Can I flash a Mobo without the CPU?

[fastman]

I have a new Mobo, just got the memory, but still waiting on the CPU. I would like to fire it up to the BIOS at least to check and most likely update the BIOS for my inbound Q9450 to insure compatibility and such.

So the question is can I do this?

 

[alfa147x]

no

 

[Peter]

Mainboards (or anything else for that matter) don't "fire up" all by themselves. The CPU is called Central Processing Unit for a reason - just flat out nothing is going to happen without one. (Well OK, the power control logic on the board will switch on, but that'll be it then.)

 

[Heidfirst]

the 1.1 will have at least BIOS14 on it so should work with a Q9450 from scratch albeit later BIOS may offer improved support.

 

[Rubycon]

It would be sweet if you could. Many boards are shipping with BIOS' that simply will NOT work with 45nm cpu's. This is fine if you happen to have a spare CPU lying around you can use to flash but if not...

 

[fastman]

Not the case since I'm upgrading from an Opti 165, I've been reading that this board you can boot to a flash drive so I may still try it.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: fastman
Not the case since I'm upgrading from an Opti 165, I've been reading that this board you can boot to a flash drive so I may still try it.

Without a CPU it's going to be dead, period.

 

[fastman]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: fastman
Not the case since I'm upgrading from an Opti 165, I've been reading that this board you can boot to a flash drive so I may still try it.

Without a CPU it's going to be dead, period.

I thought the boot-up process hit the BIOS first hmm, but I'll take your word on that as not to dick something up, thanks.

 

[Bob76]

Originally posted by: fastman

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: fastman
Not the case since I'm upgrading from an Opti 165, I've been reading that this board you can boot to a flash drive so I may still try it.

Without a CPU it's going to be dead, period.

I thought the boot-up process hit the BIOS first hmm, but I'll take your word on that as not to dick something up, thanks.

The BIOS is basically a program. It is executed on the CPU. The CPU is the heart and soul of the whole system. Without it nothing works.
Booting from a flash drive still requires a CPU to be installed. It is just an option and an advisable one as well to do BIOS flashing, since it is more reliable than floppy disk.

 

[Peter]

Exactly. The BIOS is software stored in non-volatile memory. Guess who's going to PROCESS this software.

 

[tcsenter]

There are ways to do this without a CPU installed in the motherboard's processor socket. But one way or another, someone will need to bring a CPU to the party, whether it is by diagnostic boot card with embedded CPU or JTAG/SPI programmer with an embedded CPU.

 

[Cybercraig]

Absolutely! Pop your BIOS chip out and either send it in to ABIT or pop it in another mb. Flash it and stuff it back in. No CPU required. ;-)

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: fastman
I thought the boot-up process hit the BIOS first hmm, but I'll take your word on that as not to dick something up, thanks.

Oh, it won't screw up anything, it just won't work. Feel free to try it out.

Another thing that people think should work, but really doesn't is... ATX power supplies won't turn on just from having power plugged in and the switch in the back turned on.

 

[fastman]

Originally posted by: Cybercraig
Absolutely! Pop your BIOS chip out and either send it in to ABIT or pop it in another mb. Flash it and stuff it back in. No CPU required. ;-)

That's not really an problem as the CPU should be deliveried this week and then it's a moot issue.

Thanks all for the responces.

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: Zap
Another thing that people think should work, but really doesn't is... ATX power supplies won't turn on just from having power plugged in and the switch in the back turned on.

Oh yes they do. The standby 5V rail will be powered when you do that. Main power (5V, 12V, 3.3V etc.) won't fire up until the mainboard asserts the "power supply on" signal.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: fastman
I thought the boot-up process hit the BIOS first hmm, but I'll take your word on that as not to dick something up, thanks.

Oh, it won't screw up anything, it just won't work. Feel free to try it out.

Another thing that people think should work, but really doesn't is... ATX power supplies won't turn on just from having power plugged in and the switch in the back turned on.

I thought I recalled a thread in which someone attempted to power-on their 775 mobo without a CPU installed, and subsequently appeared to damage it, as it no longer functioned with a CPU installed.

Me, I would defer to the side of safety, and say that operation without a CPU is rather undefined, and some boards may be damaged by it. (Just like some boards will get damaged if you power them on with the clear cmos jumper installed.)

 

[Pelu]

Originally posted by: Peter
Exactly. The BIOS is software stored in non-volatile memory. Guess who's going to PROCESS this software.

non-volatile.. and yet if you remove the board battery and the power cable from the power supply for a few minutes.. their settings just go away...

oh.. with out processor.... you can only test the fans of the board if any... nothing else will work. some boards dont even give you any beep... on the beep code in case of processor absence...

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Peter

Originally posted by: Zap
Another thing that people think should work, but really doesn't is... ATX power supplies won't turn on just from having power plugged in and the switch in the back turned on.

Oh yes they do. The standby 5V rail will be powered when you do that.

Of course someone would find a flaw in my statement. But, you are right.

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
I thought I recalled a thread in which someone attempted to power-on their 775 mobo without a CPU installed, and subsequently appeared to damage it, as it no longer functioned with a CPU installed.

If you read Newegg reviews (and even these forums) plenty of boards don't appear to function new out of the box. Unless powering it on w/o a CPU caused a puff of smoke, I'd be inclined to believe that it wasn't that act which caused it to not power on with a CPU.

I'm just checking my watch now to see how long it takes someone to come along and prove me wrong on this one too.

 

[jaqie]

Originally posted by: Pelu
non-volatile.. and yet if you remove the board battery and the power cable from the power supply for a few minutes.. their settings just go away...

Sure, the settings do, that is not stored in the EEPROM. The BIOS code itself does not go away without flashing the EEPROM or removing it. If it did, you would have to reflash the BIOS whenever now you just have to set up the settings from scratch... reminds me of the altair MIPS... had to program it directly with DIP switches. How would you like to do that every time you have to change the battery out on your mobo? I believe many BIOSes are now 8 Mbit or so... so 8 million or so toggle switch flips later you could actually boot your system.