Findings with Asrock W790-WS, Xeon SPR-SP D0, and BCLK OC (and lack thereof)

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MillionMiles

Member
Aug 22, 2023
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Honestly these systems are drawing me crazy! They are so hard to use.
It's normal. these W790 boards are not in popular so not optimized enough. I'm used to clear CMOS after any DIMMs configuration changed.
Here my ASROCK runs with 200Watt idling
Check this report, Windows high perf. profile + CPU min state 5% = 100w idle, no lag IMG-20240717-222216 hosted at ImgBB
Reset the BIOS default first (except the Package C-State C2).
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Bert

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2018
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Pain continues with this board. I am not able to activate secure boot; it is enabled in BIOS but Win11 does not use it. It is a new Win11 installation so it should be working.

@arabus or anyone with this board can you please check if secure info is enabled. You can run "msinfo32" and check that out. Thank you very much in advance!

1723173530808.png
 

Bert

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2018
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I contacted a Asrock W790 WS owner on Reddit. User confirmed that his/her installation enabled Secure Boot without any change. It seems like this is a problem due to using ES CPU.
 

RolloZ170

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2016
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It seems like this is a problem due to using ES CPU.
what makes you think specialy that ?
well maybe, not impossible, but with out trying a prod. unit and proof it, that is a bold statement.
 

Bert

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2018
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what makes you think specialy that ?
well maybe, not impossible, but with out trying a prod. unit and proof it, that is a bold statement.
I mentioned that someone from Reddit confirmed Secure Boot works normal on that user's asrock w790 with latest BIOS. The difference is that user was using w5 2465x
 

RolloZ170

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2016
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I mentioned that someone from Reddit confirmed Secure Boot works normal on that user's asrock w790 with latest BIOS. The difference is that user was using w5 2465x
oh yeah, then it can only be because of that :cool:
BIOS update without keeping the keys, change TPM 1.2<>2.0 bricks your secure too.
 

Bert

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2018
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oh yeah, then it can only be because of that :cool:
BIOS update without keeping the keys, change TPM 1.2<>2.0 bricks your secure too.
What does this mean?

"BIOS Update without keeping the keys"

Why would BIOS update bricks secure boot? Is there a bug in Asrock BIOS? Is there a solution? Can you please explain what you know?

I am planning to buy a dedicated TPM chip to see if that will fix it. Would that work to fix SecureBoot and other issues I am having around TPM (TPM does not come alive after sleep).
 
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Bert

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2018
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if the new BIOS comes with other keys.
I don't understand what you are saying.

I am not buying new BIOS, I am not sure if BIOS can be replaced. I am buying a new TPM.


What is the issue here leading to Secure Boot to fail? Can you share what you know in details?
 

RolloZ170

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2016
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Why would BIOS update bricks secure boot? Is there a bug in Asrock BIOS? Is there a solution? Can you please explain what you know?
sure maybe a bug or inconsistence.
QYFS Win11 secure boot.
securebootQYFS.jpg
 

Bert

Well-Known Member
Mar 31, 2018
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Thanks, Rolloz. I have Asus SAGE board with QYFU and I know Secure Boot works on SAGE with ES chips without any issues. I am only having issues with my ASROCK which is running with QYK8.

I did BIOS upgrade without storing keys. Could that be also another reason? You mentioned two things:

- BIOS upgrade without saving keys will brick Secure Boot.
- Changing TPM version from will brick Secure Boot.

Can you tell me more about these two cases? Did you experience or read about them or are you guessing/speculating?

These indicate in bugs in Asrock BIOS. If I bricked the Secure Boot functionality, do I need new BIOS chip?

Thank you very much for your help!
 

RolloZ170

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2016
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I did BIOS upgrade without storing keys. Could that be also another reason? You mentioned two things:
- BIOS upgrade without saving keys will brick Secure Boot.
- Changing TPM version from will brick Secure Boot.
you installed windows with key "abc", then update BIOS and for some reason the keys change to "dfg"
your windows will not boot in secure boot.
try a new installation to a spare ssd and check.
 

RolloZ170

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2016
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These indicate in bugs in Asrock BIOS. If I bricked the Secure Boot functionality, do I need new BIOS chip?
afaik you can't install WIn11 without Secure Boot and TPM, at least once it must have been activated,
some must happen if its off now. there are some reasons reported its shown faulty off by windows.
 
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Kizune

Member
Dec 2, 2022
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You can’t install Win11 without TPM (unless you tinker with the iso before installing) but you absolutely can install it without secure boot enabled. The problem I’m having with the second version of this board is that the key set is empty and “enroll factory default keys” does nothing at all - TPM keys storage is still empty. Wrote to support about the issue, waiting for answer.
 
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Kizune

Member
Dec 2, 2022
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Also the big problem with 2.0 version of this board is that it reports installed version of BIOS as 3.01 but the only available version on ASRock website is 1.01 and it does not even allow to flash it - says image validation failed. So I can’t even reflash fresh bios.
 
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RolloZ170

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Apr 24, 2016
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Also the big problem with 2.0 version of this board is that it reports installed version of BIOS as 3.01 but the only available version on ASRock website is 1.01
maybe your board is a customer return and he flashed the non R2.0 BIOS with a SPI programmer in hope to get the BCLK engine back.
 

Kizune

Member
Dec 2, 2022
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maybe your board is a customer return and he flashed the non R2.0 BIOS with a SPI programmer in hope to get the BCLK engine back.
I highly doubt it. The bios screen says bios is specific to R2.0 board and paper sticker on ROM is intact and says F/W 3.01. 640dd278-db5f-4fd7-bb7b-4c25a6b10e13.jpeg
 

RolloZ170

Well-Known Member
Apr 24, 2016
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I highly doubt it. The bios screen says bios is specific to R2.0 board and paper sticker on ROM is intact and says F/W 3.01.
With this information it is clear that ASROck once again lives up to its reputation when it comes to BIOS things.