Changing motherboard

I have just built a desktop and used a system builder W10 pro 64 to install and activate. When I enabled secure boot, with or without a password, the pc remains stuck in the BIOS. It also boots straight into BIOS.
The W10 was installed 3 days ago and I had no trouble getting all the updates from Microsoft.
The motherboard is a Gigabyte A320M-H rev 1.2 and before having the SB problems, I had flashed the BIOS to the latest F54c using the Gigabyte 1.--- download. There are different downloads for different motherboard revisions. This went smoothly and shows up in the BIOS and GPUID CPU-Z.
The only way to access secure boot is to disable CSM, and that is where things went wrong. Enabling or disabling secure boot, resetting to defaults, resetting using the jumpers, and even removing the battery did not help. Eventually enabling CSM managed to get the BIOS working normally and booting to Windows resumed.
I wanted secure boot to get the system ready for W11.

What I would like to do would be to bin the motherboard and replace it, but the copy of Windows I have is OEM. What are my chances of getting the system activated if I did replace the motherboard?

What are my chances of getting the system activated if I did replace the motherboard?

If ms thinks it is still on the other machine, it might not activate immediately, so you can ring ms on the freefone and they will do it for you. 0800 018 8354

Or you can type slui 4 in search box to get the phone number.

In addition there might also be a way of doing it if you have it linked to your ms account, but I haven't done it that way

All my pc's are linked to my Microsoft account. Back in 2020, my most used pc had motherboard problems, it was an AMD am3+ and I changed the lot except for the SSD and got a message from Microsoft asking whether the hardware had been changed and it was activated when I replied yes. That OS was W10, but I can't remember whether the original was a retail or not, probably W7 or 8.

There is an option under Activation settings where you can transfer your key from the previous motherboard (albeit if you are using the same MS account that you used on the old machine) to the new. If this was a Windows 11 question then I couldn't tell you as I am still testing it out (I just did a fresh install because the BETA versions will screw up your performance, especially after upgrading from Win10).

If the key is not linked to your MS account, then there are a few good places where you can actually get a decently priced Windows key. They are legal and just downright dirt cheap.

I will try that activation option, as I am having no luck despite trying every possible BIOS setting. The trouble lies in the CSM setting, either enabled or disabled. With it enabled I can leave the BIOS and boot to Windows perfectly normally. The secure boot settings only become visible in the BIOS if the CSM is disabled. As soon as the CSM is disabled, I cannot save and exit the BIOS, whether or not the secure boot is enabled.

system builder W10 pro 64

The activation servers might think the previous mobo is still in use. So it might or might not activate automatically online when you enter the key with the new mobo.

If not, it is very simple to call the freefone number and ms will activate it for you. You shouldnt have any difficulty.

I have done it.

SIW2 said:

Or you can type slui 4 in search box to get the phone number.

Do you mean the following? If so, I get nothing from the command "slui 4".

Perhaps they have moved it. Might be under settings >phone activation or words to that effect