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    XPS Gen 2 lights with Precision M90 motherboard

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by DMCenvy, Jul 29, 2011.

  1. DMCenvy

    DMCenvy Newbie

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    I recently inherited an XPS Gen 2 notebook. The video card was bad and I think the motherboard had some issues as well. Anyway, I ordered a motherboard off of eBay that came from a Precision M90 as they are interchangeable with the XPS. I did this not only to resolve issues that I was having with the aforementioned XPS motherboard and video card, but also so I could upgrade to Core 2 Duo and 4 gigs of RAM and SATA HDD. My question is this, the M90 motherboard supposedly doesn't support the fan/speaker/LCD panel LED lighting, but I noticed on the motherboard that there are solder spots and labels on the spots for the lighting connectors. The connectors simply aren't soldered on. Is there a way that I can get the lighting to work with this motherboard, such as soldering the connectors onto the M90 motherboard? Also, the Gen 2 motherboard had options in the BIOS to adjust the color and functionality of the lights. Is there a way to flash the Gen 2 BIOS software onto the M90 motherboard to support this? Thanks. :confused:
     
    DMCenvy, Jul 29, 2011
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  2. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    Why don't you just buy an M1710 motherboard instead? It's identical to the M90 board, except the ports and BIOS are compatible with the relevant XPS lighting system. I don't think you can mod the M90 board to work properly here.
     
    Commander Wolf, Jul 29, 2011
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  3. DMCenvy

    DMCenvy Newbie

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    The motherboards on eBay were more expensive for the M1710, and nearly all the motherboards I could find except for a select few were for the M90.
     
    DMCenvy, Jul 30, 2011
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