erkansus2
I cannot get the unleash RGB software to work at all. It will not load, and simply splashes up for a second and disappears. This has been an ongoing issue apparently since 1.0.04, and I have tried all of the recommended "fixes".
"I too have 21H1 on my main pc build and the software would not load for me. I was not about to format all of my data just to get this issue resolved so I used a spare hd lying around and used Windows 1809 and ran the software and funny enough it worked. I'm not alone on this issue and the seems to centered around FirmwareUpdate.exe as I looked in Windows Event Viewer and the error was saying FirmwareUpdate.exe could not run due to it looking for an older version of the .Net Framework. "
This is the closest post to figuring out what actually is wrong with the software, that I could get. Every attempt by EVGA to address the issue with unleash RGB has been a rehashing of "conflict with windows". The conflict is with how the program is coded to interact with windows.
I just got a Z20 keyboard, and thanks for this post, it helped me get the Unleashed RGB software to actually work. Since I just got the keyboard it had the factory original firmware on it, and the Unleash RGB software would crash as soon as it would automatically try to update the firmware when the program was launched. It would flash on screen for a second, and then in the event viewer I would see the firmwareupdate application crash:
Faulting application name: FirmwareUpdate.exe, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0xfeea13ec
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.19041.1202, time stamp: 0x448a4f5d
Exception code: 0xe0434352
Fault offset: 0x0012b5b2
Faulting process id: 0x32ec
Faulting application start time: 0x01d7b25f6c6f259a
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\EVGA\Unleash RGB\FWUpdate\FirmwareUpdate.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: 0bb5a43b-c0c2-4ae7-9dcb-29b2d68d8c39
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
I too have 21H1 on my main PC, found your post, which mentions somebody had success with 1809, so I downloaded an 1809 LTSC iso, and installed on a spare drive. Booted up 1809, installed nothing else, no OS updates, just Unleashed RGB 1.0.10, it launched and updated the firmware on the Z20 keyboard with success, and it seemed to function fine. Shutdown the PC, swapped back to my main 21H1 nvme drive, booted up PC, and now the Unleashed RGB software is passing the firmware update check, and launches fine, and seemingly functions fine (haven't done much testing other than launch, and change some lighting options).
Given the test above, it would seem that a Microsoft security update at some point in the last 2-3 years has broken the method that Unleashed RGB uses to update the firmware, so if you are on a modern updated Windows 10 version, and your EVGA peripheral needs a firmware update, the Unleash RGB software will crash on the automatic firmware update, and be unusable. I have a guess of which updates broke the firmware update application, and that a non-patched 2004 would also work, but haven't tested that, and don't know that I care enough to figure out this issue for EVGA further.
The fact so many users have complained about this issue, and there isn't a clear "sticky post" or FAQ that mentions you need to be on an old, insecure version of Windows 10 to update the firmware on your EVGA peripherals is astounding.
EVGA, please update the firmware update method used within Unleashed RGB to be compatible with Windows 10 security updates, it also doesn't work out of the box on a brand new Windows 11 install.
TLDR; If your peripheral needs a firmware update (aka Unleashed RGB crashes on launch, and you see firmwareupdate.exe crash in event viewer), boot up an old not patched Windows 10 (1809 confirmed success) to update your firmware.