The AL440LX Soapbox

Let me stand up on my soapbox for a minute. If you've ever read Intel's newsgroup for Pentium II motherboards, you've undoubtedly seen this canned response:

I am unable to determine which motherboard you have. We can only
comment on Intel manufactured motherboards. In order to determine if
Intel manufactured your motherboard please respond with your PBA/AA
number which is found on the component side of your motherboard. You
can also reply with your BIOS version number which appears onscreen
during bootup. Awaiting your response.
Intel Internet Technical Support

You know, it seems to me that the amount of time and resources used to create this worthless response could be used more productively to actually answer the question, acknowledge that they are looking into it, need more information, etc! You'd be surprised how often the original post mentions that the user has an AL440LX or Atlanta motherboard.

This is my favorite though:

>So Intel, what progress have you made in solving this problem? Have
>you even duplicated the problem on one of your machines? I'm sure most
>of the users would be much more tolerant of the problems if they knew
>what you folks were up to.
>
>Bill Selk
Dear Bill:

Steps when doing the upgrade of the bios versions:

Upon reboot go into the setup and do a reset and save, then reboot the system

If that does not work then set the system to the configuration mode

with jumper J8B2 to pins 2-3

Do a normal boot or boot in safe mode and deinstall the devices then
reboot and reinstall the devices in device manger (controllers).

Do a reinstall of Microsoft Windows* 95.

Regards,
Intel Internet Support

Can we all say, RTFQ? I knew you could...

Of course, these problems even extend beyond the typical users. Brett, who works for the National Intel Service Centre for Africa sent me his dialogue with tech support:

First message:
Hi,
The Serial Number is stored in address space EA00 on the TC430HX
motherboards...   During POST, the Serial Number is displayed as well as
the logo.   This number can be queried too, using a program called
OEMDMI.
For security reasons, I was always under the assumption that this number
could not be changed.   I have tried doing a BIOS restore and even a
recovery flash to try and restore this number but even those 2 procedures
don't clear/reset the USER AREA of memory.   Is there a program to put
this number back into memory?   This is quite an issue as we are depending on
this number for asset tracking, etc.
Another issue, is there a way (maybe through DMI) to pick up the serial
numbers of Intel Motherboard and put them into a LANDESK Database.   I
have noticed that with Compaq machines, this serial number and even the
machine type is picked up and displayed - surely this can be done with Intel
products too.   I have used Client Manager for the AL440LX Motherboard
but surely there must be a way to query the motherboard directly without
loading any DMI Service Providers?
Thank you in advance for your prompt reply.
Brett

Intel's Response:
Dear Customer,
Please find attached a utility which can change Serial Number.
Regarding your second question:
We supply a customized LDCM for our motherboards and LDCM from AL440LX CD
will not work correctly with any other board.
Best Regards
Intel Customer Support

Next Message:
I've noticed that with Compaq and other OEM manufacturer, LDMS picks up
amongst other things, serial numbers and
computer types from the DMI Layer (I think!) - If ANYONE knows ANYTHING
on how to enable this on an Intel board please
tell me..
And no, I've also removed Insight manager so it is not being reported
through there either!
I was advised to try the motherboards forum for this query but ALAS no
reply after 4 days - I have even tried using RENMail - can NOBODY help me with
this problem???
Brett

Intel's Reply:
Brett,
Compaq and Dell as a few others, write the Serial numbers into the BIOS of
their computers. We can retrieve this information with our scanners because
it is there. The Computer Manufacture would have to write this information
into the BIOS if we were to receive it. Most Manufactures don't write this
information there. Since we make only motherboards and do not know a Serial
Number this information is not available. Our Intel LANDesk(R) Management
Suite 6.1 has a new concept added to the scanner called custom fields. You
can make up a custom form for each of the users to fill out. This form
could ask for a serial number. The information from this form would then be
added to the database.
Intel Internet Support

As you can see, another fine case of RTFQ. Perhaps Intel needs to have a seminar for all of their support personnel regarding this very issue!