Asus H170 PRO GAMING BIOS is not displayed

Current BIOS: H170-PRO-GAMING-ASUS-3403

https://www.asus.com/supportonly/h170_pro_gaming/helpdesk_bios/

Problem: BIOS is not displayed, can’t enter BIOS, cursor/underscore on black screen.

Cause: unknown. PC stayed some time unused and then this… Power on PC and it shows black screen with non-blinking cursor, then monitor blinks and you get same black screen with non-blinking cursor. Tried on old and new TFT monitors with DP, HDMI, VGA, DVI-D – same. Tried on discrete video – same.

Potential cause: low CMOS KTS battery - 2.6 V - may have corrupted BIOS.

I can boot from USB WinPE without any problems and see hardware with utilities, if no OS is installed on any HDD or SSD.

Windows PE => CMD with admin rights => shutdown /r /fw /f /t 0 

I can boot from Win 10 USB and install Windows 10 on HDD or M.2 SSD, but after install Windows won’t boot. You get same black screen with non-blinking cursor.

I can’t enter BIOS by pressing F2 or Del, but Ctrl+Alt+Del reboots PC without problems.

When entering UEFI BIOS from Kubuntu USB GRUB menu PC turns off and then restarts.

I can’t flash BIOS with BUPDATER or AFUDOS.

With BUPDATER PC simply reboots or proposes to secure flash and reboots.

With AFUDOS I get message that BIOS is write protected. Can’t backup it and can’t flash it.

I changed battery, unplugged devices, removed CPU, tried another PSU, changed memory modules, reset CMOS many times but nothing helps. Looks like BIOS is working because with service utilities booted from USB drive I can see sensors, all specs, test video and cpu, hdd and ssd are visible, etc… But I can't enter BIOS.

BIOS chip flash solved the problem. Used buggy CH341A black USB 5V adapter, CH341-USB/CH341WDM.INF driver, UEFITool.exe, AsProgrammer_2.0.3a, Windows 7.

AFTER 3805 BIOS flash LAN Intel Ethernet Connection (2) I219-LM  stopped working!!!

Flashed 3403 BIOS again!

Asus H170 PRO GAMING BIOS chip model: GigaDevice GD25B128CPIG E6S556 AH1644

https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/asus-h170-pro-bios-recovery/31530 - Asus H170 Pro BIOS recovery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYXKOo4sJqM - Прошивка bios программатором CH341 AsProgrammer под мутанта

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9IuCtNuakE - Прошивка BIOS программатором CH341A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpjs4-B7HPU - Взлом системы - моддим bios Z170 под CoffeLake

https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner/issues/98 - Flash Asus Z170 Pro Gaming using Ubuntu

https://www.cryptoprofi.info/?p=10901 - How to flash BIOS chips using RT809F programmer

https://greentechreviews.ru/2020/09/09/vosstanovlenie-bios-v-domashnih-i-okolo-togo-usloviyah/

https://www.wimsbios.com/amiflasher.jsp#gsc.tab=0

https://forums.overclockers.ru/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23980&start=9260

https://i2hard.ru/publications/30697/

Install CH341A drivers and AsProgrammer_2.0.3a on Windows.

Install flashrom on Linux. [ You may also need libftdi1-2, libusb-0.1-4 ]

To convert an ASUS .CAP BIOS file into a .BIN file, follow one of these methods:

Method 1: Remove the CAP Header Manually (Hex Editor)

    Open the .CAP file in a hex editor (e.g., HxD or Hex Editor Neo).

    Look for the header size:

   ASUS BIOS .CAP files often have a 2 KB (0x800) or 4 KB (0x1000) header. Check the first few bytes — if it starts with "AMI", "ASUS", or similar markers, it’s part of the header.

    Delete the first 2 KB or 4 KB from the file.

    Save the modified file as .BIN and use it for flashing.

Method 2: Extract with UEFITool

    Download UEFITool (GitHub).

    Open the .CAP file in UEFITool.

    Right-click the BIOS region (usually labeled BIOS Region or UEFI Image).

    Select "Extract as is" and save it as a .BIN file. This removes unnecessary headers while preserving all firmware regions.

Method 3: Use AMI Firmware Update Tools

    Download AFUWIN or AFUDOS (AMI tools for BIOS modification).

    afuwin.exe /CAP_TO_BIN input.CAP output.BIN

    (Command may vary depending on your BIOS type.) This extracts the raw BIOS image.

After conversion, check that:

The .BIN file is slightly smaller than the .CAP file.

The structure is correct (compare it with an extracted .BIN from a working board).

It includes the necessary firmware regions (e.g., ME firmware for Intel chipsets).