I recently purchased a
B450 Aorus M
Motherboard with the last of my money to replace my Broken LGA 1151 Socket motherboard, along with a '16 GB DDR4 2400Ramstick and a
Ryzen 2700` CPU.Upon booting the machine for the first time, I THINK a message was displayed super quickly on the machine about needing to update the bios, but it was gone before I could get a good look at it.
The new hardware was connected to the old WD Blue SSD (250GB) and WD Black HD which had a Dual boot Windows 10 + Slackware 14.2 Linux distribution installed.
I was able to boot up into Windows 10 with no problem in UEFI mode. HOWEVER, the Slackware partition wasn't even recognized. There was no option to boot Slackware from the boot menu displayed by the BIOS, even though Slackware was previously installed in UEFI Mode with no problems for years.
Upon attempting to install Slackware Linux Current (the 15.0 version) onto the system from an ISO, I accidentally installed in Legacy and wrote the MBR. I realized when attempting to write to the MBR, as the installer froze up. Super scared, I could do nothing but force kill the installer and restart.
Fortunately, the system booted into Windows with no visible errors, but STILL did not recognize or boot from any of the Slackware partitions.
I tried the following:
- Installing from the Official Slackware 14.2 Installation Media in UEFI Mode, with Secure Boot Disabled, and Fast Boot Disabled.
- Installing from the Slackware Current (15.0) Installation ISO (Downloaded from Erik Hameleer's Alien Repository) in UEFI Mode, with Secure Boot Disabled, and Fast Boot Disabled.
- Creating a new Protective MBR on the primary SSD.
- Wiping and Creating a New GPT Partition Table on the Primary SSD.
- Uninstalling and Wiping Windows 10 Partitions from both /dev/sda and /dev/sdb (The Primary and Secondary SSD and HD, respectively), and installing both 14.2 and 15.0 on clean slate drives with freshly created partitions.
In all of these cases, the Motherboard boots from DVD and Otherwise, but it DOES NOT boot the Slackware Linux Installation Partitions.
FURTHERMORE, I RECEIVE AN ERROR ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO READ SOME UEFI VARIABLE during the Slackware installation process, when it is attempting to create an EFI Boot entry. The error message only displays onscreen for a very short period of time and it goes something like, 'Skipping unreadable UEFI vari(At which point the message disappears before I can read it fully.)'
Opening up Bios Setup, there is the option to manually load an 'EFI Profile' from 'File'. Selecting this option, I am able to navigate to the
/boot/efi/EFI/Slackware/
directory which is present on the EFI Partition, which is /dev/sda1 on the primary drive. I am able to view all files installed by the installer, including:elilo.config, elilo.efi,vmlinuz, etc..
I have verified that these files display valid information, and I have no reason to believe that they differ substantially from the files as contained on the installation media. (I would have to MD5 Checksum both the files on dev/sda1 and on the installation media, which would probably be overkill.)
When I attempt to select
elilo.efi
from within BIOS Setup -> Boot Override -> load EFI Profile -> load From File
, I get the message 'Invalid Profile'. Google has turned up nothing relevant when searching 'Invalid UEFI Profile'.I have attempted to select all the files and a portion of the files from within the windows efi folder as well. All of them have yielded 'Invalid UEFI Profile' as an error message.
I have also overwritten /Boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi with elilo.efi (renaming elilo.efi to bootx64.efi in the process, and moving the other files in the Slackware Efi Directory into the /Boot/efi/EFI/Boot/ directory unchanged. I did this because searching elsewhere yielded that the Firmware for the motherboard may only be capable of booting from bootx64.efi
So. Being all out of options, I am about to flash my
B450 Aorus M
motherboard to an updated firmware in hopes of fixing this issue. However, I am well aware that this is the only piece of hardware that I've got to work with. Buying another board in case I brick this one is simply NOT an option, and so I really, really, REALLY want to proceed carefully.. there is no margin for error here.The Motherboard is a Gigabyte B450 Aorus M Revision 1.0 Board. The name of the file which I downloaded for the flash update is:
mb_bios_b450-aorus-m_f3d.zip
. The flashing guide says that I need to extract the files and place them onto a USB Drive which is formatted with a FAT32/16/12.I am using an old linux laptop to format the usb drive, which is 16GB in size, and am using the
cfdisk
utility to create a single partition. However, when changing the filesystem label using that utility, there is NO CLEAR FAT32/16/12 option. I am presented with a multitude of different labels which correspond to various combinations of
FAT
, 32
, 16
, and hidden
. Further, there is ONE OPTION which has the following as its filesystem label:
efi (FAT-12/16/32)
.Obviously, that one is the closest to
FAT32/16/12
, but I don't want to take any chances here. Is FAT-12/16/32 equivalent to FAT32/16/12, and will having a single partition on the usb stick of that type be acceptable for the purposes of flashing the motherboard bios?More generally, if anyone could help provide information as to anything that I may have missed, and somehow help me figure out how to install Slackware on this model motherboard and Ryzen CPU so that it boots normally in UEFI Mode, then I would love you forever. This is driving me crazy. Naturally, I will reinstall Windows 10 and Slackware according to the new method once I get the booting issue sorted out.
