Maximus VIII Ranger BIOS corrupted after USB BIOS flashback

itsakjt · Feb 5, 2021

Hello everyone. So I have a Maximus VIII Ranger motherboard which I was using with a modded BIOS for Skylake OC because my old 7600K had a faulty memory controller.
I got an used 7600K for a steal price (tried and tested working) and hence was flashing the latest BIOS back again using BIOS flashback to make sure it is fully supported. After flashing, the board no longer POSTs. The Q Code indicator shows 00. I have tried multiple BIOS files including the one that was there (the modded one) and it's still the same.
I am about to order a USB BIOS programmer but before doing that, wanted to know if any of you have a similar experience and if it is possible to recover the BIOS without any tools.

Caring1 · Feb 5, 2021

You know it has a removable Bios chip right?
Buy a new one on eBay.

Grom0X · Feb 5, 2021

Please try this:
Clear CMOS, remove CMOS battery, wait one hour, put the battery back.
Use other USB flash drive, download latest bios Asus maximus ranger viii 3802, and extract to desktop, then rename extracted bios file to M8R, format USB drive with rufus to FAT32, copy M8R to the usb flash drive, and try again flash BIOS using FLASHBACK. .

itsakjt · Feb 5, 2021

Caring1 said:
You know it has a removable Bios chip right?
Buy a new one on eBay.

I know but eBay service is very poor here in India.

Grom0X said:
Please try this:
Clear CMOS, remove CMOS battery, wait one hour, put the battery back.
Use other USB flash drive, download latest bios Asus maximus ranger viii 3802, and extract to desktop, then rename extracted bios file to M8R, format USB drive with rufus to FAT32, copy M8R to the usb flash drive, and try again flash BIOS using FLASHBACK. .

I did try it but same issue persists. I am pretty sure nothing else is wrong with the board as it worked just 5 mins before the update. I didn't even touch the CPU socket. Just updated via flashback and attempted powering it on and since then, it is like this.
After this, I did try different CPUs just to be sure but still a no go.

davidm71 · Feb 7, 2021

Buy a usb flash programmer and try to flash a fresh copy onto the bios chip.

trickson · Feb 7, 2021

itsakjt said:
I know but eBay service is very poor here in India.

How can that even be?
I mean isn't India the central nexus for Tech support?
You guys are like the living embodiment of outsourcing and you can't get a BIOS chip?
OKAY now I have head EVERYTHING! I can NOW DIE in piece.

itsakjt · Feb 7, 2021

davidm71 said:
Buy a usb flash programmer and try to flash a fresh copy onto the bios chip.

That's exactly what I have done. Ordered a CH341A from Amazon. It should get delivered today.

trickson said:
How can that even be?
I mean isn't India the central nexus for Tech support?
You guys are like the living embodiment of outsourcing and you can't get a BIOS chip?
OKAY now I have head EVERYTHING! I can NOW DIE in piece.

eBay.in was shut down on 2018 due to poor sales and issues with shipping. After that it is there but usually costs a lot in shipping or the product cannot be delivered.
I searched for the BIOS chip and there is indeed one on eBay for around 15 pounds but it cannot be shipped to India.
I am really hoping the BIOS programmer will fix it.

davidm71 · Feb 7, 2021

Only thing with using bios programmer you loose motherboard specific information like UUID and serial number info that needs to be inserted into bios. Forget how exactly.

itsakjt · Feb 7, 2021

davidm71 said:
Only thing with using bios programmer you loose motherboard specific information like UUID and serial number info that needs to be inserted into bios. Forget how exactly.

Absolutely. And the Ethernet MAC address too probably (in case of Intel LAN). However, I might have an idea to restore those. Using CoffeeTime to edit the BIOS file and putting those information, it should work fine. Even if the existing BIOS is completely corrupt, I still have the box with all the info and will give it a shot.
But first, to get the board to POST again.

davidm71 · Feb 7, 2021

itsakjt said:
Absolutely. And the Ethernet MAC address too probably (in case of Intel LAN). However, I might have an idea to restore those. Using CoffeeTime to edit the BIOS file and putting those information, it should work fine. Even if the existing BIOS is completely corrupt, I still have the box with all the info and will give it a shot.
But first, to get the board to POST again.

Isnt there an app for that? FD44editor I think. Anyhow I remember once Or rather first time I flashed an old Asus board I used an unmodified stock bios and it still worked. Probably wasnt perfect.

itsakjt · Feb 7, 2021

I fixed it. The flasher (CH341A) was delivered today. I put my BIOS chip on the tool, made a full backup and used FD44 to inject the serial number, UUID and MAC to the fresh ASUS BIOS. A new bin file was generated.
Then erased the chip complely and flashed the BIOS and bingo, it's back.
The flasher:

And success:

trickson · Feb 7, 2021

AWSOME! So good to hear you got it fixed and thanks for the detailed update as to how you managed it!
Awesome!

