My Windows 11 Experiment

[wstrohm]

The "Windows 11" I installed on my "Mini-ITX 2" Skylake computer (listed below) resulted from a need for a single-slot, single-backplate graphics card with a reasonable amount of gaming power. The AMD RX 6400 is rated at 4.3 TFlops, which is better than my GTX 1050 TI OC in my "Mini-ITX 3" computer (2.7 TFlops), but which unfortunately cannot be used with Mac OS.

I wanted to avoid the "TPM" requirement of Win 11, so my installer is a Win 10 installer that has had its "guts" replaced from a "true" WIN 11 download from Microsoft. The new "guts" are two files named "install.swm" (3.6 GB) and "install2.swm" (1.2 GB) which replaced "install.wim" (IIRC) in the original WIN 10 installer. The result works as WIN 11, although I have no idea if this hybrid would cause trouble if I tried to do something different than I have done so far. Windows Update works (automatically), the graphics driver (AMD Adrenalin) runs the RX 6400 correctly, and all my games play very well. Microsoft Mail did NOT work, but thanks to my stepson I now use Thunderbird, which does. I have seen no indication from this computer that it is any different from a real Win 11 machine.

Learning to use Windows is another story. Things like the length of time for a "Windows Update" to complete, and the lack of progress bar, misleading "percent complete" text numbers, and general disregard for user friendliness by various apps keeps sending me back to my Hacks. But then I have only used Macs since about 1986. So although I miss Carbon Copy Cloner ("Mini-tool Shadowmaker" is not that much fun), I'll probably get there before I die.

I'm actually contemplating building one more "Mini-ITX" computer. So far I have a new Apex MI-008 case, with USB3.x front panel added, a new RX 6400 in a box, and have installed a Noctua 80 mm NF-A8 fan on a 2.5" - to 3.5" adapter panel. The 250 watt built-in Allied power supply will have to power:
ASUS B760i motherboard
Intel Core i7 12700F CPU
Noctua NH-L9i-1700 CPU cooler
64 GB Crucial CL40 4800 MHz DDR5 RAM
2 WD SN850X 1 TB Nvme SSDs
The Noctua NF-A8 fan

Based on the power usages I have measured on my existing computers, I think 250 watts can do the job without much stress.

Now all I have to do is con the wife into buying all the parts for me on her Amazon Prime membership... this will not be easy.

 

[wstrohm]

Wife agreed... all parts ordered and being delivered.

 

[wstrohm]

Have everything except one of the two WD SN850X SSDs... will start in anyway. BTW, if there's one SSD on top of the board and one on the bottom, how do I tell Windows which one to install and boot on? If i know the serial number of both, is that a way to choose? Or is there some other way? (I want the one on top to be the bootable one.)

 

[Feartech]

Have everything except one of the two WD SN850X SSDs... will start in anyway. BTW, if there's one SSD on top of the board and one on the bottom, how do I tell Windows which one to install and boot on? If i know the serial number of both, is that a way to choose? Or is there some other way? (I want the one on top to be the bootable one.)

put the second one in after installation....

 

[Cosmix]

Have everything except one of the two WD SN850X SSDs... will start in anyway. BTW, if there's one SSD on top of the board and one on the bottom, how do I tell Windows which one to install and boot on? If i know the serial number of both, is that a way to choose? Or is there some other way? (I want the one on top to be the bootable one.)

Hello,

1) Put only one ssd in the easy-to-access slot.
Install the desired OS
Test, update, etc
Power off, physically remove de SSD

2) Put the second SSD in the other slot ( not-so-easy-to-access )
Install the other OS
Test, update, etc.
Power off.

3) Reinsert the first SSD in its slot ( easy-to-access)

4) Power on.

5) Enter BIOS and configure the boot order.

Bottom line : While installing, you should have only one SSD at a time in your system !

Cheers

 

[wstrohm]

Okay, kind of a pain but I can do that.

Another question... or rather a rant:
Trying to install the i7-12700F CPU. On the "contact" surface of the CPU there is a plastic film. This film a) feels non-removable and b) there are no instructions for either the motherboard, or the CPU, to remove it. Are all the 1700 contacts between the CPU and the CPU socket capacitively-coupled? If I insert the CPU and lock it down, then remove it, the plastic film stays intact... nothing is punctured by the "pins." And I see no way to remove that film. What is going on?

 

[Cosmix]

Okay, kind of a pain but I can do that.

Another question... or rather a rant:
Trying to install the i7-12700F CPU. On the "contact" surface of the CPU there is a plastic film. This film a) feels non-removable and b) there are no instructions for either the motherboard, or the CPU, to remove it. Are all the 1700 contacts between the CPU and the CPU socket capacitively-coupled? If I insert the CPU and lock it down, then remove it, the plastic film stays intact... nothing is punctured by the "pins." And I see no way to remove that film. What is going on?

Hello,

Watch this :

How to install an Intel CPU without breaking pins under 60 seconds! (LGA 1200)​

You can find other similar procedures.

Cheers

 

[wstrohm]

I did all that, was very careful, and I've built four other Hackintoshes the same way. But I never saw a plastic film on the under-side of the CPU before, and I can't believe the CPU is making electrical contact with the socket.

Well, wife says there is no plastic film... guess this will be my last DIY computer, since apparently my eyes are deceiving me. So I put the CPU back and locked it down. Hope things work...

 

[wstrohm]

Catastrophe. I am sure I had inverted the System Front Panel "PWR PUSHBUTTON" connector pair. But without pushing it, and looking at a "Kilowatt" power meter when I just plugged in the computer, it read for a few seconds 44 watts, then dropped down to 8 watts, then down to 0 watts, and stayed there. I reversed the front panel leads (now per the motherboard/case spec, but nothing works at all anyway. No AC power whether i push the foot panel switch or not.

I pulled the built-in 250W Allied power supply and checked its ATX connector vs. the motherboard user manual, and everything matches. The CPU connector 4-to-8-pin adapter is also correct. If I use a high-impedance VOM and look at resistance of the CPU +12V output vs. ground, it is around 85 ohms with correct polarity and about 105 ohms reversed polarity. Also the reading charges up from 0 ohms to those values indicating presence of output capacitors, which is normal. So I have little reason to suspect the power supply, although it could be bad. More likely the PS is not getting the "turn-on signal" because the motherboard is not delivering it. But I just don't know at this point.

I do have a known-good and working identical power supply in my (working) Skylake Window 11 computer. So I could do a temporary move of the working supply into the new computer, and if it doesn't work, the new power supply is probably okay and something else in the new computer (catastrophe) is bad. maybe because of that voltage inversion.

Any advice on how to proceed? I don't know how to test the new PS by itself out of box, since it has signal lines like "POK," "PS-ON," "PG," and "Remote"... don't know what the PS is looking for to "turn on." And the motherboard ATX connector has signals like "PSON," and "PowerOK." Without knowing what these do, I'm stuck, unless you know!

 

[P1LGRIM]

Google PSU paperclip trick.