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AMD is shipping free APUs to customers to help them update their BIOS

By Koh Wanzi - on 20 Feb 2018, 3:34pm

AMD is shipping free APUs to customers to help them update their BIOS

Image Source: AMD

AMD is going above and beyond when it comes to supporting its new Raven Ridge APUs. The Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G just launched last week, and board makers were generally quick to issue firmware updates to support the new CPUs.

However, this does mean that not every board on the market will support the new Ryzen APUs, even if they’re brand new. In other words, you could buy a new Raven Ridge chip and find yourself unable to boot the CPU because the board’s UEFI is too old.

If your board supports a BIOS flashback feature that lets you update the firmware without installing a CPU, you’re in luck. Otherwise, you’d have to check with your board vendor for a replacement or somehow obtain a compatible CPU just so you can boot and update the BIOS.

AMD’s solution is to ship you an APU that is guaranteed to work on your system. Here’s the exact wording from AMD:

AMD will provide affected and qualified users a boot kit to perform the BIOS update on their motherboard. This solution is offered through AMD warranty services and is available only for affected and qualified users of this specific boot up issue. This boot kit is free of charge.

To get this boot kit, you’ll need to go to AMD’s online warranty claim page and fill in your full contact and product details. In the Problems Description field, enter “Boot kit Required”. It goes without saying that you’ll need to have a valid AMD processor with an authentic OPN and serial number.

Once the claim is approved, AMD will send you confirmation details in a follow-up email.

According to a forum member over at Ars Technica, the free APU AMD is shipping is an A6-9500, a dual-core Bristol Ridge APU. It’s no powerhouse and is probably old surplus stock, but it still seems quite a thoughtful move on the part of AMD.

It’s worth noting that the reason AMD needs to do this is because of its decision to stick to the same AM4 platform as last year (it’s committed to doing this till 2020). This means that the boards will need to have updates flashed from time to time, and it’s nice to see AMD following through with the necessary support.

Source: AMD

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