DarthFK

I had one Pro Gaming Aura & if I recall correctly, the bios was slightly different that non-Aura. So, the flashing didn't work. But that's my memory, which is not 100% reliable (and alsi can't be flashed:)

Are you at stock RAM speeds? And have you tried bumping the voltages? I had to do that a few times on these boards even for the non-k overclock. Had to do the regular "almost OC" approach to the voltages, including upping vccio and vccsa and DRAM voltage, even if at low or stock RAM speeds.

Hi, I haven't tried 32gigs and already sold that system long ago, but these bios-es and BCLK overclock limits the speed of ram. If you have 4 sticks, it might be that lowering the ram speed can allow you to boot maybe. I am not sure, but perhaps one more regular remedy might work - just like when you have issues with the regular bios with 2x8Gb and you take out one of the sticks and if it powers on, then power it down and add the 2nd stick - the same here, you could try adding it later? (or you did and it still doesn't work?)

Cool! I always did clean installs on my z170 non-k experiments, as well as appropriate drivers. I no longer have any non-k or z170, though, so thanks for sharing with those who might one day dabble in this "antique" department :) Be well!! (not the most trivial wish these days)

Not sure without seeing the error message and even then... But first can you take a picture of the error? Like a phone pic?

Then, if you have a fresh windows & drivers install and you are running from a dedicated GPU, the only reasonable explanation to a clock watchdog timeout is insufficient vcore, possibly other voltages. I would normally try both a slightly higher vcore & lower too! I know, it doesn't sound scientific, but shtuff happens even in computers. Sometimes the CPU is not of the best quality, sometimes the interaction between the cpu & the boards is not. It happened on one of my BCLK overclocks that I had to do a standard oc voltage upping, like on a K sku, as well as power limits removal, llc, etc (the whole oc) if you can imagine that. It was a Gigabyte board. But ultimately it worked. I haven't had a board yet to fail the BCLK oc, but initially I did had BSODs on all of them, until I did more fine-tuning, just like on a K sku overclocking. So try only lowering vcore, then only upping vcore, to say 1.36v, then try full voltage/power oc and perhaps try after stabilizing it to slightly raise the RAM speed & dram voltage, and VCCSA/VCCIO voltages.

Yes, I did. In my case it was a too high memory speed. I also added some voltage to my memory. When I lowered it manually in BIOS, the BSODs went away. My memory timings are 3600cl17 and it would refuse to start in XMP at that speed - I did not use the XMP for that reason, but had to manually select a memory speed close to 3000mhz. Der8auer in his old posts recommended lowering the memory speed to at least (as in no higher than) 2800mhz, if I remember correctly. You may want to try that.

OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!!!!!! Your simple but useful intro to Asprogrammer and that software did it!!! No error, nothing bad, just did the job. I am now running the custom bios - I was able to downgrade via the CH341A usb programmer and Asprogrammer 1.41:) Thank you kindly @90Ninety_1 So, the conclusion in my case is that in worst case scenario it is possible to downgrade a BIOS via an USB programmer and AsProgrammer software, rather than "native" CH341 software. I am actually writing this post from that (10 minutes ago) bios-downgraded Asus z170 Pro Gaming PC

P.S. my chip is also read and is written y programmer, but throws the verification error and fails to post. So, I assume that buying a new chip is the only solution to this possible ME block.

Thanks for the update! I got the AsProgrammer, but never tried it. Need to learn how. Assuming this is ME, I'll probably still need to buy a new chip. Where did you buy yours? That seller on ebay from Netherlands? Any recommendations? (I am in New York though, seeing you buying in pounds, recommendations may not be valid, but who knows:)

Thanks for the replies guys. It seems that we were thinking along the same lines. I already had a programmer, CH341A (and both 1.18 and 1.29 software for it), but never used it before - bought it for another project that finally never happened. I also have a socketed type of the BIOS chip on this Asus z170 Pro Gaming - Winbond 25Q128FVIQ. I pulled it out and connected to my main PC via the CH341A etc. What happened, however, is that while it sees and reads the chip: 1. I saved the latest working 3805 BIOS into a backup in bin format, all ok seemingly (seemingly only!) 2. then downloaded the custom CAP (1301) from Play3r website and extracted the body into a BIN using UEfitool. I didn't try the hwbot "version" yet. Strike that - same story. 3. However, when I (erase and then) write the 1301.bin onto the chip I get "Chip main memory with the contents are in disagreement" upon verification. I tried to reconnect the chip to MB as is, and indeed it did not work. 4. If I extract the entire BIOS into a Bin file, then I get another error (BIOS too long or something like that). 5. When I tried to reflash the saved 3805 bios in bin format back onto ROM, I got the same "Chip main memory with the contents are in disagreement" - how can the original backed up BIOS re-written back onto the chip be a mismatch is beyond me!? 6. I just downloaded the 3805 bios from Asus, extracted it into a bin file and flashed onto the chip. Nope, "disagreement" again upon software verification. Whatever I do, the chip is actually read, erased, but I cannot write anything onto it without an error message upon verification and even if I disregard the error, it still doesn't work with the mobo. It is again read by the programmer ok, but no luck with verification or actual functioning. Any ideas would be really welcome:/

Hi @elmor and @der8auer - sorry for necrobumping this thread to 2020, but we're stuck. Your guide on overclocking guide, Der8auer, was taken down, so I am not usre what's going on, but we're stuck in an EZ Flash loop after trying the AFUDOS downgrade (in my case from a BIOS from 2016), and I got am error 368 BIOS locked, when I tried the FPT command prompt option. Help, please! Thank you and lots of respect!

A similar issue here today, January 27, 2020 -- I very recently purchased an Asus z170 Pro Gaming and had some 2016 bios on it, so obviously not over 3xxx (not sure what firmware it was). I ran AFUDOS today with BIOS 1301 from Play3r and Overclockers (for non-k overclocking) - after AFUDOS "done, done, done" messages and all seemingly ok, the motherboard brings up EZ Flash in a loop, with the same loop "To finish BIOS update..." requesting the same CAP file as the ROM file used for AFUDOS flash. Huh?! Last summer I was able to flash with AFUDOS an Asus z170-A without any problems and in my case today I wasn't downgrading from 3xxx. Is it possible that some of the linked BIOSes are corrupt? EDIT: I upgraded to 3805 via EZ Flash, otherwise was stuck. 3805 is the latest BIOs and then tried downgrading to 1301 and am still stuck in the same loop. I also tried using FPT to no avail, as the bios file is reported to be locked (error 368, I believe). Help!