I have modded a few systems successfully to WIN7 previously. But those systems at least started with an older slic table. I have the original bios BIN for The K8M-800M (Gateway ID) (VVC09EM) REV 2 (Award circa 2005) modded it with AwardTool 1.53 using the HP MSFT 2.1 SLIC and SLP (1-31-2011 Collection). No Errors in the process of creating the _slic.bin file (ISA method). Flashed the bios with the new bios file, flashed beautifully with no errors. Booted into Windows 7 Ultimate, copied/registered hp certificate (from 1-31-2011 collection/slmgr.vbs), changed key to hp oem key (slmgr.vbs), restarted. It will not activate. In SLIC ToolKit 3.2 and Everest, neither show any slic table! The only thing I can see that is missing from the process, is that when the bios is updating, the actual boot blocks are not being overwritten, but the rest is being written fine (I'm thinking the boot block shouldn't be an issue?). I've been told that the Slic/SLP/Cert has to match each other (2.1/MFG), but they don't have to match the actual system. I've have used a Dell 2.1 set before with an odd HP/CPQ Laptop before because of a few weird errors. Would changing the method or the slic/slp/cert set work? I would guess that because the modified flash was written ok, there shouldn't be any issue with the size of the flash area or something of that nature. Is there anything I'm missing?
I can give it a try. Is there a reason it would work over ISA? Is there something somewhere that would explain how each of the methods work?
Does it matter if I use a Retail instead of an OEM disc for installation (granted I install the OEM Cert and Key after install)? Can retail be converted to OEM? UPDATE: Award Slic Mod 1.53 with 0+2 method and HP 2.1 slic/slp, and I get a "Module AwardBMP.bmp fails extraction". Tried ASUS slic/slp with 0+2, everything created ok...installed asus cert/key (retail install)...activated beautifully! Thanks guys for all your help!