GA-Z270X Gaming 7, is this reboot normal?

[Phroster]

I also read about the MAC adress. But I don't think there is an option for that on this board.
Also I use the Killer NIC, and disable the Intel NIC in the BIOS.
No issues with the internet connection.

Supported or not, with F4 it works. So it's a BIOS issue.

I think you really need to use the physical switch.
And when you update the F5 BIOS, both are updated, main and backup.
So you are very likely not able to go back to F4, unless you use the FPT tool.

My board now has F4 on the main BIOS, and F5 on the backup I think.
Backup is only used when the main BIOS fails.

[kamikazee]

Hmm that makes sense, so once you update to F5 it must change the backup bios too. So god damn stupid, why make the bios non rollback compatible. It's inevitable there will be issues like this as it is still a relatively new board! It baffles me.

I just hope they fix it in the later revisions.

Even the fact that F5 was a solid version and not a beta bios you'd think it would only get more smoother and stable with each update but clearly not. F4 was great. Infact, I stopped having XMP issues since around F3 or the F4 beta ones. Now they have come back with this new F5 update.

Where did you get the FTP tool from? Not sure I'll do it but I'll have a look. Also I might check my backup bios version too.

[shadowsports]

Guys,
I'm just an end user like yourselves.  I do know that bugs / issues have to be reported via a ticket to get on development's radar.  The forums are not regularly monitored by Gigabyte support staff, but I have seen posts from mods encouraging users to open tickets when problems occur.

I have a question for Phroster.  Did you lose the MAC address for your killer or Intel NIC when you downgraded? I suffered this fate on an Asus rig that became a brick after a reported "successful" flash.  I had to replace the chip...and the MAC changed to 88 88 88 88 87 88.  The original MAC's for both cards exist on a sticker(s) on each NIC BTW..  Some have used a hex editor successfully to modify the MAC to original, then reflashed.

I recently worked with someone who had a Z170 board.  He was able to downgrade his back up BIOS successful.  He used:

Alt+F10 after confirming the system started from the primary BIOS.  You can use your switches for this.  He pressed these keys when the Gigabyte logo displayed and the BIOS Sync tool displayed asking him if he wanted to synchronize.     

Wanting to know more, I did a lot of reading about it using google and searching on Tweaktown.  All said you cannot flash the back up BIOS.  I read that ALT+F10 flashes back up to Primary and CTRL+F10 does the Primary to back up BIOS.  The guy I was working with said that didn't work...  but ALT+F10 did once he started from the Primary BIOS.  His problem became dire.  He flashed his primary bios and synchronized it to his back up BIOS.  The main BIOS died, and he was left with only one (back up).  He used ALT+F10 and repaired his Primary BIOS.  Both chips now had the same rev.  He then used the FPT method and downgraded his Primary.  Then he used what I described above and sync'ed Primary to back up.  It worked.  He was methodical and certain of what he started the machine from before he flashed.       

   

[Phroster]

I didn't check the MAC adress until now.

The Intel NIC now indeed has 88 88 88 88 87 88.
But I tried it, and internet works with the Intel NIC and the Killer NIC.

Although the Killer NIC still has the right MAC adress.

There are also no errors during boot, about an invalid MAC adress.

Now I'm a little woried, but I don't know if this is really a problem.

Now I found that I can HEX edit the BIOS. But I can't find the original MAC adress. It's not on the box and also not on the board, there is a kind of plastic covering over the NIC on my board, maybe it's under there.

But don't use the Intel NIC anyway, and the MAC adress is only necessary for identifying you in an network. That might be a problem if some network device, like my router would refuse such a MAC adress.

[shadowsports]

The "88" MAC is not a problem and the NIC will function normally.  My old Asus rig still has this MAC on the primary NIC (Intel).  Secondary RealTek was untouched like your Killer.  My experience has been the opposite.  I don't use the Killer NIC as my Intel out performs it, even when disabling its pseudo "software QoS" feature for packet prioritization. To each his own.  Everyone has their preference. 

The MAC address is there, but the cover will be shielding it from view.  There are a few options to retrieve it. 

-Look in Device Manager where you will likely see a "broken" entry for the NIC that isn't working.     
-Search the registry using Regedit.  You will eventually stumble on the right key
-Remove the cover and use your phone to snap a pic of the sticker 

Don't worry about your Router either...  You can assign it to an ACL or even reserve IP by MAC if you want.



