Using HirenBootCD to update Asus USB controller

The ASUS X870E-Plus motherboard has an issue with its USB where they will lose power and disconnect from the computer. It was trivial to make it happen, simply plug in a phone or any device that needed for power (eternal hard drives). Reading on this issue it effected both Windows and Linux users of the motherboard. The cause of this issues was due to the chipset that controlls and set the power managment for the USB. A update was provided at the end December with the “ASUS 4242 and PD_GX Firmware Windows Update Tool”.

This update did help in alleviating the USB power issues but for those using Linux there was still an issue. This tool only runs under Windows. You could try using Windows emulation such as Wine but due to how the program works it can not update the USB controller, it had to be a full Windows environment.

Some might have a seperate Windows OS install that they could connect to the motherboard but that was not the case here. It was a Linux OS install only. This made it a bit more complicated. There was also playing around with the USB power settings on the OS but that did not solve the issue.

A Windows PE disc was created to try and run the program but this limited Window Environment also did not have the set of features needed to run the update applications. Lacking a proper graphical user interface that the program needed along with the Microsoft VC_redist.x64. Without these the programs would not function.

This lead to the usage of the Hiren’s BootCD PE. This tool just like the Windows PE is used for troubleshooting Windows computers. It runs upon the same Windows PE environment but contains many more full features and installed software, including a full graphic display.

Hiren’s BootCD PE allows for software to be installed on the ISO image before being burned onto a disc. Because of how the disc (ISO) image is written adding software is easier to due under Windows. This is due Hiren’s BootCD PE is using Windows own filesystem. Adding additional software can be doneunder Linux but it is more complicated. While I did pre-install the ASUS 4242 and PD_GX Firmware Windows Update Tool onto the Hiren’s BootCD Pe image but I later remembered later that this was not needed. Many disc images running of the system ram can use the ram as a temporary storage. This was done later for installing the Microsoft VC_redist.x64 file.

To make certain that there would be no complications I installed the image to a disc. Since the update was for the USB I was not certain is booting from a USB would cause issues. The update software did mention that the USB would temorarily disconnect. Booting from a disc means that this would not be an issue.

Onces booted into Hiren’s BootCD PE it was simply a matter of running the update software. Which is the PD_GX Firmware update first and then the ASUS 4242. Both were fast installs, it then gives a popup message that the update was done. This now means that the firware for the USB is complete.

In addition I also disabled the USB power saving feature in the bios. The issues come from the USB trying to power into a lower state but fails to come back again if a power device is connected. I wanted to make certain that all possible causes were taken care of. Onces the update were done and disabling the power saving feature there have been no problems with the USB disconnecting, no matter what was plugged in.