1

Let's say I don't know (and there is no way to check) which of these 2 motherboards I have:

  1. ASUS PRIME H310M-C
  2. ASUS PRIME H310M-C/CSM

, but I checked up and both motherboards use the same BIOS firmware, for example BIOS firmware version 3202, which comes as file PRIME-H310M-C-SI-3202.zip. This file can be found on these respective pages for both motherboards:

  1. 3202 - ASUS PRIME H310M-C
  2. 3202 - ASUS PRIME H310M-C/CSM

Where PRIME-H310M-C-SI-3202.zip has the checksum for SHA-384 as: 2656c94abd7e31271e079030d4db7d44d274c460857fadca5c0140d08c88b611ee8c6a1263dca95cb1ebcb6b06158e48

Since both motherboards share the same firmware, does that mean I can use/mix the drivers from any of the two motherboards, for example for W10 64?

For example, let's say I have an ASUS PRIME H310M-C mobo, where the latest chipset driver for ASUS PRIME H310M-C is newer than the latest chipset driver for ASUS PRIME H310M-C/CSM. Hence I'll be using the chipset driver from ASUS PRIME H310M-C for ASUS PRIME H310M-C. Then let's say the latest LAN driver for ASUS PRIME H310M-C is older than the latest LAN driver for ASUS PRIME H310M-C/CSM. Hence I'll be using the LAN driver from ASUS PRIME H310M-C/CSM for ASUS PRIME H310M-C.

Would this procedure be possible, installing these 2 drivers on ASUS PRIME H310M-C in the manner I described above?

Thank you!

rd51
  • 421

1 Answers1

1

The fact that the two motherboards share the same firmware only means that this one firmware supports both motherboards, and no more.

I went further in the links you gave for the motherboards and compared the drivers. The result is that ASUS does not recommend the same drivers for both.

In general the drivers for the PRIME H310M-C are newer, so you could take the risk and install them on the PRIME H310M-C/CSM. However, you should be prepared to undo the installation.

One method would be to find the device in the Device Manager, right-click it, select Properties, Driver tab and select Roll Back Driver. However, this method is not always very dependable.

It would be better to create a System Restore point so you could rollback to the current state.

In addition, I would verify that the serial numbers of the drivers match on the first three components. For example, the serial numbers for LAN are 10.35.510.2019 and 10.31.828.2018, so these do not belong to the same family of drivers. The same goes for the Chipset and Intel Graphics Accelerator Drivers.

For the Realtek Audio Driver the numbers are 6.0.8702.1 and 6.0.1.8573 which seem to be the same (with a slight typo error). This is actually the only one that I would risk.

I would not risk exchanging the Chipset and Intel Graphics Accelerator Drivers, because if they malfunction you may not be able to boot.

Wise words : If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

harrymc
  • 480,290
  • Thank you! The problem is that I'm experiencing image freezing, and I think this might be happening because it is possible I installed the wrong drivers (I'm using ASUS PRIME H310M-C drivers exclusively) , as I can't tell for sure which motherboard I have. Asus is so confusing about this, and I can't figure out exactly which mobo I have.

    Would you mind having a look at this thread I made about the image freeze issue, perhaps you might figure out which mobo I have?

    https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/is-hpet-at-fault-for-image-freeze-or-what-else-could-it-be-asus-prime-h310m-c.2611572/

     – rd51 Apr 02 '23 at 14:19
  • 1
    I can't comment upon the mobo, but screen-freeze is something I've encountered before and it's usually caused by the display driver. Actually, on the computer I'm on right now, the display driver is frozen on the last working version (link). – harrymc Apr 02 '23 at 14:32
  • Thank you again! I've tried 2 GPUs with my PC, and in both instances the image freeze occurred, so I think it's unlikely it's the display driver. – rd51 Apr 02 '23 at 15:31
  • 1
    I've tried 2 GPUs with my PC, and in both instances the image freeze occurred, so I think it's unlikely it's the display driver it's a non sequitur. If you used cards with chipset from the same vendor (e.g. Nvidia) and both are currently supported hardware (not legacy) then chances are you'd had to install the exact same driver. Your question is based on several wrong assumptions. – ChanganAuto Apr 02 '23 at 22:30
  • The GPUs that I tried were:
    1. XFX R9 270x for W10 PRO 64 BIOS mode and W10, Enterprise LTSC 64, UEFI mode and W11 PRO 64, UEFI mode.
    2. Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT for W10 PRO 64, BIOS mode and W10 Enterprise LTSC 64, BIOS mode.

    All Windows editions are trial versions, downloaded straight from Microsoft. The problem occurred with all the Windows editions mentioned here, for both GPUs.

     – rd51 Apr 03 '23 at 09:32