ScottStevens

BIOS updates and resets won't fix that but installing the driver from the motherboard manufacturer will! Go to their support on their website, search for your motherboard's model, and head to their "Network driver" or "LAN Driver" area

Edit: To be clear the pads you damaged cannot be put back on or replaced. The only option is to solder to the trace or to a via connected to it. Any diameter will work as you should only put enough on to create a joint between the wire and the pad. Once the solder is cool it should be concave in shape; if it looks like a ball it's too much and if it's just a small bit between the wire and pad it's too little. It should also be shiny once cool (if not you likely used too much or have a cold joint which is likely to break).

Installing to an M.2 drive is really no different than installing to a SATA or IDE drive. Copy the contents of the Windows ISO you downloaded from Microsoft onto a thumb drive that's formatted as FAT32 (Not exFAT or NTFS); alternatively burn it to a DVD. UEFI is nice in that as long as the EFI boot file is on the drive it will be bootable, so there's no need to actually write a bootloader to the drive like you used to. When you're booting up the unit select the "Select boot priority" or "Boot Options" function; it's often F8 or F12 depending on the manufacturer. Alternatively go to the BIOS and there is often a "Boot Override" function that will allow you to select the USB drive or DVD. From there it should boot to the Windows installer. I'd suggest installing overtop of your old install and copying the files you need from the Windows.old directory.

Not too big of an issue as you still have access to the via and the other side of the resistor; you're simply closing the circuit to flag something on the board. I've attached an image of the two points you need to solder. I'd suggest using one of the conductors from an ethernet cable (if you have a broken one somewhere you can salvage for its cables inside). Strip about 1/8" from the ends you plan to solder onto the pads. If you're new to soldering you want to put the wire down, use your soldering iron to hold the wire against the spot you're soldering, and feed a little bit of solder from the SIDE (not directly against the iron but rather against he pad and the wire). Otherwise standard 20 gauge wire will do. Give it a moment to melt and remove the soldering iron; do not let go of the wire until the solder has solidified. This should only take about 3 to 5 seconds per solder point. Just remember to never pull on the wire; doing so will risk removing more of the pad!

I am currently working on creating an installer for the ASUS Chromebox M004U (and other devices with 16GB/32GB SSDs). This installer will utilize the WIMBoot functionality of Windows 8.1 Update 1, which leaves lets you have a substantial amount of room available on smaller SSDs. Windows, after installation, will use approximately 6GB (in comparison to 12-16GB). This will be great for HTPC units that are VESA-mounted that use smaller mSATA/M.2 SSDs. In specific I am looking to create an installer for the ASUS Chromebox M004U, and am looking for the following information: * LAN Adapter Vendor ID (Or the actual chipset!) * Wireless LAN/Bluetooth Adapter Model Vendor ID (Once again, the actual chipset would be even better!) * Audio Chipset Vendor ID (Anndddd, the actual chipset would once again be better) Random information: * Installing Windows on a 16GB SSD leaves you with around 9.5GB of usable storage; I am expecting this to be the same case on the ASUS Chromebox. * Factory reset will be fully functioning and will include reinstallling the drivers. * The installer will function with any SSD and will adjust accordingly. Anyone who can help, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

I've removed that portion of the guide, as the point was being missed far too much. A few pieces of info: 1366x768 still holds strongly at about 15% for users, hence why I stated it in the first place. 1920x1080 is still much stronger at 25%, but that doesn't detract from the point that 1366x768 was still very popular. That is why I recommended it as a minimum. Here is a graph showing the current statistics for screen resolutions. I am fully unsure of whether or not it's accurate, but it's partially what I based the opinion from. http://i.imgur.com/OifYAgc.png

I can see that. Once again though, the point of the post was missed; it was a minimalistic guide referring to the lowest you really want to go if you're going to build a system. That is what I intended when I created the post, although it came across much differently obviously. I do personally prefer to go for a case-by-case basis even for that, but that's not really the point of the post.

That's quite the good idea, actually. I've revised the guide and changed it to an introduction instead, as the post is coming across very differently than I intended it. It is meant as a optimal minimum requirements. Hopefully that clarifies what I was trying to get a little better.

Hence why they are minimal things - I am not saying that all users should use that resolution, nor that it is the optimal resolution. The majority of laptops below the $700 range are 1366x768. These are minimal requirements for a gamer, and are purely mean that optimally you don't want to go any lower. I think I failed to get that point across, and I apologize. I'll be appending changes to clarify that point. What I mean by "your average gamer shouldn't care about settings" means that if you're building a system, and you can't go for the highest end hardware, that framerate is more important than running the game at max settings.This a general guide and, as listed as the bottom, is fully debatable and should not be taken as a be all or end all sorta' thing. It's meant for users to read over to get an idea of what they should take into consideration. Once again, I do not mean for it to be the system builder's bible, it's purely an introduction.

Hence why I justified the statement with future-proofing; it's better to have the four physical cores now and need them later, despite not all games utilize them yet. From what I've been reading, quite a few games cannot utilize the HT cores on i3 processors, hence why I excluded them from the recommendation. What else do you disagree with? I would like feedback on this subject to further enhance this guide.

