BIOS incomplete - it SLP-ped Acer's Repair Dept's mind

ottovr said:

I read in MyDigitalLife: "COA product key is provided as it would be required if a reinstallation of Windows is needed, unless users backup OEM activation beforehand." (Differences Between OEM Channel SLP, NONSLP and COA License Product Keys « My Digital Life)
Does this mean I could have spared myself the aggrevation of having to deal with this BIOS-problem by having done that backup? It seems that there are various programs out there to do this, but that it isn't a standard function available within Windows 7.

Concerning the BIOS error, I understand now that the OEM Bios Flag apparently had not been set (or not correctly). Has that to be done by hand by the manufacturer?

MDL does talk a load of twaddle sometimes! :)
The COA Key is provided for two reasons
1) to provide you with incotrovertible evidence of a valid license.
2) to allow you to do exactly what you just did - surmount problems whithte hOEM_SLP self-activation process
It has NOTHING to do with reinstalling - unless you use media other than the manufacturer's Recovery system for the reinstall (which in theory is all you're allowed to use)

Inserting the BIOS SLIC Windows Marker is a function that is done by the manufacturer by selecting the correct BIOS chip variant to insert in the board at assembly time. They probably have a stock of chips for each variant ready for installation - it would save time over post-flashing the BIOS The one you got appears to be a default basic variant.

Doing a license back would have made absolutely no difference in your case - you had the OEM_SLP installed, which depends on the SLIC marker, and no amount of backing up would have prevented the results of losing the SLIC marker.
If you had had the COA Key installed, you may have had even more problems, as it would have been locked to the previous motherboard, and would probably have required telephone activation and a chat with an MS operator to convince them that the motherboard change was the result of OEM replacement, rather the your own choice. (It depend on whether the new board is identical to the old, or has sufficient differences to cause an activation flag - which can happen even in different batches of the same basic board).

Hehe! - it does get complicated :)
Good Luck!