Recent content by 512atx

UPDATE! Got the rig back a little sooner than expected. Checked the serial number on the mobo and it's different than before. So that's good. First three characters of SN are C5M. Close to previous board, but not the same batch I guess. Checked BIOS first. Like what I see in ME and Stepping...

Thanks, Vailr. I'll check it out.

Yeah, starting to feel that way. Thank you bankster55, dave_the_nerd, cantholdanymore, virtuallarry, skipsneaky2, shintaiDK, Torn_Mind, and everyone who put some thought into this. i certainly appreciate your expertise and professionalism. i'll RMA the system, they claim it will take about...

Will a "standard" BIOS flash fix the issue on the ME partition (in addition to updating overall BIOS)? That is, I should be able to have a go at flashing the BIOS using the tools from the ASUS page (bupdater v1.30 and v1502 BIOS file....BIOS files are .CAP now?) I saw the link to the thread...

Yes, system was supposed to come ready to run from iBuyPower, OS and drivers were preinstalled (drive probably imaged from some master they have?). Maybe they slapped in the mobo CD after image as well. I was not planning on packing the system up until after the weekend at the earliest (I...

Device Manager http://imgur.com/1Q6wZ CPU-Z (Ver 1.62.0 x64) http://imgur.com/AD6qd From Device Manager, if I try to manually install drivers (i.e., "Have Disk" point it to INF) you can see the only option when "Show compatible hardware" is checked vs. unchecked (everything in INF is an...

Got it. First three characters are C4M.

bankster55, please have a look at this pic http://imgur.com/j3sAA and you can see the sticker over on the edge of the board by the southbridge heatsink. The SN itself starts with 0240**** but you can see a place for three characters prior to the 0240**** There are only three "O" characters...

I don't have the box as iBuyPower put the pieces together. According to SiSoftware Sandra, the first 3 characters of the Mainboard Serial # are MT7.

Haven't packed it yet. Also haven't received shipping label/email from iBuyPower, yet.

took me about that long to get from fourth in the queue and speak to a rep (i called just before 9 a.m. (PST)). The conversation was fairly painless from there. While i did get an RMA number, I'm still awaiting the shipping label they promised as of this posting.

Yeah, i'm not going to mess with the heatsink on the southbridge. I did have a look behind the video card, though (pics below). Definitely a P8Z77 board. http://imgur.com/j3sAA http://imgur.com/2NCWM (sorry, couldn't keep username and mobo both focused)

One would hope they'd advertise that fact if it's the case. Not sure if there's any legal obligation to do so. Obviously it's disappointing when the specs list one chip, but then you get another!

Well, no real fuss from iBuyPower this morning when I called about this issue. They didn't seem too surprised by my claim of the wrong chip on the board, but the tech wasn't sure how prevalent the problem was. They'll swap out the board and check the new one prior to returning it. Even paying...

wow. thanks, bankster55. I'm hesitant to pop off the heatsink until i hear back from iBuyPower and get the RMA going. let them confirm it, i suppose. hopefully they understand the situation and stand by their sale with good customer service! amazing situation. lucky me :)