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Native NVRAM Available?

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You used to be able to put your chosen firmware on a USB stick and rename the file to a generic one, then do a bios recovery process and it would load that as the new default. I've done it on Asus and Gigabyte boards in the past. I'm unsure if that is still the case though.
 
NAS / Small Server
Z87E-ITX |  i7 4771 |  HD 4600
Steambox Pro Mk II
Z87E-ITX |  i7 4770S |  GeForce GTX 760
Asus Z87I-Deluxe and H87M in the Asus ROG laptop also working
 
Fl0r!an said:
Asus seems to have broken something in a recent update, I also saw similar posts from other users with various Asus Skylake boards.
Didn't verify it on my system yet. Is it possible to downgrade afterwards?
Click to expand...
Yes, my last update to my ASUS MyHero motherboard broke NVRAM (NVPRAM). Tony saved my day by telling me to add the EmuVariableUefi-64.efi to my Clover -64 folder. I have yet to update my GENE motherboard to the latest BIOS version because of the fear that to add the Kaby Lake compatibility, ASUS had to remove the NVRAM code. (I'm a guessing on that.)

However, once I installed the EmuVariableUefi-64.efi and rebooted with clearing cache, live was good again.

One user posted that if you put the older BIOS on a USB stick and follow the directions in the User Manual to update the BIOS from the Rear Panel, you can download to the older BIOS as the BIOS utility in the BIOS's Tool menu won't allow down grading.
jrii said:
I downgraded to 2202 using the onboard button on my Ranger. Using the flash utility directly from bios refused to work.
Click to expand...
 
Fl0r!an said:
Asus seems to have broken something in a recent update, I also saw similar posts from other users with various Asus Skylake boards.
Didn't verify it on my system yet. Is it possible to downgrade afterwards?
Click to expand...
I had a quick look at downgrading to 1801 after updating, using the BIOS flashback button, inserting a FAT32 formatted USB drive(with BIOS v1801) in to the green outlined USB port on the rear of the motherboard, pressing the flashback button for 3 seconds it makes the LED flash 3 times and remains on until the BIOS flash is complete. It didn't complete, so as the manual says, unplug the machine then boot normally which I did with the 3007 BIOS revision still in place. Haven't touched it since I used EmuVariableUEFI. This works pretty much the same as FileNVRAM/Chimera did with the parameters contained in a NVRAM.plist.

I'm pretty sure what WD said about giving the BIOS file a generic name should allow downgrade. I'll look in to on my next days off.
 
wildwillow said:
FileNVRAM/Chimera did with the parameters contained in a NVRAM.plist.
Click to expand...

MacMan said:
The latest version of Clover writes NVRAM values to /EFI to get around this issue.
Click to expand...
Yep MM. I noticed the plist after updating Clover. Comparison from Chimera/Clover. I keep my working Chimera/Extra folders for the older systems. Force of habit :
Screen Shot 2017-01-15 at 22.44.39.png
 
Last edited:
Good news if you update a BIOS on one of your ASUS motherboards and find that you have in fact lost Native NVRAM or maybe the ability to write to it, you can downgrade. I had to do some googling to find out what to rename the BIOS file, to allow it to downgrade.

Upgraded BIOS : 3007 I was currently running.
BIOS I've downgraded to : 1801 I wanted to revert to.

Downloaded BIOS name is Z170-DELUXE-ASUS-1801.CAP
If you update a BIOS file it will run the file as it is named, no need to rename it.
To downgrade I needed to give the BIOS file a generic name for it work but only using the BIOS Flashback procedure, not through the UEFI BIOS Flash Utility in the BIOS screen.

Renamed Z170-DELUXE-ASUS-1801.CAP to Z170D.CAP
Put the renamed file on a FAT32 formatted USB - Asus recommends using a USB 2.0 flash drive.
Inserted the USB into the green outlined USB port on the rear panel (the BIOS Flashback Port).
The problem I had the first time I tried to flash/downgrade the green LED would blink 3 times and stay on - if this happens to you nothing is going on with your BIOS flashback. The green LED will stay for as long as you leave it. At this point power down your motherboard until all the lights go out. Then boot normally.
Here is an important step that is not mentioned in the manual before you attempt the downgrade -> Reset the CMOS.
After resetting the CMOS the motherboard will then automatically enter the BIOS set-up.
At this point just power down the motherboard. Once powered down hold the BIOS Flashback button for 3 seconds, it'll start blinking - now it says in the manual the LED will stay on until it is complete. It blinks from here on out and blinks quicker during the write process.
After a couple minutes the LED stops blinking and you are good to go.
Boot into the BIOS and configure as you would.
Success - you now have native NVRAM!!
 
WonkeyDonkey said:
Thats what I was referring to earlier yep. It saved my bacon a few times.

Its handy to know how Clover deals with this as well though, I doubt every motherboard would have success with the bios rename/flashback trick.
Click to expand...
Exactly and to be honest there is nothing in it, having native NVRAM or using EmuVariableUEFI when installing Clover gives the same results. The downgrade option wasn't so much to remove EmuVariableEFI since it's harmless. It was to see if it was the new BIOS that removed writing to NVRAM and if I could downgrade. I like to have options.
 
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