GUIDE How to Flash Custom Firmware on Thunderbolt Card for macOS

[mooseknuckleboi]

How to Flash Custom Firmware on Thunderbolt Card for macOS


Overview

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Following is a Thunderbolt firmware flashing guide exclusively for macOS. The guide is applicable for Motherboards having Built-In Thunderbolt, Laptops, and Add-In Cards.

The method is tested by us on the following Add-In Card.

• GIGABYTE GC-Alpine Ridge, Thunderbolt 3
• GIGABYTE GC-Titan Ridge 2.0, Thunderbolt 3

Firmware Downloads

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Following are the Thunderbolt firmware for various devices including Motherboards, Laptops, and Add-In Cards. Utopia-Team Github contains reliable firmware files for most .bin files mentioned in this guide.

Utopia Thunderbolt Repository - Github

Add-In Cards

Thunderbolt Hardware	Firmware File Name	Notes
GIGABYTE GC-Alpine Ridge, AIC	GC-ALPINE RIDGE-NVM20-V1-Elias64Fr.bin GC-ALPINE RIDGE-NVM20-V2-Elias64Fr.bin GC-ALPINE-RIDGE-NVM21-V3-NATA.bin
GIGABYTE GC-Titan Ridge v1.0, AIC	GC-TITAN-RIDGE-NVM23-Elias64Fr.bin
GIGABYTE GC-Titan Ridge v2.0, AIC	TitanRidgeMacOSFirmware.bin TitanRidgeNVM23-Elias64Fr-Mod.bin TitanRidgeNVM43-Elias64Fr-Mod.bin GC-TITAN-RIDGE-NVM50-Elias64Fr-14B.bin GC-Titan-Ridge-V2.0-Mod-NVM50-CaseySJ.bin
ASUS ThunderboltEX-3, AIC, Alpine Ridge	AlpineRidgeEX3-NVM18-NATA.bin AlpineRidgeEX3-NVM26-NATA.bin
ASUS ThunderboltEX-3, AIC, Titan Ridge	ASUS-ThunderboltEX-3-TR-NVM56-MOD1-CaseySJ.bin

Motherboards

Motherboards with Built-In Thunderbolt	Firmware File Name	Notes
ASRock Z390 and Z370 ITX/ac	ASROCK_Z390_ITX_NVM20_MOD-Elias64Fr.bin
GIGABYTE Z390 Designare	DESIGNARE-Z390-NVM33-Elias64Fr.bin
Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Xtreme Motherboard	Z390-AORUS-XTREME-NVM33-Elias64Fr.bin
GIGABYTE Z490 VISION D	Gigabyte-Vision-D-NVM-50-Elias64Fr-CaseySJ.bin
AsRock Z490 ITX/AC	ASRock-itx/tb3-NVM50-E64Fr-CSJ-dgsga.bin
GIGABYTE B550 VISION D	DESIGNARE-Z390-NVM33-Elias64Fr.bin

NUC

NUC with Built-In Thunderbolt	Firmware File Name	Notes
NUC8i7HNK and NUC8i3BEH	NUC8i7HNKpatched.bin

Laptops

Laptops with Built-In Thunderbolt	Firmware File Name	Notes
ASUS UX550GE ZenBook Pro	ASUS_UX550GE_TB3-CASEY-MOD-1.bin
ASUS UX580GE ZenBook Pro	ASUS_UX550GE_TB3-CASEY-MOD-1.bin
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon	Lenovo-X1-Carbon-NVM-43-MOD-1-CaseySJ.bin

Note:
Please select the appropriate firmware before continuing.

Flashing Firmware​

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WARNING:

The following method described below is risky and it may brick your Thunderbolt hardware during this process. The chip may be damaged and you may require a programmer and original firmware to flash the Thunderbolt chip in order to bring your Thunderbolt back to life again. The steps provided here may or may not be accurate or applicable to your particular Thunderbolt hardware. By using this guide, you understand all the risks involved and EliteMacx86 shall not be liable for any of the damages that might occur and takes no responsibility for any of your action. Please proceed with caution!

Now, as you've enough information about flashing firmware and why you need to, you can proceed with it.

Requirements

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Following are the requirements for using this guide.

• SPI Flasher
• A computer running macOS
• Homebrew installed

STEP 1: Installing Flashrom
The very first step is to install flashrom using Homebrew which will allow to flash the firmware.

Open Terminal and type:
brew install flashrom

STEP 2: Preparing SPI Flasher
The second step is to prepare the SPI Flasher for firmware flashing.

1. Open your SPI flasher. Place the cable in the 8 slots farthest away from the lever. The red cable should be pointing towards the lever.

2. With the cable highly pressed, in, press down the lever to secure.

3. Place the card on a non-conductive surface, such as wood or plastic.

4. Unscrew the screws on the back, and remove the cover.


5. Spread the clip as far apart as you can, and press down over the top of the green dot chip. The single red wire for the SPI flasher will be facing you, but on the right side of the clip.


