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Update your TTX3 BIOS - Step-By-Step Instructions

After brushing the BIOS, the original hard disk games can't be played. I want to use the Games in the original hard disk
 
Thanks for this guide @ShootTheCore. It helped me do both TTX3's I have, except one doesn't want to co-operate properly and boot.

I successfully flashed the f/w using the guide and the bios shows it's b23 now

HqbaBUZl.jpg


The boot sequence will show the TTX3 screen

mZlHzZLl.jpg


Then it'll show the Intel ME screen

y73JP07l.jpg


Finally after a while, it'll state that it cannot find boot drive

uKmxB4yl.jpg


When I turn it back on it "repairs" the drive, but it's the same thing - it doesn't find the boot drive

SkZ36uel.jpg


I've tried multiple different ssd's and it's the same issue

Any suggestions? I'm 99.9% certain I followed the same process with this particular ttx3 as the first one (although i'm having doubts now considering this doesn't boot properly).
 
Interesting. I have two hunches:

1) The disk image you're writing to the SSDs is corrupted.
2) The data is being corrupted as it's being read from the SSD.

In the latter case, try replacing the SSD data cable with a fresh one.

For the first case, you can try downloading the free Windows Media Creation Tool from Microsoft to create a Windows setup flash drive, then boot from it, and follow the Windows setup prompts to format the drive and install Windows. If the installation completes and Windows boots successfully then you'll know that there's a problem with your disk image and not the TTX hardware.
 
Yeah I'll try it out.

I just don't think the disk the SSD is corrupted, as it works perfectly fine on the other TTX3 and 3x different ssd's work fine on the other ttx3 too.

I'll try another cable and will also try and install windows normally and see how I go on a different disk

Edit: tried a new cable - same behaviour.

Right now, I'm just trying to get windows installed to try and get booting so I can go back in and re-flash it again (maybe I missed something). Hopefully once it installs windows, it'll boot to it properly
 
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Back to report that the TTX3 is back in action with the same SSD :D

I re-installed windows 10 vanilla on another SSD and got it to a stage where it booted into windows

CsrAU6Fl.jpg


I then re-flashed the bios with the same settings again

tFZXmIkl.jpg


Once flashed, I swapped over the SSD and voila! Back in action!

NYzCg2Vl.jpg


I am assuming it had a bad flash without me realising and I just assumed it went OK as it rebooted after the flash, but if ever anyone has this issue, they can just re-install Windows and re-flash.

It's always weird when you fix your own problems and reply to yourself when asking for help hahahah
 
mR_CaESaR said:
Back to report that the TTX3 is back in action with the same SSD :D

I re-installed windows 10 vanilla on another SSD and got it to a stage where it booted into windows

CsrAU6Fl.jpg


I then re-flashed the bios with the same settings again

tFZXmIkl.jpg


Once flashed, I swapped over the SSD and voila! Back in action!

NYzCg2Vl.jpg


I am assuming it had a bad flash without me realising and I just assumed it went OK as it rebooted after the flash, but if ever anyone has this issue, they can just re-install Windows and re-flash.

It's always weird when you fix your own problems and reply to yourself when asking for help hahahah
Click to expand...

Always good for the next person.
 
I noticed that my b16 revision (as identified in the bios screen at bootup) TTX3 dumped out a 2 megabyte file with the flashing tool, but your file "TTX3 E9A46I3E V1.0b16 071113.bin" is 8,388,608 bytes. Does anyone know the reason for the size discrepancy? The only thing I can think of is that one is a complete image of the entire memory space, and one is just the actual written parts. ROM vs BIN?
 
@ShootTheCore THANKS! I used this excellent guide to dump and upgrade the BIOS on my X3. Have yet to try a new GPU but all went well it seems. Thanks for simplifying it all.

The only thing that stumped me for 30 seconds or so was having to use the drop down to select a .bin file when flashing.
 
