If you could remotely make this possible (I'll dump the BIOS if you need me to, just tell me how), or even tell me what my current processor compatibility is via BIOS 1.0.13, I would very greatly appreciate it. If you could add the Athlon/Phenom II support as well, I'll even donate $20 (1/3 the cost of a new motherboard). and be eternally grateful. Thank you so much for your hard work. Also perhaps unlocking the overclock options would be a bonus, though not necessary (I can use nVidia's tool anyway)
Right i downloaded the latest bios from the Dell Support Site , which is version 1.0.13 like you mentioned.
Now ive ran into a problem , i cant extract the bios out of it! - Tried everything
Please download this and use it to save a backup , then zip it and attach it on this post. I know from experience that this is an Award bios , so it will backup fine for editing.
I also want you to be completely certain of what the risks are of this and you may potentially end up bricking the motherboard. While we can help you recover , its not certain and CPU Support upgrades are a pretty new thing.
for some reason Dell's 1.0.13 update wont work for me, so I'm gonna have to give ya 1.0.12, shouldnt be much of an issue anyway though considering they only added support IIRC for the Athlon X2 BE-2xxx series to my knowledge. Reason I'm offering the donation is because without this mod (bricked or not) I'd have to dremel my case, replace the board, get a new CPU and possibly new RAM, costing me potentially well into the $300 range. With the mod I could go Athlon II X4 or Phenom II and save around $200, ($180 if you include the donation). So in reality, You're helping me help you help me...
Anyway, hopefully I figured out how to post files here correctly.
EDIT: just remembered to tell ya I dont have a floppy drive either, so a bootable ISO with some instructions would be nice, but not necessary.
Alright, I'll give it a shot and post back (I actually will, I have a PS3 and a netbook as backup, I've noticed these other guys wont), but I wont be able to verify processor compatibility for a little while. I'm guessing 'AMD Quad Core' will (or should) support phenom 1, 2 and Athlon 2?
I could try it now, see if it works at all, other than bricking, worst case scenario is it's identical to what I got now. But I wont be able to test processor compatibility until I get a new one, I'll be trying an Athlon II X4 620, a processor I know wont work (latest BIOS 1.0.13 was released around half way through Phenom I's releases, so it doesnt even know about AII), without being able to test that, I cant post back and tell ya if the mod itself worked. But I'll try to get the new processor by next month. I have been the first to do alot of things with this PC, and thanks to you, I can [hopefully] do it again
Hardware wise, the original Phenoms were AM2+ sockets with the upgraded hyper transport, so as long as the anthlon !! doesn't exceed wattage on the socket, and the bios flash works, I would say green lights are in your future.