Official C90/C90S/C91/C80 Owners Lounge

The BIOS chip probably has 8 legs and it is smaller than the one in C90S. The EEPROM chip specifications are not in front of me but I will find out the exact chip number.

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We will use the software from this video. The actions are the same for us too. The green PCB will be replaced by C90P.

<iframe width='480' height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/HiLhkUcx568?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Ok sounds good, I will let you know when I get the unit, I also bought the E2200 so whichever comes first, back to my question, can the unit software display the current BIOS version?
Thanks

 

Quick question, any idea why my C90s loses sound after it's in hibernate?

 

Congrats for the E2200 and the programmer :thumbsup:!

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I am not aware with this application and don’t know. It doesn't matter because if you save the BIOS from the chip and then using a BIOS editor you can see the version from the saved file.​

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Driver’s problem! Try to update the audio driver to version “ RealTek High Definition Audio Driver R2.73”. ​

 

I sure hope this software comes in english because I don't read Chinese.

 

Good to know it saves the version to see later, Ok will try it, thanks

 

You are welcome.
About the Chinese language – it’s not very difficult, a couple hours and we are ready to go !

 

Very funny, seriously I hope it's available in English , also if I found a 9600m how hard would it be to mod for it?
Thanks

 

It should be in English!

The 9600m is useless without a copper heatsink. It’s not difficult to be build one with drilled 4 holes as a simplest approach as the original C90P GPU Heatsink.

Fortunately Angel is covered this topic in details plus drafts, pictures and instructions. Just check out his site .. it will take some time.

Modded Heatsinks for C90S/P

 

Ok good, I see about the 9600,so then the ATI card is the only one that doesn't need the Heatsink Mod?

 

All cards required some kind of mode. The only exceptions are 8600m and 240m.The last one is better than 9600m. Here it is the heatsink for ATI and Nvidia:

Video Heatsink “ASME” 1.0 (the BEST in the world)

 

I don't understand the photo, is the copper piece that goes under the card the mod?, what's the heatsink made of that came with the C90s?

 

You are right - the things are not obvious at first sight. Also there is a huge amount of technical information for reading on Angel’s WEB site. I can’t post all of this here in one or two posts. The good news is that this site still exists and you have the link … " Video Heatsink “ASME” 4.0"

The above link contains all pictures of the heatsink. Click over the pictures for their HighRes versions. You can see the ATI and Nvidia cards with it.

I would like to buy ASME 4.0, unfortunately as far as I know no one is selling it :cry:.
While I was looking for the heatsink I saw the topic “ How to update C90S BIOS ver. 0103 to 1002A”

 

That's helpful, it looks like the Nvidia 240m is pretty damn expensive even in China, why so pricey? The heatsink looks like it would require cutting by a machine shop, I suppose as long as I can supply the outline of it, they can cut it, as for the cost, who knows, whoever can start making these and selling them could make some money maybe. On different subject, so far the programmer and the CPU both shipped, should arrive sometime before next Friday I have till the 22nd to decide about the board.

 

If you explain your current situation to the seller I am sure that she will give you a couple of days more. Without a confirmation that the mobo is working it is pointless to keep it. What a pity if you lose a C90P motherboard that works.

 

Well either them or Aliexpress has extended the delivery receipt date, anyway the E2200 and the external usb drive connector came today, already tested the E2200 in C90S so I know it works, I'm going to to install in C90P and hope it works, will post my results with C90P soon as I can.
Bad news, the E2200 didn't change anything still does the same,but to make matters worse, I have a big problem now, I have held off till tonight putting in a working graphics card in the C90P, I figured it wouldn't make much difference, but tonight I just didn't listen to that voice inside and went ahead and put it in, I tried it with the the same intructions for PSU without battery, well my fear came true as soon as I put it back in the C90S, no video! That garbage motherboard fried my 8600m, card, I tried to reflow with a hair dryer, but no luck it must have fried a chip so I guess that's a testimony for the 8600m how damn delicate it is, anyhow now once again I have no working C90 anything, and I'm typing this on my wife's mac mini. I don't see a reason to flash the BIOS on this board if it's doing what it's doing, but if the programmer comes, what am I saying, I can't do anything with my C90S I don't have a graphics card I would have to flash with the mac mini booted into Windows side, anyhow I'm seriously thinking about buying a 9600 and modding it, but I'm concerned about what it might cost to mod, since I don't have machine shop tools. Or I guess it's back to 8600m till I can come up with the money. I dont know if you remember there was a C90s with a modded 9600 for like 200 dollars on ecrap, I'm thinking I should have bought it .Please help me figure out the best solution.
Thanks
Thanks