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Thought I would post about my upgrade experience. The steps for upgrading the BIOS were spot on all the way through with no issue for myself. I installed an EVGA GTX 960, and after booting and setting the resolution to 1920x1080, it ran great. It was running kind of choppy and the resolution was off at first before changing the resolution to 1920x1080. With the stock GTX 660, the Street Fighter V benchmark was at 52.17 FPS. After throwing the 960 in there, the SF5 benchmark came up to 59.87 FPS. I have not seen issues with any games I have played so far. Thank you again for the instructions and file. I am cautious to pull the trigger on stuff like this but it worked out great!
 
So I'll go through my experience for others to follow...

Flash went without a hitch, as instructions state, backed up bios. I did it in two places, on the flash, and locally on the HDD, I figured if one didn't save properly or I couldn't get back into the machine, and I had to re-flash the chip after a brick I wanted two copies.
Flash went as expected all lights green, the last one took a sec, and I was thinking "Oh No!" and then it turned green and re-booted... and it ran on the old GPU, so I knew the flash had worked.

Now to the cautionary / expereince.

I tried an EVGA 3060, I know overkill but I got it from a co-worker, it was clean, cheap, and fit the slot, so I was thinking I'd be able to use it. NO You can't.... even though it states you can use any GPU the 30 series seems to be too new to be able to utilize it. Maybe because of the architecture. Also possible is that it's too power hungry and it won't power through the 6->8 pin adapter..

So I have some older 1080's and 980's in the garage... but they were larger... so I was thinking, well I'll remove the fan, and just try it out, I won't run it like that, and I couldn't get anything but a blinking cursor to show, so I was concerned I couldn't get it to Post... I was starting to think I'd need the bios update, and manually re-flash it... Well on I went tried to boot with the old GPU, nothing... "Had I bricked it by trying the 3060?"

No, when you un-plug the fan it won't post... It needs to see the fan spinning, so I'm thinking of getting an extension or something again, to see how it behaves on 980, or 1080, as I got the same behavior as when I re-installed the 660. But it's not bricked, which is the good news... so if you get to a point where you can't boot, make sure you put everything back to the way it was, and then move forward to modding what you want to try. But I'm now looking at what smaller 10XX or 9XX card I can put in there, if I find something I'll update or reply, I think there's a list someone posted with which cards could/do work.

UPDATE: The 1080 with a fan extension worked, got 59.78 fps in SFV Benchmark. But I think I'll swap to a 1060 since I think it'll get similar FPS and be smaller so I can fit the fan inside the case, and keep it looking stock from the outside. Also I don't know about adding new-er games, I think if I wanted that I'd build an arcade pc instead... this was so it would use JVS or Fast/IO and Plug right into a Viewlinx...
 
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DCrosby said:
So I'll go through my experience for others to follow...

Flash went without a hitch, as instructions state, backed up bios. I did it in two places, on the flash, and locally on the HDD, I figured if one didn't save properly or I couldn't get back into the machine, and I had to re-flash the chip after a brick I wanted two copies.
Flash went as expected all lights green, the last one took a sec, and I was thinking "Oh No!" and then it turned green and re-booted... and it ran on the old GPU, so I knew the flash had worked.

Now to the cautionary / expereince.

I tried an EVGA 3060, I know overkill but I got it from a co-worker, it was clean, cheap, and fit the slot, so I was thinking I'd be able to use it. NO You can't.... even though it states you can use any GPU the 30 series seems to be too new to be able to utilize it. Maybe because of the architecture. Also possible is that it's too power hungry and it won't power through the 6->8 pin adapter..

So I have some older 1080's and 980's in the garage... but they were larger... so I was thinking, well I'll remove the fan, and just try it out, I won't run it like that, and I couldn't get anything but a blinking cursor to show, so I was concerned I couldn't get it to Post... I was starting to think I'd need the bios update, and manually re-flash it... Well on I went tried to boot with the old GPU, nothing... "Had I bricked it by trying the 3060?"

No, when you un-plug the fan it won't post... It needs to see the fan spinning, so I'm thinking of getting an extension or something again, to see how it behaves on 980, or 1080, as I got the same behavior as when I re-installed the 660. But it's not bricked, which is the good news... so if you get to a point where you can't boot, make sure you put everything back to the way it was, and then move forward to modding what you want to try. But I'm now looking at what smaller 10XX or 9XX card I can put in there, if I find something I'll update or reply, I think there's a list someone posted with which cards could/do work.

