Eclipse P400S (PH-EC416PS)
Audio Device(s)	EVGA NU Audio
Power Supply	EVGA 850 BQ
Mouse	SteelSeries Rival 310
Keyboard	Logitech G G413 Silver
Software	Windows 10 Professional 64-bit v22H2

System Name	Main / HTPC
Processor	Ryzen 9 5900X / Ryzen 7 2700
Motherboard	Strix B550i / B450i Aorus Pro
Cooling	Lian-Li Galahad 360 / Wraith Spire
Memory	Corsair LPX 2x16 3600MHz / HyperX Predator 2x8GB 3200MHz
Video Card(s)	RTX 3080 FE / ARC A380
Storage	WD Black SN770 1TB / Sabrent Rocket 256GB
Display(s)	Acer Z301c / 39" Panasonic HDTV
Case	Corsair 2000D / Cougar QBX
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha RX-V379 / Realtek ALC1220
Power Supply	Corsair SF600 / BeQuiet SFX Power 2 450W
Mouse	Logitech G900
Keyboard	Drop Sense75 with WQ Studio Morandi's
VR HMD	Rift S
Software	Win 11 Pro 64Bit

System Name	WS#1337
Processor	Ryzen 7 3800X
Motherboard	ASUS X570-PLUS TUF Gaming
Cooling	Xigmatek Scylla 240mm AIO
Memory	4x8GB Samsung DDR4 ECC UDIMM
Video Card(s)	Inno3D RTX 3070 Ti iChill
Storage	ADATA Legend 2TB + ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB
Display(s)	Samsung U24E590D (4K/UHD)
Case	ghetto CM Cosmos RC-1000
Audio Device(s)	ALC1220
Power Supply	SeaSonic SSR-550FX (80+ GOLD)
Mouse	Logitech G603
Keyboard	Modecom Volcano Blade (Kailh choc LP)
VR HMD	Google dreamview headset(aka fancy cardboard)
Software	Windows 11, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Processor	Ryzen 9 5900X
Motherboard	MSI B450 Tomahawk ATX
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition
Memory	VENGEANCE LPX 2 x 16GB DDR4-3600 C18 OCed 3800
Video Card(s)	XFX Speedster SWFT309 AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT CORE Gaming
Storage	970 EVO NVMe M.2 500 GB, 870 QVO 1 TB
Display(s)	Samsung 28” 4K monitor
Case	Phantek Eclipse P400S (PH-EC416PS)
Audio Device(s)	EVGA NU Audio
Power Supply	EVGA 850 BQ
Mouse	SteelSeries Rival 310
Keyboard	Logitech G G413 Silver
Software	Windows 10 Professional 64-bit v22H2

AMD AGESA 1.0.0.3ABA Buggy, Company Pulls it from Motherboard Vendors

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

biffzinker

R00kie

silentbogo

Moderator

biffzinker

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

xkm1948

bug

Xaled

bug

silentbogo

Moderator

Xaled

bug

aQi

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

bug

Mistral

bug

Dave65

bug

Turmania

voltage

TheGuruStud

bug

TheGuruStud

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling	Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory	2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s)	Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) \| Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) \| Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case	Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores	Nyooom.

System Name	Virtual Reality / Bioinformatics
Processor	Undead CPU
Motherboard	Undead TUF X99
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15
Memory	GSkill 128GB DDR4-3000
Video Card(s)	EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra
Storage	Samsung 960 Pro 1TB + 860 EVO 2TB + WD Black 5TB
Display(s)	32'' 4K Dell
Case	Fractal Design R5
Audio Device(s)	BOSE 2.0
Power Supply	Seasonic 850watt
Mouse	Logitech Master MX
Keyboard	Corsair K70 Cherry MX Blue
VR HMD	HTC Vive + Oculus Quest 2
Software	Windows 10 P

Processor	Intel i5-12600k
Motherboard	Asus H670 TUF
Cooling	Arctic Freezer 34
Memory	2x16GB DDR4 3600 G.Skill Ripjaws V
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage	500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s)	Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case	Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s)	Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply	Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse	Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard	G.Skill KM780R
Software	Arch Linux + Win10

System Name	Aryzen / Sairikiki / Tesseract
Processor	5800x / i7 920@3.73 / 5800x
Motherboard	Steel Legend B450M / GB EX58-UDP4 / Steel Legend B550M
Cooling	Mugen 5 / Pure Rock / Glacier One 240
Memory	Corsair Something 16 / Corsair Something 12 / G.Skill 32
Video Card(s)	AMD 6800XT / AMD 6750XT / Sapphire 7800XT
Storage	Way too many drives...
Display(s)	LG 332GP850-B / Sony w800b / Sony X90J
Case	EVOLV X / Carbide 540 / Carbide 280x
Audio Device(s)	SB ZxR + GSP 500 / board / Denon X1700h + ELAC Uni-Fi 2 + Senn 6XX
Power Supply	Seasonic PRIME GX-750 / Corsair HX750 / Seasonic Focus PX-650
Mouse	G700 / none / G602
Keyboard	G910
Software	w11 64
Benchmark Scores	I don't play benchmarks...

System Name	Daves
Processor	AMD Ryzen 3900x
Motherboard	AsRock X570 Taichi
Cooling	Enermax LIQMAX III 360
Memory	32 GiG Team Group B Die 3600
Video Card(s)	Powercolor 5700 xt Red Devil
Storage	Crucial MX 500 SSD and Intel P660 NVME 2TB for games
Display(s)	Acer 144htz 27in. 2560x1440
Case	Phanteks P600S
Audio Device(s)	N/A
Power Supply	Corsair RM 750
Mouse	EVGA
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe
Software	Windows 10 Pro

Processor	OCed 5800X3D
Motherboard	Asucks C6H
Cooling	Air
Memory	32GB
Video Card(s)	OCed 6800XT
Storage	NVMees
Display(s)	32" Dull curved 1440
Case	Freebie glass idk
Audio Device(s)	Sennheiser
Power Supply	Don't even remember