Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 mobo - $0.99 NR, as-is (boot-loop issue)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170920898559

$0.99 + $15 shipping. No reserve. No buy-it-now. 7 day listing. Ends Oct 13, 2012 14:39:21 PDT.

This motherboard is being sold "as-is." Its box is labeled "Motherboard not working." I rescued it from being discarded to see if I could troubleshoot it, but I haven't had the time to do so. After searching about potential issues with this motherboard on forums, it seems this particular model was afflicted with a boot-loop bug where it would boot up and then restart in a never-ending cycle. There is a new firmware out for this motherboard that might fix this issue; however, I can't guarantee that this is the problem with this motherboard.

This is a like-new motherboard, otherwise. All the manuals, accessories (SATA cables, backplate, USB 3.0 expansion cards, etc), the original packaging and box, are included. The accessory packaging hasn't even been torn into.

Here's a forum link describing the potential fix for the boot-loop issue with a new firmware: http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/28441-gigabyte-latest-beta-bios-559.html

If I had more time and a compatible Intel CPU around here right now I would test it myself. As it is though, someone might be getting a great deal.

Here's a link to this product on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128499

gonna have to get this ?

Sounds so familiar; taking on fixer upper projects but not having the time. My place is filled with broken stuff like this. Great photo by the way ;-)

Yep, exactly. That extremely colorful and shiny box has been sitting in my closet for too long.

put this on my watch list.

It's gonna be a [H]ard bid war.. I'm tempted to grab it and cross bios flash it with my UD4 to see if I can fix it. Reminds me of the NF2 days when you had a bad overclock it could corrupt the bios.

Bummer news, guys: I got a question regarding the socket pins, which I hadn't bothered to check (I didn't even realize Intel had pins on their sockets). After taking a look, there was one missing pin (position M14, "VCC - PWR") and one bent pin (position Y8, "VSS - GND"). I was able to successfully straighten out Y8. Whether the Y8 or the M14, or both, were contributing to the problem, I don't know.

Pin diagram at the bottom of here.

T-minus one day if you're an interested risk taker