Yes I see Z97 Stinger Core3D / Windows 7 64-bit is there.
Thank you EVGA for getting this out, much appreciated.
I ran the
Meltdown/Spectre tool and the Z97 is now protected for both, but it says the system is slowed as a result (it's an i7-4790k). Doesn't feel slower though.
I had some real issues after this BIOS update where on restart it was failing to detect a bootable drive. In the BIOS boot order, the primary o/s drive (a Samsung 850 EVO SSD) did not even show as an option on the boot list, only the 2TB mech drive and a CD/DVD drive showed, yet the SSD did show in the list of SATA ports where I can enable/disable Hotswap. I could not boot into Windows at all unless I went and reset BIOS to defaults then saved changes and rebooted - but I had to do this EVERY TIME in order to boot into Windows, even when I had not made any changes to BIOS.
After moving around SATA ports and getting quite pissed off, I finally found a fix.
Apparently (and don't ask me why) the BIOS boot order options will only see ONE drive even if you have more than one plugged in. I don't know if this is specific to the Z97 Stinger or all boards on this platform. The boot order does see the CD/DVD drive separately though. For whatever reason, after the BIOS upgrade, the boot order saw the 2TB mech drive first and that's it, it stopped looking for any other drives (other than the CD/DVD drive).. freaking stupid. For whatever reason, I did have the 2TB mech drive plugged in on SATA port 0, and the SSD on SATA port 1, so I guess the BIOS stopped at the first one it found. Presumably if the SSD had been in port 0 (or the mech drive in port 2 or 3) this may not have been an issue.. maybe.
The way I fixed was unplugging all the other drives and ONLY having the SSD plugged in to a SATA port. Viola, there was the SSD in the boot order list, and I was able to boot into Windows no issue after that.
I went back and plugged in the 2TB mech drive and the CD/DVD drive. I checked in the boot order options - sure enough, the CD/DVD drive was there as an option, but no sign of the 2TB mech drive as an option, since the BIOS had already found the SSD and decided to look no further. Very strange behavior, and probably easily fixed if coders cared to look into it, but I doubt they will do so on an older platform now.
I've never had this issue previously btw.
Hope this helps anyone who finds the same issue after the new BIOS update.
Frustrating as hell, and a huge waste of my time, but all's well that end well I guess.
post edited by Nereus - 2018/04/18 19:00:42