CPU upgrade

[amabee]

I am planning to upgrade my CPU from a Pentium D to a Core 2 Duo, my question is, after swapping the CPU, will the system boot up as normal, or will I need to reinstall my OS? I am using XP Home.

 

[sutahz]

All those views and no reply Go to your motherboard's mfg website and see if your board supports C2D, or if it does but you need a BIOS update. You will not need to reinstall XP though, you'd only need to reinstall your OS if you got a new motherboard w/ a new chipset.

 

[myocardia]

Whether or not you need to update your BIOS, you'll almost definitely need to hard reset your BIOS, after installing the C2Duo. That's when you unplug your power supply, remove the motherboard's battery, and leave the CMOS reset jumper in the shorted position for 20 or 30 minutes. And stop complaining, at least you won't have to reload Windows.

 

[amabee]

I know the board will support a C2D. I did not know about resetting the BIOS, it sounds simple enough, hopefully it is in real life

 

[amabee]

Ive been doing a little looking around, are you sure I need to reset the BIOS? I get the impression that all I should need to do is swap out the CPU's? Someone give me some help please!

 

[myocardia]

If you had a single core processor now, there's a 100% chance you'd have to clear your CMOS. But since you already have a dual-core, but of a completely different generation, there's only about a 60-70% chance you'll have to reset it. Feel free to do the swap without resetting the BIOS (which I always do while installing the new processor, and mounting the heatsink), but if you run into any problems at all, you'll know why you're having them.

 

[amabee]

Keep in mind Im very much a newbie at this, if I dont reset the BIOS and something goes wrong, could I still reset at that point? I can see it being maybe easier to do this right away. Since I have recently updated the BIOS, I would assume that would be cleared out and I would need to do that again once its up and running?

I have an Intel DG965RY motherboard, can you tell me exactly how to reset this? I have 3 jumper settings: normal, configuration and recovery, which do I use?

BTW, thanks for any and all help.

 

[Roguestar]

Try it without resetting the BIOS, see if it works, then if it doesn't set it to recovery for a while with the motherboard battery out, then back to normal.

 

[myocardia]

Oh yeah, it's just as easy to reset your BIOS with the new processor in, as it is to do it with the old processor in. And you can't hurt any of your equipment by not doing it before you start her up with the new processor in. It's just that if you'd pull the battery out before you even started changing processors, you could install the new processor, pull the motherboard and install your heatsink, then by the time you had everything back together, the CMOS would be cleared, and you could put the battery back in, and be on your way.

 

[amabee]

Thanks guys for all the help. That all sounds easy enough, good to know I wont blow anything up This seems to be a great forum, I'll keep it bookmarked and look here for help in the future.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

yep, welcome to anandtech.