 

What about a 9600 mxm ii with MSI MS-1722
Heatsink is there some way to mod the heatsink
To work with the C90s? Or what about this is it for real?
http://bit.ly/19bdKzR

 

Please delete

 

Yeah, and you can use this as an argument to ask the seller for a refund plus covering the shipping back to her. Most of the sellers pull out the CPU from a working laptop and then claim that the mobo was tested which doesn’t means that the mobo is without defects. BTW only Asus can confirm that.​

It’s possible the mobo to not work but it is highly unlikely for me. The real garbage is the 8600m. In this situation the problem can be in both of them. I told you once that you need a good NEW working card as minimum 3470 / DDR3 / DDR2 or better 3650 / DDR3 / DDR2.​

You are right only if the motherboard is faulty and you are without a working video card.​

I can’t understand your attachment to the OLD 9600m second hand expensive and probably overheated card. Here it is the real solution $79 - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 MXM II 256MB DDR3 VGA video Card for 5920g

As far as the price of the mod – you can see exactly what you need with all prices on Angel’s site. When you click over a picture you will see the price of this tool and from where to buy it.​

This is the worst approach ! It’s up to you.​

It was a good deal.​

I am trying and from what I saw until now I think that probably the best solution for you is a new laptop. The idea to fix or improve C90S/P requires money, tools, skills, time to read technical documentation and understanding. If you make your calculations you will be able to make right choice. Try to read “C90S Unleashed” before that!

Personally I prefer to make the heatsink for ATI cards. I will take the copper and will drill 6 holes – 4 for the card and 2 for the C90S/P heatsink pipe. It sounds easy but actually it’s not. Take a look at the top C90S picture.​

Regarding to 9650M as far as I remember there was a problem with this card on C90S. I never saw before 9650M for C90S. It’s slow card.

 

I see, well then I will try to get them to cover the shipping back, first I need to open a dispute.

Well consider the fact even without a video card, it won't power on itself when power was provided, no fans coming on, no HDD spinning just a blue light and when you push power button won't go off only way it goes off is when you unplug, that should have been a warning that there is probably something seriously wrong with the board, I can tell you that I was able to get another C90s, I'm starting a collection, just kidding anyway the same setup as with C90P no video card and it still would go on normally and fans and HDD would work, even though no video card, that's why I thought hey maybe if I put in a video card it might make the C90P work,didn't matter if it was a dead or live one, it didn't make it work, unless there something I'm missing about voltage on the C90P, I can't come to any other conclusion that the board is defective. Now the question is do I replace it or just get my money back? BTW shipping was Free so I don't know if they will agree to pay for shipping back, only other option is to take partial refund, they let me keep the board and I guess I would sell it for parts or repair to recoup the difference.

That's what I'm saying what's the point?

I don't have an attachment I have a lack of funds, that's why I'm asking, because I know of a 9600 that has a mxm ii with MSI MS-1722 Heatsink that I can afford, so if there is any way to make this work for now, I need to know before I get into another 8600m I can't at this time come up with the money needed for the ATI card and do the mod.

I looked and quite frankly I have no experience with this type of machine work. It would probably take me a few tries before I got it right, in addition my understanding the copper alone could cost $30-40 that added to the $79 for the card and I just can't do that right now.

[

I know, by the way I was wondering the 3 dead video cards mentioned in your sig were they all 8600s?

Well depends on the mod, I don't remember much, I know I told you about it, if you look back at the posts and as I recall you advised not too, I think there was an issue or two something to do with the battery not hold much of a charge. here's the post. Oh yea it was also that it had a e6600 with original heatsink, so I guess it wasn't a good deal.

Well the thing is, I don't want a new laptop nor could I justify the cost of a new gaming laptop like a Area 51, or the higher end ones besides you know you can't use a desktop CPU in those and that's the attraction of the C90 s , I just found out last night that there is a company the is making desktop laptops and they go for around $7000, that's outrageous but if you got the money I guess you can afford one, me personally I don't think I would ever spend that much money on a computer! So Asus not making anymore desktop laptops and the only thing is to buy them used, in addition I don't understand why the hell a user buildable laptop would even ship with a removable graphics card, Asus blew it there as did Apple, I don't know if you have seen the numerous complaints by Macbook Pro owners about how there 8600m died, Shame on both companies and Nvidia for making and including such a crappy graphics product, it's outrageous that they didn't make a provision so that other graphics cards would work with little to no mod, or not cost and arm and let like the 240m, since it's so hard to find! I also can't understand why Mxm ii cards cost more than Mxm iii, when clearly the iiis are better!

