Asus G751J M.2 mod

[NecroFlex]

So i just got an Asus G751J, a guy was selling it for parts, didn't give picture, turns out, the touchpad IC is dead, just heats up like crazy and it somehow stopped the laptop from booting up at all.

 

Anyway, before i bought it i checked around and saw that this model came with an M.2 connector. But when i opened mine up, it wasn't there, just the pads are, so it's probably one of those "you didn't pay enough so you don't have it on there" kind of things.

 

Regardless, i was wondering if it's possible to buy a connector and just solder it on? From what i saw comparing a high res picture of a motherboard with the M.2 connector on vs mine that doesn't have it, there is no difference in terms of what IC and capacitors it has (from what i saw), the only difference is if there's a connector or not.

 

Would it be possible? Would it require a BIOS mod aswell?

[Levent]

1 minute ago, NecroFlex said:

Would it require a BIOS mod aswell?

It might require more than that. Connector itself is cheap, you will need a SMD heatgun as well as flux and solder. However I am not sure if there will be traces for it. Overall even I wouldnt bother doing it.

[NecroFlex]

3 minutes ago, Levent said:

It might require more than that. Connector itself is cheap, you will need a SMD heatgun as well as flux and solder. However I am not sure if there will be traces for it. Overall even I wouldnt bother doing it.

I mean i have all of that at my work. The traces shouldn't be a problem, i feel like since the SMDs are there, they probably didn't bother making a whole new motherboard w/o the traces, but just didn't put the M.2 connector on. The average user, or well most users, won't try to solder an M.2 slot on there, so making a whole new mobo w/o traces would probably just add uneeded cost.

 

Question is, what kind of M.2 connector it is, seeing that on aliexpress, there's a few 4+5 M.2 connectors, guessing for different heights.

[NecroFlex]

Updating this topic if anyone else will search for this solution:

The lowest height 4+5 M.2 connector, i think it's 2.3mm fits. All the traces are there, just solder it on.

 

Problem, SATA M.2 SSDs are not recognisable, but you can mod the bios and use NVMe SSDs, check this thread out about how to do it:
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?99677-ROG-G751-JY-BIOS-211-NVMe-Upgrade-Guide-Step-by-Step

 

Here it says to use the 211 BIOS, but i've had issues with that BIOS, random BSODs, you might have more luck, but do have the newest one ready just in case. After you mod the bios and flash it, that's it. You don't see the NVMe in the BIOS itself, but when you go to install windows, it'll be there as a selectable drive. You can also use a normal SATA SSD on the SATA connector, but it has to be one of the cheap small ones that's not too long (ofc you'll have to get it out of the housing) and that's it!