Pegatron M2N68-LA/HP Ivy8-GL6: CPU Upgrade

[DeathBringer]

Open the case and write down the labeling.

[itwong]

Open the case and write down the labeling.

The chip has marking on it covering the letter, somebody wrote a "C" on it. It starts with 25x4

[itwong]

thank you

[DeathBringer]

OK, delete this foto
It's Winbond 25x40xxSIG. So 4Mb only...

[DeathBringer]

Adding microcode don't add supporting for new CPU. Updating AGESA is needed also. But it's not simple task.
This is my search results for M2N68-LA BIOS

Code:

Narra-GL8E  AM2  4xddr2 sp37190.exe 5.13 AGESA 2.8.11.0 512KB Award
Narra2-GL8E AM2  4xddr2 sp37190.exe 5.13 AGESA 2.8.11.0 512KB Award
Narra3-GL8E AM2+ 4xddr2 sp49108.exe 5.63 AGESA 3.3.2.2  1MB   Award
Ivy-GL6     AM2  2xddr2 sp40912.exe 5.14 AGESA 2.8.13.0 512KB Award
Ivy8-GL6    AM2  2xddr2 sp40913.exe 5.14 AGESA 2.8.13.0 512KB Award
Narra5-GL6  AM2+ 2xddr2 sp43096.exe 5.49 AGESA 3.3.2.6  1MB   Award
Narra5L-GL6 AM2+ 2xddr2 sp43096.exe 5.49 AGESA 3.3.2.6  1MB   Award
Narra6-GL6  AM3  2xddr3 sp52418.exe 6.14 AGESA 3.7.1.0  1MB   AMI
Narra6L-GL6 AM3  2xddr3 sp52418.exe 6.14 AGESA 3.7.1.0  1MB   AMI

[itwong]

Is there anyway to make this bios found here -> https://www.bios-mods.com/reviews/unlock...ail-bbios/ work for this board? The hardware specs are the same and bios sizes match. Try flashing this but awdflash says the part number does not match.or can you please extract the AGESA code from this bios and inject to the 5.14 official hp bios?Thank you!!!

[DeathBringer]

itwong
Ask to help TheWiz.

[erpster9e]

Is there anyway to make this bios found here -> https://www.bios-mods.com/reviews/unlock...ail-bbios/ work for this board? The hardware specs are the same and bios sizes match. Try flashing this but awdflash says the part number does not match.or can you please extract the AGESA code from this bios and inject to the 5.14 official hp bios?Thank you!!!

Hi itwong.

Try using AWDFLASH for ASUS v1.32 from the AWDFLASH132.zip file instead of the AWDFLASH versions provided by the Bios-mods web site.  I had far better success in flashing modded Award BIOSes on an M2N68-LA Narra2 board with the ASUS based awdflash tool (and may possibly work with Narra1, Narra3, Narra5 & Ivy based M2N68-LA boards). Do NOT use AWDFLASH with Narra6 boards because Narra6 uses AMI BIOS chips, not Award BIOS chips.

Edit: I almost forgot to mention: AWDFLASH for ASUS 1.32 is a pure DOS based tool so it requires FreeDOS or MS-DOS; need to create a bootable USB Flash drive or bootable win9x/dos floppy disk with both the ASUS based AWDFLASH 1.32 tool and the BIOS file either in ROM or BIN format stored on the bootable media.

[erpster9e]

The search results is not quite accurate.  the sp37190.exe package is for Narra & Narra2 boards only, NOT for Narra3.  Someone in these forums did attempt to flash a 513.rom file from the sp37190 file package onto a Narra3 board and ended up killing the Narra3 board and the HP computer would never boot - no POST after that flash update.  Avoid using the v5.13 bios file from sp37190 for those using Narra3 or higher boards.

[erpster9e]

Is there anyway to make this bios found here -> https://www.bios-mods.com/reviews/unlock...ail-bbios/ work for this board? The hardware specs are the same and bios sizes match. Try flashing this but awdflash says the part number does not match.or can you please extract the AGESA code from this bios and inject to the 5.14 official hp bios?Thank you!!!

nope.  consider replacing the M2N68-LA Ivy8 board with a newer board version/revision like Narra3, Narra5 or Narra6.  the earlier Narra/Narra2 & Ivy/Ivy8 versions of M2N68-LA can't really quite handle newer CPUs (like the amd phenom x4s) even with proper modded BIOSes due to relatively weak capacitors in those boards and have smaller flash BIOS ROM chip sizes

looks like the board revisions of M2N68-LA boards do matter in this case as the early revisions of M2N68-LA like Ivy/Ivy8 & Narra/Narra2 seem to handle only dual-core AMD CPUs and the newer boards like Narra3 & above can handle quad core AMD CPUs and have bigger flash BIOS ROM chips

here are the HP part nos. for the newer M2N68-LA boards (just google search for these and look for an online seller & order one):

Narra3 > 5189-1661, 459164-001, 462798-001 (all board REV 3.02)
Narra5 > 513425-001, 513426-001, 615518-001, 633564-001 (all board REV 5.00)
Narra6 > 537558-001, 570876-001 (board REV 6.01), 612501-001, 612502-001 (board REV 6.02)
REV = board revision/version

and also change the stock HP power supply unit & use some of the very good brand PSUs like Antec, Enermax, Thermaltake, Seasonic, etc when using these M2N68-LA boards.

edit 7/6/2022 - added more hp part nos. for Narra5 & Narra6 boards