Some additional information:
The Gigabyte website has the following Notice in the description section of the BIOS Update file where I downloaded the update:
Note: Update AMD Chipset Driver 18.10.20.02 or latest version before update this BIOS.
I have also downloaded the latest Chipset Driver. However, my machine currently has no Operating System on it at all, and I really don't want to have to re-install Windows 10 just to be able to apply an update to the Chipset Driver, only then to Flash the Bios and and then possibly have to re-re-install Windows 10 and then Slackware Linux. Is updating the Chipset Driver really going to be necessary before flashing the bios if there's no operating system currently installed?
tl;dr:
Is
efi (FAT-12/16/32)
equivalent to FAT/32/16/12
, and do I ABSOLUTELY NEED to update the Motherboard Chipset driver before flashing the BIOS if there's no Operating System installed on the machine?whew. Sorry for being so pedantic, but I really, REALLY, need this to work right. I've got no more money for any hardware left. Thank you for your time.
DruidDruid
1 Answer
Don't use
cfdisk
for this job, it is not the best tool to make a bootable USB. Instead, from a Linux box (or even a Windows box):
- Install
unetbootin
, and - from the
unetbootin
GUI's Distribution pull-down, select FreeDOS, and install that to USB. - Copy the contents of mb_bios_b450-aorus-m_f3d.zip to the USB drive, the file system of which will now be some suitable FAT variant.
- Restart the system, and boot from the USB drive.
- From the FreeDOS prompt
cd
to wherever the update is. - Run the BIOS update.
agcagc
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged linuxbootbiosuefi or ask your own question.
WHQL version: 1.6.13.0400
Release Date: June 17, 2019
File size: 50.7 MB
Supports:
Windows 7/10 for
- 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Desktop Processor
- 7th-Gen AMD A-Series Processors
- AMD Ryzen™ Desktop Processor
- AMD X470 Chipset
- AMD X370 Chipset
- AMD B450 Chipset
- AMD B350 Chipset
- AMD A320 Chipset
Windows® 10 only for
- 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Processor
- AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ Processor
- AMD Ryzen™ Desktop Processor with Radeon™ Vega Graphics
- AMD Ryzen™ Mobile Processor with Radeon™ Vega Graphics
- AMD X399 Chipset
Package Includes:
- AMD Chipset Drivers
- AMD Ryzen™ Balanced Power Plan
AMD Chipsets Driver Download
WHQL version: 18.10.0830
Release Date: September 4, 2018
File size: 65.4 MB
Supports:
Windows 7/10 for
- AMD 9-Series Chipset
- AMD 8-Series Chipset
- AMD 7-Series Chipset
- AMD 6-Series Chipset
Package Includes:
- AMD Chipset Drivers
AMD Chipsets Driver Download
So as the title says, I'm in need of help hunting down the latest driver version for Windows 10 compatibility. I upgraded an older Windows 7 computer to Windows 10, but it did not update the SB750 chipset drivers for the SATA controller.
This is for an Asus Crosshair III Formula AMD board running the AMD 790FX chipset w/ SB750
Back story - Performing a clean install of Windows 10 isn't an option unfortunately. There's some legacy applications that are registered and configured. It's not the OS, rather the install apps that I need to preserve. However, any SSD I clone the C drive perpetually hangs intermittently with event logs reporting the controller being non-responsive (I suspect a bug with I/O flooding or TRIM commands not being taken over AHCI). Hence, my need to ensure latest chipset drivers for this MB and Windows 10.
