Hi all! I've been reading hundreds of posts these last few days and I'm a bit puzzled. One of the things that I consider of the utmost importance is the conservation of value. I think it's not acceptable that a perfectly working notebook, is not capable of running the latest OS versions of Microsoft just because the manufacturer quit releasing BIOS updates for that specific model, thus rendering it obsolete. I'm specifically interested in the NX or XD flag that is a requirement of the latest Microsoft OSs and that although supported by some CPUs, it's not visible to the OS due to BIOS obsolescence and manufacturers short sight (is it?). I couldn't find that many posts related to this subject, and no solutions other than "buy new hardware". Perhaps it's my fault. Os is this not a problem that affects many users of this forum? I pay for all my software licences and have paid a lot of money for good hardware that is no more. Can someone please guide me in the right direction? My ultimate goal is to upgrade my OS to Windows 10, not modifying any OS files, rather changing the BIOS/firmware/you name it, in the end, doing ASUS job. Thanks a lot. My current setup: ASUS X20S (F9S), 4 GB ram, T8300 CPU Windows 7 Ultimate BIOS version 305
Why don't you just backup your primary drive & try the upgrade? I have 10 installed on some really old crap & it's worked fine...
I've tried. Oh man, God knows I've tried. Nope. It fails with the not supported CPU message. It is missing the NX flag.
If the processor supports NX but the BIOS doesn't let you enable it, you have a valid complaint. Unfortunately that probably won't prod ASUS into fixing it unless they get a boatload of similar complaints about the same model.
So you talk "conservation of value", "BIOS obsolescence and manufacturers short sight" and "a lot of money for good hardware" about a notebook which was sold new from 2007 untill 2010. I know a time (till Windows XP SP2) where you had to buy every 2-3 years a new PC around 1000 euros (or the equal amount in the currency then) to even be remotely able to work or play somewhat new games. You bought then a somewhat good notebook because it is working properly (allthough the battery had to be changed 2 or 3 times since you bought it). Any HP, Acer or Dell notebook from that time would have died already. Even household maschines from that time didn't holded that long! If you bought this notebook 3 to 4 years ago new you could talk about "obsolescence and manufacturers short sigh" but not with a notebook from 2007! If you want to have 15 or 20 year support from the manufacture you have to pay considerable more money. You know such extended support period requires people who do the support and people want to be paid for doing there jobs. That's not even remotely possible to do in an area of bussiness where everyboddy want's it as cheap as it can be and where 15 year old hardware is already displayed in museums. No consumer buys 20 year support-contracts with some hardware attached which isn't fast enought after 10 years to do the work properly. You got god value for your money when you bought this notebook but it's time to look for a new notebook to buy. The times where a 20 year old coumputering device is decent fast technology won't come for the next 50-100 years so stop bitching and moaning about "conservation of value" and "BIOS obsolescence and manufacturers short sight" when describing your 8 year old notebook.
Hi BigW, I'll have to disagree with some of your arguments. I firmly believe that one needs the hardware that is sufficient to have the job done. No more, no less. My background is electronics and I still use a CompaQ Pentium III notebook running XP for microcontroller programming (for the serial and parallel ports). When the Asus X20S was launched, the NX/XD feature of CPUs was not a novelty. It just wasn't a requirement for the installation of an OS. I'm writing this post on a work-horse Toshiba i7 notebook with 16 GB ram that I use for my daily job as a programmer. I need this beast to run software that demands this work power. On another notebook, a HP Pavilion bought in 2006, equipped with a PCMCIA video acquisition card, I run Windows 7 when I'm working on my industrial vision projects. See? Every machine has its place in my office (for my wife's dismay...). A notebook equipped with a T8300 CPU and 4GB ram runs Windows 10 really well. I know this because my brother's DELL has the same specs and happily upgraded recently. I'm looking for help at this forum because I've read posts from very talented members, that accomplished things I wouldn't imagine possible. I'm sure my problem is common to many forum users and I'm sure that like me, they refuse to ditch good working hardware because the manufacturer missed a setting in the BIOS.
I didn't say you have to ditch this notebook but you have to accept it that a Windows 8 or 10 will never install on this 8 year old notebook. If you can use it use it by any means. It might be that Asus (or there engineers) overlooked a then unimportant feature. When you talk about "conservation of value" and "BIOS obsolescence and manufacturers short sight" you basically critisise Asus for not predicting the future correctly and for not focus on a then unimportant feature. At the time Asus engineered a notebook which was right for the time and worked perfectly (as Asus normaly does) with the OSes available. To criticise Asus for this (perhaps unwanted) oversight 8 years after is was engineered is in my opinion unfair to Asus. 8 years is a very long time for functioning PC-hardware. If you can't accept this as a valid argument then you have to ask yourselve: Why have you bought a notebook without these features available? Wasn't it clear for you that you realy needed these features 8 years down the line? And must conclude that you bought the wrong notebook which you can't use 8 years later with the newest Windows and must blame yourselve for buying the wrong notebook. It would be very interresting to know how many buyers of this notebook actually complained about this lack of these features to Asus and how much would it cost to cange the Bios to support it.
I guess you are right BigW. Well, I won't give up anyway. I've been reading the Windows 10 section and it seems that a tool similar to the one that was developed for Windows 8 users that suffered from this same problem could be on its way. Thanks for the chat that at least helped dissipate some of my bitterness.