m5n motherboard swap to z33a?

My motherboard on the "trusty" m5n has died, probably due to fouled ram, and I was wondering if the z33a motherboard would just be a drop-in replacement. Any ideas on that? I haven't yet fully disassembled my laptop yet, so I don't have pictures. Thanks!

 

Well, The z33a is basically a m5n with Sonoma support, so in theory it might work, but you always take a chance with things like that. I wouldn't attempt it, but i'm usually overly protective when it comes to my machine.

 

It's been out of warranty for a good 2 years. I am not really worried about breaking it, because it's already broken. Plus, the z33 mobo is the SAME PRICE as the m5n board, and has 256mb more onboard ram, not to mention the platform upgrade.

Thanks for the opinion, I'm closer to getting it. I'm going to wait until I can get confirmation from someone who's had experience with both these models before I order.

 

The problem is that the bottom case and top case may not be exactly the same with the Z33A and the M5N, for example the thermal devices may be significantly different as well as the screw mounting locations. I found this out when I wanted to upgrade my W3V to a W3J(very simular to what your thinking). So I would say this is a possible upgrade but somewhat risky if you were to go through with it.

 

Ah, but the w3J is a lot different from the w3v. The W3J changed to the core architecture through the calistoga chipset, while all the z33 did was change to the alviso chipset (915), with the same chip support (banias, dothan, not yonah). I need some more corroborating evidence that this will not work before I give up. Thanks for the insight, It probably will not work out. Total bummer.

 

one thing you should probably check is port layout. you want to be 100% sure that all the ports are in the same place, or you will not be able to use them.

 

Yep, I will also stress that anything starting from port layout, going through heatsink layout, and ending with screw locations, can mean that the mainboard is not compatible.

I would first ask an ASUS tech about this. It would be a shame if you paid for the MB and you found out it didn't work.

 

I just assumed that anyone at asus wouldn't give me the information. I'll call them and ask. Thanks, guys.

 

Hi,

You didn't write anything about this topic for a while? How about the swap of the mainboard? Did it work? I'll probably be having the onboard ram problem with my M5N too and thinking to replace the mainboard. If your way worked, then I'll also do the same swap with Z33A mainboard. Please let me know about your results..

Good day,

 

I did swap it out with the z33ae board. It worked perfectly, except that they did not ship a memory riser with it. It has a little connector with two screw grommets where the memory riser would go, but I don't have one. I'm running it with XP and the onboard 512mb of ram, and it works fine.

 

Hi again,

Thanks for the quick reply. One other question if you don't mind Where did you buy the board and how much did it cost? I plan to buy it whereever it is the cheapest since in Turkey I don't think it won't be for the most reasonable price..

Good day,

 

I bought straight from ASUS' online store. They're pretty good about stuff they have in stock, but if they don't have it in stock you'll wait a long time before they get back to you.

 

How much did it cost?