I just found out the seller wrote to me on the 14th and this is what they said, see if you can figure it out.
I sure can't keep in mind the board was listed as "used" this is on Aliexpress. They will not release funds to the seller till at least the 22nd.

"Dear buyer, this afternoon, I asked my engineer,
They are using E6850 cpu test the motherboard.
we have give a brand new motherboard."

Are they saying the shipped me a brand new motherboard or they are offering to ship me a brand new motherboard? Also first they said e2200 not they are saying E6850, never even heard of that!

???

 

No! Sorry it’s my mistake. I’ve missed the part with the non working video card. C90S/P cannot works without properly working video card! If you put a faulty or not supported adapter then both C90S/P will not work.

It’s wrong to expect similar behavior from C90P and C90S because they are different hardware versions with different BIOSes. This is true even for two different C90S motherboard hardware versions with the same BIOS.

Please dismiss my advice how to proceed with the seller. It wasn’t correct from my side, Sorry ! It's your business.​

Sorry again ! I don’t know how MSI heatsink looks. I don’t know if it will fits in C90S/P or what kind of mod should be done.​

The 3 dead 8600m are in the garbage long time ago. It's my dark painful past.

As far as the new laptop it seems I am wrong again - Sorry ! The point was according to your budget, abilities and calculations to evaluate the situation. Let me ask you how much will cost you a repair that you intend to do?

 

​

Well the 8600 card was working just fine in the latest C90s with no issues till I put it in the C90p board, are you saying that the 8600 is not compatible with the C90p board, how can that be if the the gpu slot and card are the same, even if it's just for testing purposes it should have worked, I'll tell my gut says there Is something wrong with this motherboard. I'm going to video record what it's doing compared to c90s without gpu so you can see what I mean, also of the programmer gets here soon I would like to know once and for all what the BIOS V. Is, maybe the board is defective and maybe its not, would extreme cold in shipping affect it? It was very cold here and it sat in Poetland for at least several hours and more than likely a very cold truck.

So then again I ask what is compatible, what did the C90p ship with?
Doesnt Someone here have a working C90p I can ask?
Like Interns or ?

Yes but what do you think the seller is trying to say when they say "new mobo"?

 

Sorry, I don’t know the answers on your questions!
Probably someone else will help you or just call the Asus support.

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I am unpleasantly surprised by your attitude to someone who is trying to help you with what he can! I am sorry if my posts are not enough useful to you!

Good luck!

 

It does not surprise me that your are taking offense to what I'm saying, the Full Moon has been square Mars and that creates wars and conflicts, I do appreciate your help, it's just I am very frustrated right now, I have no working computer, no working motherboard, I"m out $100+ till I figure something out, I appreciate your experience with this, but please understand I followed your advice with the C90p and it was good advice it's not your fault that the board is bad,it's not your fault that the video card is bad, I'm not blaming you for anything. I'm not a young man, I'm pushing 50 and I have a lot on my plate including a sick wife and new son. Anyhow I am willing to listen to what you are suggesting or what anyone else has to say, but please don't take offense, I am merely stating the facts and there are plenty archived on this board. If you would like to make any other suggestions please bear in mind I have sleep apnea and don't get enough sleep, I have an ailing wife and almost 2 year old son, I have a lot on my plate! Please show some sympathy and understanding, so few people nowadays do, you are the only one who has really tried as much and I do appreciate that, if you abandon me now, I will be lost Asus support is useless and I don't think anyone else here is paying attention to this thread. Please reconsider helping.
Thanks

 

If anyone is interested in seeing what I was talking about earlier of how the C90P board was behaving VS. the C90S both with dead 8600s just so there is one there, I have uploaded a short video, in the first part you see the C90S with a E7500 in it, functioning properly does not come on when you plug in the power only comes and goes off when you push the power button, all the lights come on and go off as they should as does the HDD, in the second part you will see the C90P with a E2200 in it, the lights go on as soon as you plug in the power, the usual lights like HDD etc, don't come on and it stays on even if you press the power button and won't go off unless you disconnect the power. Is this something that is caused by the BIOS or this just a defective board and it's power management or something is bad?. Both boards have a tested and working power extender board.


The programmer arrived today, just thought I should mention it.

 

Fine.