Registry Search.  I removed mine, but its there under "Current Address" Key


 

[Phroster]

I'm not sure if I want to remove that cover...

But what I did, I looked up the MAC adress prefix, which is 0015 with Intel.

Then generated a MAC adress with a tool on the internet.

Then HEX edited the BIOS, replacing the 88 88 88 88 87 88 part with the new generated MAC.
I flashed the edited BIOS with FPT, and then reflashed again with Q-Bios.
Maybe the second flash from Q-Bios isn't even needed, but did that to be sure.

Now I at least have a normal looking MAC adress again.

But the funny thing is, I don't even use that NIC, I just want to put it right again. 

Still a little worried that this might cause issues, I don't know.

[shadowsports]

I edited above...  added place to find your original MAC in registry. 

You are already ahead of the game.   

You're good to go.

Where did you download the hex editor and FPT tool from....  got a link?  I think I'll try on my old Asus platform.

[Phroster]

Here, http://www.win-raid.com/t596f39-Intel-Management-Engine-Drivers-Firmware-amp-System-Tools.html

Look for Intel ME System Tools v11.6 r10 - (Updated: 29/04/2017), bottom first post.

It contains allot of software. I only used, Flash Programming Tool, for DOS.

For hex editing I used HxD.

Look for 88 88 88 88 87 88 with the search function. And replace that with the MAC adress you want.

[shadowsports]

Right on.     Those were the two I found as well. 

[kamikazee]

Cant you also find the current MAC address by opening CMD and typing ipconfig/all?

I managed to get a MAC (physical address) for my Intel NIC by doing that.

I am a bit scared to mess with any of this as it seems pretty risky and advanced. But I do want to rollback. Who knows whether the next bios rev will even fix this =/. The only comforting thing right now is knowing anyone else with this board whos running F5 with XMP enabled is going to have this same issue.

But basically after using the FPT tool to restore the bios, one would have to restore the MAC address? And it only wipes the Intel one right?

[Phroster]

I wiped my MAC adress , so I can't find it anymore in ipconfig /all.

After BIOS flash with FPT.exe your MAC will go to 88 88 88 87 88.

But everything worked for me, even with the "wrong" MAC adress.
So you could also just flash with FPT.exe and leave it like that.

But you can hex edit the BIOS rom, with a hex editor, you need to find the 88 88 88 87 88 part and replace it with the MAC adress you want.

Best way to do it,

Find your original MAC adress. And save it somewhere.
Download the F4 BIOS rom, edit the 88 88 88 87 88 part to the MAC adress you want.
Save the ROM in the hex editor.
Flash the rom with FTP.exe -f bios.bin (any filename will do)
Then flash the BIOS again with Q-Flash, with an unedited ROM. (so you need 2 ROM files, one edited, one unedited.)

I don't know if the last step is necessary, the part where you flash an unedited ROM again.
I did this to be sure, the BIOS is flashed correctly.

But be careful, one wrong digit with hex editing might brick the BIOS.

[shadowsports]

Cant you also find the current MAC address by opening CMD and typing ipconfig/all?

I managed to get a MAC (physical address) for my Intel NIC by doing that.

I am a bit scared to mess with any of this as it seems pretty risky and advanced. But I do want to rollback. Who knows whether the next bios rev will even fix this =/. The only comforting thing right now is knowing anyone else with this board whos running F5 with XMP enabled is going to have this same issue.

But basically after using the FPT tool to restore the bios, one would have to restore the MAC address? And it only wipes the Intel one right?

Yes, only the primary MAC gets wiped. 

Before downgrade, ipconfig /all would allow you to see the correct MAC.  After it is flashed (downgraded) 

>ipconfig /all shows the current MAC...  which will be 88 88 88 88 87 88

[kamikazee]

Yeah sorry I should have mentioned I haven't done anything with it yet. So got my current MAC address via ipconfig/all and stored it in case I do plan to do this rollback. The bios side of things with FPT doesn't seem that complicated but this HEX editing is quite daunting.

How exactly do you edit the bios with it?

[shadowsports]

Don't let the editing scare you.  Use HxD.  When you open the BIOS file, you can search for the MAC string.  Then ensure you are editing starting with the correct offset. 

[Phroster]

With HxD,

Open the BIOS rom file.
Use the search function (ctrl - f)
Select Datatype: Hex-values
Search 888888888788
Its at offset 1000 for me.
And edit the 88888888788 for your MAC adress.