Getting started guide with a bare motherboard

Do you know what the case switch is actually for?

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Chassis intrusion detection. There’s a feature where the firmware will ask you to enter your password after the top cover has been removed.

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aah, to be used in conjunction with bitlocker for data protection just like the Thinkpads.
Nice.
Problem is, human is inconsistent and they will forget passwords (both to bitlocker and the BIOS password) even if they write it down somewhere

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Especially if it’s written down in a file on the same device!

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Well, I don’t know about you, but that seems like quite a blunder. What would make sense is a USB key or something. If you lose the key, no big deal you can just generate a new bitlocker key and get a new flash drive.
Yeah that would actually make sense. But like, the biggest loss from a stolen device would be, for most people, the device. Sending reset-password request to 20 sites is just a mild inconvenience. If it belongs to the corporation the user would not need to deal with these in the first place.

Yes, it would be a blunder, but I know people that are not computer savvy that would do such a thing.

The comment was mostly meant to bring a smile to the reader.

Best wishes and don’t lose those passwords.

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Did someone succeed with HDMI on a bare gen11 motherboard?

On mine I had to use Display port direct to a display port of my monitor to get boot screen.

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I cant get a display output at all on the standalone board. Its in the 3d printed case and the fans start spinning but i cant get to a bios trying with an hdmi connector, but based on the above should i try a usb c to display port adapter?

As in, via a USB-C to HDMI expansion card?

I would try different ports first, but I believe DP via USB-C is more native

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As @Xavier_Jiang says, I would try using an USB-C to DP cable. Also I would suggest recording the POST code and see if there is something abnormal there. But most possible, its just an issue with the adapter cable (which will not be shown by the post code).

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most of the USB-C to HDMI adapters I’ve seen, are basically “USB-C DP Alt-Mode trigger + DisplayPort to HDMI” in a single IC - which is to say, they shouldn’t behave differently from a USB-C to DisplayPort expansion card. I wonder if there’s something else wrong with the mobo, whether it’s the aforementioned BIOS update fox, or something like bad RAM.

I received my board through the developer program, and it’s worked wonders for me so far - didn’t require any kind of BIOS update, just worked, with two different USB-C to HDMI adapters.

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For anyone who aslo has problems for me it was two! One bad ram stick and the hdmi for some reason didnt want to display. Fixed ram and got a direct to display port and bam!

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Tip: Use a USB-C powerbank with sufficient output between the wall outlet and the motherboard USB-C connector. This at least minimizes the risk of the motherboard loosing power during flashing.

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Thank you @Geert_Schuring for the good idea! I would like to add this to the main post, however it seems to be too old to be edited anymore - I’ll see if I can still edit it and also point to the end of the thread for future updates :slight_smile:

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So thanks to @Fraoch I could add the info, however editing the main post is a bit problematic, so I hope users will visit the end of the thread often - however, as it stands, the main post should have most important infos available right now - and also be correct for the time being :slight_smile:

Thanks @nmaas87 for this excellent guide. Very helpful!

Agreed about taping the case intrusion switch. The flash red light is quite unnerving, and its really hard to tell if the board is powered on or not without a USB power meter plugged in.

Unfortunately one Framework laptop with a battery cannot power a bare mainboard, as only 5V is offered out by the Framework.

One other thing I have discovered about operating a bare mainboard, is that it will not hot-swap power supplies, even if two good 20V USB-PD supplies are present on the same side, or opposite sides. Might be an incremental improvement that Framework could make in the 13th gen boards.

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Anybody know if it is acceptable to hot glue the case intrusion switch into the latched position? The flashing red light is attention grabbing in the wrong way. If not I can CAD and 3d print a plastic clip to hold it down…

Don’t see how it wouldn’t be - you can put some tape over the switch first if you want to protect the internals, but it likely isn’t called for. Isopropyl will do quick work of the glue blob whenever it is that you might want to remove it.

So I’ve been using a mainboard as a replacement to a home server that died. Was working great until we had a power outage and the UPS died.

Now I can’t seem to get it post without doing a CMOS battery reset EVERYTIME I remove the power. Furthermore, it will boot but does not use the HDMI expansion card slot for video.

Does anyone have any suggestion for these two problems? Really appreciate anything you might have learned from similar situations. :+1:

@2disbetter I got the problem with the CMOS battery everytime I left the laptop unpowered for some weeks or so and the CMOS battery had run flat. In such a case I get it working again by doing the reset and let the battery charge for 24 hours. If you’re having this issue while running the laptop 24/7 attached to the wall, maybe the CMOS battery died and needs to be exchanged for a new one?