Can't upgrade BIOS on Acer Predator Orion 3000 P05-650: ROM file ROMID is not compatible

I am trying to update my BIOS because I think it might fix a persistent freezing issue my PC has been having for months. It can happen no matter what I'm doing with my PC (even idle on desktop with minimal resources being utilized) and causes the UI to become completely unresponsive with the display frozen and audio stuck looping on the last fraction of a second of sound that was playing before the freeze. Only thing I can do is a hard shutdown holding down the power button.

Today I learned that the latest BIOS update released this month is supposed to help mitigate a fault with the stock 13th gen Intel CPU which could be the source of my freezes. However, when I tried to run the BIOS installation application I downloaded from this page: https://www.acer.com/us-en/support/product-support/Predator_PO3-650 the program returned an error message stating "ROM file ROMID is not compatible with existing BIOS ROMID"

Now, I am CERTAIN this is the correct BIOS update for my system. I just confirmed my system BIOS is currently version R01-A2 and the version I am attempting to install is version R01-A3. The instructions in the zip folder download are not very helpful and appear to be written by someone whose first language isn't English. What do I have to do to make the BIOS update? I know BIOS updates are risky, but at this point I don't care if the thing turns into a brick, nothing else has worked. A new motherboard is the least expensive thing I could replace out of all the other parts I've been considering while trying to fix this.

Note: I am aware that this model has a major issue with cooling that can cause freezing, that's not what's happening to me. I already replaced the stock heat sink with a Noctua NH-U12A and CPU temps are no longer an issue. I have not swapped out any other stock parts.

If anyone has any other ideas as to what could be causing my freezing problems I'd like to hear it. They're extremely unpredictable, they can happen more often when I'm playing resource heavy games but sometimes I can run a game for 12 hours with no issues, and they can also happen when my PC is idle with the bare minimum of applications running. If this Intel processor thing isn't it, the only other thing I could think of was the PSU, but freezing is literally the only symptom and the PSU seems intact and the fan is working. If I can't get this BIOS update to work or it doesn't fix the issue I'm really at a loss. This is everything I've tried so far to stop the freezing:

Major upgrade of heat sink 2 months ago (20°C improvement, 99% of freezes stopped until recently)
Thorough cleaning of dust from the computer's case
Reseating GPU & RAM
Testing RAM
Testing GPU (didn't freeze or crash for 12 hours on ultra settings in a game known for frequent crashes, I really don't think GPU is at fault)
Updating drivers
Completely reinstalling Windows 11 (clean wipe) & chipset drivers

Any help is appreciated. I really want this BIOS update to work because my next step is CPU replacement and I'm short on money right now.

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StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/714052/cant-upgrade-bios-on-acer-predator-orion-3000-p05-650-rom-file-romid-is-not-compatible

Which Predator desktops model have you got? As you say that you have the Predator PO5-650 which has a H770 chipset mainboard and the bios link that you have above, is to the bios of the Predator PO3-650 that has a B760 chipset mainboard which is a different board, so be aware of that. Aways install the exact bios for your exact model desktop whichever model you have.

If you have the Predator PO3-650 the last bios version is the R01-A4, dated 2024/08/21 titled: "Support Intel IPU2024.1" which is not the latest bios for the 13th Gen fix as its a security update.

The Predator PO3-650 last bios version is the R01-A3 is dated 2024/10/01 titled: "MCU 0x129 update for the Intel 13th and 14th Generation CPU issue" which is the fix for the Intel cpu 13th Gen, but this bios is only for the PO3-650 and NOT for the PO5-650!

Note: Acer doesn't just put bios version for one Predator desktop even if their model are very similar as the PO3-650 is different to the PO5-650 as descried above, even if they both have a bios version R01-A3 that are exactly the same numbers and letters, but they are different. Always make sure that you ONLY download the correct bios file for your Predator desktop model, as that is where you are probably going wrong. Good luck and hope this helps you out and solves the bios update.

The freezing could be a cause of the Intel 13th 14th Gen instability problems and you will have to wait until Acer has a bios update for the PO5-650 desktop. Otherwise try the new latest Win-11 version 24H2 OS build: 26100.2033 update, download the standalone .ISO file and update the OS "Keeping all your files" as then all you need is to reinstall all the apps as the settings will be retained in a folder called Windows.old like your desktop was before, Good luck and hope this helps you out.

This is the download for the stand alone Windows 11 24H2 all editions 64-bit – 5.4GB: English | Spanish | German | French

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

FlyingRatDog

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1302876#Comment_1302876

Yeah, I'm an ****. My PC is P05-650. Can you tell I'm sleep deprived? 😃But thanks.

I was able to update the BIOS through the advanced options in Windows Update but since I am the P05 and not the P03 it doesn't do anything for my issue. I was greeted with a CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT BSOD upon booting in after the update (second of the day) so that's fun. It hasn't frozen in the 3 hours since restarting after the BSOD but that doesn't exactly inspire confidence considering the timespan between these freezes has been anywhere from 20 minute intervals to a full 24hours without issues.

Really leaning towards the processor being the issue even though it keeps passing the tests I've done on it. There are a lot of things that could cause random freezing but my PC doesn't have any of the symptoms that would point to it being something else. If it was the RAM I would expect my PC to be slowing down, but it performs smoothly even on ultra settings in graphics intensive games up until the freezes happen. There's never stuttering or slowing down, everything is speedy as can be until it suddenly stops. I don't think it's drivers because I did a clean install of Windows and updated every possible thing. I don't think it's cooling because it still randomly freezes even when idle at low temp. I don't think it's the PSU because even though that could cause freezing and the BSOD error, it's only a year old and my PC doesn't have any of the other symptoms that would be associated with a bad PSU + it seemed fine when I took a look at it.