Asus C90S/P officially supports only the crap 8600m. If you wanna run a different video card with a GPU from Nvidia or ATI you are alone and without any warranty that something will work. Nvidia and AMD will give you no help and to become the things worse you should make modification for these video cards at least for the system BIOS and/or video BIOS including the video heatsink. Taking this path you can easily destroy your laptop!

Now here comes your situation. If you want to upgrade 8600m then you should be ready to perform the Nightwalker’s or Angel’s actions. If you are not good with the use of required tools and have no abilities for this specific work then your choice is only one – the original Asus Nvidia 8600m.

I think that I am clear about the video card.

Now for the motherboard – is it bad or not? For you the mobo is bad. I would share your conclusion if I knew that the current BIOS includes the support of the CPU and the RAM which you used for the test. The important fact here is that you are unable to run this motherboard. So my opinion doesn’t matter. It’s up to you how to proceed next with the seller.

As far as your video – using a not working card to test how behaves a motherboard is not good idea. Did you tried to plug in the memory into the firs/second slots? Can you use another memory dimms? .. and of course with a working video card!

Why I am not using C90P? Because I made my calculations:

$ 150 – C90P
$ 155 – Q9650
$ 200 – 8 GB DDR2 / 667 MHz
$ 040 – Copper
===
$ 545​

This is the price without the tools and work. I have the abilities to perform the required work and I did it once and I’m telling you that it’s not easy. The final price is much higher.

With the money for this C90S upgrade I can get a brand new laptop with 1 year warranty and better performance.

 

Thank you for understanding my situation and your continued help.

As I understand you are less likely to destroy it, if you do the modifications correctly and not in a lame manner like some have done. I myself as you know have done neither yet.

I thought the 240m was a choice albeit not exactly affordable, but from I have read it should work without mods if you update the Vbios.

I should be able to find out the current BIOS if I flash it, I now have the programmer but not sure how to proceed, maybe you point me in the right direction like software and online instructions. As far as the seller is concerned, they are asking me what I want to do, and if am sure my motherboard is C90p model? I take it to mean my computer that I am putting the motherboard in not the motherboard they sent me and I will have to verify that. I also have to wonder if they are questioning the compatibility of a C90p board with a C90S computer setup. This is quite a predicament, since return shipping is going to cost half the price of the motherboard, so I myself have to debate on what to do next.

As far as your video – using a not working card to test how behaves a motherboard is not good idea. Did you tried to plug in the memory into the firs/second slots? Can you use another memory dimms? .. and of course with a working video card!
I wonder, were you able to see the whole 2 minutes of the video, it keeps stopping at less than 60 seconds and says an error occurred.
I agree, however keep in mind I did you use a working card that was working flawlessly at the time in the C90s, my new rule is if a card or CPU if working and there are no issues, don't even think of taking it out! I swapped memory and tried different slots and nothing! The way it behaves with it powering on with no power button is not normal you have to agree.

Makes sense to me, however my understanding is that you can still use smaller memory till you can afford to upgrade and you can do that gradually and the same applies for the CPU, as for the GPU it's the same problem with the C90s either way you work with the 8600 or you upgrade, so that's why I opted for the C90p board not too mention at the time, you may recall I thought I had fried C90s gpu slot, which turned out to not be the case and it was only the GPU, so the real price for starters is the motherboard itself which I found for $100 and free shipping. I also want to mention that many people have kept their 8600's going by reflow and there is a difference between the overheating problem and my problem of a what I guess you would call short circuited 8600s due to either my negligence or a bad motherboard, wouldn't you agree. At any rate I would at minimum like to find out what the BIOS is on this C90p board and if the programmer can do that, then please help me figure out how I can do that, otherwise, I won't know.
Thanks again.

 

Is it true that the C90P killed your working 8600m?
If yes, then something is wrong with the motherboard. In that case is pointless any play with its BIOS.

 

Well I can't say for sure that is why, who knows there could have been some static in the air, that could have been possible, the most likely reason is the motherboard seeing how it's not functioning correctly, I still think it would worth finding out the BIOS, maybe it's only good for an older CPU like in that earlier post, what was it again, let me celeron 420, the guy was talking about how he had to swap it out that was the only way it would work, here's the post.

I have to ask this question, is there any known or possible unknown reason other than old BIOS and CPU incompatibility with old BIOS why a C90p motherboard would not work in an old C90s unit? I thought the question had been answered some time ago in an old post that it would work, but now that seems to be coming into question again with what I am going through with this C90p motherboard, so if there is any other reason why it should not be compatible I need to know before I go any further I can't seem to get a straight answer from the seller, they are offering to send me another board, keep this one, but they want me to pay the freight and will probably be at least $30. Meantime I have no GPU.
Thanks

 

I do not understand your answer!
Is the working 8600m card works after the test with C90P?

