Hi.

The workstation version of my motherboard still gets bios updates.
Would it be possible to use the ASUS Z170-WS bios on a ASUS Z170-A board? I have a CH341A bios flasher.
Is there any risk of permanent bricking if I'd try it?


Thx in advance!

No risk of permanent brick, especially since you have programmer. But, be 100% sure you have a confirm (checked by someone) backup of your current BIOS dumped with programmer before you do anything.
If the board layout is 100% same, then it may be OK. If not, then some stuff may not work properly, or at all. You will need to edit in your serial, UUID if you care about that and LAN MAC ID for sure if you want to use Ethernet.

Or, you could just update your Z170-A BIOS to be more up to date than the WS BIOS, then you wouldn't have to do any of that crossflash stuff!
This would be what I would do

Thanks for your reply!

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #2

---

But, be 100% sure you have a confirm (checked by someone) backup of your current BIOS dumped with programmer before you do anything.

---

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #2

---

You will need to edit in your serial, UUID if you care about that and LAN MAC ID for sure if you want to use Ethernet.

---

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #2

---

Or, you could just update your Z170-A BIOS to be more up to date than the WS BIOS, then you wouldn't have to do any of that crossflash stuff!

---

Just some things to keep in mind when cross-flashing;

1. The VRM circuits on these boards are completely different, the Z170-A has 4 power phases (from the ASP1400B controller) for the CPU as opposed to 8 power phases on the Z170-WS (via the ASP1405I controller)

2. The Z170-WS has a PCIe lane multiplexer (PLX) for quad SLI and the Z170-A does not have a multiplexer at all.

3. The Z170-A has an Intel I219V NIC while the Z170-WS has 1x Intel I219-LM NIC + 1 x Intel I210-A NIC

4. The Z170-A has the Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec and the Z170-WS has the Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec

There are other differences but these are the ones that will likely cause failure to POST - these 2 boards are as different as chalk and cheese.

You can cross-flash similar boards like the Z170-A and the Z170-AR (only differences are extra iGPU outputs) but in this case I think there are too many differences.

If you do try it please report the results!

Zitat von chinobino im Beitrag #4

---

1. The VRM circuits on these boards are completely different, the Z170-A has 4 power phases (from the ASP1400B controller) for the CPU as opposed to 8 power phases on the Z170-WS (via the ASP1405I controller)

---

Zitat von chinobino im Beitrag #4

---

3. The Z170-A has an Intel I219V NIC while the Z170-WS has 1x Intel I219-LM NIC + 1 x Intel I210-A NIC

---

Zitat von chinobino im Beitrag #4

---

4. The Z170-A has the Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec and the Z170-WS has the Realtek ALC1150 Audio Codec

---

Zitat von chinobino im Beitrag #4

---

If you do try it please report the results!

---

If the VRM circuitry is vastly different then the commands sent to the VRM IC's could be invalid or possibly even sent to the wrong pins due to the different configuration.

Could it damage hardware? It's definitely possible, although I think it's more likely that it just won't work.

The subtle differences between the Intel Gigabit NIC models may not be an issue but the Z170-WS BIOS will be expecting two NIC's and will need to configure the sole NIC on the Z170-A. It might work, who knows lol.

The onboard audio most likely won't work and can possibly be disabled.

Chance of bricking in this case I estimate to be ~90% just due to the differences in the VRM.

Zitat von chinobino im Beitrag #6

---

Chance of bricking in this case I estimate to be ~90% just due to the differences in the VRM.

---

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #2

---

Or, you could just update your Z170-A BIOS to be more up to date than the WS BIOS, then you wouldn't have to do any of that crossflash stuff!

---

Thanks @chinobino - I assumed he already did, so I didn't even look! Due to this, I would also advise against crossflash here! @C:/con/con

I meant update however, I do not use UBU so I wouldn't use that myself, but yes, you can use UBU to update whatever it allows updating.
Anything else you wanted updated that it doesn't do would need done other ways (ie manually, with other tools etc, how I would do all updates myself)
I would not extract anything from WS BIOS for updating the Z170-A, this is unnecessary (And some things may need edited/not work) and it's very likely you would find more up to date items to use here instead anyway.

Dump original BIOS region with FPT, unlock BIOS lock, flash it back, then dump again and mod whatever you want, then flash it back.
Or, dump entire chip with programmer, modify it or have someone else mod, then program it back

Zitat von Lost_N_BIOS im Beitrag #8

---

Dump original BIOS region with FPT, unlock BIOS lock, flash it back, then dump again and mod whatever you want, then flash it back.

---

FPT is suggested, I actually advise against the use of AFU, especially OLD AFU that allows /GAN (This was made for BIOS 10+ years ago)
Using this method can cause bricked BIOS sometimes on modern boards, and often causes issues with future BIOS flashing as well.

What I suggest for modern Asus board without flashback is FPT (Intel Flash Programming tool) You must dump your BIOS region first, then modify it, then flash it back