HP Foxconn H-I41-uATX (Eton) Motherboard Bios Update + SSD Installation Help

[p00kz]

Hi All,
 
I am trying to assist my father in-law with a SSD upgrade on an old machine.
He has a HP Pavilion p6506f Desktop PC and I cannot seem to find support or information for compatibility and driver updates. I’ve checked the HP website 
 
Processor: Intel Pentium E5500
Motherboard: HP Foxconn H-I41-uATX (Eton/EtonL)
CPU-Z
Manufacturer: FOXCONN
Model: 2A8C
Version: 6.02
Date: 04/29/2010

Looking for some guidance on the following…
 
1.      Do I need to update the bios in order to install a SSD? (Samsung 860 EVO)
2.      Could someone possibly direct me on where I might find the latest bios update + drivers for the p6506f?
 
Thank you kindly

[tcsenter]

Hi All,
 
I am trying to assist my father in-law with a SSD upgrade on an old machine.
He has a HP Pavilion p6506f Desktop PC and I cannot seem to find support or information for compatibility and driver updates. I’ve checked the HP website 
 
Processor: Intel Pentium E5500
Motherboard: HP Foxconn H-I41-uATX (Eton/EtonL)
CPU-Z
Manufacturer: FOXCONN
Model: 2A8C
Version: 6.02
Date: 04/29/2010

Looking for some guidance on the following…
 
1.      Do I need to update the bios in order to install a SSD? (Samsung 860 EVO)
2.      Could someone possibly direct me on where I might find the latest bios update + drivers for the p6506f?
 
Thank you kindly

Necro thread but only ~2.5 years, we've seen much worse! Latest BIOS for this board ID 2A8C is ver 6.10 dated 12/28/2011. You can get the BIOS from HP here: H-I41-uATX Motherboard BIOS 6.10 Update

I've noticed something odd with this board. It will not work with 2.5" SATA 6Gbps SSD. I have tried two different make/models; 256GB and 512GB. They show correctly in BIOS but absent from any of the four SATA ports listed during POST screen. No storage device found (unless you have another device attached like USB flash drive). It is also absent and not select-able from the boot priority list in BIOS. I've tried starting from raw unpartitioned with no format, partitioned but not formatted, and formatted MBR in another PC. All the same.

HOWEVER! I happen to have an older 256GB mSATA SSD module (OEM for HP) mounted to mSATA (and M.2 SATA) to 2.5" SATA adapter board, like thusly:



For some odd reason, this works no problem. One thing different is the mSATA SSD is 3.3V according to label and both 2.5" SSD drives are 5V? I can't explain it otherwise.

[tcsenter]

Discovered that this adapter above does not work well with M2 SATA, something to do with the ASMedia ASM1456 mux/demux/switch IC is not implemented or handling things well. Is not recognized in BIOS or not able to boot from it in two different motherboards when using M2 SATA SSD.

I acquired a black PCB equivalent adapter silk screened labeled "NFHK" that features a small manual switch to select between mSATA and M2, as opposed to an autoswitching IC. This works well all scenarios.

But this Eton board continues to have problems even with 2.5" SATA SSD drives connected, can't be configured in BIOS. Gonna just call it a day and send this board for ewaste/recycle. Get something with a newer I/O chipset than this ICH7 that was already retired and replaced by ICH9 and ICH10 by the time the Intel 4 Series G41/43/45 was released.