Updating your NZXT Motherboard BIOS

Whether it be due to a security update, feature improvement, or additional functionality there may be a time to update the UEFI BIOS on your motherboard.  Thankfully with motherboards like the NZXT N series motherboards, this process is fairly quick and pain free.

Preparing the BIOS Updater

Depending on the model of your NZXT motherboard, you will need to first download the latest version of your motherboard UEFI BIOS.  This can be found on the product page for your motherboard.

With the file downloaded, we’ll need to make sure that our flash drive is ready to go.  For the Instant Flash tool to detect the update file, we will need to use a USB Flash Drive formatted either FAT16 or FAT32.  Most flash drives under 32GB will be pre-formatted in the FAT32 format.

If your drive is not formatted FAT32, you will need to update the format.  In the case of some flash drives you may find that the drive is formatted in the exFAT or NTFS format.  If it is in one of these formats and the drive is 32GB or smaller, you can reformat the drive to FAT32 to make it detectable.

Note:  Formatting a flash drive will result in a total loss of all data on the target drive.  If you have any important files saved on the flashdrive, it is recommended to back these files up to an external storage medium before formatting the drive.

To format the drive, right-click the drive in Windows and choose “Format”, then make sure that your drive is configured as FAT32 before clicking the “Start” button.

With your drive ready, open the downloaded .zip file in Windows and copy the update file from the .zip file to your flash drive.  For our example with the N7 B550 motherboard, we will be updating using the N7B55XT1.80 file.

With your file copied to the flash drive, we will need to reboot the computer into the UEFI BIOS.  This can be done by simply restarting your PC and pressing either F2 or Delete on your motherboard at the NZXT splash screen before Windows starts loading.

Alternatively, you can hold SHIFT on your keyboard when clicking “Restart” from your Start menu power options.

From here, select “Troubleshooting”, followed by “Advanced Options”

Finally, select “UEFI Firmware Settings” and click “Restart”

Updating your UEFI BIOS

Note:  If you have an early version of the N7 B550 motherboard which shipped with BIOS version P1.10, please see the section at the bottom of this guide labeled “B550 BIOS Flashback Firmware Updater” before continuing.

To update your BIOS firmware, make sure your flash drive is inserted into the PC and click “Tool”

Under the Tool menu, select “Instant Flash” to scan the PC for any connected flash drives.  Once an update file is detected, the directory with the drive will be shown along with the options to either “Update” or “Rescan Device”.  If you have multiple update files saved on your flash drive, select the newest version.

Note:  You may get a warning to suspend BitLocker and any encryption or security relying on TPM.  It is recommended to disable either Intel Platform Trust Technology (PTT) or AMD Firmware TPM (fTPM) before updating the UEFI BIOS.  For more information, please refer to the following guide:  Enabling TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot on NZXT Motherboards

Before the update starts, you will get one more prompt confirming if you are ready to update the UEFI BIOS to the selected version.  Once you have clicked “Yes”, allow the computer to complete the update.  Please do not shutdown, unplug, or attach anything to the PC while the updater is running as this can result in the updater failing.

Once the update is completed, a final prompt will pop up to restart the computer.  Once the PC restarts, your UEFI BIOS will be up to date.

Restore Factory Settings

Once you have completed the BIOS update, it is highly recommended to restore your motherboard settings to the factory defaults.  To do this, go to the Exit screen and choose Load UEFI Defaults, then select Yes when prompted.  Finally, click Save Changes and Exit to save the changes and reboot your PC.

Updating the BIOS Flashback Firmware

Note:  This section only applies to early runs of the NZXT N7 B550 Motherboard.  These early motherboards shipped with BIOS version P1.10 and will require an update in order to utilize the BIOS Flashback functionality.  Updating the BIOS prior to running this update may result in the motherboard being “bricked”.

Before updating motherboards running P1.10, it is recommended to update the BIOS Flashback firmware in case of failure.  This can only be done from within Windows, and will use the BIOS Flashback Firmware Updater found on the product page.

With the updater downloaded, right-click the “1627001703-n7-b550-bios-flashback-firmware-update.zip” file and choose “Extract All”.

With the files extracted, right-click “FlashbackFWUpdate.bat” and choose “Run as administrator”.  If prompted by User Access Control, allow the program to continue. 

When the program pops up, press any key to continue and once completed the motherboard will be ready to accept future updates.

If you run into any issues with these steps, or have further questions please reach out to our Customer Support team.