OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
So I'm re-boarding a Gateway AIW PC for a client. I've done about five of these so far, they are AMD-based and the storage controller on the board [censored] the bed and renders the board useless. Boards are made by Gigabyte IIRC, they have a darker aqua PCB and a funky form-factor.
I've swapped in ASUS boards with the first few being 1155's back when that socket was common and the more recent ones have been 1150's including this latest. A Micro-ATX board, while not the "proper" form factor for the chassis (the OE board has a backwards orientation) is able to be fitted if you get creative with HDD placement. Topped with whatever i3 is the best deal in my price list and recycling the DDR3 from the OE board.
This time around, used an ASUS H81M-A topped with an i3-4160.
Get it all together, makes all the proper post sounds. No video. Do a bit of troubleshooting, jerry rig in a PCI-E vid card, try some different RAM...etc. Nothing.
Check ASUS's CPU compatibility list (which gives required BIOS revision) and then check the board. BIOS is too old for the CPU. ARG!
Out comes Google to see if there's a workaround.
Find a post on a forum with the same issue, same board family, same generation CPU. Confirmed, no video. Posts fine with a Celeron G1820. A rep from ASUS replied in the thread, stating that it needs to be booted with an older CPU to update the BIOS and IME firmware. Ridiculous!
Great. Wholesaler has no older CPU's. Could RMA the board and try to get one with a newer BIOS but that's time consuming.
Checked Kijiji, found a Celeron G1820 for $50.00. Should be here by Wednesday.
I've had to do this a number of times in the past, but I usually have enough older CPU's in stock that I don't need to order/buy anything (and no IME firmware is involved). Not this time
I've swapped in ASUS boards with the first few being 1155's back when that socket was common and the more recent ones have been 1150's including this latest. A Micro-ATX board, while not the "proper" form factor for the chassis (the OE board has a backwards orientation) is able to be fitted if you get creative with HDD placement. Topped with whatever i3 is the best deal in my price list and recycling the DDR3 from the OE board.
This time around, used an ASUS H81M-A topped with an i3-4160.
Get it all together, makes all the proper post sounds. No video. Do a bit of troubleshooting, jerry rig in a PCI-E vid card, try some different RAM...etc. Nothing.
Check ASUS's CPU compatibility list (which gives required BIOS revision) and then check the board. BIOS is too old for the CPU. ARG!
Out comes Google to see if there's a workaround.
Find a post on a forum with the same issue, same board family, same generation CPU. Confirmed, no video. Posts fine with a Celeron G1820. A rep from ASUS replied in the thread, stating that it needs to be booted with an older CPU to update the BIOS and IME firmware. Ridiculous!
Great. Wholesaler has no older CPU's. Could RMA the board and try to get one with a newer BIOS but that's time consuming.
Checked Kijiji, found a Celeron G1820 for $50.00. Should be here by Wednesday.
I've had to do this a number of times in the past, but I usually have enough older CPU's in stock that I don't need to order/buy anything (and no IME firmware is involved). Not this time
