Strafe not working with motherboard bios updates

A 3900x is arriving tomorrow, so I tried flashing my Crosshair VI Hero bios to versions 7401 and then 7306, both gave me a problem I have never experienced before. On the initial boot I get to the press F1 screen to enter bios. Unfortunately, my Corsair Strafe RGB keyboard has the Scroll Lock key blinking, and none of the keys function. At that point I am just "stuck".

The only workaround is to plug in an old Microsoft USB keyboard I had around, which works ok. After entering bios, then saving, exiting, I can go back to the Strafe and boot into Windows and things work. However, I can not get back to bios, as the same bad behavior repeats (pressing Del key won't work)until it boots windows. The only way to access the bios is with the Microsoft keyboard.

I googled blinking Scroll Lock key on a Strafe and I see where that means something about "bios mode" of the keyboard and to press a combo of F1 and the upper right Windows key, but this does not solve the issue.

Anyone else had this weird problem?

I found a temporary workaround. I downloaded an old firmware version for the Strafe, and flashed it to the keyboard in iCue. Version 2.05. Then I rebooted and though it still has the scroll lock white indicator blinking, I could then hit the del key to bring up the Bios splash screen, and the F1 key worked to enter Bios.

I then went back to Windows, "upgraded the firmware" to the current version, and bam! The keyboard once again fails to function to get in to the bios. I had to revert firmware once again to make it work.

Clearly, something in the new firmware breaks the keyboard in terms of pre-Windows boot process with this motherboard.

I have similar problem on my Strafe RGB on ASUS ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING

running Bios version 0804.

On top of this issue my keybord seems to ignore settings regarding static backlight, no matter what I do. If I force flashe the update of firmware the issue goes away but only till next boot up where the issue re-occurs.

I have similar problem on my Strafe RGB on ASUS ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING

running Bios version 0804.

 

On top of this issue my keybord seems to ignore settings regarding static backlight, no matter what I do. If I force flashe the update of firmware the issue goes away but only till next boot up where the issue re-occurs.

Well I finally gave up! I bought a Steelseries Apex 7 TKL, and the problems disappeared. Side benefit is no more Icue software to hassle with.

I found a temporary workaround. I downloaded an old firmware version for the Strafe, and flashed it to the keyboard in iCue. Version 2.05. Then I rebooted and though it still has the scroll lock white indicator blinking, I could then hit the del key to bring up the Bios splash screen, and the F1 key worked to enter Bios.

 

I then went back to Windows, "upgraded the firmware" to the current version, and bam! The keyboard once again fails to function to get in to the bios. I had to revert firmware once again to make it work.

 

Clearly, something in the new firmware breaks the keyboard in terms of pre-Windows boot process with this motherboard.

This is a problem with K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE and an ASUS PRIME-X470 PRO motherboard as well, and a similar solution solves it.

Specifically, any V3 firmware installed from iCUE V3 and V4 for the K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE on that motherboard most of the time has the keyboard not being detected during BIOS. It's not 100% consistent, but most of the time, the keyboard isn't detected with cold boots. I'm certain this only started being an issue after a certain motherboard firmware update, so I'm thinking some firmware-related update on Ryzen motherboards is causing this.

If I use V2 firmware from iCUE V2, the keyboard detects fine 100% consistency on cold boots. Only downside with this is that my keyboard lock indicator light when off is always red without iCUE running (this is fixed in the V3 keyboard firmware).

Guessing this is probably a similar firmware issue:

https://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=204990

I didn't mention in my thread but something I have picked up from this thread is when using Acronis (booting from a USB stick) the keyboard was not detected from time to time. The issue has gone away along with the "keyboard chatter" since I downgraded firmware.

Dreadful isn't it that updating firmware breaks functionality?