System Name	Coffee \| Maximus
Processor	Intel Core i7 9700K @ 5.2 GHz with AVX, 4.8 GHz cache clock \| i7 9700KF @ 5.0 GHz/4.7 GHz cache
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus X Formula \| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger (modded BIOS for Coffee Lake)+TPM2.0 module
Cooling	Cooler Master ML240 Illusion \| Cooler Master ML120L RGB
Memory	216 GB (32 GB) Kingston Fury Beast @3600 MHz CL17 \| 48 GB (32 GB) HyperX Fury @3200 MHz CL14
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB Twin Edge \| Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB
Storage	Samsung PM981a 1TB NVMe+480GB SATA SSD+2 TB HDD \| Crucial P5 1TB, Crucial P1 500GB+2.5TB HDDs
Display(s)	LG OLED 55 G3, 4K 120 Hz, VRR, ALLM, GSync, FreeSync \| Samsung 43AU9070 4K TV, VRR, ALLM
Case	Corsair Crystal 460X RGB \| Lianli Lancool 215
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Z SE \| Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX)
Power Supply	ASUS ROG Strix 750G (80+ Gold) \| Cooler Master MWE 650 V2 (80+ Bronze)
Mouse	Cooler Master MM731 19000 DPI gaming mouse
Keyboard	Cooler Master CK721 65% mechanical gaming keyboard (tactile)
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64 \|Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R20 MT 4200,ST 547 CPU-Z MT 4871, ST 620 \| R20 MT - 4158, ST - 534, CPU-Z MT 4798, ST 603

System Name	Black Box
Processor	Intel Xeon E3-1260L v5
Motherboard	MSI E3 KRAIT Gaming v5
Cooling	Tt tower + 120mm Tt fan
Memory	G.Skill 16GB 3600 C18
Video Card(s)	Asus GTX 970 Mini
Storage	Kingston A2000 512Gb NVME
Display(s)	AOC 24" Freesync 1m.s. 75Hz
Case	Corsair 450D High Air Flow.
Audio Device(s)	No need.
Power Supply	FSP Aurum 650W
Mouse	Yes
Keyboard	Of course
Software	W10 Pro 64 bit

Processor	Intel® Core™ i5-6600K
Motherboard	ASUS MAXIMUS VIII RANGER
Cooling	Arctic Freezer 34 eSports DUO
Memory	16GB KINGSTON HyperX SAVAGE 3000MHz
Video Card(s)	GIGABYTE GTX 970 G1 Gaming
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO
Display(s)	Dell 24 Inch
Case	ABKONCORE CRONOS 710S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard Realtek ALC1150/ASUS SupremeFX
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x 850W V2
Software	Windows 10 PRO x64

System Name	Coffee \| Maximus
Processor	Intel Core i7 9700K @ 5.2 GHz with AVX, 4.8 GHz cache clock \| i7 9700KF @ 5.0 GHz/4.7 GHz cache
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus X Formula \| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger (modded BIOS for Coffee Lake)+TPM2.0 module
Cooling	Cooler Master ML240 Illusion \| Cooler Master ML120L RGB
Memory	216 GB (32 GB) Kingston Fury Beast @3600 MHz CL17 \| 48 GB (32 GB) HyperX Fury @3200 MHz CL14
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB Twin Edge \| Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB
Storage	Samsung PM981a 1TB NVMe+480GB SATA SSD+2 TB HDD \| Crucial P5 1TB, Crucial P1 500GB+2.5TB HDDs
Display(s)	LG OLED 55 G3, 4K 120 Hz, VRR, ALLM, GSync, FreeSync \| Samsung 43AU9070 4K TV, VRR, ALLM
Case	Corsair Crystal 460X RGB \| Lianli Lancool 215
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Z SE \| Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX)
Power Supply	ASUS ROG Strix 750G (80+ Gold) \| Cooler Master MWE 650 V2 (80+ Bronze)
Mouse	Cooler Master MM731 19000 DPI gaming mouse
Keyboard	Cooler Master CK721 65% mechanical gaming keyboard (tactile)
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64 \|Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R20 MT 4200,ST 547 CPU-Z MT 4871, ST 620 \| R20 MT - 4158, ST - 534, CPU-Z MT 4798, ST 603

System Name	Ryzen TUF.
Processor	AMD Ryzen7 3700X
Motherboard	Asus TUF X570 Gaming Plus
Cooling	Noctua
Memory	Gskill RipJaws 3466MHz
Video Card(s)	Asus TUF 1650 Super Clocked.
Storage	CB 1T M.2 Drive.
Display(s)	73" Soney 4K.
Case	Antech LanAir Pro.
Audio Device(s)	Denon AVR-S750H
Power Supply	Corsair TX750
Mouse	Optical
Keyboard	K120 Logitech
Software	Windows 10 64 bit Home OEM

Maximus VIII Ranger BIOS corrupted after USB BIOS flashback

itsakjt

Caring1

Grom0X

itsakjt

davidm71

trickson

OH, I have such a headache

itsakjt

davidm71

itsakjt

davidm71

itsakjt

trickson

OH, I have such a headache