CPU Upgrade Compatibility Question

A

Aaron

CPU COMPATIBILITY QUESTION

I own:
Dell DIMENSION DIM2350
Asset Tag: 42JJ421
Express Service Code: 886-086-612-1

with this current CPU:
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz
1.79 GHz, 256MB of RAM
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL6LA

and recently purchased this CPU:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL7PM

After installation, the computer would not start up. I reinstalled the
old CPU and it started fine. I then downloaded and flashed the BIOS to
A02 from A00. After installing the new CPU it again would not start
up.

Could you tell me why you think the computer will not start?

My suspicion is that it is because the CPU is not compatible with the
motherboard. It could also just be a DOA CPU. If it is not
compatible, why not? What else do I need to look for when purchasing
CPUs other than socket type?
 
R

RussellS

Aaron said:
CPU COMPATIBILITY QUESTION

I own:
Dell DIMENSION DIM2350
Asset Tag: 42JJ421
Express Service Code: 886-086-612-1

with this current CPU:
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz
1.79 GHz, 256MB of RAM
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL6LA

and recently purchased this CPU:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL7PM

After installation, the computer would not start up. I reinstalled the
old CPU and it started fine. I then downloaded and flashed the BIOS to
A02 from A00. After installing the new CPU it again would not start
up.

Could you tell me why you think the computer will not start?

My suspicion is that it is because the CPU is not compatible with the
motherboard. It could also just be a DOA CPU. If it is not
compatible, why not? What else do I need to look for when purchasing
CPUs other than socket type?
Click to expand...
___________________________________________
That processor isn't compatible with your motherboard. The latest and
greatest Pentium 4 that was supported by your motherboard would be the
2.66GHz 533FSB 0.13nm 1.53V Pentium 4 found at
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL6PE
If you can find this CPU, it'd probably be around $70, but if you want to
keep using your Dell, you'd get a bigger performance boost by installing
additional memory instead. Your motherboard supports a maximum of 1GB
memory, which would offer a big performance boost over your current 256MB.

I'd also flash back to the A02 BIOS, as it is the latest for that system and
offers quite a few fixes over the original A00 version, particularly with
processor and memory support.

Russell
http://tastycomputers.com
 
D

DaveW

The CPU you recently purchased is INCOMPATIBLE with your motherboard. The
CPU you were using operates at an internal bus speed of 400 MHz. The new
CPU operates at an internal bus speed of 800 MHz. You cannot do that.
 
P

Paul

Aaron said:
CPU COMPATIBILITY QUESTION

I own:
Dell DIMENSION DIM2350
Asset Tag: 42JJ421
Express Service Code: 886-086-612-1

with this current CPU:
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz
1.79 GHz, 256MB of RAM
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL6LA

and recently purchased this CPU:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL7PM

After installation, the computer would not start up. I reinstalled the
old CPU and it started fine. I then downloaded and flashed the BIOS to
A02 from A00. After installing the new CPU it again would not start
up.

Could you tell me why you think the computer will not start?

My suspicion is that it is because the CPU is not compatible with the
motherboard. It could also just be a DOA CPU. If it is not
compatible, why not? What else do I need to look for when purchasing
CPUs other than socket type?
Click to expand...

There are a couple of processor types that do that. The Celeron D
is one of them. The Pentium 4 90nm (nanometer geometry) 1MB L2
cache processor is another. You bought one of the affected
Pentium 4 processors.

There is a pin on the bottom of the processor, and Intel designed
the new processors, to "sense" what kind of motherboard they
are plugged into. The older motherboards are not "Prescott Ready".
Their status signal is wrong for the processor. Newer socket 478
motherboards, have that status signal set to the other state.
When a Celeron D or P4 90nm 1MB L2 is plugged into a "Prescott
Ready" S478 socket, the processors will execute instructions,
and the computer can boot.

There should be no damage to the new processor, when it finds
the wrong status signal value. The processor simply refuses to
execute any instructions, and you get a "black screen" at
powerup.

As Russell suggested, something from the Northwood (0.13u
geometry) family would work. You'd want a processor with
an FSB that matches the fastest FSB setting your motherboard
has. Your existing processor is FSB400 by the looks of it.

This page says the chipset is 845GL and FSB is FSB400.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2350/specs.htm

This Intel page confirms the 845GL is FSB400.

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/mature/index.htm

The P4 2.8GHz/FSB400/512KB cache processor in the upper left
hand corner of this page, is the fastest FSB400 processor
you can buy. It seems to work in some FSB400 motherboards from
that era. But I feel more comfortable, when I find a chart that
verifies what has been tested, or is known to work.

http://www.powerleap.com/Processors.jsp

This is the info for that processor. It is 0.13u. The family
code is 0F29. One thing you can do, in preparing for the
upgrade, is disassemble the BIOS file for the motherboard,
and check that a microcode for 0F29 exists in there. That
helps suggest whether the BIOS was designed for that upgrade
or not, but is not a sufficient condition to guarantee it will
work.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/Details.aspx?sSpec=SL7EY

OK, to save you the trouble, I downloaded the A02 BIOS (used
the floppy version, in the hope that the BIOS would be a separate
file), used a hex editor on 2350_A02.exe, found the BIOS section,
searched for "-lh5" in the file, until I found an -lh5 with
CPUCODE.BIN after it, snipped out the section with the -lh5, to
the next one, fed the 8181 byte resulting file, to LHA.EXE,
a decompressor for LHA compressed files. The result is
CPUCODE.BIN in uncompressed form, exactly 8192 bytes.
Scanning the file with my eyeball, there are four microcode
patches in there, for 0F13, 0F24, 0F27, and 0F29 family code
processors. The 2.8GHz/FSB400 would be covered by the last
microcode patch I found. So that is a positive sign, but not
a guarantee.

So Powerleap has one for $229. And this site has a "pull" from
working equipment, for $184.

http://www.pcprogress.com/product.asp?m1=pw&pid=INP4-478-512-28OEM

One listed here for $171. Maybe this is a new one, hard to say.
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=542

Those prices were found on Pricewatch. The prices are that
high, because the companies don't want to lose money on
what they paid for them. The more modern processors Intel
is cleaing out, are about 1/3rd the price. But that is what it
takes to get a FSB400 processor.

This 2.6GHz/FSB400/512KB is a bit cheaper, at $127.

http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=115

Paul
 
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