Replacing motherboard on a Dell720. Anything I need to be wary of?

just put wash the original motherboard off real good in a big tub of salt water. really scrub the BIOS chip, it should knock loosen any gunk that got built up and open up a little space to get a new BIOS in there.

Now, to get the new BIOS in, you're going to need a power drill with a 7/16th titanium coated bit. you'll want to put that on the top left corner of the old BIOS chip and slowly drill, but using great pressure. You don't have to worry about how deep you go with the drill, the deeper the better. Just make sure you have your other hand squarely planted on the other side of the motherboard where you're drilling. That way you'll know when you're through!

Now, get your new BIOS chip (if you can't get a new one, you can just use a 8gb USB thumb drive with the BIOS files stored on it, but make sure it's FAT16 formatted!) So you line up the new chip (or usb drive) to where the old BIOS was, and you place a brick on it (or any other hard flat item, I usually use a large flat rock from my driveway) and you start hitting it with a hammer. I like to use a 24oz drywall hammer because the weight and large diameter head makes for a speedy operation. Anyway, start hitting it, it's going to take a great deal of force, but you know you're all done when the brick (or rock) has cracked completely in half.

You're pretty much done at this point. All you really need to do is hook it up to the power and fire it up! I'd highly suggest putting your tongue directly on the CPU socket while the CPU is out and the power is on, just to make sure you can feel the electric coming through (like a 9-volt).

Have fun! Oh and don't forget to wear safety glasses.

/r/homelab Thread