On Tue, 26 Mar 2013 23:49:19 -0400, Paul
wrote:


A possible explanation for the revision 1.2 is that,
when a motherboard is designed, there is a prototype (1.0),
a revision after that (1.1) and a final revision (1.2). The
final revision is the one that goes into production. (That
is apparently what Asus does. The other companies might
do something similar.) The final revision must be cosmetically
perfect, and no cuts and straps are allowed. That means, that
any electrical changes, have to be perfected on the 1.1 board.
They only make a few 1.0 and 1.1 boards, for usage in the
laboratory. (Where I used to work, our minimum quantity
was five boards of each. Even if we didn't use them all, we
still made five of them.) For the 1.2, they might make 100,000
of those.

Referring to the board as 1.0, is for marketing reasons. If the
first board in a series was documented as 1.2, it would confuse
the customers.

When they make a revision 2 stream or revision 3 stream, the
board may not go through as much development work. In some cases,
all that has changed, is the silicon revision of the chipset
might be different.


What a treat to get a message from someone who is/was
actually in the thick of it.

After having worked in that arena, do you have a brand of
boards that you prefer?


The information on the wimsbios page would be volunteered by
owners of the motherboard. Anything is possible with regard to
the authenticity of the information.


Understood.


I ran Q-Flash, just to back up the current BIOS, hoping that
it would suggest a filename that would include the revision,
but it only offered me a place to type in a filename. When
I un-lha'd it, the name was "m55ps3g.BIN"

So now, I'm stuck with a questionable board revision,
apparently running a "FA" BIOS revision.

But the board is working again, so I think I'll just crawl
back under my rock, and wait to come out until it *isn't*
working. Then, when I get a new board in hand, I'll play
around with this one until I either get a fresh BIOS rev on
it, or have it smoking and curling on the edges!

Thanks for your insights!

--
croy