UPDATE: The 1080 with a fan extension worked, got 59.78 fps in SFV Benchmark. But I think I'll swap to a 1060 since I think it'll get similar FPS and be smaller so I can fit the fan inside the case, and keep it looking stock from the outside. Also I don't know about adding new-er games, I think if I wanted that I'd build an arcade pc instead... this was so it would use JVS or Fast/IO and Plug right into a Viewlinx...
Click to expand...
Correction. the 3060 I purchased didn't work with other PC's either *(Tested today just to verify card was OK), so I think it's an issue with the card, I've also been looking at the forums, there are some reports about how certain UEFI settings need to be set, or updated, so it's not likely an issue with a 30XX card, but I haven't seen / read anybody having any success with the TTX3
 
ShootTheCore said:
Thanks to the efforts of other folks on these forums, you can now update a TTX3 mainboard with the B23 BIOS that will let you use any GPU with the board.

Here are some straightforward step-by-step instructions on how to update to this new BIOS. Understand that updating your TTX3 BIOS is done at your own risk.

What you'll need
  • TTX3 setup that's booting into Windows. These instructions assume you're using the Artax TTX3 Multi image.
  • USB Keyboard, Mouse, and a Flash Drive.
  • Computer capable of downloading a ZIP file and extracting the contents to a USB Flash Drive
Instructions - Part 1: Preparation
  • Download the linked ZIP file. It has the B23 BIOS and the Flash application.
  • Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a Flash Drive.
  • Boot up your TTX3. Connect the USB Keyboard, Mouse and Flash Drive with the BIOS files.
  • Launch Windows Explorer.
    • In the Artax Multi image, press the W and E keys on the keyboard to cycle through the categories in the game launcher. Go to the Utilities category all the way on the right. One of the options in Utilities is to Launch Windows Explorer. Use the arrow keys to highlight it, and press Enter twice to launch it.
  • Browse to the Flash Drive, and into the "TTX3 BIOS" folder.
Instructions - Part 2: Saving Off Your Current BIOS
  • Launch the "AFUWINGUIx64.EXE" application. The Flash tool should open to the following window:
    IMG_1303.PNG
  • Fill in the four checkboxes under the Block Options heading, and click the Save button.
  • Name the file "oldbios" and save it to your Flash Drive.
Instructions - Part 3: Flashing the New BIOS
  • Close the Flash tool, then relaunch it again.
    • If you don't close out the tool, it won't let you flash a new BIOS for some reason - the Flash button stays disabled after selecting the new BIOS file for flashing.
  • Click the Open button and select the "TTX3-1.0b23-092614.bin" file on your Flash Drive.
    • Switch the File Type drop-down at the bottom to All Files to have the file appear in the file selection window.
  • Fill in the four checkboxes under the Block Options heading, and the "Restart after Programming" option under the Miscellaneous heading.
    • IMPORTANT: Make sure none of the checkboxes under the "ME Firmware Block" heading are checked. Updating this firmware block isn't necessary and it's caused side-effects with some systems.
  • Click the Flash button.
  • You'll see a Progress screen appear and some of the blocks will progressively turn Green.
  • Once the flashing procedure finishes, the system should restart on its own. If it doesn't for some reason, close out the Flash application and restart the system manually.
    • If you see one or more Red blocks, the flash operation didn't complete for some reason - try repeating the flash procedure. You can also try flashing back the old BIOS that you saved off earlier if need be.
    • Don't restart the system if you experience Red blocks during the flash process or it may not boot again without desoldering the BIOS flash chip from the TTX3 PCB and soldering in a new one.
  • Enjoy an TTX3 system that will now accept any GPU.

8/23/24 EDIT: Fixed the broken link to download the BIOS.
Click to expand...
I currently have a type x4 with SF6 - specs are i54590s, 4gb ddr3 at 1600 and a GTX1650 4gb. Can I flash this bios onto mine in order to upgrade my GPU? Thank you.
 
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