Later tonight, I might just install a clean install of Windows 10 on the SSD to validate the theory that the old Win 7 chipset drivers are the problem. But if I can, I want to give this a go via an update first.
This is for an Asus Crosshair III Formula AMD board running the AMD 790FX chipset w/ SB750
Back story - Performing a clean install of Windows 10 isn't an option unfortunately. There's some legacy applications that are registered and configured. It's not the OS, rather the install apps that I need to preserve. However, any SSD I clone the C drive perpetually hangs intermittently with event logs reporting the controller being non-responsive (I suspect a bug with I/O flooding or TRIM commands not being taken over AHCI). Hence, my need to ensure latest chipset drivers for this MB and Windows 10.
Later tonight, I might just install a clean install of Windows 10 on the SSD to validate the theory that the old Win 7 chipset drivers are the problem. But if I can, I want to give this a go via an update first.
Windows needs manufacturer-provided hardware drivers before your hardware will work. Linux and other operating systems also need hardware drivers before hardware will work — but hardware drivers are handled differently on Linux.
The good news is that, if a device will work on Linux, it’ll probably “just work” out of the box. You may sometimes need to install drivers, but some hardware may just not work at all.
How Hardware Drivers Work on Windows
When you install Windows, you’ll need to install hardware drivers provided by the hardware’s manufacturer — motherboard chipset drivers, graphics card drivers, Wi-Fi drivers, and more.
RELATED:Should You Use the Hardware Drivers Windows Provides, or Download Your Manufacturer’s Drivers?
Windows does try to help. Microsoft bundles a lot of these manufacturer-provided drivers with Windows, and hosts many of them on Windows Update. When you plug in a new device to your Windows computer and you see the “Installing Driver” bubble pop up, Windows might be downloading a manufacturer-provided driver from Microsoft and installing it on your PC. Microsoft doesn’t write these drivers on its own — it gets them from the manufacturers and provides them to you after vetting them.
If hardware isn’t working on Windows, there’s usually a driver to make it work. Unless you have an ancient device that only works with older versions of Windows, the manufacturer has done the work of making it work with Windows. Hardware that doesn’t work is usually just a quick driver download away from working.
How Hardware Drivers Work on Linux
Things are different on Linux. Most of the drivers for hardware on your computer are open-source and integrated into Linux itself. These hardware drivers are generally part of the Linux kernel, although bits of graphics drivers are part of Xorg (the graphics system), and printer drivers are included with CUPS (the print system).
That means most of the available hardware drivers are already on your computer, included along with the kernel, graphics server, and print server. These drivers are sometimes developed by hobbyists. But they’re sometimes developed by the hardware manufacturer themselves, who contributes their code directly to the Linux kernel and other projects.
In other words, most hardware drivers are included out-of-the-box. You don’t have to hunt down manufacturer-provided drivers for every bit of hardware on your Linux system and install them. Your Linux system should automatically detect your hardware and use the appropriate hardware drivers.
How to Install Proprietary Drivers
Some manufacturers to provide their own, closed-source, proprietary drivers. These are hardware drivers that the manufacturers write and maintain on their own, and their closed-source nature means most Linux distributions won’t bundle and automatically enable them for you.
Most commonly, these include the proprietary graphics drivers for both NVIDIA and AMD graphics hardware, which provide more graphics performance for gaming on Linux. There are open-source drivers that can get your graphics working, but they don’t offer the same level of 3D gaming performance. Some Wi-Fi drivers are also still proprietary, so your wireless hardware may not work until you install them.
How you install proprietary drivers depends on your Linux distribution. On Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions, there’s an “Additional Drivers” tool. Open the dash, search for “Additional Drivers,” and launch it. It will detect which proprietary drivers you can install for your hardware and allow you to install them. Linux Mint has a “Driver Manager” tool that works similarly. Fedora is against proprietary drivers and doesn’t make them so easy to install. Every Linux distribution handles it in a different way.
How to Install Printer Drivers
You may need to install drivers for printers, however. When you use a printer-configuration tool to configure CUPS (the Common Unix Printing System), you’ll be able to choose an appropriate driver for your printer from the database. Generally, this involves finding your printer’s manufacturer in the list and choosing the model name of the printer.
