“No. No, no, no, no.” I whispered into the void.
The ASUS ROG logo appeared on screen. The new BIOS version was displayed in the corner: 2503 .
Silence. Darkness. The smell of ozone and regret. asus ez flash 3 utility v03.00 update
The AIO cooler lit up. The motherboard’s Q-Code display flickered through numbers: 00 (CPU init), 55 (Memory), A2 (Storage), and finally… (System ready).
I had performed the most cursed BIOS update possible: interrupted, power-failed, and resurrected via a secret button. The new BIOS version was displayed in the corner: 2503
Whoosh.
I pressed the power button. Nothing. The motherboard’s Q-LEDs were dead. My $700 motherboard was now a very expensive, very flat paperweight. I had just performed a BIOS update in the middle of a power cycle. I had bricked it. I spent the next hour Googling “ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3” and “USB BIOS Flashback” while hyperventilating into a bag of potato chips. Most forums said the same thing: “RMA the board.” Or, “Buy a CH341A programmer and clip.” The smell of ozone and regret
The EZ Flash 3 Utility v03.00 had tried to kill my board, but the BIOS Flashback brought it back from the dead. I never updated a BIOS again without a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) strapped to my leg.