Beginner's Introduction to System Building So you want to build a computer, eh'? Well, getting into the big world of computer's is a fairly steep step for some people, so this guide will serve to help you figure out what to get. It will be revised on a fairly regular basis, so it'll be good to re-read it now and then. For Starters... There's always a few obvious factors to take into consideration when building a system. The main points are the following: Purpose: What will the system be used for? Longevity: How long is the system expected to last? Modularity: Does the system need to be upgradeable? Budget: How much has been alotted for the system? There's one single thing you should always keep in mind when you are building something: stay unbiased. Every manufacturer, every company, and every model from those groups have their pros and cons. There is almost never a 'best' when it comes to technology. It's good to have a personal opinion, but always sticking with one thing will leave you out of potentially better hardware. A NOTE: These are purely guidelines and are supposed to introduce people to building systems - it is not the builder's bible and should only be used to give a generalized idea. I failed to mention that in the first place, and have revised this post as a result. Now, keeping those things in mind, let's jump into the bread and butter of computers. The Purpose First and foremost, you need to know what the system is being used for. This section will be categorized to highlight the key requirements of different types of systems. For Budget Gamers At least 4 physical cores. [APPEND] An i3 processor has 4 logical cores, and is still a viable option for gamers. At least 6GB of RAM. A least a GT 630/Radeon 6570 graphics card. At least 500GB of storage running at 7200RPM. Here is some elaboration (if you feel like reading it) explaining why these are the minimal requirements. First and foremost, it is required to have at least 4 physical threads as this will ensure that you have enough processing power to handle in-game physics that don't take advantage of OpenCL/CUDA, along with an upgrade to your graphics card in the future. Having 4 physical cores will allow you to move to higher-end setups without much worry of running into a bottleneck. Although not all games take advantage of all 4 cores yet, having them now will prevent you from requiring an upgrade later. 6GB would be considered the minimal as, for the majority of systems running Windows 7 or later, it will leave enough headroom for the game to run while you have applications such as a web browser, Steam/Origin, TeamSpeak/Ventrilo and etc. A GT630 or Radeon 6570 will allow games to run at about Medium settings at a 1366x768 resolution. It won't run the majority of games at the maximum, but it will run lower settings at a reasonable framerate. They are fairly inexpensive and provide the appropriate performance for many current games. Integrated GPU/CPU combos (APUs) have built-in graphics and are fantastic for budget builds. A 7200 RPM drive is generally enough to load applications at a reasonable speed, and to load different levels of games. This is not true for every game though, as many games will require an SSD to load at higher speeds. Personally, I find 500GB to be adequate for the majority of people, but this most definitely will not be true for everyone. *This guide is incomplete as there is only a Gamer's section. I will add more later on to touch on many more categories.*

The processor should technically work, but there are a few things to keep in mind. a) Heat output and b) BIOS Bus Speed settings. It's possible the motherboard has a locked bus speed which could prevent the A8-3520M from running at its maximum frequency. It's also possible the BIOS in the motherboard doesn't support the A8 processor. The A8 does produce more heat which could cause issues if the heatsink it comes with can't handle it. It's possible it will work, but it's impossible to give you a definitive answer. Sorry.

Keep in mind that the majority of Windows 8 systems have the following settings enabled: Secure Boot, UEFI-mode. They also generally have the F12 (Or F8, etc) boot menu disabled. This would result in each and every issue in terms of booting from an external media, especially since by default Windows 7 disks are not UEFI enabled - you have to patch them to make them UEFI enabled. Quite simply, I don't believe this itself is an issue with Windows 8 nor ASUS. Windows 8 does have those security features built in, that but should not stop you from being able to install another OS. I have an Acer laptop which uses the UEFI BIOS, but I was still able (after a little bit of work) to get a UEFI-enabled Windows 7 installation working along with a Ubuntu installation.

If you are using the Athlon II X4 processor, it will work in any AM2+ or AM3 motherboard. Personally, I tend to dislike AMD for servers, but if you're only doing FTP/SSH/Samba, you shouldn't run into any issues. Keep in mind that the Athlon II X4 does not support ECC memory (although honestly, that is not a necessity for servers). What is the purpose of the server? It might be a good idea to look at some other options. Pentium G2120s support ECC memory if paired with a server-class motherboard such as a Supermicro C7B75. This would provide you with better RAID options for redunant storage and a higher life expectancy for the system. The grand total would be significantly higher at around $280 for motherboard/CPU/RAM, but you would have a fairly future-proof server.

Sincere apologies, I was fairly tired when I wrote the post and was a little thrown off by the other replies. While it's true that Intel sockets change fairly often, the single-threaded performance of Intel processors is generally quite a bit higher than AMD processors. The 8350 overall does have more raw performance (due to having 8 physical cores) and from there is a better option for 3D Rendering and video encoding (although that's debatable due to GPU acceleration). What I'll suggest is, if you don't need 8 physical/logical cores from an i7 or and 8350, to go with something lower such as an i5 3570K. They have absolutely fantastic gaming performance. Of course, I don't mean to say the 8350 doesn't, it's simply better suited for highly threaded applications (such as Cinebench, which is not a real-world benchmark.) It's up to personal opinion, Intel vs. AMD is a fairly controversial (and honestly, a fairly dumb argument). They both perform great and they both can overclock well. The 8350 uses significantly more power and isn't really useful for the majority of gamers/PC users. The Thermaltake cooler should be able to handle most overclocks. Once again, I apologize for my incompetent reading abilities at the time! P.S. The 8350 or i5 should last a minimal of 3 years. The performance of Phenom II X6 processors and i7 920 cores still do whatever people need today, the same will go for today's processors 3-5 years from now. You shouldn't have to worry about having to upgrade for quite a while.