Zbook 17 G5 mobo DA0XW3MBAH0, can it be replaced with DA0XW3MBAG0

[PrfyVdlxSg]

I was going to upgrade the RAM of my ZBook 17 G5 to max out RAM to 64GB.

There is the 1 screw that I can't take out, and I am not able to remove the back cover. It is the screw near the NVMe slot next to the CD drive. 

I attempted to force up the back cover, and tried all sorts of silly ways. Well, mostly using a standard screw driver, like prying up the back cover from the motherboard itself. I thought I was 'carefully' doing it.

And while I succeeded in removing the back cover, I ended up disloding 1 8-pin SOIC. That basically 'destroyed' the motherboard, rendering it non-functional. Once I put everything back, connecting the battery immediately makes the indicator lamp of Caps Lock turn on. I am not even able to press power to turn on the laptop.

So I searched for motherboard replacement. Mine is DA0XW3MBAH0 having i5-8400H processor. I found some cheap DA0XW3MBAG0 motherboards listed for ZBook 17 G5 with i7-9750H processor.

So my question is, can I get the DA0XW3MBAG0 instead?

Please let me know.

Thank you!

[TzortzisG · Accepted solution]

Hello PrfyVdlxSg.

Available documentation for your system is as follows: MANUAL, Datasheet and Quickspecs PDF. None of these documents mention 9th gen Intel CPUs. Page 31 of the manual mentions 4 different heatsinks depending on GPU installed, but if I'm not mistaken the graphics in this system is not part of the motherboard.

I can't find any combination of the motherboard you want to use that has the 9750H. Instead, most listings have the 8850H installed: Ebay    Allegro.pl    -some have the 8750H CPU: Ebay. This seems to be a legit motherboard for your system and you can replace it with no problems whatsoever.

It's also worth mentioning that the following G6 systems were just a CPU refresh and actually did have the 9750H processor. You should be able to change mobos with one from these systems, HP even has the same Replace the System Board Official HP support video for both the G5 and G6. The ZBook 17 G6 does have the same fans but different heatsinks than the previous (your) generation though (page 24 of G6 manual).

[PrfyVdlxSg]

I checked all the documents, and I also watched the video. I will try the BAG0 system board with the i7 9th gen processor.

Thank you for the help!

[TzortzisG]

You're very welcome.

I just want to point out that you will have to get a new heatsink and that there is risk involved since you're swapping motherboards between different systems. The times I have -personally, with my own hands- performed this procedure, I did it between absolutely identical laptops -so as to not have any unpleasant surprises. It would be nice to get an update on this here, hopefully of success.....

[PrfyVdlxSg]

Okay. I have not bought the BAG0 system board. I did further check. The HP video you gave, I sent my enquiry there on whether I can use the BAG0 board instead of the BAH0 board. I was referred to the HP Part Surfer, so I got the part # for the system board there. Then I searched for the part #. There I noted that mine is L28460-601, while the BAG0 part # as indicated in the item description is either L28461-001 or L28461-601. I went to chatgpt.com and enquired about the difference of BAG0 and BAH0. Apparently, these are all ZBook 17 G5 system boards, with the processor as the main difference. Layout, connector placement, screw holes, GPU/riser, they are all the same. So, using the BAG0 board should be okay. The last check I did is the heatsink part #, L31244-001. It would be different if my board has a discrete GPU. Mine uses integrated graphics. While there is a warning about UUID or service/fingerprint mismatch, usually these are not fatal and will not cause malfunction. So, this is a go for me. Just to not forget to reset the BIOS (UEFI) on first boot and let the new board do its work of identifying and realigning everything. And running HP's UEFI Diagnostics to confirm temperatures and fan behavior. It would be great to have the ~30-35% performance bump. Will post an update when I'm done with it.

[TzortzisG]

Hi!

Page 31 of the manual for your system -link given in my first post- has the available motherboards and their part numbers. -601 just means there's a Windows license in the BIOS. 28461 has the 8750H processor soldered on. As I previously said, it doesn't make sense that HP had both 8th and 9th gen Intels for this system. What you're looking at is either a mistake by the seller (claims CPU is 9750 but in fact it's 8750) or this is a motherboard of the G6 refresh. If it's a 8750H you're totally good to go. If it's a G6 9750H motherboard you will HAVE to change heatsink because G6s have different mounting points for the heatsink -I think. But it should also be OK.

Laptop manufacturers use one CPU generation for every model. If a new CPU comes out and they want to use it on the same system -provided chipset is the same- they rename the series by changing a number in most cases. For example, my Probook 650 G2/G3s have 6th/7th gen Intels and the motherboards are otherwise identical.

[PrfyVdlxSg]

To satisfy my curiosity, I pulled up the spec sheet for ZBook 17 G6. I looked for system board, and the numbers are totally different. I can conclude based on that information that the xx460/xx461 and -001/-601 variations are meant for identical boards intended for ZBook 17 G5 and G6 using those system boards, with the difference in the processor used mainly. Anyway, I will KIV this item for now. Will update when I have done it. Thank you!

[TzortzisG]

Hi PrfyVdlxSg.

Thanks for the update! Had to look up KIV, because it didn't ring any bells. I found this very interesting semi-humorous explanation: KIV (Keep In View) is a very Singaporean phrase. Looking forward to reading about the results of your upgrade attempts...