6. It may take one or two tries to get it aligned. You may need to press down fairly hard and make sure that the clip is perpendicular to the card before releasing pressure. The "teeth" of the card should be nearly aligned with the bottom of the chip, and the side of the clip with sit flush with the side of the chip.




STEP 3: Extracting Original Firmware
The next step is to extract the original firmware. This process is necessary incase the custom firmware fails to work or doesn't works as expected and the chip needs to be returned to a factory state.

Backup Green Chip

flashrom -p ch341a_spi -r OriginalFirmware-GreenChip.bin

• If you get the error "Programmer initialization failed." Reconnect your programmer to your USB port.
• If you get the error No EEPROM/flash device found. Double check to make sure your clip is oriented correctly

If you are successful, you will get the below message. It will save the firmware to your user folder.


Backup Blue Chip
8. Repeat the clipping process for the Blue Chip. Once clamped, backup using the command:
flashrom -p ch341a_spi -r OriginalFirmware-BlueChip.bin

Refer to the previous step if you encounter any errors. You will see the below if you are successful:

STEP 4: Flashing Custom Firmware
The next step is to flash the custom firmware.

9. Now, with your clip still firmly attached to your blue chip, it's time to flash the Thunderbolt card.

Use the following terminal command if the firmware (obtained from top of post) is in your downloads folder, use the command:

flashrom -p ch341a_spi -w ~/Downloads/DESIGNARE-Z390-NVM33-Elias64Fr.bin

If you use the DSM2 firmware instead, it might look like the following:

flashrom -p ch341a_spi -w ~/Downloads/TitanRidgeMacOSFirmware.bin

Replace "johnny" with your username in any examples. "~" is just a command shortcut that means "your user" and will work with terminal commands.

10. Flashrom make take one minute to process, here is what it looks like incomplete:


1. And here is what it looks like successful:

NOTES: If you get the error "Programmer initialization failed." Reconnect your programmer to your USB port. If you get the error No EEPROM/flash device found. Double check to make sure your clip is oriented correctly If nothing is working, inspect the pins on your clip to make sure they are aligned. You may need to use tweezers to align the contacts on the clip or make sure the wires at the top of the clip are not broken under the rubber.

Shorting Thunderbolt Card Header:

We've found that for the most complete hotplug functionality, shorting the card is usually required. This information especially applies if the user desires the ability for the card to initialize on boot without any Thunderbolt device connected. We dive into Thunderbolt hotplug configuration In Our Guide. Shorting the cable is also necessary if you have a motherboard that does not support Thunderbolt cards, although you may have more limited functionality as the card may automatically initialize with security type SL1, possibly interfering with the ability to mount devices.

If no hotplug capability is desired, shorting is optional although may produce better results on some motherboards. Attempt to connect via the header, and if your card is not detected by macOS consider a short. If you choose not to short the Thunderbolt Header Cable on the card side, you will need to plug your Thunderbolt cable from your card into the supported header on your motherboard. Directions for shorting are below:

1. place the connector facing toward you
2. cut and strip pin/wire 1 and 3 (shown in picture)
3. connect together
4. verify no other pins/wires are making connections or shorted
5. mask with electrical tape
6. reconnect to Thunderbolt Add-In Card

Congrats! Your Thunderbolt Add-In Card is now ready to use in your System. Disconnect the clip and re-screw on the exterior panel.

Credits:
DSM2
Elias64Fr
CaseySJ

 

[melodyjj]

GIGABYTE GC-Titan Ridge v2.0 cannot work on win10 after flashing the firmware

 

[EliteMacx86]

GIGABYTE GC-Titan Ridge v2.0 cannot work on win10 after flashing the firmware

That might be an issue. Try to restart the system and then check.

 

[melodyjj]

After restarting and checking many times, this problem cannot be solved, win10 cannot drive Thunderbolt

That might be an issue. Try to restart the system and then check.

 

[EliteMacx86]

After restarting and checking many times, this problem cannot be solved, win10 cannot drive Thunderbolt

Provide Thunderbolt Control Center information.

 

[melodyjj]

 

[EliteMacx86]

View attachment 3830View attachment 3831View attachment 3832View attachment 3833View attachment 3830View attachment 3831View attachment 3832View attachment 3833

This is Mac. Not Windows.

 

[melodyjj]

这是麦克。不是 Windows。

 

[EliteMacx86]

View attachment 3834View attachment 3835View attachment 3836

The Driver is not installed correctly. Flash the stock firmware and it should work on Windows.

 

[melodyjj]

The Driver is not installed correctly. Flash the stock firmware and it should work on Windows.

The driver is from Gigabyte's official website.
It can run normally in win without flashing the firmware. After flashing the firmware, it can't