Unable to flash mining BIOS on GA-Z170X-Gaming 5

[HuntMike]

I have a small issue with my GA-Z170X-Gaming 5 motherboard, I'm unable to update to the BIOS to the mining BIOS on the page here:
https://www.gigabyte.com/MicroSite/462/mining.html

I downloaded the file, uncompressed it and copied it on to a FAT32 USB stick. After rebooting and loading up QFlash in the BIOS menu I selected the 'Z170XGaming5MIN.F22a' file, and then told it to flash it using the 'intact' option as per instructions. However after selecting 'intact' I get an error saying something 'unable to verify file'. How can I fix this?

I used the same USB stick to upgrade my motherboard from the F3 BIOS to the F22a from this page:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170X-Gaming-5-rev-10#support-dl
without issue.

So I was hoping to flash the mining BIOS if possible.

Also one more thing, I'm guessing the difference between the mining BIOS and normal BIOS is that the mining BIOS allows 9 GPU's to be connected?

I'm using 5 GPU's right now and it's working great with the F22a BIOS but I'd like to add more GPU's in the future.

[shadowsports]

Just read your post...  had not heard of a "mining" BIOS?  Checked out the microsite.  I see what it does now. 

Try resetting your current BIOS to defaults.  F10 to save, exit and restart.  Upon restart, attempt QFlash again.

Z170XGaming5MIN.F22a should be located in the root of a FAT32 formatted stick.  Try formatting it again fresh then copying the file over before you attempt to flash.   

[HuntMike]

Just read your post...  had not heard of a "mining" BIOS?  Checked out the microsite.  I see what it does now. 

Try resetting your current BIOS to defaults.  F10 to save, exit and restart.  Upon restart, attempt QFlash again.

Z170XGaming5MIN.F22a should be located in the root of a FAT32 formatted stick.  Try formatting it again fresh then copying the file over before you attempt to flash.   

Ok, I reformatted my flash drive and redownloaded the mining BIOS, uncompressed it and copied onto my USB stick.

I reloaded the BIOS defaults, and went into QFlash, and I get the same error, this time I got a photo, sorry for the poor quality:



Looking at the photo it seems the mining BIOS is dated the 23rd of June while my current BIOS is dated the 30th June.

Could it be that the BIOS is preventing an older BIOS from being flashed?

[shadowsports]

That is certainly possible.  I do not know what criteria Gigabyte uses to keep you from flashing back. 

Typically, its the size of the BIOS file.  The chips themselves come with an addressable address space.  Later BIOS revs are larger, which changes the space that gets written to.  This is almost always the reason you cannot flash back conventionally. 

Because you are having problems, and could inevitably brick your board experimenting, I would contact support and provide the steps you have performed.  Your issue is clearly reproducible.

They may provide you with a custom BIOS.  This is the safest choice.   

[HuntMike]

Thanks, I'll message support and see what they have to say, it could just be something simple and I'd rather not experiment and not have a working system. It's working great right now and the phrase 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' comes to mind!

FWIW, I've checked the filesize of both my current BIOS and the mining BIOS and both are the exact same size: 16777216 bytes

[shadowsports]

Then maybe it will turn out to be the time stamp.  Let us know.     Good luck