You can also choose to provide a PostScript Printer Description, or PPD, file. These files are often part of the Windows driver for PostScript printers, and you may be able to hunt down a PPD file that makes your printer work better. You can provide a PPD file when setting up the printer in your Linux desktop’s printer configuration tool.
Printers can be a headache on Linux, and many may not work properly — or at all — no matter what you do. It’s a good idea to choose printers you know will work with Linux the next time you go printer-shopping.
How to Make Other Hardware Work
RELATED:10 of the Most Popular Linux Distributions Compared
Occasionally, you may need to install proprietary drivers your Linux distribution hasn’t provided for you. For example, NVIDIA and AMD both offer driver-installer packages you can use. However, you should strive to use proprietary drivers packaged for your Linux distribution — they’ll work best.
In general, if something doesn’t work on Linux out-of-the-box — and if it doesn’t work after installing the proprietary drivers your Linux distribution provides — it probably won’t work at all. if you’re using an older Linux distribution, upgrading to a newer one will get you the latest hardware support and improve things. But, if something isn’t working, it’s likely that you can’t make it work simply by installing a hardware driver.
Searching for a guide to making a specific piece of hardware work on your specific Linux distribution might help. Such a guide might walk you through finding a manufacturer-provided driver and installing it, which will often require terminal commands. Older proprietary drivers may not work on modern Linux distributions that use modern software, so there’s no guarantee an old, manufacturer-provided driver will work properly. Linux works best when manufacturers contribute their drivers to the kernel as open-source software.
In general, you shouldn’t mess with hardware drivers too much. That’s the vision of Linux — the drivers are open-source and integrated into the kernel and other pieces of software. You don’t have to install them or tweak them — the system automatically detects your hardware and uses the appropriate drivers. If you’ve installed Linux, your hardware should just work — either immediately, or at least after you install some easy-to-install proprietary drivers provided by a tool like the Additional Drivers utility in Ubuntu.
If you have to hunt down manufacturer-provided proprietary drivers and extended guides for installing them, that’s a bad sign. The drivers may not actually work properly with the latest software in your Linux distribution.
Image Credit: Blek on Flickr
READ NEXT- › How to Disable the Login Screen’s Background Blur on Windows 10
- › How to Use All Linux’s Search Commands
- › How to See All Your Saved Wi-Fi Passwords on Windows 10
- › How Do Bone Conduction Headphones Work?
- › How to Use the Linux type Command
Windows needs manufacturer-provided hardware drivers before your hardware will work. Linux and other operating systems also need hardware drivers before hardware will work — but hardware drivers are handled differently on Linux.
The good news is that, if a device will work on Linux, it’ll probably “just work” out of the box. You may sometimes need to install drivers, but some hardware may just not work at all.
How Hardware Drivers Work on Windows
When you install Windows, you’ll need to install hardware drivers provided by the hardware’s manufacturer — motherboard chipset drivers, graphics card drivers, Wi-Fi drivers, and more.
RELATED:Should You Use the Hardware Drivers Windows Provides, or Download Your Manufacturer’s Drivers?
Windows does try to help. Microsoft bundles a lot of these manufacturer-provided drivers with Windows, and hosts many of them on Windows Update. When you plug in a new device to your Windows computer and you see the “Installing Driver” bubble pop up, Windows might be downloading a manufacturer-provided driver from Microsoft and installing it on your PC. Microsoft doesn’t write these drivers on its own — it gets them from the manufacturers and provides them to you after vetting them.
If hardware isn’t working on Windows, there’s usually a driver to make it work. Unless you have an ancient device that only works with older versions of Windows, the manufacturer has done the work of making it work with Windows. Hardware that doesn’t work is usually just a quick driver download away from working.
Amd Chipset Driver 18.10.1810
How Hardware Drivers Work on Linux
Things are different on Linux. Most of the drivers for hardware on your computer are open-source and integrated into Linux itself. These hardware drivers are generally part of the Linux kernel, although bits of graphics drivers are part of Xorg (the graphics system), and printer drivers are included with CUPS (the print system).
That means most of the available hardware drivers are already on your computer, included along with the kernel, graphics server, and print server. These drivers are sometimes developed by hobbyists. But they’re sometimes developed by the hardware manufacturer themselves, who contributes their code directly to the Linux kernel and other projects.
