CPU Upgrade Project gone south...

[Stoik]

Hey friends,

I've got a laptop with a CeleronM 520 in it running Vista. When I first got it the thing was reeeaalll slow. I upgraded to 1gig DDR2 667 and now its better, certainly usable.

I still think that an upgrade to a dual core CPU would be worth the time and effort, if one could be found cheaply. I looked around and found a few T2050's for what I thought was a good price. My question is what kind of issues can I expect when dropping in a new processor? I know the procedure, I've built a few desktops and put new thermal paste on the Celly in my laptop, but will there be any software issues I should watch out for? I checked and made sure that both processors were Socket M and they use the same FSB (533Mhz).

Considering this all works out, will upgrading from the Celeron to the CoreDuo make a significantly noticable difference? I think so, at least in terms of multitasking.

Thanks

 

[hans007]

celeron M 520 is basically a 1 core core 2 duo. It uses the same socket as the 533 and 667 bus core 2 duo and core 1 duo. basically you should be able to fit any non 800 bus core 2 duo cpu into that laptop...

i would assume that is the laptop that was $299 at best buy, and its easy to know itll work since acer makes laptops with core 2 duo based on the same chassis. you'll likely have to remove the keyboard, unscrew some stuff and it should just work .

 

[Stoik]

Thanks Hans.
You think the 667 FSB will work too eh? I had figured I was limited to 533 since that is what is in there currently.

Haha you're spot on that this is one of the $300 laptops from awhile back.

 

[JustaGeek]

I would still limit the CPU to the one for 533MHz FSB.

The FSB is not adjustable in BIOS, so I would just play it safe...

 

[Stoik]

Yea, good point. Although I'd expect the motherboard would probably just operate the processor at the lower FSB automatically.

Anyway, I'm going to be going from a single Merom core to a dual Yonah core. Yonah is less advanced but there will be two of em, which I figure will be much more important than any microarchitecture improvements that Intel came up with during the 6 month interrim between the respective releases of the two cores.

Either way, it'll still probably work better than my Pentium D.

 

[Stoik]

Ugh, so I got my Intel Core Duo T2050 in the mail today and dropped it in my laptop.

Nuthin. I do not believe that it was passing POST. I got a few angry beeps from the mobo, one long, two short (beeeep, beepbeep). I checked for the typical noob stuff: "did i forget to put the heatsink back on?" "forget to lock the cpu socket?" but it all seemed pretty good. I just now put my original processor in it and the system seems to be working fine.

I'm curious about what the beep error code was. Chances are its just that I got a DOA chip, but it there's anything I can do I'd like to know about it.

Comments/suggestions?

I am going from a Merom chip to a Yonah chip, perhaps I need to flash an older Bios version? ugh.
My current bios is PhoenixBios V3.5, the computer is an Acer 3690-2970. Original CPU CeleronM 520.

Thanks all.

EDIT:
I just found this one Phoenix's Website...
"Beep Codes
The only AwardBIOS beep code indicates that a video error has occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information. This beep code consists of a single long beep followed by two short beeps. Any other beeps are probably a RAM (Random Access Memory) problems."

yikes...