I wanted to rebuild a PC that was not updateable from Win10 to Win11 because it had an old motherboard and CPU that did not support the Win11 Secure Boot mode.. So I ordered a new motherboard, Intel i5 CPU, cooling fan, and power supply from Amazon. The CPU was one that included graphics support because I wanted to avoid a separate graphics card.
Amazon said it would take 2 weeks to ship the CPU, so I cancelled it and ordered one that did not include graphic support. I have a couple of old graphics cards and thought I could use one of those. I got everything installed and working OK, but the Windows app that checks for Win11 compatibility said the system was not compatible with Secure Boot. I expected this becuase I knew there were some BIOS tweaks that were required enabling Secure Boot.
I went through the BIOS tweaks required to make the BIOS compatible with Secure Boot, but when I rebooted I got BIOS messages I'd never seen before saying that the BIOS setup was not compatible with my VGA graphics card. So my BIOS settings had been changed to support the VGA card I had put in the system.
Rebooting got me back to the same place - not compatible with secure boot. THis same process repeated 3 times for the 3 graphics cards I have. So there is clearly a link between the Win11 Secure Boot requirement and the type of graphics card in the system. I ordered a new card and I'm hoping it will be OK for Win 11. I should find out later tonight.
Amazon said it would take 2 weeks to ship the CPU, so I cancelled it and ordered one that did not include graphic support. I have a couple of old graphics cards and thought I could use one of those. I got everything installed and working OK, but the Windows app that checks for Win11 compatibility said the system was not compatible with Secure Boot. I expected this becuase I knew there were some BIOS tweaks that were required enabling Secure Boot.
I went through the BIOS tweaks required to make the BIOS compatible with Secure Boot, but when I rebooted I got BIOS messages I'd never seen before saying that the BIOS setup was not compatible with my VGA graphics card. So my BIOS settings had been changed to support the VGA card I had put in the system.
Rebooting got me back to the same place - not compatible with secure boot. THis same process repeated 3 times for the 3 graphics cards I have. So there is clearly a link between the Win11 Secure Boot requirement and the type of graphics card in the system. I ordered a new card and I'm hoping it will be OK for Win 11. I should find out later tonight.
- Windows Build/Version
- Win10 ==> Win11
My Computer
At a glance
Win11 ProAMD Ryzen 5 5500U16 GBRadeon 2100
- OS
- Win11 Pro
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Manufacturer/Model
- BeeLink SER Mini
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 5 5500U
- Motherboard
- BeeLink SER
- Memory
- 16 GB
- Graphics Card(s)
- Radeon 2100
- Sound Card
- none
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Primary: Phillips 4K; Secondary: LG 4K
- Screen Resolution
- Both 3860 x 2160
- Hard Drives
- C: NVme 500 GB Windows only
D: 128 GB NVme User data + Windows Temp via Junction Link
- PSU
- External
- Case
- Mini
- Cooling
- Internal fan
- Keyboard
- Logitech Wireless Lighted
- Mouse
- Kensington ExpertMouse wireless trackball
- Internet Speed
- 500/500
- Browser
- Brave
- Antivirus
- Windows Defender