In other words, most hardware drivers are included out-of-the-box. You don’t have to hunt down manufacturer-provided drivers for every bit of hardware on your Linux system and install them. Your Linux system should automatically detect your hardware and use the appropriate hardware drivers.
However, this assumes you know the exact name of the application. For example, if you want to run Word, you have to type 'winword.exe'. What, you didn’t know the actual Word program name is winword.exe?This is what I see when I type the letters “wor” in the Start menu search bar.If you know part of the name, but not the whole name, use the Start menu search function. How to hide the taskbar while gaming.
How to Install Proprietary Drivers
Some manufacturers to provide their own, closed-source, proprietary drivers. These are hardware drivers that the manufacturers write and maintain on their own, and their closed-source nature means most Linux distributions won’t bundle and automatically enable them for you.
Most commonly, these include the proprietary graphics drivers for both NVIDIA and AMD graphics hardware, which provide more graphics performance for gaming on Linux. There are open-source drivers that can get your graphics working, but they don’t offer the same level of 3D gaming performance. Some Wi-Fi drivers are also still proprietary, so your wireless hardware may not work until you install them.
How you install proprietary drivers depends on your Linux distribution. On Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions, there’s an “Additional Drivers” tool. Open the dash, search for “Additional Drivers,” and launch it. It will detect which proprietary drivers you can install for your hardware and allow you to install them. Linux Mint has a “Driver Manager” tool that works similarly. Fedora is against proprietary drivers and doesn’t make them so easy to install. Every Linux distribution handles it in a different way.
How to Install Printer Drivers
You may need to install drivers for printers, however. When you use a printer-configuration tool to configure CUPS (the Common Unix Printing System), you’ll be able to choose an appropriate driver for your printer from the database. Generally, this involves finding your printer’s manufacturer in the list and choosing the model name of the printer.
You can also choose to provide a PostScript Printer Description, or PPD, file. These files are often part of the Windows driver for PostScript printers, and you may be able to hunt down a PPD file that makes your printer work better. You can provide a PPD file when setting up the printer in your Linux desktop’s printer configuration tool.
Printers can be a headache on Linux, and many may not work properly — or at all — no matter what you do. It’s a good idea to choose printers you know will work with Linux the next time you go printer-shopping.
How to Make Other Hardware Work
RELATED:10 of the Most Popular Linux Distributions Compared
Occasionally, you may need to install proprietary drivers your Linux distribution hasn’t provided for you. For example, NVIDIA and AMD both offer driver-installer packages you can use. However, you should strive to use proprietary drivers packaged for your Linux distribution — they’ll work best.
In general, if something doesn’t work on Linux out-of-the-box — and if it doesn’t work after installing the proprietary drivers your Linux distribution provides — it probably won’t work at all. if you’re using an older Linux distribution, upgrading to a newer one will get you the latest hardware support and improve things. But, if something isn’t working, it’s likely that you can’t make it work simply by installing a hardware driver.
Searching for a guide to making a specific piece of hardware work on your specific Linux distribution might help. Such a guide might walk you through finding a manufacturer-provided driver and installing it, which will often require terminal commands. Older proprietary drivers may not work on modern Linux distributions that use modern software, so there’s no guarantee an old, manufacturer-provided driver will work properly. Linux works best when manufacturers contribute their drivers to the kernel as open-source software.
Amd Drivers
In general, you shouldn’t mess with hardware drivers too much. That’s the vision of Linux — the drivers are open-source and integrated into the kernel and other pieces of software. You don’t have to install them or tweak them — the system automatically detects your hardware and uses the appropriate drivers. If you’ve installed Linux, your hardware should just work — either immediately, or at least after you install some easy-to-install proprietary drivers provided by a tool like the Additional Drivers utility in Ubuntu.
If you have to hunt down manufacturer-provided proprietary drivers and extended guides for installing them, that’s a bad sign. The drivers may not actually work properly with the latest software in your Linux distribution.
Image Credit: Blek on Flickr
Amd Chipset Driver Auto Detect
READ NEXT- › How to Disable the Login Screen’s Background Blur on Windows 10
- › How to Use All Linux’s Search Commands
- › How to See All Your Saved Wi-Fi Passwords on Windows 10
- › How Do Bone Conduction Headphones Work?
- › How to Use the Linux type Command