Mainboard question

Does anyone know what mainboard is used in the ASUS desktop series
M32AD?

Charlie Hoffpauir wrote:
Does anyone know what mainboard is used in the ASUS desktop series
M32AD?

It's an H81 based motherboard, but no other reliable
information is available. One site identified the motherboard,
but comparing pictures of the back of the computer, to
the motherboard in question, gave no match. So the info
was just plain wrong.

The M32AD seems to use a 2x3 audio stack, and the Asus microATX
H81 boards I can find have a 1x3 audio stack. Also, the
retail Asus boards I can find, have a full set of video
connectors, while the M32AD has only "petite" connectors.

It would not surprise me, if the motherboard was custom
for the M32AD family.

In the past, some of the boards in Asus barebones machines,
were L-shaped. They have a section which is used for making I/O
connections inside the machine. What you would do in the
past, was download the barebones manual, and it would
have a drawing of the motherboard. I checked the manual
in this instance, and that page is not present, so no hint
of motherboard type is shown in the user manual. So using
that route for motherboard info, is not available to us.

Paul

On Sun, 15 Mar 2015 13:50:22 -0400, Paul wrote:

Charlie Hoffpauir wrote:
Does anyone know what mainboard is used in the ASUS desktop series
M32AD?

It's an H81 based motherboard, but no other reliable
information is available. One site identified the motherboard,
but comparing pictures of the back of the computer, to
the motherboard in question, gave no match. So the info
was just plain wrong.

The M32AD seems to use a 2x3 audio stack, and the Asus microATX
H81 boards I can find have a 1x3 audio stack. Also, the
retail Asus boards I can find, have a full set of video
connectors, while the M32AD has only "petite" connectors.

It would not surprise me, if the motherboard was custom
for the M32AD family.

In the past, some of the boards in Asus barebones machines,
were L-shaped. They have a section which is used for making I/O
connections inside the machine. What you would do in the
past, was download the barebones manual, and it would
have a drawing of the motherboard. I checked the manual
in this instance, and that page is not present, so no hint
of motherboard type is shown in the user manual. So using
that route for motherboard info, is not available to us.

Paul

Thanks for the information, Paul. We bought this M32AD to replace my
wife's HP that was acting flaky, and I was hoping to avoid voiding the
warranty by opening the case.... but I finally decided I needed to get
inside so I opened it today. It's labeled M81M-E/M51AD/DP. Pretty
clean inside but it's a tiny board. I needed to get an eSATA
connection and another HDD in, so now I have that and no warranty I
guess. The on-board video seems fine for what she's doing. We have a
pair of ACER 23" LED monitors connected.... one on the D-sub and the
other on HDMI, both look fine. ASUS seems to have a wide range of
boxes and I suppose they all use this board, or one very similar. Her
box has an i5-4460 3.2 GHz CPU and 8 GB RAM. There's another slot but
I can't see her needing any more RAM, her old computer had only 4 GB.

Charlie Hoffpauir wrote:
On Sun, 15 Mar 2015 13:50:22 -0400, Paul wrote:

Charlie Hoffpauir wrote:
Does anyone know what mainboard is used in the ASUS desktop series
M32AD?
It's an H81 based motherboard, but no other reliable
information is available. One site identified the motherboard,
but comparing pictures of the back of the computer, to
the motherboard in question, gave no match. So the info
was just plain wrong.

The M32AD seems to use a 2x3 audio stack, and the Asus microATX
H81 boards I can find have a 1x3 audio stack. Also, the
retail Asus boards I can find, have a full set of video
connectors, while the M32AD has only "petite" connectors.

It would not surprise me, if the motherboard was custom
for the M32AD family.

In the past, some of the boards in Asus barebones machines,
were L-shaped. They have a section which is used for making I/O
connections inside the machine. What you would do in the
past, was download the barebones manual, and it would
have a drawing of the motherboard. I checked the manual
in this instance, and that page is not present, so no hint
of motherboard type is shown in the user manual. So using
that route for motherboard info, is not available to us.

Paul

Thanks for the information, Paul. We bought this M32AD to replace my
wife's HP that was acting flaky, and I was hoping to avoid voiding the
warranty by opening the case.... but I finally decided I needed to get
inside so I opened it today. It's labeled M81M-E/M51AD/DP. Pretty
clean inside but it's a tiny board. I needed to get an eSATA
connection and another HDD in, so now I have that and no warranty I
guess. The on-board video seems fine for what she's doing. We have a
pair of ACER 23" LED monitors connected.... one on the D-sub and the
other on HDMI, both look fine. ASUS seems to have a wide range of
boxes and I suppose they all use this board, or one very similar. Her
box has an i5-4460 3.2 GHz CPU and 8 GB RAM. There's another slot but
I can't see her needing any more RAM, her old computer had only 4 GB.

Well, I tried my best to match the pictures, and anything that
remotely resembles the motherboard model number, doesn't look
right. You have the thing in front of you, so are in the
best position to judge whether any match.

*******

This issue about warranties has come up before, and
a computer with a removable side has "user serviceable
parts" inside, has RAM slots for adding RAM, PCI Express
slots for adding cards. The warranty should not be voided
by taking off the side.

At least one computer assembly company (sells on the
Internet), has tried this crap about not opening the
case. But opening the case is necessary, since shipping
a computer can knock boards out of place, and unnecessary
damaged can be avoided by checking everything is intact
after UPS is finished with it. If someone ships me a computer,
the first thing I do is take off the side to check for damage.

An item where the warranty could be voided, is if you take
the top cover off the ATX power supply. That would be an item
with no user serviceable parts inside, everything (except the
fan) is soldered in place. Companies use fans with headers on
them, for easy assembly, rather than to encourage fiddling.
An anti-tampering label is placed over one screw, as a hint
that the warranty will be voided by opening an ATX supply.

As to what warranty terms are enforceable and what aren't,
you'll need your lawyer.

Paul