Hi,

I've read-up on i7 processors that fit the G2 Socket in the Asus G74SX laptop running at 45W and it as the best cost/performance combination I bought an i7-3740QM.
I understood that the G74SX bios currently only supports those with the CPUID's 206A6 and 206A7 and so not the 3740QM.
The i7-3740QM has a CPUID of 306A9 and I obtained the latest microcode for it and upgrades for the A6 and A7 microcode files from the Intel website.
Using Mmtool I upgraded the bios microcode for A6 and A7 and add the CPUID 306A9 microcode to support the 3740QM processor.
I then flashed the custom BIOS (I numbered it 204) to my laptop with the existing i7-2630QM cpu and it works fine.

However, on installation of the 3740QM, the G74SX spins up the hard drives and the keyboard lights up, but then the keyboard lights go out after a few seconds and laptop remains powered on but the display doesn't show anything.
I refitted my 2630QM processor and the laptop is functioning normally again and I'm submitting this new thread from it.

I've since read that the motherboard's Intel HM56 chipset doesn't support the 3740QM, yet it does support other Ivy Bridge processors with the same chip configuration just lower clock speeds so that doesn't sound like the issue here.

I've read articles that indicate that the bios sometimes needs a ROM vbios update to support later cpu integrated graphics.
Is this the case with the 3740QM or is it some other issues that can be addressed by updating the BIOS?
Any advice pointing me in the direction of what my next steps are, would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Hi!

First of all, please check your MEI version. For Ivy Bridge you need v8.x.
I am pretty sure that ASUS does not provide any support for MEI v8.x,
because the MEI firmware is not integrated in BIOS versions 203 and 202.
Upgrading MEI from v7.x to v8.x is a very complicated and risky precedure.
That said, I would not try to do it, but maybe @CPL0 or @plutomaniac can help you.

Best Regards,
Mr nUUb

PS: Your laptop has an Intel HM65 chipset, not HM56.