 

No but again, you can never say for sure, there could have been some static on my fingers for all I know, we get a lot of that here. As for the BIOS is it possible that a corrupt BIOS could cause the behavior the board is exhibiting if, so then why not flash the BIOS, what do I have to lose except a little bit of time? After all I have the necessary tool right?
Thanks

 

OK, I get it.

This is not good about the static. The first general rule when you are working with the electronic components is to do it in non-static environment. If there was some kind of static it’s possible that you are the one who is fried the mobo, video card and anything what you touched. If this is the case then the fault is yours and it will be incorrectly to be blamed the seller.

I was told by Angel that the C90P motherboard is working in C90S without any problem.

If the BIOS were damaged then the mobo behavior is not predictable. In that case re-flashing the BIOS is a solution as you suggest.

 

Do you have the BIOS for C90P?
Also could you ask your seller from where you can download the software of the programmer?

 

I have a bios on the C90s for 1002a, but I don't know if it's for C90P, I supposed I could download another one from C90s Unleashed, are they different? I just asked the seller of the programmer for the software if they know what it is.
Thanks

 

C90P BIOS is not compatible with any of C90S! I posted the link but I can't remember where on this thread. The BIOS is on Angel's site.

The seller knows what you are asking. There many applications but it's better to be used the one from the seller.

 

Oh my I did not know that, that changes things, if I can't find a C90P then forget it. I'm searching for the software myself by the way and so far all I came up with is this. says it's firmware though.

Just found this maybe this will help jog your memory although you were talking about 803 BIOS

Originally Posted by duhai View Post
"Try to download it again! There are 3 archives and they are fine :thumbsup:.

With Angel’s C90P BIOS 803"

maybe this too might help. It looks like it's BIOS 0604 for C90P, isn't that too old? Can you remember what the version is?

 

If you have difficulties to find it just ask Angel via e-mail. It will be easy. I also should be have it somewhere but right now I can't find it.

Do you have Angel's e-mail? If not I will send you as PM.

I think that the correct version is C90P BIOS 803.

 

Ok well I found the right software, I think, I have ATMEGA8 plugged in and selected on the programmer software but I'm getting error
"Error Setting USBASP ISP Clock, error programm enable: target doesn't answer. 1 initialization failed AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions Device singnature =0X000000
Yilkes! Invalid device signature
Expected signature for ATMEGA8 is 1E 93 07

-Last FLASH file not found
-Last EEPROM file not found
-Erasing
-Writing FLASH
>FLASH Buffer is empty! Read FLASH to Buffer first

Does it have to be plugged into the motherboard, any idea what this means?
Thanks

 

There is a driver for the device and then you are using the application. You should first install the driver!

Can you post the link?

 

http://khazama.com/project/programmer/ this is the link for the software I'm looking for the driver. I already installed the ASP driver earlier, and now just reinstalled a version from the same website as the program software, the device is showing in device manager as as USBasp so the driver is installed, still same result with the software.

 

The driver should be on this page

Try the usbasp-windriver.2011-05-28.zip

 

Got it. it's installed

 

Good for the driver. That is the correct installation. Now for the software - is this software was pointed by the seller?

 

Perfect! Now be very careful before to start using the program!
...
Read carefully all text menus. Give me 5 min. to install the application.

The goals is ONLY to backup the current BIOS version!

 

But without the BIOS what can we do? BTW I just emailed Angel asking where I can find it. Can we at least read the chip and find out what BIOS is on there now? Do I need to take the CPU, memory etc, out? Or can I just leave in?

 

Yepp! It depends from the software if it's able to catch the BIOS. From the pictures I saw that it can be done with this version. Before that you should take a look at the SPI connector and the pins. We need a proper connection between the programmer and that SPI header.

 

I did take a look and I"m not sure how it should go on, could it do any further damage if not connected properly?

 

Yes! This connection is very important and must be done correctly!

 

So then how is one to know other than looking and I should mention the connector can go on the motherboard either way, already tested without being connected. Only thing seem to go on is the red line on the connector, I guess like a serial or parallel connector it could coincide with one of the pins, but which?

 

The voltage should be go from voltage pin on the programmer to the voltage pin on the mobo. Do you have some marks on the programmer's SPI interface?